refuses to care. i asked how many criminals have had criminal vetting from the country of origin and the answer was, i'll get back to you on that. he knows the same answer that i do. the answer is zero. the american people believe there's some kind of vetting happening coming across the border. there's not. they're checked to see if they're on the terror watch list, but we literally don't know the individuals crossing the border from 150 countries, we don't know if they're fleeing poverty or justice. we have no idea because no one's checked. they're just ushered into the country. now they're given expedited removal or parole. why? parole is faster. they can process people into the country quicker if they parole them. the other thing about parole, they get a work permit the first day that they're in the united states. so help me understand this. the current policy of the biden administration, they say they're trying to stop illegal immigration, but they're actually paroling people into the country as fast as they can and giving people a work permit the first day they're here and they're setting them up with a hearing for i.c.e. the backlog for i.c.e. is five yearlong and then it's ten years after that for the next time. so they're currently up to 15 years in the country before they're up for a work permit. why is title 42 such a big issue in title 42 is turning away at least 40% of the folks at the border. once that goes away, everyone comes in and that being a accels even more. there are tens of thousands of people south of the border waiting for title 42 authority to go away because they've been turned away in the past and they're rapidly coming in now, just waiting on the courts to be able to turn this off. but currently no one seems to care. the biden administration's become the administration of chaos on the border and the american people see it plainly. i have to tell you. the american people are not opposed to legal immigration, but they do not like this chaos. as much as the administration can say, we're just not going to tell you the numbers or as much as this senate has just refused to to do hearings on this matter, -- do hearings on this matter, we're at the same spot, tens of thousands of people are crossing the border, record high numbers and there seems to be no deterrent on this. i come to this floor with two requests. the first of that is to keep title 42 in place. i've had a bipartisan bill that's been out there since april of this year asking a very simple question, maintain the title 42 authority, give that tool to the secretary to be able to at least turn away individuals that are illegally coming into the country to be able to say to those individuals, you do not have a standard for asylum here and turn those folks away. stop the massive flow that's coming into our country on that, at least of that level. don't make a terrible situation even worse. this bill has broad support. this is a bill that will actually help this administration to enforce the law and to decrease the chaos on our southern border, this is not a radical idea. so, i ask unanimous consent that the help committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 4036 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, i further ask that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. lankford: mr. president, if we're going to -- going to object to maintaining the title 42 authority, than i ask for something else the administration is considering. the administration has gone back and forth on what is a tran it van for -- transit van for asylum, if for those coming from 150 different countries, literally flying in an aircraft, landing in mexico, and then the cartels shuttle them to the border, they show up with luggage, if you don't believe me, there's lots of video of it of people coming from other countries. therei have a bill to say -- you can't fly in from another country and land here. that's not asylum. the administration is considering a transit ban to say you can't go through multiple countries and show up in the united states and say, now i want asylum. i have a bill that deals with this. it's a straightforward policy. multiple other countries around the world also have. this policy will help our administration to enforce the border and give the tools to the border patrol to be able to make decisions along the border that actually help protect the safety of our nation. current process, let me remind you, is thousands of people literally be paroled into our country saying, 15 years from now, we'll decide what to do with you. that's the current process. incentivizing illegal immigration. it doesn't slow down. this is not a matter of one day it will get better. we're the greatest nation on earth. there are billions much people who want to be able to come here. so this is a simple, straightforward way to deal with that, and it's the transit issue to be able to resolve that issue for asylum. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 5350, which is at the desk. i further ask that the bill be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. peters: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. lankford: mr. president, in body is wearing what's happening on the border right now and i know a lot of the national media decides they're going to look away and say it's no big deal. more and more reporters, even on the far left, are looking at what's happening on the border, this is out of control humanitarian crisis and if americans keep ignoring -- and if we keep ignoring that, americans are going to suffer. this is homeland security and what is more basic than secureig our borders? don't tell me this is not possible under the law. four times as many are crossing the border than in. that can't continue. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. i think we can all agree we've had a very productive 23 months starting about the time the presiding officer from georgia has arrived. i'm proud of the bipartisan work we have done for ohioans. when we passed the rescue plan, i remember sitting at this desk on march 6, after 12 hours of all-night voting, it was a saturday around noon, we passed the rescue plan, we expanded -- we took care of literally a million union pension holders who had lost big chunks of pension, 100,000 families, in my state alone, we expanded the child tax credit, 51 democrats, 51 republicans voting no, denying children expanded child tax credit. two million kids in my state, 60 million around the country benefited from that. their families saw more money in their pockets. it was 90% of the children in atlanta, savannah, in cleveland, in dayton, 90% of the children, we saw a 40% reduction in the poverty rate. if we kept the child tax credit going, if it kept going, how effect -- effective it would have been at blunting the effects of inflation on so many families struggling every day, every week, every month. i heard from parents around my state, it was helping them afford groceries, or summer camps, many parents wrote me and said, first time ever i've been able to send my daughter to summer camp. we know what a difference this makes at a time when families struggle to keep up with struggling costs. unfortunately, as we know, the child tax credit expansion ended at the end of 2021. it should never never have happ. tonight we could have passed a tax package that addressed the needs of american manufacturers with research and development credits and to help children and families. here's what i want everybody to hear. in this body throughout the united states, democrats are willing to do it. we put on the table time and time again, we'll support the research and development tax provisions to republicans, something they wanted and they should support the child tax credit. we believe we should invest in american manufacturing, it would have done that, we believe we should invest in american families, american children as part of a balanced package, we will make the changes businesses are asking for. ceo's and small businesses and companies and executives came to see me and said they wanted to do both, yes, do the r&d tax credit and the child tax credit. my friends on the other side of the aisle, apparently all 50 of them said no. they were not willing to do that. we offered to make these changes. we're saying they just need to be part of a balanced tax package so working families aren't left behind in this new tax law the way they were with the huge corporate tax giveaway of 2017. we're in the mitsd, mr. president of -- midst of a manufacturing renaissance because of investments we made. we need a tax code that supports american manufacturing and rewards investment in research and development and we need a tax code that supports working families and their kids. investing in children now, making sure these families have money in their pockets to keep up with rising costs, weather financial emergencies, and for the basics in an economy where the inflation is too high. it's a smart policy, it's a win, win for georgia and ohio. one in four kids living in rural ohio are left out. in ohio and kentucky, one out of three kids is left out. we can fix that like that if my republican colleagues would be willing to. raising kids is hard work, they say. after we prafd the child tax credit expansion, 18, 19 and months ago, i heard timed an again it was making things just a little bit easier, i heard that term, just a little bit easier for families, they work hard, sometimes more than one job just to make ends meet. we can do this. we can make things a little bit easier. we can do this. i won't p stop fighting it for help policies to make us mowr -- more competitive and just. as i tried to get this deal done, i heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say that expanding the child tax credit was a partisan issue. it was a democratic ask. that's new to american families. most families in georgia and ohio, they don't care if the child tax credit was mostly about democrats wanting it and republicans nont wanting it, -- not wanting it, they want a government that fights for them and stands with them, not that stands against them. a few days ago, i met with faith leaders, evangelical, catholic, jewish, muslim leaders, only in washington, d.c., in this body and, mr. president, down the hall in the house of representatives, only here is fighting for the child tax credit a partisan issue. i have a letter here -- i have two letters. this comes from the faith and freedom coalition. it says as leaders of faith organizations, social welfare organizations and others, we consider it to be an integral part of our missions to ensure that the families and communities have the resources they need to be a contribute cog member of society. that's why there's a broad agreement among people of faith that the child tax credit needs to be strengtheneded. many of us called to increasing it for each child. back in 2017, we remained committed to that goal. i would ask that this letter, signed by leading conservatives, including the presiding officer's citizen in his state, newt gingrich, rick santorum with senator casey's proceed predecessor, katherine jean lopez, i ask that this letter be enter into the record are. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask that a letter by the catholic bishops and katsd catholic charities be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: people who sign these letters aren't generally supporting people like me in the senate. they are -- they are clearly conservatives. let me just share, again, some names of people hon signed this letter. -- who signed this a letter. i mentioned newt gingrich, mike huckabee, rick santorum, timothy head, and tony perkins, president of the family research councille, robert george, one of the real deep reflective thinkers in the conservative area. uval at constitutional studies at the american enterprise institute. walter kim, president of national association of evangelicals. i could go on and on. people of faith on the conservative side of politics that all say we should pass the child tax credit. again, this letter says the child tabulation credit is a powerful antipoverty, pro-family program we've long supported and ask congress to strengthen. mr. president, i said i know i went back and pointed down the hall. i really can't find very many people that oppose the child -- it's got 80%, 90% support at home. the families of 90% of the kids benefit from the child tax credit. all of us have gotten stories, got enletters, calls from constituents when walking down the street who say that $500 a month, i have an 8-year-old, 5-year-old, month after month it lifted us out of poverty, made a difference. my daughter can go to summer camp, i can buy school clothes, we're not embarrassed when she goes back to school in september. all the types of things that make children's lives a little better and families a little happier. again, mr. president, the only people standing in the way of this are sitting over here in this body and sitting down the hall. the voters, the thinkers, the political conservative thinkers from those letters, religious leaders, people of faith all support this idea. the benefits of ctc are clear. everyone willing to see what is right before them understands it's far more than about politics. it's about kids, it's about families, it's about ensuring that the hard work that families do raising children, working part time, some of them not making much money at all. i'm just so disappointed, mr. president, we can't get this done. but i know the senator from georgia, i know i won't give up. we're going to keep fighting for this. if we can't get it tonight, we'll work on it next year. mr. president, i ask also the following remarks appear at a separate place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. before i conclude i'd like to mention one other piece of legislation i've been working on with my colleague, senator duckworth, the democrat from illinois, and senator cassidy, republican from louisiana. we should pass without delay. the bryce son gray act, named after one of my constituents, would do two things. first it would codify important research nih is already doing to further understanding of covid-19, including the neurological effects of the virus. second, it would require the national academies of science engineering and medicine to conduct a study and issue a report on the disruption of cognitive processes associated with covid-19. i'd like to thank senator murray, democrat from washington; senator burr, a republican from north carolina, for their work to negotiate the legislation, for their support of the bill. i'd like to thank my colleague, retiring representative gonzalez, a republican from northern ohio not far from where i live, who successfully got this legislation through the house with a strong bipartisan vote, 350-69. this bill would not authorize additional funding, it would not cost taxpayers. it would mean the world to the gray and price families and to all those struggling with cognitive effects from covid-19. i urge senators withholds on this bill to lift those holds. a couple of senators that are standing in the way for reasons i'm not really clear about, so we can pass it out of the senate, get it to the president's desk before the end of the year. these families need our support. these families deserve our support. i yield to my friend from minnesota. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i have come to the floor this evening with senator moran of kansas to take a moment, as i did last night and as our colleague, senator lindsey graham and senator coons did earlier this evening, to emphasize the importance of including the afghan adjustment act in either the end of the year spending bill or to pass on its own, but to get it done as soon as possible. why? well, more than 75,000 afghans who sought rev funeral in our country -- refuge in our country are currently in limbo, including so many who risked their own lives and their own family safety to protect our servicemembers. why do we know this? because nearly half of them have been vouched for by our own military. because they come up to us at events with members of the u.s. military. and i know every member here has had this experience where our own veterans -- and i'm so pleased that senator moran, who is the ranking member on the veterans' affairs committee, has joined us on this bill after making some very important changes to the bill, to make sure the vetting process was as thorough as possible. and we are also joined on this, by the way, by senator wicker, the incoming ranking member of the armed services committee. by senator graham, who is the lead republican with me, who is the lead republican on this bill, longtime member of the military himself. by senator coons, who has been such a leader in foreign relations. by senator blumenthal, who also has a long history of working on veterans issues. by senator murkowski, who is an earlier supporter of this bill. by senator blunt, by senator shaheen who has long led efforts on these issues in the senate foreign committee. and by senator leahy. there are many other senators who are waiting to get on as cosponsors of this bill, and there are many more than that who would vote to support it. why? well, after their sacrifice and after helping them to relocate in the united states, it is our responsibility to provide these afghan refugees with the assurance that they can stay here and rebuild their lives. my colleagues, they are already here. they are living in towns and cities across this country, and they simply need to know their status. they are in limbo. it makes them very difficult to start lives in this country. why am i involved in this issue? well, one, like everyone else, i met some of these brave refugees who had stood with our military. one was an interpreter. another worked on many other intelligence issues with them. and i also, from my home state there are, it's the second-biggest population among refugees from way back after the vietnam war. vietnamese mung came to this country, started a new life. now they are doctors. their kids and their grandkids and their great grandkids are police officers. and with their sacrifice, they rebuilt their lives in the united states of america. this bill is about showing that our country is committed to standing with people who stood with us. that's why today we filed an amendment with senators graham, coons, moran, blumenthal, supported by many others whom i've mentioned to include this important legislation in the end of the year spending bill, and i urge my colleagues to support it. to be clear, this legislation doesn't just make this process make sense. it also makes it more thorough. our bill requires applicants to go through vetting that is just as rigorous as the vetting they would have gone through if they came to the u.s. during a regular refugee process. a standard that eight former trump and george w. bush administration national security officials called the gold standard of vetting. the other cosponsors and i have worked with our republican colleagues, including senator moran, who is here on the floor today to respond to every issue identified by the department of defense and department of homeland security in their inspector general's reports which were very helpful for us in crafting this bill. our updated bill requires the department of homeland security and defense to confer with congress before setting vetting requirements. it directs the department of state and other federal agencies to work together to come up with a strategy for future evacuations, to make sure we have plans in place to vet and relocate those allies who serve alongside our troops. this bill is supported by more than 40 organizations, including the vfw, the veterans of foreign wars support this bill. they have their members on the hill in their own humble way lobbying for this bill. they're not paid lobbyists. they are veteran-civilian lobbyists out there trying to help us. the american legion supports this bill. admirals mike mullin, william mccraven, james staridis and general richard meyers and stan mcchrystal support this bill. i very, very focused on this bill because i think about people in other countries that stand with our soldiers. this happens all the time. if this is what we do when they come to our country and we don't have their backs, what message are we sending to people in the rest of the world who stand with our soldiers, who protect them, who provide security for their families, who are there to translate and to interpret for them, who become their friends and close confident -- confidantes? what message do we send if we just allow them to be in this country in limbo with no certain status ahead? we know what they will become when they stay here and when they get their green card and they can work. they have shown their work ethic, and they will have kids and grandkids that will go ongoing just as the mung in vietnamese did to become police officers and teachers and farmers and bakers and nurses and doctors and builders and inventors. we know what they will do but not if we don't give them that chance, not if we don't have their backs like they had ours. i am so proud to be joined by senator moran here on the floor, and of his work on behalf of our veterans, his work with senator tester and the veterans' affairs committee. thank you. mr. moran: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. and i thank the congresswoman -- excuse me, the senator. i am headed to the house this evening and i have served in the house. i join my colleague in efforts to see that this legislation, afghan administration act, is advanced, that it moves forward. the chaotic evacuation from kabul stranded thousands of afghan allies behind enemy lines. for two decades countless afghans stood by our servicemembers and risked their lives and their families' lives to support our troops in afghanistan. veterans of afghan war are calling for congress to provide safety and certainty for the allies, for their allies and friends who assisted them in battle. this includes iraq and afghanistan, veterans of america, veterans of foreign wars, the american legion, and many others. the afghan adjustment act will keep our promise to those who risked their lives for america while also protecting our national security. a veteran from kansas, slade dyster from levin worth stated the following in support of the bill, and i quote him this is a critical piece of legislation that supports our nation's veterans and war fighters by ensuring that we honor our allies during america's longest war. if congress does not pass the afghan adjustment act, potential allies in future combat zones will be less likely to support the u.s. mission after seeing our afghan partners abandoned. mr. president, at the time in which the individuals were being evacuated, but many left behind, our offices, my staff and i received over 1,000 inquiries from kansas. inquiries really isn't the right word. pleas -- pleas for help. over 1,000 kansans related to us the challenges that their friends, their supporters, their comrades faced as a result of being left behind in afghanistan in those frightful two, three, four weeks in which so much uncertainty and our ability to evacuate was so lacking. over 1,000 kansans asked for my help. and while we were successful in some occasions, so many were left behind in such tragic circumstances and with such emotional appeals, emotional results from those who wanted to make certain that those who helped save their lives, they helped save theirs. my hometown pastor's daughter was a missionary, she and her husband in afghanistan, their plea to me was please help get christians out of afghanistan because we know they will be murdered if left behind. we must answer these calls and establish a pathway for our afghan partners to begin a new life in safety. we worked, and senator klobuchar mentioned this, we worked to ensure before we sponsored this legislation, we worked to ensure and we had tremendous help and cooperation from the original sponsors, we wanted to ensure that this legislation protects our national security. i was pleased to work with senator klobuchar anders to bolster the vetting process for newly arriving afghans. the updates outline the specific requirements, including mandatory in-person interviews for all applicants and agency briefings to congress on proposed vetting procedures prior to the vetting process, it mandates that the state department develop an emergency plan, including screening foreign nationals. i thank my sponsors and advocates for this bill. i thank senator klobuchar for the invitation to join her on the senate floor this evening and i urge our colleagues to support this bipartisan effort to help those who helped us. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 602, senate resolution 472. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 602, s. res. 472, reaffirming the partnership between the united states and the deminute can republic -- dmoan can republic. mr. durbin: i ask that the menendez substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the risks, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble 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. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of h. con. res. 82. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: authorizing the printing of revised and updated version of the document entitled black americans in congress, 1870 to 1889. the presiding mr. durbin: the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: unanimous i ask unas consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 876, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 876, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the coastal diswhroaning act -- zoning act. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be grieved to, -- agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: for ten months the ukrainian people have put up a valiant fight, a fight that many thought they would lose in just a few days, but here they are, still standing. as ukraine has liberated city after city, the world has borne witness to crime scene after crime scene. already 50,000 alleged russian war crimes have been documented, executions, torture, rape, mass graves, innocent people, men, women, and children dead in the streets or in their homes, some with their hands tied behind their backs, other with the signs of torture. president zelensky, who has bravely made the trip to washington this week and will speak to us in a few moments, have called on leader around the globe to ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities can find no safe havens in other countries. he's right. we must send a powerful message to vladimir putin and his henchman and the rest of the world that war criminals have no place to hide, let alone in the united states of america. but right now at this moment, there is an agreernlgus hoop -- egregious loophole that prevents holding these people accountable. senator grassley and i introduced justice for victims of war crimes act and give our prosecutors the tools they need to ensure war criminals have nowhere to hide, let alone the united states. the departments of justice, state, and defense support this change. congress must act. this morning i asked for unanimous consent and this bill was passed with unanimous consent. i wanted to put this statement in the record because i think it's appropriate as we gather in this chamber to walk to the house chamber for an address to the joint session of congress with president zelensky of ukraine that we keep in mind we are standing together with the civilized nations of the world on the side of ukraine and against the war criminals that vladimir putin is turning loose on the battlefield. let us stand together for the values which this country stands for and which the ukrainian people are dying for every day. this is a cause worth fighting for, and i'm proud to be part of the bipartisan effort to support president zelensky and the ukrainian people to bring freedom to their country. i yield the floor. : nondefense non- vengeance and below the rate of inflation. for a real dollar cuts. this is about americans. it's about american interest on the world stage. month after month, year after year, competitors such as china have methodically poured a money implanting into upgrading and modernizing their own militaries. they are constantly probing new ways to expand their military, intelligence, economic, political reach. indirectly or directly threatening american forces and our allies and partners forces. so, under these perilous circumstances, cutting defense spending in real dollars is democrats first wanted to do is simply not an option. and embarking on a potentially endless cycle continuing resolutions that give our military real dollar funding cuts because of inflation. and give defense department leaders no certainty whatsoever to either plan or to divest. it certainly not an option we can adopt. there is bipartisan funding bill is certainly imperfect. if senate republicans control the chamber we would've handled the appropriations process entirely different from top to bottom. given a reality of where we stand today senators have two options this week, just two. to give our armed forces the resources and the certainty that they need or we will deny it to them. on a related matter today members of congress on the opportunity to assemble in a joint meeting and hear from president zelenskyy of ukraine. i look forward to welcoming president zelenskyy to the capitol hearing from the ukraine people elected leader at a critical moment in their struggle, for their safety, and their sovereignty against russia's unhinged aggression. the people of ukraine have reminded the entire free world about the meeting of sovereignty and the price of freedom. they fought back against the invaders with inspiring bravery. and let's be clear the recent big part as a majority of the american people and bipartisan of congress support ukraine is not primarily about inspiring speeches or desire to engage in philanthropy. the ukrainian people are courageous and innocent and they deserve our help. presently zelenskyy is an inspiring leader but the most basic reasons to continue to help ukraine degrade and defeat the russian invaders are cold, hard, practical american interests. helping equip our friends in eastern europe is also a direct investment that reducing putin's future capabilities threaten our allies contest our core interests. defeating the russians will help prevent further security crises in europe. will prevent further economic chaos key american trading partners and hurt american workers and families directly. it will massively redone the arsenal available for putin for future efforts to use bullying and bloodshed to redress still other borders of the road. and it will send a stark warning to other would-be aggressors like the people's republic of china. by assisting ukraine today america's directly demonstrating our commitment to the basic integrity and national sovereignty. changing the calculus for others considering military aggression and lowering the odds of a far costlier and deadlier future conflicts in the process. so i'll say it one more time, contending our support -- might continuing our support for ukraine is morally right. but it is not only that it is a direct investment in cold, hard, american interest. that is why republicans rejectey rejected biden's original request recruiting assistance because it was insufficient. the administration's initial plan a sound there'd be a lull in fighting over the winter time so the disbursement of weapons would actually decrease. but hoping for the best cannot meet we can fail to prepare for the worst. with assistance or should be speeding up international deliveries to ukraine taught them to take back more territory and better prepare for wherever they go on their offensive. so, republicans push hard here in the senate to increase the amount of security assistance bill. but our democratic colleagues get around. the agreement on the table increases weapon purchases support ukraine beyond the present request. this assistance is international security interest. but it is also in america's economic interests with his investment topics and our defense manufacturing capacity and contribute to an industry that supports high paying american jobs. the money is tied to strong oversight requirements to ensure america's investments reach only the intended targets. there's been a meaningful oversight over ukraine assistance all along the way. including three separate inspectors general as a government accountability office. and on top of that possibly extend put in place even further expansions and oversight are in of monitoring and stricter reporting requirements. and mr. president, the oversight won't stop there. just a cent ranking cap is hard to maximize the impact of our assistance, the incoming house republican majority will use their gavels to keep it even closer eye on ukraine aid make sure the biden restoration is doing everything possible to rebuild our defense industrial base. while america is capable of leading this effort, we should not and are not doing so all by ourselves. rattled eastern front allies and partners in poland, lafayette, lithuania, estonia and fennel have risen to the challenge of backing ukraine in the fight against tierney. so to have some other european powers some allies across your deserve credit for making substantial starting to unwind years of neglect of national defense. but some other european allies have lagged behind. they can and must do more to spend with ukraine today and build our own strength going forward. finally we all know ukraine fight to retake its territories and to the beginning or the end of the broader competition with putin's russia. increasing the pressure on putin's regime can and should be of bipartisan priority. that will take concrete steps, sanctions not empty symbolism ene made it clear that without this aid package, the ukrainians will be in real trouble and could even lose the war. so that makes the urgency of us getting this legislation done all the more important and getting it done quickly without flaw. so for the information of all senators, we're still working on an agreement to vote on amendments and pass the omnibus tonight. we aren't there yet. we're making progress. but if we do not reach agreement, because of the urgency of getting this done, i will file cloture this evening for a friday cloture vote, and we're going to have a roll call vote on the schaefer nomination following the joint meeting. i yield the floor. i ask unanimous consent that when the senate reconvenes from recess this evening, it proceed to executive session for the consideration of executive calendar 780, agnes schaefer, to be assistant secretary of the army, that there be up to five minutes for debate on the nomination equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and that upon the use or yielding back of time the senate vote on the confirmation of the nomination as provided for under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask that the senate stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess subject senate stands in recess subject she will be the first woman to serve in that role. ukrainian president zelenskyy is visiting washington d.c. primitive president biden and later president zelenskyy schedules address a joint meeting of congress at 7:30 p.m. eastern today. love live coverage on the c-span networks. and when the senate returns watch live, here on cspan2. brexit bipartisan policy center held a panel discussion at deputy interior secretary tommy to discuss a range of issues including mining processes and domestic supply