Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20210316

revive and restore our small businesses and bring back jobs, and isabel guzman is exactly the right person for this task. having previously served in the u.s. small business administration, mrs. guzman knows the agency well. she understands the struggles that small businesses and workers face not just during this pandemic, but also their day-to-day needs. she will use the agency's tools to support small businesses, and she will fight fiercely on their behalf. 99% of nevada businesses are small businesses. this is a diverse community that embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of our state, and over the last year they have faced obstacle after obstacle. thousands of nevada business owners have called my office for help. these small business owners are, they're people who've poured their hard-earned money into starting businesses, people who dedicated their lives to starting the business from the ground up and they're people whose shops, stores and services, they're cornerstones for our community. and now, through no fault of their own, these small business owners are left wondering if their businesses are going to make it. last week president biden signed the american rescue plan into law. this is a major win for small businesses across the country. it includes targeted support for black, latino, aapi, and minority-owned businesses as well as support for businesses in our rural communities. over $1 billion in grants are in there to save our stages and independent live venues. there is over $7 billion for the paycheck protection program. there's $15 billion for eidl advance grants and $25 billion to keep restaurants afloat. this will provide real relief to small business owners, employees, and the families that they provide for. that count on them. for so many, this additional aid, it will mean the difference between a business keeping its doors open or closing them forever. and now we need an s.b.a. administrator who will see that this relief is delivered swiftly and fully. i'm confident that isabel guzman will be an asset in bringing our small businesses back. we must also do more for our small businesses, which is why if confirmed, i look forward to working with plaza guzman -- with mrs. guzman and the s.b.a. to remove the cap on eidl loans and provide full eidl advance grants to all eligible small businesses, giving greater access and relief that all our small business owners need. the eidl and eidl advance programs, they've helped countless small businesses in nevada and in states across the country through these tough times. but the arbitrary caps on these loans and grants, they're preventing small businesses from receiving the funding assistance they need to properly recover. full eidl loans and grants are what congress intended when we passed the cares act one year ago. it's what we promised small businesses at the beginning of the pandemic, so we owe it to america's small businesses and workers to keep our word. and i know isabel guzman is the right person to help us keep this promise. as we continue on the road to recovery made possible by the american rescue plan, i urge my colleagues to confirm mrs. guzman's nomination so that she can immediately get to work for our small businesses. thank you. i yield to the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i certainly share the good senator's views with respect to ms. guzman as well. madam president, --. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, the senate will soon take a procedural vote on the nomination of katherine c. tai to serve as the next u.s. trade representative. for senators who watched any of ms. tai's nomination hearing before the committee, you will know that ms. tai has a whole lot of fans on both sides of the aisle here in the senate. so i'm just going to take a few minutes to discuss some of the reasons why i think ms. tai is a terrific choice for this job. first, she knows that the name of the game when it comes to this country's trade policy is protecting and creating high-skill, high-wage jobs. our country saw for the past four years that a strategying, sending mean tweets and acting on chaos does not translate into more good jobs. under president biden and with katherine tai leading ustr, i am confident we'll have a more effective approach. ms. tai also has exactly the right experience for the job. she led crackdowns against china's trade cheating and job rip-offs. as the top trade staffer on the ways and means committee, she was at the forefront to improve the new nafta when the trump administration handed to congress a deal that just wasn't strong enough for american workers. she's already got a long track record of achieving wins for america's workers, businesses, farmers, and ranchers. second, ms. tai has committed to the finance committee that she will work to bring more transparency to trade policy, bringing more sunlight to the country's trade agreements ought to be a priority that every senator shares. that's why i'm glad that president biden has chosen somebody with congressional experience for the role of ustr. the constitution gives the congress authority over international trade, and unfortunately the congress over the years has delegated some of its power to the executive branch. so what that means is now all sides need to work together as partners with open channels of communication, accountability, and transparency. and when i talk about transparency, i'm talking about transparency with the american people. i know that ms. tai will continue to raise the bar for that transparency and communications with the congress because she has been on our side of policy making, and she's already proved that that kind of openness and accountability is a key priority for her. with a former senator in the white house and a former house staffer at ustr, i believe there would be a productive partnership with the congress so we can get trade done right and make sure that trade policy creates those high-skill, high-wage jobs that are a priority for every elected official. finally, there's another finance committee priority that i'll just mention. on thursday the committee will hold a hearing on the subject of stamping out forced labor around the world. forced labor is evil, it's morally repugnant, and it is a direct attack on workers in our country, because when american workers have to compete against slave labor, everybody loses. it is truly a race to absolute rock bottom when it comes to labor rights. ms. tai is committed to president biden's build back better agenda. a key part of that agenda is ensuring that our workers are competing on a level playing field with the rest of the world. it is certainly not a level playing field when other countries are producing goods with slave labor. our government has laws on the books that can crack down on countries using slave labor and keep those products out of our market, but it's going to require an unwavering commitment to tough trade enforcement. this will continue to be an area of special focus for the finance committee. our colleagues, senator brown, and i have worked on this issue for a long, long time. i know ms. tai is committed to working with us on it, and i know that she will work with colleagues on the other side of the aisle on this and other issues. it's an opportunity to stand up for what's right around the world and protect american jobs and wages at the same time. so katherine tai is qualified. she's got the rite diversity -- right diversity of experience. she's got her priorities right, which is to get more workers, more american workers into the winner's circle of trade policy. and she's going to do it in a way that promotes openness, accountability, and transparency. i believe ms. tai is going to have strong bipartisan support here in the senate when we vote in just a few minutes. i want senators on both sides of the aisle to know that ms. tai has consistently, throughout her time in public service, worked in a bipartisan way with respect to ensuring that at a time when modern communications and transportation have to some extent shrunk the world and trade has gotten to be more and more important, she is going to be on the side of workers, she is going to be on the side of trade done right. i'm with her 100% of the way. i urge all senators to support katherine tai for this crucial post at ustr, and i yield the floor. and i would note the absence of a quorum. i retract my request. madam president, i would ask unanimous consent for the scheduled vote to occur immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the guzman nomination. mr. wyden: madam president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 81, the nays are 17. the nomination is confirmed. the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to up voke cloture. 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 29, katherine c. tai of the district of columbia to be united states trade representative signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of katherine c. tai of the district of columbia to be united states trade representative, with the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 98, the nays are zero. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, executive office of the president, katherine c. tai, of the district of columbia, to be united states trade representative. mr. carper: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: madam president, good afternoon. i'm delighted to rise today in full support of katherine tai, to be our next u.s. trade representative. as my colleagues are well aware, trade is an issue that impacts every corner of our country and indeed every corner of our globe. listen to this. 75% of the world's purchasing power and over 95% of the world's consumers lie outside of our borders -- lie outside of our country's borders. if the united states is going to be -- continue to be successful, we need to be able to tap into those markets and expand trading opportunities while ensuring a level-playing field for american businesses, and i might say for american consumers as well. in dl del, the first -- in delaware, the first state, and throughout our nation, trade policy affects our businesses large and small whether it is workers, farmers, manufacturers can compete in the global economy. thanks to president trump's haphazard trade wars over the last four years, american farmers, manufacturers, producers and consumers too often have been left hanging in the balance. a situation that has been ex exacerbated by this pandemic. now, more than ever, all of them are in need of greater certainty and of predictability. the last 40, 50 years i served as senator when i asked businesses what they need, more often than not they seek certainty and predictability. for the last four years we had too little of both. we need strategic and thoughtful trade policies. that's why president biden has nominated katherine tai, an experienced public servant and trade expert to serve as our nation's top trade official. katherine will be a steadied hand at the u.s. trade represent's office and as a key member of the biden administration, she will make sure that our trade policies benefit all americans and leave no one behind. she will work hard to help jump-start our economy and ensure the american goods and services can reach international markets and that we can compete on al level-playing field. madam president, katherine comes to this role with an exceptional breadth and depth of relevant trade expertise. she is an expert in her field and a leader respected by democrats and republicans alike. in this chamber and in the house of representatives. in her previous role, katherine was chief trade counsel for the house, ways and means committee. she was the lead negotiate -- noartor on the trade agreement, which notably passed congress with an overwhelming bipartisan support. in no small part because of her efforts. members of my own staff are grateful -- grateful for the opportunity to work with katherine to secure historically strong environmental provisions, including newmontoring enforcement tools in the usmca, which will help make sure alleged environmental violations will be investigated and remedied -- investigated and remedied in a timely manner. these new tools an resources will help ensure that environmental protections are not just words on a piece of paper, but policies will actually be put into practice and consistently maintain well into the future. as chairman of both the environment and public works committee and the finance subcommittee on international trade, i look forward to working with my colleagues, with katherine tai and her team to build on the progress that was made in usmca. mr. president, another immense trade challenge we face is to effectively counter china's unfair trade practices and its influences in international trade. the since -- since joining the w.t.o., china has proved to be a bad actor time and again. i believe working with our allies in the pacific rim, in the spirit similar to the trans-pacific partnership, we can assure that china adheres to its trade commitments with us and the rest of the world. katherine has the expertise to make that happen. her prior experience as a u.s. chief council for china trade enforcement where she led enforcement to hold china accountable for unfair trade practices will prove to be a tremendous asset for our nation. madam president, we'd be lucky to have katherine tai, committed public servant, represent our nation on the world stage. as the daughter of immigrants and the first woman of color to be nominated to serve as a u.s. trade represent, katherine cites per parents -- her parents. katherine said in the committee hearing, she said, and i want to quote her, she said -- speaking of her parents, i'm proud of their service to our nation, a nation that welcomed them. and i'm proud to live in a country where in just one generation -- one generation, their daughter could grow up to represent the united states and our interests around the globe. close quote. those are her words. i too am proud to serve in a country where this is possible. madam president, simply put, katherine has decades of experience in trade, years of experience working in a trade -- in a bipartisan fashion, and keen understanding of the role congress can play alongside the administration to implement successful trade policies. as the world grapples with the greatest economic downturn since the great depression, it's more important now than ever to have a leader at the u.s. trade representative office, we will work with congress to advance a trade agenda that uplifts american workers in every corner of our country, spurs domestic manufacturing, and improves environmental labor standards throughout the world. given katherine's track record and many years of experience working across the aisle in congress, madam president, i'm confident that she has the broad support necessary to be a highly skilled and effective u.s. trade representative as she takes on the many trade challenges that we face. i invite my colleagues to join me in voting to confirm katherine tai to serve as our next trade representative. if i could, madam president, do i have a few more minutes to speak? the presiding officer: you do. mr. carper: thank you. there's -- my legislator director is a woman named cho, lucy is her first name and she said to me several months ago, after the election, joe biden was elected, she said, we were working on usmca last year, we worked with a senior member of the house, ways staff, to make sure that the laws are not only strong but are enforceable. she said her name is katherine tai. lucy said to me, i think that katherine tai might make a good u.s. trade rep and an interesting human story as well. i have huge respect for lucy's judgment. i turned around and called on the phone the chairman of the house, ways and means committee. i said, richie, does the name katherine tai mean anything to you? and he said she's a great member of my staff. i said she's been suggested as someone who would serve as u.s. trade representative. what do you think he said she would be excellent. the next call was to jeff, a former chief of staff for joe biden and was -- and i called former senator kaufman, who was in charge of trabs ition for the -- transition for the biden team. i said, i think we have a good name for a trade rep and i explained who katherine tai was and her work experience and what chairman richie said about her and i said she might be a keeper. and a week later he called and said we're getting great comments about katherine tai. and you doubt always have the best ideas, but occasionally you are the blind squirrel that finds a nugget. i i -- i think i have with lucy. that is katherine tai's story. she is a keeper and we're lucky to have her. if confirmed, she would succeed robert light lighthizer. those are big shoes to fill but she is able to fill them. with that, madam president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. a senator: i ask consent to end the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cotton: the senate is considering the nomination of california attorney general xavier becerra to be secretary of the department of health and human services. without question the senate should reject this nomination. in the midst of this pandemic, america deserves a health secretary who is solely, solely focused on getting shots in arms, getting kids back to school, and getting parents back to work. but that's not mr. bah sir ra. over his -- becerra. over his long career in politics, his primary passion has been ramming through a radical agenda and using the power of his office to persecute his political enemies. mr. becerra would be in charge of administering the nation's health programs but he virtually has no experience or expertise in health care. his only experience as far as i can tell has been his enforcement of california's excessive and traumatizing lockdowns over the last year. mr. becerra has been controversial's top cop overseeing the most draconian and unconstitutional series of lockdowns anywhere in our country. he has shuttered churches while liquor stores and marijuana dispensaries remain open. he has destroyed small family-owned businesses while enriching massive corporations. in the falls name of public health, he has rigorously enforced unscientific and unproductive measures that have ruined the lives of californians. today california is an -- california's unemployment rate stands at 9%. 45% higher than the national average, nearly two times higher than our unemployment rate in arkansas. that's the result of bad policy. and jobless californians have xavier becerra and gavin newsom for their struggles. every american should be alarmed by how this nominee would fight the pandemic, not with science, compassion, or common sense but with crushing political force. few americans believe that california's lockdown comsar deserves a promotion. unfortunately the senate may give him. he's also an advocate for the socialist takeover. he supports destroying union health care plans, crushing medicare advantage, and ultimately taking away your health insurance on the job which covers, i would add, 158 million americans. this disastrous boondoggle would cost $34 trillion and inevitably result in the rationing of care, hurting senior citizens most of all. medicare for all would in reality result in medicare for none. last year president biden acknowledged that medicare for all would yield massive tax hikes for middle-class families. yet joe biden selected a supporter of this disastrous medicare for all plan to be his top cabinet official on health care. and of course mr. becerra wouldn't be a biden administration nominee if he didn't also support open bor borders. but he has gone further on open borders than even most of the other biden administration officials saying out loud what so many democrats silently believe. he has openly argued for the decriminalization of illegal immigration. he's even stated with a straight face that illegal immigration does absolutely no harm at all, directly or indirectly to american citizens. if mr. becerra really believed that, he is hopelessly naive and needs to get out a little more. he can start by talking to the millions of americans who are out of work or whose wages have stagnated thanks to competition from illegal aliens. he could also visit the graves of thousands of americans killed by mexican drugs and terrorized by gangs like ms-13. if confirmed mr. becerra would oversee our nation's response to the drug crisis and the maintenance of many migrant detention facilities. his radical open borders advocacy would make matters worse on both fronts. it would also fuel the ever growing surge of unvetted, untested, and unvaccinated illegal aliens into our nation spreading the coronavirus in our communities just as it looks like we're about to turn the corner on this pandemic. and finally, mr. becerra holds opinions on abortion take are unacceptable, unjust, and far outside the mainstream. as a member of congress, he voted in favor of partial birth abortion, a disturbing and deadly procedure performed in the very last stages of pregnancy. and as california's attorney general, he tried to destroy anyone who opposed his extreme position on this issue. he brought 15 felony charges against pro-life, undercover journalists who exposed planned parenthood illegal and disgusting sale of baby body parts. a move that even the liberal los angeles times called disturbingly aggressive. he dedefend -- he defended an unconstitutional law that would have forced pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to advertise for abortions. the very thing it's their mission to oppose. something that the united states supreme court called a serious threat to freedom of speech. he even sued to force an order of nuns, the little sisters of the poor to purchase health care coverage that violated their sincerely-held religious beliefs. and asked -- like any bully, he tried to cover it up denying he sued the little sisters at all. if he will sue the little sisters, then what will he do to you and your family? a few of my colleagues have indicated they'll vote for mr. becerra despite disagreeing with these radical views. perhaps they think those are just his personal beliefs and that he won't practice what he preaches. perhaps they think that he won't undermine pro-life protections like the hyde amendment and use his office to persecute catholic nuns. i ask the colleagues to look at mr. becerra's records, not the words he utters to get your vote and then to reconsider their support because any honest assessment will show that xavier becerra is a partisan culture warrior who has consistently abused his office to punish his enemies and to enact far-left policies in congress and in california. if the senate confirms his nomination, they will be empowering mr. becerra to bring california's lockdowns, lawsuits, and liberal policies to all of our 50 states. and that would be a disaster for our country. i'll close with a simple request for president biden who campaigned on unity and ending a terrible pandemic. merely do what you said you'd do. send us a nominee who will unify the country and bring consensus, not one who will scrape by on the slimmest of majorities. send us a nominee who is actually a health care expert and the senate will gladly consider them. xavier becerra is not that nominee and the senate should reject his nomination resoundingly. madam president, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, about one year ago today, congress was in the midst of a debate about the most effective way to respond to the covid-19. on a call with his colleagues, the house majority whip, mr. clyburn, reportedly laid out his vision about how his caucus and the house should proceed. he said, it's reported, this is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision, close quote. for american families, this pandemic has been an unmistakable tragedy, one characterized by lost lives, lost livelihoods, but apparently for some, it's viewed as a tremendous opportunity. the partisan $1.9 trillion bill that was signed into law last week is proof that our -- that apparently democrats in congress and the white house agree. after all, this legislation includes a long list of non-covid-related priorities, again, completely unrelated to the crisis at hand. blank checks for mismanaged union pension funds, funding for climate justice, backdoor money for planned parenthood, and an exclusive paid leave program for government bureaucrats, and the list goes on and on. before the bill is even signed into law, folks on the other side of the aisle started advocating making many of the provisions permanent. this is an emergency measure. supposedly. but folks advocated making those temporary provisions permanent. further proof that this was more than just a pandemic relief response. this is about, in the words of mr. clyburn, restructuring government as we know it. but it doesn't stop there. now our democratic colleagues in the house and some in the senate apparently want to hijack the state and federal election system, starting with making temporary pandemic election responses permanent. of course, our elections are run at the state and local level. as a matter of fact, i recall, given the efforts of the russian intelligence services to interfere with our election in 2016, one of the strengths of our system was its disbursed nature, suggesting if it had been a single system, it would have been much easier for his adversaries to interfere and particularly in the cyber realm. but we know as a result of the pandemic states made provisional changes to their 2020 election processes to make sure that people could safely exercise their right to vote. in my state, we extended early voting. we allowed voters to submit mail-in ballots in designated drop boxes. several states expanded eligibility for mail-in voting. some like california took things even further and sent mail-in ballots to every registered voter. at the time these changes were billed as temporary, given the unique and extraordinary nature of the challenges presented by the pandemic, but as the house minority whip has said, this pandemic apparently is viewed as a tremendous opportunity to restructure the way we run and conduct elections. house democrats have passed legislation to make many of the temporary changes in 2020 election permanent and add a list of other so-called reforms in order to federalize our state and local-run elections. this is in the face of article 1 of the constitution that explicitly gives the states the power to regulate the times, places, and manner of holding elections, that this 791-page document creates a one-size-fits-all mandate for all states. it actually preempts state law, starting with mail-in balloting. any person in any state could request a mail-in ballot for any reason. there's no need to say why you can't vote in person, which is the current policy in most states. those ballots would not under this bill even have to be mailed in by the voter or dropped in a state-sanctioned ballot box because this legislation legalizes ballot harvesting. which means that mail-in ballots could be collected by paid activists or campaign staffers or anyone who has a stake in the outcome of the election. and it goes so far to specify that states may not put any limit on how many voted and sealed absentee ballots any designated person can return. it really sounds like an invitation to fraud, and you could see how this could go badly pretty quickly. maybe the ballot gets turned in with thousands of others. maybe it's altered. maybe it ends up in the trash. it's hard to say. that gets to one of the root problems with this legislation as it does create limitless opportunities for fraud. every single ballot cast illegally or due to fraud undercuts and neutralizes every legally cast ballot. one way -- one way this bill removes some of the most basic requirements of most states' valid integrity safeguards against election frauds is by removing any requirement of identification. this was, we should recall, one of the main recommendations of the bipartisan 2005 commission on federal election reform. cochaired by former president jimmy carter and former secretary of state james baker iii. the commission recommended that voters should be required to present photo i.d. cards and the states should provide free cards to voters who did not have a driver's license. in order to vote in person, most states require voters to produce some valid form of identification. i know mine does. in texas, there are three options -- actually, several options. a driver's license, a passport, a military i.d., citizenship certificate, and other forms of government-issued i.d. if for some reason you can't obtain one of these forms of i.d., there is still a process in place to allow a person to vote by presenting other documents, making sure that they identify the person casting the ballot. matching the name of an eligible voter with the name on a valid form of i.d. is a commonsense safeguard against fraud, but one which this legislation seeks to eliminate. you go to a convenience store, want to buy a six-pack of beer, or if you want to buy cigarettes or you want to get on an airplane, you have to present an i.d. card. but this bill eliminates that requirement when it comes to the most sacred duty and privilege that we have as citizens, and that is to vote. this legislation stops states from requiring voters to provide proof of identification. just sign a piece of paper saying you are who you are, and no one can ask any questions. on top of that, this bill would require the states to automatically register anyone in their databases for everything from d.m.v. to public assistance programs. well, we know these databases aren't limited to registered voters or even eligible voters. they could include people illegally present in the country, because some states allow driver's licenses to be issued to noncitizens who are not legally present in the country. these databases include other noncitizens and others not eligible to vote, not to mention the fact that those who are already registered to vote could be registered again and again. and even if there are duplicate registrations or if someone passes away or moves, states would not be allowed to clean up the voter rolls within six months of the election. just when you think things can't get any crazier, they do. our democratic colleagues are proposing that the taxpayers fund their elections. a lot of companies have a match program for charitable giving. if an employee donates to a charity of their choice, then the company will match that donation dollar for dollar. the same principle applies except instead of a charity getting the money, under this proposed legislation, it's now a political canon. instead of a company footing the bill, it's the taxpayers. and instead of an exact match, it's up to $6 for every $1 donated. that means someone who donated $200, federal taxpayers will wind up coughing up $1,200. well, i think there are a lot more -- there are a lot of better uses for government tax dollars that could go to support crime victims or support the response to the humanitarian crisis at the border, which we're experiencing right now, but, no, the proposal in this legislation is, let's use it to elect them. then there are the campaign vouchers. this bill creates a new program that provides eligible voters with a $25 voucher to donate to the campaign of their choosing. again, more government taxpayer-funded election activities. and i could go on and on. this legislation also alters the fundamental structure of the federal election commission to remove any need for bipartisanship or consensus-building. it undermines trust and accountability in elections. it implements a new financial disclosure policy that even the american civil liberties union says, quote, could directly interfere with the ability of many to engage in political speech about causes that they care about. that's the aclu. above all, this bill amounts to nothing more than a federal hijacking of state elections. i can promise you, folks, in my state -- folks in my state don't want speaker pelosi or majority leader schumer to determine how elections are run in our state. they want accountable leaders in our state elected by and accountable to them to determine the best way to conduct free and fair elections. following the last two presidential campaigns, the side that lost had expressed concerns about election security. a partisan attempt to overhaul our entire election system is hardly a confidence-building exercise. this bill is not a serious attempt to improve security and accountability in our elections. rather, it is a partisan power grab that will do serious damage to our republic. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i take no pleasure in coming to the floor today -- the presiding officer: there will be order in the chamber. the senator from new jersey is recognized. mr. menendez: we in the senate take pride in our decorum. yet there comes to a time when these verbal gymnastics simply won't do. you're either going to speak the truth or fail to do justice to the values you hold dear. what one of our colleagues said last week about the events of january 6 was felt by many to be racist and hurtful, a stain on the office he is so fortunate to hold. look, i get no one likes to be called racist, but sometimes there's just no other way to describe the use of bigoted tropes that for generations are threatened black lives by stoking fear of black men in particular. make no mistake, under different circumstances, he would have been afraid. he said, and i quote, had the tables been turned -- now, joe, this will get me in trouble -- had the tables been turned and president trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of black lives matter and antifa protesters, i might have been a little concerned. is that not racism, mr. president? i don't think the senator is ignorant of the fact that for centuries in this country white supremacy has thrived on using fear to justify oppress, discrimination, and violence against people of color. i do, however, think my colleague may be ignorant of the pain caused by his comments and unaware of how they compound the trauma that so many still feel in the wake of the events of january 6. and because i do not think i can do justice to that pain, i want to share with you an e-mail i received this weekend. it's from one of the most devoted public servants i have ever had the pleasure of working with, an african american member of my staff who is name is keith rober. he has served the people of new jersey and his community as a faithful church-defer and boy scout leader. it reads, senator, i would not norm allegely send you an e-mail like this, but i am at a loss at how to express the outrage and hurt i am feeling by the comments made by senator johnson that he would have been more afraid on january 6 if the insurrectionists would have been from black lives matter. i am press blessed to have been a member of your staff and have served in the new jersey delegation for 35 years. this is the most painful thing i have ever heard said by a u.s. senator. i cannot imagine that the painful events from january 6 could be replicate in a statement from a sitting helping of the senate. these comments are worse than the image of the insurrectionists walking through the capitol building with a confederate flag. he is perpetrating the racist trope that the country should fear black people. i have experienced what it's like to have a taxicab pass you by in order to pick up white passengers, who are further down the block of where you're standing. nothing can describe the feeling when you have entered a store and having store clerks watch your every step while shopping. sandy, that's his wife, and i have had conversations with our wife and son about how to enter a store, not look suspicious, keep your hands out of your pockets until you make your purchase or to you to respond and talk to police officers in any interaction. i've had the difficult conversation of explaining to a young black scouter in you are a scout troop why a white campground store clerk accused him of not making for -- paying for an item because he was black. this type of hate speech is not new. the hardest part of what he said is that in 2021 a united states senator would so freely express this type of hate out loud. i am so grateful for our officers who endured so many injuries on january, and i pray that they will recover physically and mentally. they are going through so much right now. i feel guilty that my e-mail to you might sound shallow because of the pain that they are trying to overcome. i understand the senate works best when both sides can find common ground, but how do you really reach common ground when such views can be he would? again, i'm sorry for reaching out late on saturday evening, but i needed to share this with you. mr. president, to read these pained words both broke my heart and boiled my blood. thousands of people of color served in the united states capitol workforce. they are legislative staffers like keith and police officers and maintenance workers, cafeteria staff and so much more. i should not have to stand here and remind anyone that many of them feared for their lives on january 6. but not senator johnson. he felt no fear. he wasn't afraid because, and i quote, i knew those are people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so i wasn't concerned. mr. president, people who love this country do not desecrate our most sacred democratic institutions and display symbols of racial hatred like the confederate flag in the halls of congress. people who respect law enforcement do not assault capitol police officers, beat them within inches of their death and hurl ugly epitaphs at officers of color. people who would never do anything to break the law, would not plot to kill elected officials and stop the peaceful transfer of powers instructed by the constitution of the united states. now, i know what some right-wing media pundits and some of my republican colleagues will say. they say it every time that they are asked to accept some responsibility for perpetuating the lies told by president trump that inspire the violent events of january 6. they say, what about black lives matter? they say, well, what about it? well, i say, well, what about it? the violent picture they paint of this movement could not be more divorced from reality. at this point, several reputable studies have confirmed that the protests launched in the wake of george floyd's chilling murder were overwhelmingly peaceful. i repeat, the black lives matter movement is overwhelmingly peaceful. i know many people don't care about facts these days, but it is the truth. one study out of harvard university analyzed 7,305 black lives matter protests. the conclusion? allow me to quote professor era chen width. she said, only 3.7% of the protests involve some kind of vandalism. some portion of these involve neither police nor protesters but people engaging in vandalism or looting alongside the protests. in short, our data suggest that 96.3% of events involve no property damage or police injuries and in 97.7% of events, no injuries were reported among participants, bystanders or police. likewise, the armed conflict location and event data project -- an organization i might add is partially funded by the u.s. department of state's bureau of conflict and stabilization operations -- examines 7,750 different black lives matter demonstrations across the nation last summer. they found just 3% of those protests associated with any violence or property destruction whatsoever. they also concluded that police departments, quote, disproportionately used force while intervening in demonstrations associate with the black lives matter movement relative to other types of demonstrations. indeed, on january 6, as we waited for hours for backup from the national guard and other law enforcement agencies to come to the aid of congress, i know that i'm not the only one who could not help but think of the violent government-sanctioned crackdowns that met black lives matter protests last summer. the bottom line is that these lies casting black lives matter as violent have already done real damage. they have convinced millions of americans that they should fear those who march under the banner of this movement for justice. when really it is the resurgence of violent white supremacy that should give americans real cause for alarm. indeed, last october the department of homeland security issued a report confirming that white supremacists pose the most lethal domestic terror threat to the american people. and research from the center for strategic and international studies finds that white supremacists and their sympathizer carried out two-thirds of terrorist plots about and alacks h. tax deduction in 2020. in the weeks since january 6, we have learned that extremist groups that regularly preach white president obamacy such as the oath keepers and proud boys played a major role in executing tack on the capitol. every member of this body owes their labors to the sacrifices made that afternoon by capitol police officers including officers of color. at least 100 officers were physically injured in the january 6 attack. one officer, a veteran and fellow new jersey's named brian sicknick, later succumbed to his injuries. and hundreds of officers now carry with them invisible scars from the trauma they endured that day, scars that may not fade for years or even decades. one of our colleagues to cast those a tacked the capitol as harmless patriots while stoking the fear of black americans is like rubbing salt in an open wound. everybody in this body should know that when you perpetuate such racist tropes, you contribute to a culture that gives people permission to treat black americans as suspicious and their lives as expendable. we in the united states senate are supposed to hold ourselves to a higher standard. we're supposed to advance america's long march towards a more perfect union, not coddle to those who would take us backwards. we are supposed to stand up for the truth. that's what brought plea to the floor today. i hope members of this body on both sides of the aisle will join me in making sure that we do not debase the institution and the people we are called to severn -- all the people -- for which so much pain has existed for years and exists still today. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. lankford: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, on january 20 of this years, president biden declared the repeal of an emergency action at our southwest border. he withdrew that and said there was no emergency that currently exists there and paused all funding for the border wall construction. stopped it. wherever it was that day, he ended it. on the same day he announced a 100-day moratorium. stopped it. within a few days the federal courts stepped in and said you can't stop executing the laws of the united states, and so the court halted his halt on moratoriums for deportation, in this case his deportation halt went through a federal court system had asked him to be removed from the united states. that's what president biden has trying to stop. federal courts stepped in and said when they have to be removed, the executive branch can't just ignore that. they have to be removed. that opened the floodgates. those two announcements together, that we're not going to do anymore border construction and the announcement of the border moratorium. it started the spread of the word for human smugglers that this president would allow people in. why would i say that. in the time i was sitting down with now secretary mayorkas, in his hearings, and i asked him in those hearings, there's a caravan coming to the united states right now with hundreds of people in it and growing, what is your message to them if you became the secretary of d.s.h., what would you want to make sure those folks heard? his response to me in the hearing was, i would tell them to wait. not yet. not yet. the coyotes didn't hear it that way. they've accelerated pushing people. so what's actually happening on the border? last weekend i spent the weekend in arizona just south of tucson, a small little town of 26,000 people that sits right on the border of new mexico. it's 26,000 on the american side, but on the mexican side it's a city of 450,000. it's a very large community on that side and literally they have built up the community directly against the border. so the border fence, and much of that fence has been there a very long time, they built properties directly against that fence. as mexicans, they can do that. that is their property to be able to do that. that's not the issue. but the interesting things was visiting with folks from h.h.s., who are taking care of minors and those handling the cross border transition, to be able to you go through that area and to be able to see. let me tell you a couple of things that i saw. the folks i visited with at h.h.s. that are taking care of the unaccompanied minors that are coming in, and we are seeing a significant surge of unaccompanied minors, because the biden administration said if you're 18 years old and up, because of the pandemic, we're not going to allow you in. it's called title 42 authority, the trump administration put that in place and said during the time of the pandemic we're trying to limit cross border transportation. the biden administration said if you are 17 and down, you can come in. what are we seeing, a massive surge of unaccompanied minors. saying, you can come, but don't bring your family with you. when i sat down with the folks at h.h.s., doing the best they can to take care of those kids, i asked them what are you seeing and the vast scroort of kids they are -- vast majority of kids coming across the border are 16 and 17-year-old males. when you hear there are kids crossing the border, we think there are 5-year-olds crossing the border, they are not. the vast majority are 16 and 17-year-old males and they are being transported to family members already in the country, most of them also illegally in this country, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters who are already here. we transitioned those kids to someone who can take care of them before the court hearing than had will take two years. they are crossing the border, 16 and 17-year-old males, being connected with a male already here, many illegal as well, and then two years before they go to a court hearing, if they go to the court hearing. when i visited with the folks at customs and border protection, they are frustrated with the funds given to them to take care of the needs of that particular facility and helping to manage the number of people that are coming through. they need additional assistance because in that very old facility, they need additional barriers to be able to help them manage the flow of people as they come through. and when i visited with border patrol, we prove just a couple of miles out into the desert, just to the west of this town of 450,000 people to go see the new fence that's being constructed. now, it may be hard to be able to see in this, but miles and miles of new fencing are going in, but on the day, january 20, construction was halted, and in this particular area, miles and miles of fencing, except for these gaps in the fence. those gaps were put in there to be gates so if they have to take care of the fence they can get access to both sides. for this miles and miles of fence something done except for the gate area and literally the steel for the gates are laying on the ground. why in the world would you do construction and have it stop to say, you can build everything except close the gates? the border patrol team has drug over some of the steel to stack in front of the gaps here to keep vehicles from driving through and try to put different barriers to slow down the traffic. along every one much these gaps of miles and miles of fence, they have to assign a border patrol agent to sit at the gap because it's the obvious place to literally walk through the fence. there's only one reason that you would have a fence like this for miles and miles and leave it open as a gap. to allow people through. worse than that, all the way through this construction area is just a dirt path they used for construction, but in the contract itself, it was setup to be able to allow for the fence construction first. remember, this is a wall system. there's technology an wall. walls are medieval, i get that, but there's a reason we still use fences in our backyard and there's still a reason we use fences as barriers because they work. they slow people down from actually crossing that barrier. but it's a wall system in place. for this, for miles and miles and miles, the contract, the way it's written, they put up the fence first, close the gate second and finish the road so border patrol can pass through here even when it rains and put in ground base sensors so they can detect when people are walking across. and then lights and cameras. all of the technology we talked about. in this room, i can't remember how many times i heard my democratic colleagues say, fences are old, let's do the technology. technology can help manage this. in this situation, the contract is out and done, the fence is already installed, except for the gates, but no technology is there. literally the biden team stopped before what even they claim is the effective part to even stop people illegally crossing the border. $1.6 billion was paused. that $1.6 billion goes to simply closing the gates an installing the technology. -- and installing the technology. that's what remains. this is nonsensical. i understand the biden team and some of my democrat colleagues want a more open border. they've been clear on that. this does not provide security for our nation. this is the result of saying i don't want anymore wall. this nonsensical system on our southern border with literally open areas that you could drive a truck through and where border patrol agents have to then sit at rather than monitor large areas, they are stuck monitoring the open door. listen, we can have arguments about immigration, but supposedly we all agree we should have border security. at least we used to. this doesn't make sense. but this is now the reality and it will sit like this for we don't know how long, maybe forever, until we, as a nation, determine this has got to change. it is an open invitation have things really changed significantly on the border? let me give you an example that is precovid. pre-covid, february of last year, before covid came through -- so don't say that this was -- that things have changed in covid. february of 2020, we had under 40,000 people that were apprehended crossing our southern border that month, under 40,000 pre-covid. that's a transition and arrest process. this february, with the only thing changing, being the change of presidents, we he had over 100,000 people illegally crossing the border. one year later, we go from less than 40,000 to over 100,000. this is a manufactured crisis that's happening on our border. a halting of closing up the holes in the fence, statements about we're going to do a moratorium that we're not going to have anyone deported anymore, changing the rules on unaccompanied minors to basically invite them to come into the united states again and statements like, kara vans, i -- kara advance, i would tell them to pause, we're not quite ready for them yet. that is not a pause at all. that is really an invitation. that is not me saying that, that's the thousands of people coming to be able to connect with relatives that are already here and to be able to walk through a process to be able to go around our visa application process, to be able to go around legal immigration. as be a country, we allow a million people year to legally come to the united states and become united states citizens. a million people a year. we're not a stingy nation in engaging with illegal immigration. there's a right way to do it and we welcome people to be able to do it the right way. this is welcoming people to do it the wrong way and that does not help our security as a nation. with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i come to the floor to speak about president biden's runaway spending proposals. i have to say, wait a second. this is not something i can support in any way. mr. president, we have a 50-50 senate, democrats have won a narrow margin in the house, but democrats in washington act like they have won a landslide and have a national mandate. they do not. if there's any mandate when you have a 50-50 senate and when you have a narrow range between the democrats and republicans in the senate, you would say it is a mandate to move to the middle. that's what the american people voted for, let's get to the middle. let's find solutions to move our country forward. it does seem to me what democrats are doing is an unpress precedented -- unprecedented overreach. democrats have been in control about a month and a half and it has already cost the american people $1.9 trillion. it's an astonishingly large figure. it's supposed to be coronavirus relief. one percent of the money went for vaccines. only 9% went to actually fighting coronavirus. but before they passed the bill, that's what democrats said it was for. it does seem to be the oldest page in the democrat playbook. you know, we all remember the old obamacare bill and debate and: -- and discussion. they said it was a tax. when they needed votes in congress they said it wasn't a tax. when they realized they were going to lose in court, they said it was a tax. all over again. we've seen the same playbook here. they said we needed more coronavirus relief, and then they passed this liberal wish list. once they had the votes, they admitted the bill was not about coronavirus, medical relief, health care relief or vaccines or fighting the disease. no, oh liberal wish list. don't just take my words for it. this is what the democrats said. the democratic leader standing right there said this. he called it a turning point that transformation the united states. the white house press secretary called it the most progressive bill in american history. one democrat leader in the house called it an ideological revolution. i guess they forgot it was supposed to be about coronavirus. it doesn't sound like coronavirus health care relief for me. after the bill passed, speaker pelosi admitted this was the same bill that she put forward last summer. back then "the new york times" looked at it and they called it more of a messaging document than a viable piece of legislation. "politico" called it a democrat wish list filled up with the party's favorite policies. never coronavirus relief bill. they used coronavirus to cover the payoff, to pay off all the most powerful people in the democrat party. $85 billion to union pension plans, irresponsibly h run. $26 billion for californian gavin new some. $12.5 billion for new york and governor andrew cuomo. big payoff for teachers unions and potentially millions for planned parenthood. president biden signed the bill and then he gave a speech a few hours later. in effect, he admitted, he admitted the bill doesn't get us one day closer to reopening our country. that's what this is supposed to be about -- getting kids back to school, getting people back to work and getting the virus behind us. president biden said, quote, there is a good chance, he said, that small groups of people can get together outside in july. well, he said this doesn't mean large events. democrats spent $1.9 trillion, and once again they moved the goalpost. congress already has paid for enough vaccine for every american to get vaccinated by the end of may. the centers for disease control says that getting vaccinated means you get your life back. it means you can have indoor gatherings without masks. america needs to be fully opened before the fourth of july. democrats haven't even finished their victory lap over the spending bill. they're already telling us they want more. here are just a few examples of what they propose to do not with their money, but with the american people's money, the taxpayers' money, the hard-earned dollars of people who go to work every day and send their tax dollars to washington. in the $1.9 trillion wish list, democrats tried to double the minimum wage by federal mandate. they failed. but they're going to keep trying. now of course the office of management and budget, who took a look at this thing said if they succeeded it wouldn't have forced 1.4 million americans who have jobs right now to be out of their jobs. because when you double the -- when you mandate to double the minimum wage, small businesses are either going to have to close or lay off certain people so they can pay the wage to others in an effort to keep the doors open. it means less tax revenue overall for the country. so it means more spending for unemployment insurance. if you add it up, it would increase the national debt by about $54 billion additional. in the $1.9 trillion wish list, democrats also wrote a big check to the teachers unions. they actually didn't need the money because in five bipartisan coronavirus bills that we have passed in overwhelming majorities, we sent schools $113 billion. schools haven't even spent most of that money yet. in fact, they have only spent about $16 billion of the $113 billion. there's almost $100 billion yet to spend. on top of that, democrats put up another $170 billion in their wish list. if you add it up, that's nearly $270 billion to spend with no promise, none, to reopen the schools. the democratic leader wants to forgive $1 trillion in student loans. subsidizing student loans, let colleges raise prices. that's exactly what would happen if leader schumer's plan becomes law. colleges don't need to raise prices. they need to lower the cost of education. senator sanders had an even more radical proposal. he wants to give all federal student loans -- now it costs $1.6 trillion -- forgive them all. just forgive all the loans. doesn't matter -- rich, poor, forgive all the loans. that would drive up the price of tuition even higher, if it allows colleges to get directly from the federal government without having to go through the students, the costs will escalate dramatically. let me remind my democrat colleagues, most americans don't have college degrees, yet under the democrat plans, all taxpayers, all taxpayers would have to pay for the college tuition for all the students, including those who have families that can clearly afford to pay the tuition to the college in which they attend. it doesn't matter. you go to the most exclusive college or you go to your state college, you have a debt, we're going to get rid of it says the democrat proposal. and the hard-working taxpayers of america are going to be stuck with the bill. count me out on that one, mr. president. democrats want to take tax dollars for people who don't have college degrees, never went to college, and give it to the left-wing professors at so many universities, and this is wrong. president biden also wants to double down on obamacare. he thinks obamacare didn't go far enough. according to one estimate, president biden's health care plan would cost about an additional $2.25 trillion. these are astronomically large figures, mr. president. his housing plan would cost $640 billion. democrats propose another $2 trillion in infrastructure spending. one democrat senator even called for doubling that amount, $4 trillion in new infrastructure spending. mr. president, this is just the tip of the iceberg. i could go on and on. if you add up all of the new spending proposals by democrats and the white house and the senate, it could cost nearly $12 trillion. by the end of this year the national debt is going to be bigger than our economy, and we have the biggest economy in the world. even before the democrats passed their wish list, we were on track for this year to have the second-biggest deficit since world war ii. when democrats increase spending, we know what's next. massive tax increases on the american public. and we heard it yesterday on the news, it's in the headlines, that's president biden's plan. first major tax increase in 28 years. he is proposing the biggest tax increase since 1993. he wants to raise taxes on businesses, on families, and he even wants to resurrect the death tax. let me remind president biden what happened after 1993. a year later republicans took back the house and took back the senate. so the 2020 elections were close, the american people didn't vote for this radical agenda -- and it is a radical agenda -- they didn't vote for $12 trillion in new spending and new taxes with increased tax rates and increased taxes on long-term investments. long-term investments like your home. increase taxes, the death tax, and more money for the i.r.s. so they can send l agents to investigate the american public even further. well, i would urge the biden administration and my democrat colleagues to listen to the people, the people that i hear from every weekend in wyoming. it's time to put down the credit card, time to stop the spending spree. time to move to the middle to solve the problems that our nation would be best if we would address for the people of this great nation. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: mr. president, we welcome about a million immigrants every year. we welcome them because they come here abiding by our laws, and we need immigrants, and we've been a welcoming country for a long time. but i come to the floor today to speak about the ongoing crisis at our southern border, a crisis that i think this administration doesn't want to admit is a crisis, and because of some changes in policy we have that crisis. and that crisis is people entering our country in violation of our laws. since taking office, this administration has advanced policies that undermine immigration enforcement. these policies undermine efforts to secure our southern border and they encourage illegal immigration into our country. president biden has signaled that when it comes to immigration that violates our laws, the united states is open for business. speaker pelosi and house democrats are doubling down on that position this very week. they're working to pass several mass amnesty bills that contain no provision related to securing the border. it turns out people are finally paying attention. the u.s. customs and border protection recently confirmed that it had encountered over 100,000 migrants attempting to cross the southern border in february. the first full month of this new administration. that's the highest total for the month of february since 2006. news report democrat blaming trump's policies for this situation that we're in. the number of single adults encountered at the southern border was up 175% compared to last february. the number of family units was up 170%. and the number of unaccompanied alien children was up 171%. the department of health and human services, which is responsible for the care of unaccompanied children after they arrive in the united states, had 7,300 unaccompanied children referrals in february. that's the highest number of february referrals in the history of the program. as of late last week, health and human services had over 8,500 unaccompanied children in its facilities. as of this past weekend, more than 4,200 were being held by the customs and border patrol holding facilities with nearly 3,000 being held past the legal limit of 72 hours. these are the kids in cages whom many of our democratic colleagues were so outraged about a few years ago blaming trump even though the so-called cages were created in the obama administration, just being reused again. curiously, we're not seeing nearly as much outrage now as we saw during the trump episode. where is our fair and balanced press today? reports emerged late last week that one border patrol facility in texas was operating at 729% of pandemic capacity. many minors who had been in custody for over five days were reportedly only able to shower once. if this was happening during the trump administration, our democratic colleagues would be expressing their anger and their outrage on any media outlet that they could find. but because this crisis is happening as a result of president biden's policies, we have mostly silence. president biden's border crisis reaches beyond just these staggering numbers that i have given you. first, it's a humanitarian tragedy, a crisis. the biden administration's policies has incentivized unaccompanied children and family units to make a very incredibly dangerous trip to our southern borders. on march 10, reuters reported that the mexican government is worried that the biden administration asylum policies, quote, are stoking illegal immigration and creating business for organized crime. end of quote, from the next scan government -- from the mexican government, reported by reuters. there's no doubt that cartels are profiting greatly from this trafficking. one mexican official was quoted as saying, quote, migrants have become a commodity. end of quote. the article went on to discuss how gangs are diverse identifying -- are diversifying methods of smuggling and how smugglers are advising migrants on how to more easily apply for asylum in the united states, including by bringing children. it also described how higher concentrations of migrants in areas near the u.s.-mexican border have encouraged gangs to recruit some migrants as drug mules and to kidnap other migrants for what? for money. this is a tragedy, and it's a tragedy created in just recent weeks by changes of policies at the border by this new administration. second, president biden's border crisis presents a public health threat in the middle of a pandemic. recent reports have indicated that the administration plans to turn two texas facilities where migrant family units are being held into rapid processing centers. the plan is to hold the family units for three days or less. it is unclear if all of these migrants are being tested for covid-19 when they're being tested, how they are being tested, and how they're being handled if they test positively. recent media reports also indicate that 100 undocumented immigrants who were released by department of homeland security into the united states later tested positive for the virus. in these times as we're all concerned about the pandemic, it can't be acceptable. finally, president biden's border crisis has created a situation that is overwhelming the men and women who work to protect our borders. it's straining the resources of agencies that must cope with the results of this administration's misguided immigration policies. one of the most important responsibilities of the federal government, any presidential administration, republican or democrat, is to enforce our immigration laws in ways that ensure the sovereignty of our borders, protects the american people, and lastly discourages illegal immigration. it's clear that this administration has failed to live up to this responsibility. i hope that president biden changes the course and begins to work with congress in a bipartisan way to secure our borders and at the same time reform our laws in ways that discourage this violation of our immigration laws by people just willy-nilly crossing the border, even being invited here. if they instead continue on their present course, this will be just the first of many border surges to come over the noarks four years -- come over the next four years. what we need is to keep our doors open as we have done for decades with legal immigrants and do everything we can to discourage people to come here in violation of our laws. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i'm on the floor today -- the presiding officer: senator, we are in a quorum call. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from the ohio. mr. portman: i am here to talk about workforce training, an issue always, but particularly now as we come to the point where we're coming out of the covid-19 crisis. it's a significant issue to be able to help individuals to be able to achieve their god-given potential in life. but also its really important to our economy becauseworkforce is really one of the big challenges we have. to be able to have good-paying benefits but also to help our economy to fully recover from the effects of the pandemic. it's been over a year since the pandemic changed all of our lives. in the early weeks and moppets of that crisis, it look -- and months of that crisis, it looked like things were going to continue to be tough. i stayed in touch with business owners and workers across my home state of ohio to see how they are handling the painful side effects in the recallly months. finally, things are getting better. we're beginning to see more reopenings. in ohio we just learned that people are going to be able to get vaccinations if they are that he 40 years or older versus 60 years or old other at the end of this week. and in another ten days, everybody 16 years of age and up will be able to get a vaccine. i spent five hours directing people and heard a lot of emotional stories about people excited about getting back to their families, grandparents being able to see their grandkids for the first time in a year. and the opposite, children being able to visit their parents or grandparents for the first time since the pandemic hit. and people excited about getting back to work and school. so we're going to be able tow see this because of operation warp speed and the heroic efforts of our medical re-searchers. we just found out that the economy added a healthy number of jobs in february. that was encouraging. and more and more businesses again are reopening and replacing the signs that said closed because of covid to signs that now say help wanted. i was at a hearing today and the representative from the national association of manufacturers told us that there are over 500,000 manufacturing jobs that are being offered right now. in other words, there's a shortage of manufacturing skills right now. so that's a good thing in a sense that that means there will be opportunity. but we've got to have the skills to be able to fill those jobs. perhaps most promising, the congressional budget office, called c.b.o., a group that gives us advice on the economy, said that even without the most recent spending package, the $1.9 trillion package, that the economy is going to trover where it was prepandemic -- to recover to where it was prepandemic. in february, a year ago, we had the 19th straight month of wage growth of 3% or more. we had 3.5% unemployment, 50-year low. we had historically low employment for blacks and hispanics. the lowest poverty rate we had in 60 years. bringing people out of the sidelines and in to work. but obviously the pandemic hit hard. and now as the economy begins to recover, again we've got to be sure that people have the skills they need to take advantage of a growing economy. the pro-growth policy that we've had along the way, including the tax cuts, tax reform, regulatory relief had helped to make sure that economy was not just strong but also inclusive. so we've got to depend -- to keep that up as well. pre-covid we had struggles finding workers with skills. we're back there again. so if we want to get back to the kind of kind we want, the workforce has to be addressed. i think it will be a bigger challenge now because during covid-19 there has been dislocation in the economy. some jobs will be lost and people will have to find new jobs and develop new skills. some will have to leave the hospitality sector and go into the tech sector or the manufacturing or health care sector. so that ability to shift jobs and develop new skills is more important than ever. i am hearing it from employers all over ohio that as unemployment continues to fall, there are thousands of job openings for positions like welders and machinists. i mentioned the figure of 500,000 jobs available right now. we're certainly seeing that in ohio in our factories. medical technicians in hospital -- a lot of interest in techs and in people willing to work in health care to help others. computer programmers, coders -- almost every sector of the economy is looking for people that have coding skills. so these are the kinds of jobs that economists call the midlevel skills. they need more than a high school degree, four sure, but don't need a college degree and they actually are jobs that pay quite well with good benefits. so these are the kind of jobs that we need to be sure that we're providing out there. the supply skilled workers in that category, students pursuing post high school certificates in one of these skilled areas falls pay short. they call it the skills gap. it is holding back our economy from reaching its potential. just as it is holding back individuals from achieving their potential. there is one study from 2019 that found that the skills gap could cause us to miss out on $1.2 trillion of economic output over the next ten years. so, unfortunately, that skills gap hasn't been closed. i think it's more important than ever that we address it. the best option think is to tackle it head-on by getting more people enrolled in these programs that can provide the skills training and equip them with the specialized skills they need. when people hear the words skills training, they are first thought is of c.t.e., technical training. there are some great programs across the country. some in my generation called it vocational training. this is not your father's oldsmobile. this is high-tech stuff and really exciting what's going on and these -- in these programs run by middle schools and high schools that teach students an incredible variety of skills, manufacturing skills, culinary arts. they're incredibly popular. the good programs are really oversubscribed. one data point said that 92% of high school students are taking some kind of skills training course from the program. that doesn't mean 92% are enrolled full-time but taking at least some of those courses. i visited those programs across ohio. they are suspicionized -- specialized high schools that offer a more specialized passage. by the way you this path, this specialized path where you get these skills leads to no student debt, assuming you can find a way to pay for the skills training, which we'll talk about in a second, and good pay, as opposed to many people who go to college and end up having a lot of debt and not having a degree that enables them to get the kind of job that they wasp. so it is a great -- that they want. so it is a great option. i am cofounder and cochair of the technical caucus with my colleague, tim kaine of virginia. we've provided more federal help for these programs. we've gone from two to more than 29 senators in our c.t.e. caucus. our job is to increase awareness and get students interested in that kind of career training, provide the resources and opportunities that will then provide them what they need for good jobs with good pay. we have also worked together on bipartisan legislation to make sure the federal government is a better partner to states and local communities as they work to ensure that young people have these skills to find good jobs. but c.t.e. at the high school level alone isn't going to solve our workforce needs. most certificates requiring more than the c.t.e. training. and c.t.e. training, as outstanding as they can be, are usually inbeing a he isable to americans who are no longer of high school age but would stand to benefit greatly from these programs. so people who are out of high school, adults, to get that more advanced certificate, the best option is to attend a certificate-granting technical workforce training program, the kind offered by your local community college or your technical school. these programs are outstanding. at ohio technical schools like the eastland fairfield career center, the delaware area career center, stark state, others i've spoken with students in technical programs who tell me how excited they are to put these skills to work. individuals often cannot afford to i can ma the in-- cannot afford to make the investment s i talked to someone is stark state in summit county, akron, 0 he owe. she told me an interesting story. show said that they have a real need in that area of ohio and frankly around the country for truck drivers. so for people to have the certificate which is called a c.d.l. commercial truck driving licenses. it costs $5,000 to get a c.d.l. even though these students would be making that $5,000 and more in the coming years because truck driving is going to be quite a good career for them, $50,000, $70,000 a year plus benefits, the $5,000 was just too much of a burden. too high a hurdle. so her view is, you guys have to help us to be able to help students get into programs they want to get into. i remember talking to a welder at a career and technical high school program. it was a woman. one of two women in a class of 12 people, ten guys, two women. and she was doing some pretty sophisticated welding. but she said she wants to take it to the next level. she wanted to be an under water welder, which pays a lot. we're talking over $100,000 a year easily and yet she couldn't get the skills at the high school level. when she was offered a pell grant to go to college, she decided to take that instead even though she wanted to be a welder, the government couldn't help her to go to welding school and this welding school is expensive. it makes the $5,000 for getting the c.d.l. look like nothing. so it was tens of thousands of dollars to get to advanced certificate. but she was offered the pell grant to go to college, so she was going to college even though she would rather be a welder. these welders are highly sought after. it's one of those examples where we could direct these federal resources, not take away from colleges an universities, but into training programs, it would make sense. and that's how i get to the pell grant. senator kaine and i have introduced legislation that is called jump-starting our businesses act. it is the jobs act. it makes all the sense in the world. it says instead of getting a pell grant that can only be used to go to college or university, you should be able to use a pell grant to get a shorter-term industry-recognized certificates. i think it would be better for the students and certainly better for the economy. those are the middle-skills we need so desperately and yet we're not supporting those students. by the way of those students who end up going to college with a pell grant, they say that few or half end up getting a college degree in the end. why? well, the pell doesn't pay for your full expenses. there are very few colleges that get a pell without significant expenses on top of that. a lot of people drop out and go back to work as opposed to the career training programs where, number one, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. you've got ten weeks in the training program. you can get there. and you can see the rainbow at the end of that, which is a job, a great job with good benefits plus the $6,400 for the pell grant pays for it. it is paid for by the pell grant. it's a really good idea. the jobs act is something that tim kaind i -- senator kaine and i introduced before and we're introducing it again this week. we want the low-income students get what they need to be able to get the good job and we want the economy to be able to get those positions filled so we can continue to grow our economy as a country. by the way, it doesn't mean the students aren't going to go on to a college or university. i was at a c.t.e. program several years ago talking to some students, one of whom was going to a local manufacturer who was going to supply g.e. aviation, which makes aircraft engines. he made $50,000 a year at the time. he was learning welding and other skills. that company ended up paying for his college later, which i later found out, which is not atypical. it is a good example of where it doesn't mean you won't go to college. some want to, some don't. this young man wanted an engineering degree and this company was happy to help him do and so he could come back to the company and provide those skills. whether it is how to program expiewt computers, these -- program computers, this helps to keep our economy moving. increasing access to the skills training through the jobs act can also serve to lend a helping hand for those who lost their job due to covid-19. as i said earlier, many jobs have come back and continuing to come back as we open up our economy, we're still down about 9.5 million jobs than before the pandemic. some businesses are now closed or in industries that have struggled and maybe fundamentally changed as a result of the pandemic. in other words, some of these jobs won't come back so people need to reup their skills training. folks who have had those jobs, giving them the option to invest in a new skills set through a technical education funded by a pell graint is a ray of hope, a chance for them to get back on their feet to find new, exciting, good-paying jobs. i'm pleased to say the jobs act has been endorsed by the national goals, association of community colleges and trustees. last year it was the number one priority among the community colleges, the american association of community colleges and other groups. the reason the jobs act has this kind of support is that it will help fill the skills gap we have right now. it will cover programs that require 150 hours and eight weeks to complete. alternative programs require too many hours, 320 hours. ohio community colleges told me none of their short-term training programs would qualify under that requirement. welding, precision machining, electrical trades, we need the jobs act now. as we work to get our economy back up to speed, the jobs act is a top priority for senator kaine and myself and other members both sides of the aisle. let's be sure we get this legislation across the finish line. it just makes too much sense. it is going to help tens of thousands of people have better opportunities, it will help our economy fill the critical jobs. we need to seetion this -- cease this opportunity and ensure that ohioans and all americans have the opportunity to develop skills and grow in the career of their choice an fulfill their potential in life. i yield back. mr. peters: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 118, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 118, honoring army chaplainemile jay kapon. mr. peters: i ask unanimous consent that 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, it is so ordered. mr. peters: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it recesses until 10:30 a.m., wednesday, march 17, that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and 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 and resume consideration of the nomination of katherine tai to be trade representative and, finally, that the post-cloture debate time with respect to the tai nomination expire at 11:30 a.m. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. poot pete for the -- mr. peters: for the information of senators, we expect two roll call votes during wednesday's session of the senate in relation to the tai trade and becerra h.h.s. nomination. if there is no other business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand in recess under the previous order. the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, mr. mcconnell: mr. president, >> mr. president today like w to begin with a few quotations. quote the legislative filibuster is the most important distinction between the senate and the house. without the 60 vote threshold

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