So after the handouts and giveaways and entitlements and the earmarks, whats left for regular middleclass working stiffs . Well, we know that the really big gifts come in the smallest panels. So i see a stocking here. It says taxpayers on it. Let me see whats in there. Oh, my word. That looks like coal. A lump of coal. Well, that lump of coal must represent the massive 367 billion that will be added to the debt by the democrats reckless tax andandspending bill. Of course, we all know that figure is going to be much higher in reality. If all the temporary provisions in this bill are made permanent, it will increase our budget deficit by nearly 3 trillion this decade. It seems that democrats want our children and grandchildren to pay for this bundle of goodies through the layaway plan. G. D. P. Is expected to fall because of build back better. The cost of living is expected to rise even more because of build back better. And despite the promises of President Biden and my Senate Democratic colleagues, but despite their votes right here on this floor, if build back better were to become law, taxes would be raised on lower and middleclass americans who are just trying to get by this christmas season. Ho ho ho ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this christmas season, democrats are not offering jobs or good cheer. Instead, this feels like the nightmare before christmas. Colleagues, the best present all of us can give the American People is to do whatever is in our power to stop the build back better act. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from ohio is recognized. Mr. Portman i appreciate the comments of my colleague from indiana. One of the things he didnt have in that christmas stocking was a lump of coal. There is a lot of stuff in there that is really bad for our economy right now, bad for our families, bad for our workers, and when you think about it, right now were at a time of high inflation, supply chain difficulties, record levels of debt and deficit, and an uncertain economy due largely to the uncertainty regarding covid, particularly this new variant, the omicron. So this is not a time for us to be putting forth a massive new spending bill and a massive new tax increase on the american economy. Its a time for us to retrench a little bit and try to help to get back to where we were before covid19. Remember, that was a time when after the 2017 tax reforms we had a great economy, by any measure, and it was an opportunity economy. The lowest poverty rate since we started keeping track in the 1950s. After february, after going into the covid19 period, february 2020, we had 19 straight months of wage gains of over 3 . That was over inflation because inflation was so low. So people were feeling it. They were actually getting a wage increase. In my state of ohio, that was the first time in probably a decade and a half. Now its just the opposite. Wages are actually down when you take inflation into account. And inflation is high, as everyone feared, because weve dumped so much on the demand side of the economy and the supply side is restricted, in part because of whats happening with covid, and it creates this inflation. This was warned by not just republicans like myself but back in march when President Biden and democrats put 1. 9 trillion into this economy, the most ever, the biggest bill ever, was to larry summers, former secretary of the treasury under president clinton, n. E. C. , National Economic chair, under president obama who said, you know, this is going to stoke inflation. Its going to overheat the economy. Thats exactly what it did. So we have this high inflation. We have these record levels of debt and deficit. Were talking about extending the debt limit right now people think the number is is going to be, just to extend it for about a year, over 2 trillion, meaning that were spending so much more than were taking in, and yet theres this discussion that somehow before christmas were going to put forward this build back better legislation that was just talked about. Its not Building Back america better. Unfortunately, its building us worse off than we were. And adding to inflation, adding to the supply chain difficulties, adding to the debt and deficits at record levels and certainly doing nothing with regard to covid19. So why would we do this . And why would we do this now . It makes no sense. Well, because i guess there was a promise made. They were going to have this massive new spending and this massive new tax increases. Whats in in . Well, on the spending side, when you look at it, it is the largest spending bill ever put forward by the u. S. Congress, unless you believe that its really only 1. 7 trillion instead of two or three times that. In that case, its the secondbiggest ever. The analysis ive seen from those who have said there are a lot of sunsets in there, the Child Tax Credit only lasts for one year . Does anybody believe that . The spending will continue to increase. The tax increases dont cover them so therell be a big gap in terms of the deficit and the prodetections are its more like 4. 5 trillion in spending. So the largest tax increase in the history of our country by far. Were talking about doing this at a time when we already have record levels of debt and deficit and driven by covid a lot of uncertainty . Our economy. On the tax side, i could argue its even worse because the tax increases are going to be hard on workers because theyre taxes on businesses. What the joint committee on taxation say, which is the Nonpartisan Group here in congress which advises us, what c. B. O. Say, Congressional Budget Office says, what other outside groups say is the same thing. When you tax these businesses, who gets taxed . Businesses. Lower wages, lower benefits. 27 of the increase in tax increases would be coming out of workers pockets. Lets look a little deeper. There is a 15 minimum tax, a new alternative minimum tax, which is always complicated for everybody to figure out what that is. But in this case its called the book tax. Now, i dont know if this was on purpose or not, i assume it wasnt, but the book tax, as you apply it to our economy, will result in real damage to things that most people think are important, like defined benefit plans, pension plans. Democrats and republicans alike have supported defined benefit plans. I support them. Unfortunately, there arent as many as there used to be. But therell be even fewer if this passes. Why . Because when you calculate your taxes under the book tax, you now have to take into account whatever your asset increase is in your pension, and if you are one of these companies caught up in this, you could well find yourself in a situation where for the First Time Ever you get into you get no deduction for our contribution to our pension. You get into benefit in your company. And your profits in your company may not be enough to pay those taxes. Heres an example of this. There are some companies who have figured out this problem. By the way, there are some unions figuring it out, too, a lot of Union Workers are caught up in this as well because they have defined benefit plans typically. The company is saying, okay, if i make 100 million in profit and if i have a 2 billion or 1 billion increase in my pension, assets, and you apply a 15 tax to that, a im not going to have enough money to pay my taxes. So what are they going to do . They could declare bankruptcy. They could get a loanables which again hurts workers they could get a loan, which again hurts workers. Thats in this legislation. Why would we want to hurt defined benefit plans . I think it was an effort to raise taxes but were going to do it in a way that it does look like were raising taxes. Its going to hurt, again, workers in america. All of us i thought were kind of supportive of bonus depreciation. In 2017, the tax bill, this was put in place where you can immediately write off expansion of plant and equipment. Retail loves it, restaurants love it. So do manufacturers. They use it a the although. Those they use it a lot. Under the book tax, you have to go back to the regular appreciation so you are not writing things off the first year. Why would we want to do that right now with the uncertaintyern with covid, with the Inflation Fears . Thats in this legislation. Lets talk quickly about the salt provisions. We already know what that is because its gotten a lot of play. But the state and local Tax Deduction means that in state states like mine, ohio, were subsidizing hightax states. If if youre from ohio, by having a deduction for our state and local taxes on the federal level, its unfair to the states that have done the responsible thing and try to keep taxes under control. In this legislation, democrats say, no, were going to increase this cap from 10,000 to 80,000 a year. Provide more help to the none of that benefit goes to those in the top 10 . 285 billion is devoted to this. 100 billion than is devoted to the cornerstone social safety net program, the child care credit in this bill. Over 100 billion for this. So how does this all shake out in terms of who its helping, who its hurting . Heres what the numbers are. This is again joint tax committee, folks who are nonpartisan looking at this. Almost 70 , almost 70 of people who make a Million Dollars or more a year are going to get a significant tax cut because of this legislation. Think about that. Its about 68 plus, if you make a million bucks or more a year. If you are a he a millionaire, youre going to do well. If thank you make between 500,000 and a million, 90 are going to get a tax cut under this legislation. But if you make 30,000 a year, only 30,000 only 30 of people who make 30,000 a year are going to get tax relief from this legislation. Thats just in the first year. In the second year, it goes down below 30 to 12 . In the third year, 10 . Then it goes down to single digits. So the benefit is heavily skewed toward higherincome americans. Why would we do that . Are we worried about millionaires . But thats in this legislation. So, again, i would say build back better i dont think so. We were building pretty well when we had the lowest poverty rate in the history of our country, when we had the lowest Unemployment Rate for blacks and hispanics. When we had a situation where wages were going up, again 19 straights month 3 or more wage gains. It was real wage gains above inflation. Lets get back to that. Thats how you grow the opportunity economy. Thats how you give people a chance. Thats how you help everybody. But lets not do this massive new spending bill because more inflation, massive new tax increases that are going to hurt the economy and hurt workers, especially coming into the holiday season. Lets instead do something that gives the American People the gift that they deserve. I yield back my time. Mr. Blunt madam president . The presiding officer the senator from missouri is recognized. Mr. Blunt were a little beyond our time on this side. But im grateful to my friend from rhode island whos willing to let me have a chance to make the points i wanted to make. And i think as is often the case here, many of them have already been made and were just made pretty well by senator portman, certainly in the spending bill that he was talking about. We keep hearing that a majority of all americans like these programs. That if they could just know what was in the bill, theyd like the bill. Were going to have some time now over the next few weeks im confident to talk about whats in the bill. These are programs that are supposed to make life better for Everyday Americans and, you know, things like paid family leave. Im sure that would be helpful in many, many cases, but what the gentleman from ohio was just talking about, you know, four times what this bill would spend on paid family leave it pays on tax cuts for the wealthiest families. People begin to look at that, they are going to have to wonder how is that priority established to where the secondbiggest spending item in the entire bill would be tax cuts for the wealthiest families in america, 230 billion of that 1. 7 trillion is tax cuts for those families, the deductibility of state and local taxes goes from 10,000 as a cap to 80,000 as a cap, and let me just repeat what i think i just heard, which was that 70 of this tax break, 70 of that entire 230 billion, goes to the top 5 of all taxpayers. 94 goes to the top 20 , 85 goes to the top 10 . Those are pretty big numbers in a bill that is supposed to make life easier for everyday american challenges. Im sure the top 5 of all taxpayers have their own challenges. Im also sure theyre different than my challenges. But they are not the challenges that Everyday Americans face, and its pretty amazing, i think, of all the discussion of what this bill is designed to do that thats what would happen. Let me talk about one our topic as i make way here for the senator from rhode island. I want to talk a little bit about the Vaccine Mandate and what im hearing about that. Yesterday in a vote in the senate on the congressional review act, where we have an opportunity to look at regulations proposed by the administration, 52 senators from both parties, senators from both parties made up that, 52 senators voted not to go forward with this mandate. Madam president , its very possible to be provaccine and not promandate. Im provaccine. I over and over again have recommended to my friends and my family that you get the first shot, and now if youre available for the booster shot after youve had either one or two of the other shots, get that one too. The vaccines have made a big difference, and, frankly, my advice would be unless your doctor tells you you shouldnt do this, i think you ought to do it. But the mandate just appears not to be working. Im not even going to assume it was designed in a way that the administration thought it would have the impact it appears to be having. But its clear and its out there, and you know it and i know it. As i visited with missouri hospital administrators, they may be at a place where just a few days ago if that mandate would have gone into effect where you couldnt get medicare or medicaid patients paid for at your hospital if you werent 100 vaccinated, fortunately a federal court said, were not sure the president has the authority to do that, so were going to postpone that. But as we approach that deadline, i kept hearing from more and more hospital administrators that we think we can get most, almost all of our professional staff vaccinated. But werent even sure about that. But were absolutely sure we cant get 100 of the people that work in the cafeteria and mop the floors and provide security for the building, we cant get them vaccinated, so we wouldnt be able to participate in those programs. That would create a serious problem, particularly in small rural hospitals. Or the next mandate, the one for every group that has more than 100 employees in it, all kinds of Police Officers for whatever reason either dont want to get vaccinated or dont want to be told they have to be vaccinated. You know, we have enough problems right now finding Police Officers and firemen and first responders, that if you delete those forces, our current problems are even bigger, and thats what will happen. If youve got that 100person force but you still want to be a police officer, in all likelihood within driving distance theres a 20person police force or a 5person police force that may be a little easier, safer job anyway, and not being told by the government what you have to do. Hearing that from schools, we have schools where the National Guard is driving school buses in some places. And, by the way, a lot of people in the National Guard are thinking about leaving the National Guard if they have to do Something Like this. What people really, i think, resent is when government tells them you have to do this and you have to do it for your own good. If its for your own good, thats probably a decision that you should be allowed to make. But whether youre allowed to make it or not, the response to all these mandates, whether its the health and Human Services mandate on hospitals or the mandate on federal contractors, which, by the way, we need those federal contractors or we wouldnt have contracted with them, or the mandate on policemen and fire mep and grocery firemen and Grocery Store workers. I saw a number the other day, i think it was 56 of people that work in a Grocery Store would rather work somewhere else after what theyve gone through the last year. Shorthanded, more people getting food at the Grocery Store than ever before. Theyre looking for a reason to say, okay, im done with this. We need our Grocery Store workers. We need our health care providers. We need our policemen. We need our firemen. We need our school bus drivers. We need our teachers. This is not working. Fortunately up until now federal judge after federal judge has said we dont think you have the authority to do this, and were going to suspend the implementation of these mandates. I think this gives the Biden Administration a chance to look at this again and realize the unintended consequences of what they were trying to do might be more significant than the consequences of what would happen if you forced compliance. And with that, i would yield back and again thank my friend for giving us a few extra minutes. A senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island is mr. Whitehouse madam president , its my pleasure, and i appreciate my friend, senator blunt. Im here today to rise for the tenth time to talk about the rightwing scheme to capture our Supreme Court. As the presiding officer knows, ive delivered a lot of speeches on the senate floor, and a majority of them, 279 of them to be precise, addressed Climate Change. My time to wake up speeches, many of which focused on the network of phony front groups and trade associations used by the fossil fuel industry to block in a meaningful block any meaningful climate legislation. That vast web of climate denial and climate obstruction is one of the main reasons that we are in the Climate Crisis we face today. Im here today to report that there is common technique behind that smelly climate denial operation and the rightwing donor operation to capture the court. They both rely on massive amounts of dark money. They both rely on a small number of ultra wealthy donors who supply that dark money. And they both rely on an armada of front groups and phony corporate entities funded by those big donors to hide their hands. At this point it is actually depressingly familiar. But its worse than just common technique. Its the same entities. The koch operation, americans for prosperity, donors trust, Bradley Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, u. S. Chamber of commerce, the list goes on and on and on. And, madam president , these are the exact same players on both sides of the operation, on the climatedenying web and on the courtcapturing scheme. My colleagues and i showed in a number of web of denial climate speeches how a few ultra wealthy, rightwing foundations, corporate trade groups, and socalled donor advised funds supply the bulk of the dark money for modernday climate denial. Big Oil Companies used to do that directly, but they got burned, learned that its bad for their public image, and i suspect theyre hiding now behind those anonymizing trade groups. The big funding include the koch network, the lindy and Bradley Foundation, the surrel freedom trucks, the sarah scay foundation, donors trust, which has been called the rightwings dark money a. M. T. This is the web of denial money we used in many of those web of denial speeches, and you see these groups turning up over and over again. They are central in the web of climate denial. Now if you look at the big funders behind the scheme to capture the court, you see this in my last scheme speech, i talked about the flotillas of amicus curiae, friends of the court, who come in and orchestrated phalanxes to file briefs for the right wing in cases of significance to the schemes p big donors. Well, it turns out that those funders also inhabit the web of denial. This is an appendix that i filed in the case of cila vs. The Consumer Financial protection board, the case at which the right wing shot versus a consumer law agencies they hate. This appendix, first of its kind in the Supreme Court, attached to my amicus brief, looked at other amicae who filed brief and crossed revenuesed crossreferenced where the funding had come from. The court was not told there was this huge lap of funding. Each brief came in as if it was independent rather than part of an orchestrated cascade. So nearly every one of these groups is part of the web of denial. Donors trust, donors capital, charles koch foundation, sahara are a scaife foundation, surrell foundation. The overlay isnt just with the phony amicus flotillas that are orchestrated up at the Supreme Court. Its right in the cases themselves. Take the notorious antilabor cases, fredericks and janus. According to a trove of documents uncovered in 2016, legal groups funded by the Bradley Foundation brought those cases. They werent just amicus filing briefs. They were the litigating law group in those cases. The law group went out and found a plaintiff, plaintiffs of convenience. They paid the plaintiffs legal expenses, and those same donors, bradley as shown in this, funded that whole boatload of amicae who came in to support their also funded group that was bringing the case on behalf of a nominal plaintiff. And, by the way, they funded a flotilla of amici in janus. 17 came from groups funded by donors trust, donors capital and bradley. And the front groups in those labor cases actually played a little bit of switcharoo amongst themselves. Think of peas and shell games. The group that brought the case in h fredericks became an amicus supporting the case in janus. The group that brought the case in janus had been an amicus supporting the case in fredericks. And all those groups, the ones that brought the two cases and the ones that chimed in as amici were funded by the same organizations. Its a little bit like that pea and shell game except if you know the parties its being played with transparent shells. But for some reason the court is incapable of knowing this scheme being pulled in plain view in their presence. Now some front groups are invented shells. Purposebuilt just to hide whoever is behind them. Others are preexisting, captured and coopted. The key common characteristic, whether invented or captured and coopted is that they got to hide the donors. The u. S. Chamber of commerce is the easy example of a captured coopted group. According to the Watchdog Group influence map, the chamber is one of the biggest climate obstruct tors in washington. Why . The chamber has lots of members who dont support climate obstruction, but someone, someone gave the chamber enough money to become a worst climate obstructor. And guess what . The chamber is also a major player in the scheme. Its the biggest filer of scheme amicus briefs. It campaigned hard for all three of trumps dark money chosen Supreme Court justices. And way back it commissioned the lewis powell memo that launched the entire scheme. Other major front groups serving both the web and the scheme include the heritage foundation, the cato institute, and the competitive enterprise. Again, the Common Thread . They all hide the donors so they can provide that vital screening anonymizing function which is key to the donors because they have to hide their identities and their motives. In order to do their dark work. On the scheme side each one of these groups gets gobs of scheme dark money, hot house legal theories, helps locate plaintiffs of convenience to bring cases for, and or joins the orchestrated flotillas of scheme amicus briefs. You see the same players over and over and oaf again and how the court manages not to notice or be curious is a mystery. On the web side each is also a central node in the web of denial. Here, for instance is the lindy and harry Bradley Foundation, here is donors trust, donor capital, here is surreal freedom trust. These groups pretty notoriously represent the interest of big business and rightwing big donors so you recognize that much if not the specific identity of who is funding the brief. But some of it gets harder to unravel. So lets drill into one, the quoteunquote, womens forum. This was founded by rightwing donors in the very early days of the scheme to prop up the troubled nomination of justice thomas. It has whose who, bradley, scaife, donors trust. It is to improve the lives of americans. But its real mission is to pop up any time its dark money donors want to trot out a front group purporting to represent women. In practice that means they pop up everywhere. They popped up in a pending secondamendment case before the court. They popped up in the americans for Prosperity Foundation case that granted a constitutional right to dark money signed off on by the did money justices, they popped up in the Little Sisters of the poor contraception case, and they popped up in the challenge of the e. P. A. s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. This brings the overlay between the web and the scheme into focus. In 2016, the forum joined the dark money amicus flotilla asking the Supreme Court to strike down the e. P. A. s power plant. Along with other web scheme front groups like the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Texas Public Policy Institute and other groups opposing the e. P. A. These parties asked the Roberts Court to stop the Clean Power Plan before it went into effect, just days before judge scalia died and just before the republican justices obliged. This was shadow docket work for those following the texas abortion case. In the e. P. A. Case, for the first time, the court stayed in to stay a regulation before it went into effect and before the lower court had a chance to weigh in. So fast forward and, oh, by the way, purely partisan decision, all republicans behind it, none of the other justices. So fast forward to today, the Trump Administration has replaced replaced the Clean Power Plan in 2018 with a trump do nothing polluterfriendly rule and when the Biden Administration came in, it completely abandoned the trump do nothing polluter friendly rule. So now there is no regulation to challenge, but the scheme has replenished its dark money court and supercharged it with a six justice and their out to disable what they call the Administrative State for the sake of their big donors so they sued again. Backed by familiar organizations, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Texas Public Policy Institute and other web scheme groups. And they asked the court, as they put it in their brief, that the court should finish what it started when it stayed the Clean Power Plan. There is no regulation to challenge, yet the republicans on the court took the case. So much for the case or controversy principle of the constitution. Now the court, i guess, is going to make decisions based on what might happen. Where i come from, thats called an advisory opinion, which the court is not supposed to do due to a separation of powers, but they are out for big game. The prize is to bring down the regulatory state all together. And where better than where it most helps the fossil fuel industry, the industry lurking behind this web of denial and likely also working behind the dark money that put the last justices on the court and likely also lurking behind the dark money millions that fund the republican election groups . This Clean Power Plan challenge opens an avenue for schemeappointed justices to delight the donors behind boath the scheme and the web. In the short term it would hobble the e. P. A. s ability to combat Climate Change, something very much thought by vested interest in the fossil fuel industry. Over the long term, it would accomplish rightwing donors goal of kneecapping federal agency power across the board. For donors trust, the chamber of commerce, the independent womens forum, and dozens of other groups that link the web and the scheme, winning cases like this one means big wins for their big secret donors. And to go back to my early speeches about the scheme, they are following louis powells advice years ago to seize what he called the most important instrument for social economic and political change, end quote. The federal judiciary. And to control it with what he called and i quote, an activistminded Supreme Court. The scheme has captured the court. The schemes captured court will deliver for the web. Its the same donors and organizations behind both and its got to be cleaned up because this is not how courts are supposed to work. To be continued, mr. President. I yield the floor. And note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from New Hampshire. Mrs. Shaheen mr. President , i ask that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Shaheen thank you. Mr. President , i come to the floor today to support a number of our nominees for ambassadors and positions within the state department as the chair of the european subcommittee, im particularly concerned about the number of openings we have in europe for ambassadorial for ambassadors. So i want to support today mark getinstein to be ambassador, kent logstin, Michael Murphy, claire cronin, denise bauer, and to lisa rinosa. So those are the ambassadors in europe that i wanted to raise this afternoon, but i also want to raise concern about refuseus gifford Rufus Gifford. Im chair of the european subcommittee and so ive had the opportunity to attend the hearings for these nominees and to see just how qualified they are and how important to American Foreign policy they are. Earlier this week victorian nuland, who is an under secretary at the department of state, testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the United States foreign diplomacy is operating at quarter power as a consequence of the numerous holds that have been placed on ambassadorial appointments by just a few of our republican colleagues. I have some maps here that i think really very vividly very vividly demonstrate the consequences of this inaction in the senate. The fist the first map shows where we have u. S. Ambassadors to europe. So you can see anything blue is where we have ambassadors. So on this map everything from spain to ukraine, united kingdom, iceland, ireland. We have no u. S. Ambassadors approved in those countries and compare that to what russia and china have in terms of their diplomatic ability in europe. This gold color, are russian ambassadors, countries where russia has ambassadors, virtually every country in europe. Red is where china has its ambassadors, virtually every country in europe, and, again, in the United States, our ambassadors in europe is basically empty. Finland, sweden, norway, spain, france, germany, poland, ireland, the e. U. We are desperately in need of ambassadors because right now we have very little presence in europe, and this is happening at a time when we know there are significant challenges taking place in europe, particularly in ukraine where russia is threatening to invade ukraine. Its sovereign territory, again, and where we need, if were going to be successful in responding to russia, where we need to take a unified approach among our allies. We need to be working with the e. U. , with nato, with all of our european allies, and, yet, in most of the countries where we need to be working, we dont have ambassadors and we dont have ambassadors because of opposition from justice a few of our republican colleagues. And i see senator cruz on the floor so i know hes going to be here to object to my effort to move these, but this is it the impact of whats happening as the result of your holds, senator cruz. We cant put our National Security in the hands of those people who dont have the status of ambassadors. We know that our embassies are doing a great job in all of those countries. Theyre working hard. But it makes a difference to have someone whos been approved by the senate, whos been nominated by the president , who has the rank of ambassador. And as i think about the challenges that are facing this country, i cant think of anything that is more harmful to our Foreign Policy than deliberately hampering this countrys ability to advance american interests on the international stage. I want to say a few words about each of these nominees before i move for unanimous consent. And again id like to begin with Mark Gitenstein who served already. He has sperchts over spent over 25 years working on energy issues. As we think about the negotiations that are happening around energy and nord stream 2 in particular which i know is a concern for senator cruz because its a concern that i have, we dont have an ambassador to the e. U. At the table for those discussions. And mr. Ge gitensteins nominatn is critically important in responding to russias weaponization of gas flows to europe and strengthening the Transatlantic Alliance as we face escalating aggression from russia. And similarly, kents nomi nomination. The newly elected proe. U. , proreform president there has every intention of steering moldova toward a better path and shes looking west to do that but of course shes already faced pressure from putin and his cronies who have threatened to threaten gas flows into moldova. We cant allow it to become the next ukraine or next georgia and we can only prevent that by conveying strong u. S. Leadership to support its proeuropean aspirations. I also want to say a few words on Michael Murphys nomination as ambassador to bogs ya and herzegovina. America played a Critical Role in bringing peace to bosnia through the dayton accords, but were seeing now that peace and stability in bosnia, unity in bosnia are under increasing attack. Earlier today, i had i had a chance to meet with the bosnian foreign minister. And i am seriously concerned by the deteriorating political situation there. It requires an expert career diplomat like Michael Murphy to provide the commanding leadership to help bosnia through this moment. The same is true in ireland. My allergies are getting the best of me today. The nomination as ambassador to ireland is not just a symbolic gesture to a longstanding ally of the United States. Peace in Northern Ireland is hanging by a thread as the u. K. , ireland and the e. U. Handle the fallout from brexit. I was concerned by a release of a report on tuesday which indicated that the paramilitary gangs embedded in Northern Irelands divided communities pose and i quote a clear and present danger of violence fueled by post brexit tensions. By stalling our confirmation of ms. Cronin, we risk tarnishing our legacy and fostering peace in Northern Ireland through the good friday agreement. And denise bauers nomination to france as the country prepares for National Elections next year. These elections have significant implications for our bilateral relationship. In addition to the role that france will play in the e. U. And nato. Similarly, julies nomination to spain requires swift confirmation. Spain will host the madrid summit next year where nato will elect the next secretarygeneral and finalize the strategic concept. What happens in nato is critical to americas National Security and we want to have an ambassador on the ground there who can monitor whats going on with those talks. In addition to the other officials we need to send. Finally, ambassador Rufus Gifford has been nominated to be the chief of protocol for the department of state. He previously served as our ambassador to denmark where queen where the queen there acknowledged him for his Meritorious Service to the kingdom of denmark. His background and service will make him an excellent chief of protocol and we urgently need him in place to assist secretary blinken. Combined these nominations are ought critical to immediate challenges facing our National Security interests. So with that in mind, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, executive calendars number 320, 440, 447, 448, 450, 454, and 519, that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate, that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, and that the president be immediately notified of the senates action and the senate resume legislative session. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Cruz mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cruz reserving the right to object. You know, in washington theres always political rhetoric that goes around. The senator from New Hampshire just moments ago described the embassies in europe that are missing ambassadors. And she said theyre missing ambassadors because of republican objections. She highlighted in particular ukraine. I want to point out there is some irony in her doing so because actually the reason there is no ambassador in ukraine is because of one thing and one thing only. President biden has not nominated anybody to serve as ambassador to ukraine. Were in december of the first year of his presidency and biden has yet to name an ambassador. And so there are no republican holds, there are no republican objections to an ambassador that biden has not even named. In addition, there are multiple ambassadors that have been named that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to hold a hearing on. And for every one of those nominees on whom there hasnt been a hearing, again there are no republican objections. It is simply the Senate Democrats have failed to move forward with hearings. But there are a number of nominees who have been nominated and who have had hearings on whom i have holds. And were here today once again because the democrats in this chamber have been unwilling to do the one thing that would stop Vladimir Putin from potentially invading ukraine, which is sanctioning the nord stream 2 pipeline and making sure that it never becomes fully operational. Now senator shaheen along with every other senator in this chamber knows exactly why i have holds on these nominees. Right now as we speak, over a hundred thousand Russian Troops are massed on the border of ukraine waiting to invade. And it is joe bidens fault because it is a direct consequence of President Bidens surrender to Vladimir Putin on nord stream 2. For those watching at home asking what is nord stream 2, its a pipeline being constructed from russia to germany to carry natural gas. Putin is building nord stream 2 to go around ukraine because right now russian gas gets to europe through ukraine. Putin didnt just wake up one day and decide to invade ukraine. Hes wanted to invade ukraine for years. Deit in 2014 he did it in 2014 but he stopped short of a full invasion because he needed to use Ukrainian Energy infrastructure to transport russian gas to the european market. Ukraines Energy Infrastructure is their insurance policy against a russian invasion. Nord stream 2 is all about putin building an alternative avenue to get russian gas to europe so if nord stream 2 comes online, it leaves ukraine exposed to russian aggression. Just two years ago we had a bipartisan consensus in the senate that we needed to stop nord stream 2. Now senator shaheen knows that well because she and i authored the legislation together. She and i worked together to get the support of democrats and republicans in the senate and the support of democrats and republicans in the house. And the cruzshaheen legislation sanctioning nord stream 2 passed both houses of Congress Overwhelmingly and was signed into law. And the cruzshaheen legislation worked marv vowsly well marvelously well, so well that putin stopped construction of nord stream 2 the day that President Trump signed our legislation into law. Not even a week later, not a month later, the very day that our sanctions were signed into law. It was an incredible bipartisan National Security victory that we won together. And that victory continued for over a year. For over a year nord stream 2 lay dorm mandate on the bottom of the ocean, dead until, unfortunately, joe biden became president. Almost from the moment of election day, biden and the Incoming Administration began projecting weakness to russia and putin, and to understand just how much that message was received, joe biden was sworn in as president on january 20, 2021. Putin began building the nord stream 2 pipeline again on january 24, 2021, four days after biden was sworn in. In the senate i introduced legislation again on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that passed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in this senate with overwhelming bipartisan support to sanction nord stream 2 yet again. But this summer the Biden White House made a political decision to surrender completely to putin on nord stream 2. And President Biden waived the sanctions on nord stream 2. He did so overruling the recommendations of his own state department that argued this protects u. S. National security interests. This stands up to russia. This protects ukraine. The Biden White House didnt care about any of that. Overruled it all. And then unfortunately Senate Democrats lost their willingness to hold biden to account. This is an issue on which democrats and republicans are agreed on the substance, but it can be difficult to stand up to a president of your own party and on nord stream 2 Senate Democrats have not been willing to do so. They were eager to do so when donald trump was in the white house. But when a democrat was in the white house, suddenly their willingness to stand up to the president evaporated. And so the holds that i had placed are directly in order to try to force joe biden and Kamala Harris to follow the law and stand up to russia, stand up to putin. So i will offer my colleague senator shaheen a deal that ive offered many times to the white house, to the state department, to the treasury department, to Senate Democrats, a deal that if we as the senate will impose sanctions on nord stream 2, another sanctions bill that both senator shaheen and i voted for, that we both advocated and supported, and that the Biden Administration is refusing to apply. If the senate will impose those sanction, i will happily, enthusiastically lift my holds on these nominees, and senator shaheen can take her map of europe and color in all of those countries. We can do that right now by doing the right thing substantively. And by the way, this is the one step which has a real possibility of stopping a russian invasion of ukraine. This past weekend the Biden Administration declassified their own internal projections that an invasion is imminent. It could happen as soon as january or february. And if we see russian tanks in the streets of kiev, it will be because joe biden surrendered to putin and Senate Democrats werent willing to hold him to account. I hope thats not the case. We can act right now to sanction nord stream 2, to stop the pipeline from being operational, to stop putin and the soldiers at the border to prevent the invasion, and to clear these ambassadorial nominees that my democratic colleagues want. I ask unanimous consent that the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 3322 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. Mrs. Shaheen reserving the right to object. The presiding officer yes, is there on action. The senator from New Hampshire. Mrs. Shaheen reserving the right to object, my colleague and i agree on our opposition to nord stream 2, but im not looking at it despite your accusations through the same partisan lens that you are. And i would go back i think you threw out a lot of read herrings, one of which was to suggest that i said that you had a hold on our ambassador to ukraine and i actually agree with you. I think this Administration Needs to appoint that ambassador to ukraine eight months ago. And if you agree with me right now, then will you agree that you will not put a hold on the ukraine nomination once we get it, if we get it within the next couple of weeks . Before the end of this year . Ill just ill ask you to think about that for a minute because i do think we need to have an ambassador there, and thats certainly on my list of places in europe where we need ambassadors. But i think the bigger question now, you suggest that the mere action of sanctioning nord stream 2 would be enough to deter putin in his ambitions in ukraine. Sadly, i think that is a simplistic analysis of the situation that were in. Because the biggest deterrent we can provide right now to what putin is thinking about is to let him know that we are united with our allies in europe on our opposition to any action he might take in ukraine, that we are united with our nato allies, that we are united with our european allies, and, unfortunately, one of those major allies is germany. And i dont think it would be good for the unity message that we need to give to putin to, at this point, sanction nord stream 2 because, i think the germans are going to come to that conclusion on their own. They have a new administration. They have a new administration that has issued some contracts, what they call contracts in developing their coalition government, that have a very different tone with respect to how theyre talking about russia and china, for that matter. And so i think its more prudent, i loss have real concerns about i also have real concerns about the legislation on nord stream 2. But i think it is more important for us to continue to work with our allies to make clear to putin whats at stake and nord stream 2 is at stake if he goes into ukraine. Theres no doubt about that. As we know, the certification of the pipeline has been delayed, and its been delayed until well after the first of the year. Were not sure what the timetable is, but its going to be sometime after the spring. And so i just have a different came to a different conclusion than you did, senator cruz, about the best way to deter putin at this point. I think it is to work together. Its not to poke a finger in our most prominent ally on this issue and suggest that we create those divisions, which is what you would like to do. And i think, furthermore, that the efforts to undermine our appointment of ambassadors and our ability for the state department to conduct Foreign Policy further weakens our ability to negotiate with putin. And it sends a message about divisions within congress that is really not helpful. Its not helpful as putin is watching us. Its not helpful as china is watching us. So you and i just have fundamentally different views of how best to address this issue and how we can achieve the goal that we both want, which is to end nord stream 2 and reduce europes dependence on russia and to prevent putin from invading ukraine. So, mr. President , i object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Is there objection to the original request . Mr. Cruz mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cruz reserving the right to object, you know, i would note that senator shaheen said it was simplistic to say that sanctioning nord stream 2 would stop a russian invasion of ukraine. And in that, senator shaheen may well be right. I cannot guarantee that nord stream 2 sanctions would prevent an invasion of ukraine. What we do know is it has in the past. What we do know is that in 2014 when putin invaded ukraine in the crimea that he stopped short of a full invasion because he needed the Ukrainian Energy infrastructure. And we also know that during the more than a year in which the cruzshaheen sanctions were in effect and nord stream 2 was dead that putin didnt amass troops in preparation for an invasion. So we know that it has been effective. And we also know, although i cannot promise that sanctioning nord stream 2 would prevent an invasion, we know the obverse is true, which is that allowing nord stream 2 to go online and become operational would invite an invasion. Senator shaheen noted that the certification process is expected to be concluded in january or february of next year. I would note, mr. President , that according to the Biden Administrations own documents, the russian invasion is suspected, potentially, sometime in january or february of next year. I do not believe it is coincidental that the instant putin can turn on the switch of nord stream 2 is when the tanks are preparing to invade. If the Senate Democrats continue their partisan blockade of sanctions, they are inviting a russian invasion. Senator shaheen also said mrs. Shaheen let me ask you a question . Mr. Cruz i would happily consent to a colloquy. Mrs. Shaheen i want to correct when i said because i think you mischaracterized it. What i said is we know that the certification has been delayed until after the first of the year and its not likely to happen until after the spring, which is well later than january or february. So i just want to correct for the record that. And i think if you look at whats being proposed, youll find that its even later than that. Mr. Cruz well, i will accept that correction. I dont believe you said the spring. I think you said after the first of the year. But i dont believe mrs. Shaheen as i went on to say, after the spring as well. I just wanted you to listen to what i was saying. Mr. Cruz the timing of nord stream 2 and the timing of invasion are intertwined. Now, senator shaheen also suggested the way to prevent an invasion is to be united with our allies. You know, i actually agree with that. I would point out that this summer when President Biden waived the sanctions on nord stream 2, you know what our allies said . Ukraine and poland put out a joint statement. I would encourage you to read the joint statement from the Foreign Ministers of ukraine and poland because they denounced the Biden Administration for waiving sanctions on nord stream 2. You no he what you know what ukraine told us . That waiving those sanctions makes a military attack on ukraine much more likely. Thats what poland told us. Senator shaheen knows that. Shes spoken with the governments of both countries, i am sure. I have spoken with the governments of both countries and they adamantly believe that waiving those sanctions is a major force, increasing the likelihood of a russian invasion. You know, one of the things that is striking in the debates weve had on nord stream 2, throughout the course of all of this we have yet to see a single democrat stand up and defend the Biden Administrations waiver of sanctions on nord stream 2 on the merits. They all know its wrong. The only arguable benefit that the Biden White House claims is they earn some good will with angela merkel. Angela merkel had been the leader of germany. But as senator shaheen noted, she is no longer the leader of germany. The german people voted her party out of office. And the new administration is expected to oppose nord stream 2. So we literally have a situation in which the Biden White House surrendered to russia, gave a multibilliondollar pipeline to finance the military, and did it all in search of good will from a leader whos no longer in office. You want us to be united . The European Parliament voted to condemn nord stream 2. The last vote was roughly 50050 to condemn nord stream 2. How about we stand with the 500 and not the 50. If Senate Democrats would not object to my motion, we believed standing with the whole of europe and we would be united. And a final observation senator shaheen decried the hold as an effort to undermine ambassadors. I would note that i have offered here, as i have offered many, many times, as ive offered in writing as far back as august of this year, to lift the holds if we adopt policy that actually stands up to russia. Senator shaheen says her changed position is not partisan. I understand why one would want to say that a say that. But her substantive argument is, now she doesnt want us to disagree with germany. Well, when senator shaheen and i authored cruzshaheen in 2019 is a second in 2020, when we passed both of them, we were disagreeing with germany. The German Government was very unhappy with it, but it was the right thing for american National Security. Nothing has changed. And, by the way, when there was a republican president in the white house, i repeatedly took on the Trump Administration and pressed them on this issue. Unfortunately the only thing thats change add, one thing has changed. The letter behind the name in the person in the white house. Now it is a t, not an r. All the democrats who give speeches on nord stream 2, suddenly we hear crickets. That needs to change. I object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Mrs. Shaheen i just want to clarify a couple of things that senator cruz said. One is that the nord stream 2 pipeline was completed despite those sanctions because what russia did was to employ their own ships with gazprom and complete the nord stream 2 pipeline despite the sanctions that we had threatened, and it was in fact not until right before he left the office that the trump President Trump actually invoked some of those sanctions. So again i think the response has been somewhat simplistic in terms of what we really need to do now to address whats happening with russia and ukraine. And i certainly applaud our allies, poland and ukraine, but i think we need to stand united with many more of our allies in europe in order to deter putin, that the United States, poland, and ukraine probably are not going to do it on our own, and we need all of us to act together. Also, you know, maybe if we had our ambassador to the e. U. , he could have reported to the senate what the vote was in the e. U. About nord stream 2. But because hes still on hold, we havent had a chance to hear from him. I would also point out that at this time in the first year of the Trump Administration, 44 of his ambassadors had been confirmed compared to 13 by for the Biden Administration. And, you know, it seems like there ought to be a number of things we can agree on, and, by the way, there was going to be a vote on nord stream 2 before some of your colleagues objected to the process under the defense bill. If that hadnt happened, we would have actually had a vote on nord stream 2, and we could see what the view of this body is. But, unfortunately, it was because of those objections that we didnt get that vote. So i think, again, if you take if you look at our ability to conduct our Foreign Policy and to be effective against Vladimir Putin, one of the most important things we can do is to put in place our diplomats so that they can help advance American Foreign policy. And whats happening right now in addition to those people you have on hold, we have over 50 state department nominees on hold because of your objections and the objections of some of your other colleagues. And again, i dont think thats where most of the members of your caucus are. I think most of them, while they may not agree with all these ambassadors, they would agree that we should go forward and allow our Foreign Policy to move forward with diplomats. So i think, i understand your objection to nord stream 2. As i said, ive objected to nord stream 2. But i think at this point what we need to do is look at how can we conduct our Foreign Policy in a way that best puts pressure on Vladimir Putin. I just disagree with you that thats going to do it right now. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cruz a brief moment of clarification. Several of the facts that i said in my remarks are undisputed because theyre undisputable. Number one, it is a fact that putin stopped construction of nord stream 2 the day, the exact day that President Trump signed the cruzshaheen sanctions into law. That day. And the pipeline was dormant for over a year. Senator shaheen said putin ultimately went back to building the pipeline, even with the sanctions on the books. Thats true, after joe biden was sworn into office. Putin began building the pipeline on january 24, 2021, four days after biden was sworn in. Not a foot of the pipeline was built between december of 2019, when the sanctions were signed into law, and january 24. Putin began building the pipeline because biden telegraphed his surrender. Secondly, senator shaheen suggested that if only we had an ambassador, we might know what the European Parliament did. Thankfully, mr. President , we have these magic little devices that let us cross the atlantic in the twinkle of an eye. So we actually know that the European Parliament voted roughly 50050 to condemn nord stream 2. If we want to stand united with europe not just ukraine and poland europe, we want to stand up to nord stream 2. A final point i will say to senator shaheen perhaps as a word of encouragement, which is i have right now pending an offer with the democratic leadership to lift a number of these holds, a significant number of these holds if the democratic leadership will agree to a vote on nord stream 2 sanctions. Were engaugedded engaged in discussion on that issue. If the democrats cease obstruction, we can have that vote and a number of these holds will be lifted. But that ultimately is going to be a decision for Senate Democrats. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from louisiana. Mr. Cassidy mr. President , pretty handsome guy, huh . Real handsome guy in his dress blues. Today, mr. President , the citizens of lack charles, the state of louisiana and our country mourn the loss of this u. S. Navy seal and commander of seal team 8. Commander bourgeois died from injuries suffered during a training accident saturday. We lost a seal, a dedicated patriot, a son, husband, father, and hero. Commander bourgeois was born 43 years ago in lake charles, louisiana. He dedicated his adult life to family and to service to our country. He began by enrolling in the United States Naval Academy from which he graduated in may 2001. Commander bourgeois served honorably, led his men bravely and made our country proud. Among the long list of honors and medals include a bronze star marked with a v denoting heroic acts performed during combat, two defense Meritorious Service medals, a joint Service Commendation medal, two marine corps commendation medals, two marine corps achievement medals, a combat action ribbon, a National Defense service medal, an Iraq Campaign medal, and a global war on Terrorism Service medal. He was as decorated as he was loved. The annual armynavy game scheduled for this weekend to honor command bourgeois, a brother and former member of the midshipmen football team, the navy team will run out on to the field with a flag of seal team 8. That banner representing his spirit will fly alongside the american flag, the navy flag, and the marine corps flag. The Navy Football brotherhood, a Nonprofit Organization aimed at supporting the families of their fallen teammates, is leading Fundraising Efforts to help support the bourgeois family. Our country has and always will depend on our most noble answering the call to serve. To his wife megan, five children, your father represents the best of our nation, a hero who dedicated his life to defending our country and protecting the lives of every american. For that, we will be forever grateful, shall never forget his service and sacrifice. Mr. President , please join me in taking this moment in silent prayer for commander bourgeois, his family, and all who loved and knew. Mr. Cassidy with this, i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Barrasso thank you, mr. President. Are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Barrasso thank you, mr. President. I come to the floor today to talk about the threat posed by communist china. Chinas economy has grown sevenfold in the last two decades. China already has a million members in terms of active duty soldiers. China also has the largest navy in the world. Thats right, its now larger than ours, and the Chinese Military is not stopping. China plans to build more than 100 new ships in the next eight years, in those same eight years china is also building about 300 miss sew silos and plans missile silos and plans to have 1,000 nuclear missiles. Several times this year china has tested Hypersonic Weapons capable of use around the world. At the same time the world has witnessed increasing chinese aggression. Chinas goal is unmistakable. It truly wants to become the worlds one dominant power. Since day one, the Biden Administration has been caught flatfooted. As president , joe biden has been soft on china, and this is no surprise given the fact that joe biden has been soft on china for 50 years. When he was Vice President , he said, quote, a rising china is a positive development. He said not only for china, but for america and the world at large. During his run for president , candidate joe biden said china was not a threat to the United States. During his announcement speech, when he was announcing that he was going to be a candidate for president , he said theyre not bad folks. Theyre not competition for us. Joe biden should tell that to the working families in factory towns that have been put out of business by communist china. He should tell that to the families who lost loved ones to fentanyl and other opioids made in china. He should tell that to the uighurs and ethnic minorities persecuted and used as laif labor by the as slave labor by the Chinese Communist party. The leaders on both sides of the aisle here have been shocked by those comments by thencandidate for President Joe Biden. Many democrats recognize the danger posed by communist china. Regrettably, our President Joe Biden is not one of them. On issue after issue the Biden Administrations policies are only making china stronger, and at the same time that makes america weaker. I want to just mention a few. President bidens first budget proposed to basically super size the government of the United States, huge budget increases in every Government Agency you can think of except for two. The two were defense and homeland security. His political appointees at the pentagon seem more focused on Climate Change and dissident ideologies and Vaccine Mandates than on security threats to our nation. While chinas military is growing, ours is going broke and ours is going woke. Thats the difference fundamentally today. Joe biden has stopped americas policy of helping developing countries use fossil fuels to eliminate poverty and grow their economies. Who are these other countries turning to for help now . Well, theyre turning to communist china. Joe biden seems to be doing everything he can to shut down Coal Production here in america. Wyoming is proud to be americas leading coal producer, and we have for 35 years straight. Coal is the most affordable and Reliable Energy source known to man. Yet, joe biden is determined to drive down Coal Production and drive energy jobs overseas. China is not making this same mistake. China is acting in its own selfinterest. China is producing and using more coal than ever before. China is also funding the construction of coalfired power plants as part of their belt and road initiative. The Biden Administration and the democrats have also put a Big Christmas present to china in their reckless taxandspending spree because the bill includes trillions of dollars in new taxes on american businesses. As a result, some of our tax rates are going to be higher than those in china. Its going to make it cheaper to do business overseas. And that is exactly what Many Companies will do. According to the nonpartisan tax foundation, the taxes in this bill that the senate is trying to push on the democrat side of the aisle and the republicans are trying to stop, the taxes in the bill will eliminate 125,000 american jobs. Democrats giveaways for electric vehicles will also send additional money directly to china. Electric vehicles use lithium batteries, the criminal mineral necessary for the critical mineral necessary for those batteries wry on child labor in cobalt mines in the democrat republic of the congo and slave labor in china. Democrat spending bill would virtually end mining on federal lands here at home. Instead of getting the minerals we need at home in wyoming were going to get them from china. More than a million muslims in western parts of china have been put into slave labor camps. In many cases those people are forced to make solar panels. Last week senator rubio offered an amendment to the defense bill to ban imports from Chinese Companies using slave labor. This is the same legislation that this Senate Passed unanimously in july. Yet, now democrats are kowtowing to an administration weak on china and are blocking senator rubios proposal. Why the House Democrats failed to move forward on this critical issue . According to the Washington Post, it is because the Biden Administration asked them to. The Washington Post reports, quote, while the administration supports the legislation in public, they are asking democrats to essentially water it down in private. That from the Washington Post. On issue after issue, democrat policies are only making america weaker and making china stronger. Its no wonder that only a quarter of americans are not on monday the president announced the United States will boycott next years olympics in beijing. This is a first good step but its not enough. Symbolism is not enough. Its time for democrats to wake up to this threat from communist china before it is way too late. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mrs. Blackburn mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, mr. President. On tuesday at 3 00 a. M. In the morning, the people at instagram published a post describing a laundry list of information that would make the dead of night was the right time to make this announcement and i dont blame them. If i wanted to pass off something and just give a little lip service and a little deflection and make it look like some type meaningful reform, i might try a 3 00 a. M. News dump also. But what they did was to put up changes on how to handle things on their site with drug use and selfharm and violence and low selfesteem and Human Trafficking and bullying. Mr. President , what they told us, they know there is violence and adverse content on their site. And yesterday at the hearing at our Consumer Protection subcommittee of the commerce committee, senator blumenthal and i made it fairly clear to our friends from the Silicon Valley that they cannot escape accountability for what is happening on their site. Not from congress and not from the American People. Im talking about the moms, the dads, the teachers, the pediatricians who approach me every sick every single day that i am in tennessee. They are worried about their kids and the concern is not the product of generational differences. When they were growing up, drugs and eating disorders and bullying were problems, but, you know what, mr. President , they werent inescape able. Now these inescapable. Now these horrible things follow our children every minute of every day, all courtesy of big tech. So, yes, when a company like instagram claims they are going to do more to support parents and keep kids safe, tennesseans listen but they dont take their word for it. They test it out. They look for evidence of accountability. And with all of these updates that they posted, they didnt give us transparency, they didnt give a timeline for when they are going to be implemented. Basically, they said we know this is a problem and well get around to fixing it at some point in the future. They are still not making changes. I do want to thank chairman blumenthal and other members of the subcommittee for staying focused on this issue. This time around we had instagram c. E. O. On the witness stand and it really was perfect timing. You know, yesterdays hearing was the fifth time this year that the subcommittee has met to discuss what congress and big tech should do to protect our precious children online. It was the fourth time i personally spoken to somebody from mehta, as they now call themselves, which is instagrams parent, and by this point, i felt like maybe they would come forward with something concrete for us. This is how were going to get things done. But, no, nothing changes. This week my staff put themselves through yet another deep dive into the dark corners of instagram and confirmed that there has been no crackdown on dangerous content as instagram has previously claimed. We searched for posts that glorified eating disorders and drug use and it took them about 30 seconds to find those posts glorifying drug use and eating disorders. And they are not nearly as good at this as the 14yearolds and 15yearolds who are on this platform are at finding this content. If they can find this content, given half a minute, and a decent internet connection, then why cant Instagram Find this . Why do they continue to deny that it is there . One of the things that shocked mes most was mr. Moss eris testimony. He was absolutely sure that we were hitting him with anecdotal information. It wasnt just me, it was everyone on our committee, democrat and republican. There was agreement. We all came to the table with oviedo of what we had found online. I will still stipulate that we all share of same goal of protecting our children and teens online, but nothing has made me question that more than watching executive after executive from platform after platform deny the existence of these problems. The time for talking through these problems is over. The people that work for big tech at instagram, facebook, snap, tiktok, google are all aware of this problem. They dont need congressional hearings to tell them that there are platforms, their platforms that for drug use and eating disorders. They dont need me to come to the dais with evidence that their current protections dont work and that more of the same wont magically turn the tide. They know it and we know that they know it. And their knowledge, it hasnt changed a single thing about their business model. Fortunately, we have bipartisan momentum to put some guardrails back on these companies. Were working on childrens privacy, Data Security and section 230 reforms, were also working on a National Consumer privacy bill and kidspecific policies to keep minors safe online. No more halfmeasures, no more empty promises. Ive been working in tech policy for quite a while now and ive watched Companies Like instagram grow from these tiny great ideas and startups into multibilliondollar corporations, the largest in our country. Their platforms are integrated into our lives, our culture, our politics. They are upstream from everything. Unfortunately, they are also there are also places where teens can go to buy drugs, bully their classmates, find human traffickers, section traffickers and where sex traffickers and where girls waste away. If anyone deserves answers from big tech, it is parents and teens who are suffering because of these companies. I invite my colleagues to join me in holding these companies accountable. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from hawaii. Mr. Schatz i ask unanimous consent that at 6 15 p. M. All postcloture time on the house message to s. 610 be expired, the motion to concur to amendment be withdrawn, and that the senate move vote immediately on the motion to invoke cloture on the sung nomination, and all postcloture time be expired and the vote on the nomination of the koh nomination occur and that the sung nomination be further, that the cloture motion on the elliott nomination and the house message to accompany s. 1605, ripen on tuesday, december 14. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Schatz for the information of senators, there will be three roll call votes beginning at 6 15 p. M. Mr. President , i want to rise today to support the nominations of victoria wasmer, and Mohsin Raza Syed to be the assistant secretary of governmental affairs. We are facing supply chain goods, it is caused by the pandemic and greater demand. But the Biggest Issue is the lack of investment in our nations infrastructure over the past half century. Simply put, we need better infrastructure to movele things in move things and outside the country and thats why it is so important to move the infrastructure bill. It provides an historic 567 billion to the department of transportation, including money for it will ease supply chain congestion, the 1. 5 million to my home state will give a mass boost to the economy. But d. O. T. Needs staff to make it work. Ms. Wasmer has experience as c. F. O. Of the f. A. A. , the same goes nor mr. Syed, he spent six years on capitol hill, including in my office and worked in the d. O. T. General Counsel Office and he passed the committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. It is so maddening that republicans are refusing to move these nominations forward. These are not controversial individuals. This is a blanket hold to stop the government from functioning, to stop the infrastructure bill from being implemented. And nobody wins here. We dont win passing a huge bill and then kneecapping it and the merge who sent us here to and the American People dont win. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, executive calendar numbers 468 and 469. That the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order the nominations, that any related statements be printed in the record and the president be immediately notified of the senates action and that the senate resume legislative session. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Scott mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Scott mr. President , reserving the right to object. Im sure my colleague is aware that last month i sent a letter to the commerce committee, a committee on which we both serve, informing the chair that i would hold department of transportation and department of commerce nominees until the Senate Confirmed leadership about the supply chain crisis. Right now there are nearly 100 ships waiting to dock in california ports to unload their goods but they are unable to do so because of President Bidens supply chain crisis. Christmas is a couple of weeks away and families and businesses are facing empty shelves and shortages of goods. And so far her raimondo and secretary buttigieg have not solved the problem. It is long past time for the Biden Administration to tell us what they are doing to solve this crisis and help american families. I appreciate my partnerships agreement and i look forward to next week when we are in a commerce markup hearing. Given that we will be in session next week, i would urge my colleague to join me in joining leadership from the commerce and transportation departments that come before the committee and testify what they are doing to mitigate the supply chain crisis that are hurting so many businesses in florida and across the country. This is not an unreasonable request. And we cant allow Agency Leadership to ignore the responsibility to report to us on these issues impacted on constituents. Is that too much to ask . Im inviting secretary buttigieg and secretary raimondo to have a meeting with me. Until we hear from the officials responsible for this crisis, i will object to all commerce and transportation nominees going through an expedited process here in the senate. It is not personal. It is about accountability for florida families. Therefore, mr. President , i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. The senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I rise thank you, senator schatz for making that motion and his fight for his nominees to get the government running when the when one nominee after another nominee after another nominee is blocked. I rise to honor a public serve ant who is retiring. Judge Patrick Carroll, who i knew 30 years before he was on the bench. He dedicated his life to serving ohioans, including serving for the Lakewood Court judge. He spent his life in the community from Cleveland State to the Cleveland Marshall college of law to the county Prosecutors Office to the local bench. He not only served the public in the courtroom, hes been a lifelong teacher, mentoring young attorneys in his law school and then on the faculty of the ohio judicial college. Twice in the last three years judge carroll received a president s award for excellence from the municipal county judges of ohio. I had the privilege of joining him along with Maureen Oconnor for an event highlighting the work they are doing. Judge carroll, theyve done the innovative the innovative woe done during the pandemic helped get the word out to more ohio judges about what they can do to connect ohio with the emergency rental assistance that we provided back months ago from the congress. The American Rescue plan we provided grants to state and local governments for emergency rental and utility assistance to families across the country. The last thing we wanted was a wave of evisions evicts during the health crisis. We know people moved in with family members and covid spreads. This prevention effort was a lifeline for so many families that that might have happened to. We know what it does to families, even during normal times. Think about the iewp heaval upheaval that causes. They get pulled out of their school to go to a different school. They may have to give up their pet because the pet costs too much money. They cant bring them to a new amount. They dont feel stable. Its much harder for their parents to great back to work using public transportation. As all of us know when people are evicted they end up in crowded shelters or moving in with family. It makes them more vulnerable to the coronavirus. It makes them more likely to spread especially among people who are not vaccinated. We know, mr. President , that 90 of the hospitalizations whether its columbus, georgia, or columbus, ohio, 90 of the patients in hospitals with covid are unvaccinated. Finding another place to rent after an eviction is much, much harder. After passing the rescue plan, not enough people knew help was available to them. Thats where judge carroll came in. Thats where chief Justice Oconnor came in. The work theyve done to divert eviction proceedings and connect people with help is literally lifesaving for many. He talked taught courses for the state judiciary on eviction law. Worked with tenants and landlords to divert eviction proceedings. Worked to connect landlords and tenants. Ohio leads the way because of judge car roll and because of chef Justice Oconnor in preventing evictions and connecting people with their potential emergency rental assistance. These actions by the judges encourage them to tenants to explore all rental assistance options before the judge proceeds with an eviction case. Since the start of the pandemic, more than a thousand households in lakewood, ohio, a suburb west of cleveland, have been connected with some form of rental help. More than a thousand households. That is because of the work that judge carroll did in the work that Justice Oconnor has done around the state. Its a kind of success we want to see replicated in ohio and across the country. In september judge car roll told the judges carroll told us judges, quote, need to recognize eviction cases are more than civil cases for disposition. An eviction order impacts a persons life, home, property, many cases the lives of children who are uprooted from school when forced to move. Hes a judge that as president lincoln used to tell his staff, ive got to leave the white house and go out and get my Public Opinion bath. Thats what judge carroll as a judge does, not necessarily something most judges do. But when he does that, he find bs out what he can do finds out what he can do as a judge to prevent families from being evicted. We need more judges around ohio and the country to follow his lead and a final push to get rental assistance to americans who need t. The Biden Administrations work throughout the year with us on eviction on help for evictions, on emergency rental assistance, cutting red tape, encouraging state and local governments to move faster to get this help to families and landlords. That work is delivered has delivered impressive results. More than 520,000 renters received emergency rental assistance in october alone. It means those families were able to keep their homes, keep their lights on in october, work to get back on their feet, and recover from the pandemic. In total more than two and a half million payments have gone out to tenants and landlords. Now at the end of the year approaching, we need that final push to get funding to the renters and the landlords who need it. As judge carroll prepares for a wellearned retirement, its my hope that this will be an important part of his legacy of the work judge chief Justice Oconnor does and the work they do in ohio we can do around the country, as an example of Public Service in ohio and all over the u. S. Showing how we can keep a roof over families heads, allow landlords to pay their bills and emerge stronger from this pandemic. I urge my colleagues, ask them to join me in honoring judge Patrick Carroll in a lifetime of service to the people of my great state. I thank the presiding officer. Mr. Wyden mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden mr. President , the senate will soon vote on President Bidens nomination of my neighbor and fellow oregonian jennifer sung to serve on the u. S. Court of appeals for the ninth circuit. I guess i ought to say to everybody save everybody the suspense. I am proud to support her nomination and i just want to take a few minutes to talk about why she deserves the support of all senators. First with respect to her qualifications. Ms. Sung is a graduate of Overland College and yale law school. As a student she volunteered to represent lowincome patients at a local hospital. As a legal fellow at the Brennan Center for justice, she fought on behalf of workers who toiled in poor conditionings for little pay conditions to little pay. In private practice she defended the rights of all people in our country to work in safe and fair conditions to get the health care they need, and to freely exercise their constitutional rights. Currently, ms. Sung serves as a member of or gones employment oregons employment relations board. Thats the board that adjudicates disputes over labor practices and employment law. She has decided more than 200 cases in that role. She has proven, mr. President , her impartiality which i think we all understand is fundamental to what we need in a justice. And shes certainly shown her diligence and commitment to justice. Her question her qualifications in my view simply cannot be questioned. Second, ive had the chance to get to know ms. Sung personally since her nomination. And what struck me, mr. President , is we both have a family story thats only possible here in our great country. Members of her family fled political persecution and violence in china in the 1940s. The wydens fled the terror of nazis just a few years earlier. And they barely spoke any english when they arrived here in their new home. Our country provided safety and opportunity for my family and for ms. Sungs family. And ive always found, mr. President , that so many who have that family story take a special interest in protecting the rights and the freedoms americans enjoy. Thats been a hallmark of ms. Sungs legal career, and its something in my view that all senators ought to support. So, mr. President , i am proud to describe my southeast portland neighbor jennifer sung as a talented, committed individual who will be a great asset on the bench. She is going to be a superb judge. I urge all my colleagues to support general fur sung jennifer sung when we vote soon on President Bidens nomination of oregonian jennifer sung to serve on the u. S. Court of appeals for the ninth circuit. Mr. President , i yield the floor. And i would note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Lee mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. The presiding officer without objection. The senator from utah. Mr. Lee mr. President , the senate today will pass a bill that quite literally gives a blank check to President Biden and the democrats. Theyll use it to pass the destroy america bill, which they call build back better. Theres literally a blank check in the bill. Its literally a blank check. The senators who gave that blank check dont want you to know that they did it. They used procedural jujitsu to hide their votes. Republicans are hiding behind democrats and democrats are hiding behind republicans, but the American People see through it. They closed the doors, held their noses, and created a new way to pass bad bills and claimed that it was just this one time. Mark my words, this bill will be one more tool repeatedly used to abuse the American People. This debt ceiling increase is a blank check for the democrats reckless taxandspending bill. It should have never happened. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. Risch mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from idaho. Mr. Risch [inaudible] the presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. And the motion to concur with amendment number 4871 is withdrawn. The question is on the motion to concur. The yeas and nays have been requested. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer on this vote, the yeas are 59, the nays are 34. The motion to concur is agreed to. The clerk will report the moition and invoke 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 close the debate on nomination of executive calendar number 486, lucy hey ron coof california to be koe of california to be Circuit Court judge. Signed by 19 senators. The presiding officer the mandatory quorum call is waived. Get is is it the accepts of the senate the teebt on the nomination of this Lucy Haeren Koh of california to be circuit judge for the ninth circuit shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory on the roll. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer on this nomination the nomination is confirmed, the yeas are 51, the nays are 38. The motion is agreed to. Cloture having been invoked, the senate will proceed to executive session. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, lucy haeran koh, of california, to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion to vowrkt by unanimous the motion to vowrkt cloture motion. The clerk hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 533, jennifer sung of oregon to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit, signed by 17 senators. The presiding officer by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call is waived. The question is, is it the sense of the nate the debate on the nomination of jennifer sung of oregon to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote is vote