vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: on independent vote, the yeas are 67, the nays 27. the compound motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: i would note that maryland is in the house. second, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the motions to instruct at the desk which may be made with respect to the message to accompany h.r. 2451 be printed in the record for the information of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i move to proceed to executive calendar, consider calendar number 546. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk:nologies, department of the treasury. joshua frost of new york to be an assistant secretary. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 546, joshua frost of new york to be an assistant secretary of the treasury, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. all opposed, nay. the ayes have t the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: mr. president, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 674. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of housing and urban development, elizabeth de leon bhargava of new york to be an assistant secretary. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 674, elizabeth de leon bhargava of new york to be an assistant secretary of housing and urban development signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, april 28, be waived. officerster without objection. -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate consider the folating nominations en bloc 507, 778, 803, 802 that the senate vote on the nominations in the order listed without intervening action 0er or debate, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. that no further motions be in order to the nominations, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nominations en bloc. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate consider the following nominations -- 242, 868, 869, 870, 811, 972, 873, 874, 875, 876, 877, 8978, 880, 882, 883, and 884. and all nominations on the secretary's desk in the air force, marine, army, navy, and space force, that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, no further motions to be in order -- no further motions be in order to any of the nominations, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have three requests for committees to meet during todayst session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 603 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 603, recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of national sexual assault awareness and prevention month. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3:00 p.m. monday, may 2, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the frost nomination. further, that the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there is to further business to come before the senate, a i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of senators cardin, cassidy, and sullivan. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senior senator from maryland is recognized. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to speak about two of the federal government's most important innovation programs -- the small business innovation research program, also known as the sbir, and the small business technology transfer program or sttr for short. it's very appropriate we're having this discussion, as we are about to go into conference in regards to legislation that affects america's competitiveness. the sbir and the sttr program represent the best of government industry partnerships. the programs harness the creativity and ingenuity of america's entrepreneurs and innovators to solve the most pressing public health and national security challenges of our time. the programs are also primed to help our nation rebuild our domestic production capacity to reduce reliance on supply chains for critical products and reduce costs for american people. fighting inflation and rebuilding our domestic capacity are linked. when factories close, when production capacity decreases due to sick employees and when products take longer to get from the warehouse to the store, prices go up. i have no doubt that every senator has heard from businesses in all sectors of the economy about solving this critical issue. according to a recent survey, the national federation of independent businesses conducted , more than half of all small business owners reported a significant impact due to supply chain disruptions. 30% reported that the disruptions were causing a moderate impact, and 14% reported a mild impact. only 5% of those surveyed reported that they were unaffected by the disruptions. of the small business owners affected by disruptions, 80% reported that the disruptions have caused them to miss out on business opportunities. i am very pleased to hear that president biden announced during his state of the union address that rebuilding america's production capacity is central to fight inflation and keep our nation secure. sbir and sttr are two of the best tools in the federal government's tool kit to achieve our goal. congress created the sbir in 1982 to increase the participation of small businesses and federally funded research and development opportunities in areas ranging from clean energy to advanced manufacturing. under the program, federal agencies that budget at least $100 million annually for outside research must allocate a portion, 3.2% since fiscal year 2017, to support r&d and small businesses. there are 11 federal agencies and departments currently in the program including the department of defense, the department of energy, the department of education and health and human services. the program awards funds in three phases. phase one, awards are worth up to $225,000 and may be used to conduct a feasibility study to determine an idea scientific and commercial promise. phase two awards up to $1.5 million and may be used to conduct further r&d on the feasibility of turning an idea into a commercial product. and phase three does not involve award of funds but denotes that an idea is ready to move from the laboratory to the marketplace. during the commercialization phase, small businesses must raise funding from the private sector or secure nonsbir federal funds. congress created the sttr program in 1992. while the program is similar to the sbir in structure, utilizing a similar three-phased progression, the sttr awards go to small businesses engaging a collaborative r&d with federal labs as well as nonprofit educational and scientific institutions. the program requires federal agencies and departments to spend at least $1 billion on outside research to allocate at least .45% of the funds to sttr opportunities. most people may not be familiar with sbir or sttr, but they definitely recognize the products and companies and the programs that it helped create. sonic care electric toothbrush, i-robot received funding when they were start-ups. qualcomm which makes technologies critical to our national communication infrastructure also received funding from these programs. progeny systems based in manassas, virginia, received sbir and sttr awards to conduct research over a 20 year period. it produced technology that drastically improves the navy's torpedo capacity. the company is now the sole supplier of torpedoes to the navy and, yes, it is still a small business. this is another benefit of these programs. they expand and diversify the supplier base from which the federal agencies source goods and services, increasing competition and investment in high-growth sectors which reduce cost over time. on the manufacturing front, several agencies, including nasa and the department of defense are currently funding research on advanced manufacturing techniques, such as 3-d printing and glass that can handle temperatures as high as 900 degrees which would be revolutionary, our ability to monitor nuclear reactors and power plant furnaces to prevent accidents. sbir and sttr are invaluable to our national security, and we shall fund these programs adequately to rebuild our domestic supply chain. unfortunately, authority for these critical programs will expire at the end of september unless congress acts to extend them. the house and senate will go to conference soon on america competes act, which includes a five-year extension of sbir and sttr. i urge all my colleagues, especially those who will be conferees, to support this critical provision. the junior senator from iowa has submitted a motion to instruct conferees to couple this effort to extend the sbir program and sttr program by five years with authorizing language to prevent china and russia from acquiring critical national security technology developed by the program. i agree with the senator, the united states needs to safeguards technologies from being compromised and stolen, and i am pleased that the house competes act bill includes safeguards to prevent our adversaries from affecting our innovation, not just china and russia, but all foreign countries of concern, including iran and north korea. this effort builds off of section 223 of the fiscal year 2021 national defense authorization act that provides protections and requires disclosure to guard against foreign influence on federally funded research and development. so i will support the motion for the senator from iowa, but we must recognize that if we are able to compete with china and russia, extending the authorization for sbir and sttr are critical. i hope she will work with me to keep this important program from shuttering its doors on september 30. i would like to add that this issue is very important to my constituents in maryland. our state ranks number one in the nation in r&d spending due to the presence of federal and academic research institutions such as the national institutes of health, the national institute of standards and technology, johns hopkins university, and the university of maryland. i've had many discussions with state government officials and leading scientists in maryland who have told me that one of the most sensible steps we can take to improve the sbir and sttr program is to make these programs permanent. the research sbir and sttr funds often continues for several years before producing a product ready to go to the market. researchers need to know that these programs will not disappear in the middle of year-long research projects. it is our responsibility to make sure that we act timely so that there is no lapse in these programs or reduced funding that is critically needed for these programs' success. any such action would be short sighted and would have a devastated impact on small businesses engaged in cutting-edge research nationwide. reducing the size of these programs or allowing them to lapse altogether would hinder efforts to restore production of critical products. i convened a hearing of the senate small business committee to examine the impacts of supply chain disruptions on small business. one of our witnesses, sirdar kote, who leads an organization that advocates for increased public and private sector investment in america's manufacturing sector, called the sbir and the sttr one of the really good tools in the toolbox and urged the committee to strengthen the program to support even more researchers. i could not agree more. instead of leaving the researchers who are inventing the tools that will power the economy of the future guessing about the sbir and sttr, we in congress have an opportunity, and i would say an obligation to reauthorize these programs before they expire in september. we should also make them permanent, which both the pentagon and nasa have urged us to do. this is in our national security interest as well as our economic interest and fairness to small businesses. madam president, arthur c. clark wrote new ideas pass through three periods. one, it can't be done. two, it probably can be done but it's not worth doing. and, three, i knew it was a good idea all along. the sbir and the sttr programs help visionary entrepreneurs get through one and two to reach three. getting to three makes america stronger and more prosperous. let us make sure that we act in time. with that, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. cassidy: madam president. every senator, when she or he goes home, speaks to families feeling the crushing burden of inflation, in large part driven by fuel prices. certainly true when i go home to louisiana. and they hope far a -- for a better job. one, they'd like a better job, but two, they need extra money in order to keep up with inflation. there is a connection with their personal economic concerns, putin's war in ukraine, and china doing their best to take american jobs by ignoring environmental standards, using slave labor, giving subsidies to businesses, making it almost impossible for american businesses to work here and compete with products made in china. as one of example of just how successful china has been, in the early 2000s, china was about 19th and 20th in manufacturing and carbon emissions. since then, since the early 2000's, china has become number one worldwide, both in the amount of manufacturing but also in the amount of their carbon emissions. indeed, the increase in carbon emissions for china is more than the combined decrease of the united states, the e.u., and the united kingdom in that same period of time. we've been doing our best to improve our environmental standards for the benefit of the whole world, and china has exploited that, using their lack of enforcement of standards to attract our jobs to their country and net our global greenhouse gas emissions are worse off. now, as i mentioned, the inflation, the hope for a better job, which is not realized, putin's war, using energy as a natural security tool, and china's concerted strategy are all interwoven. there is a next nexus -- a nexus, and that is between the energy, the climate, the economy of a family and of a nation and national security. so if we're going to improve the financial situation for that family in louisiana, a working family in nevada or any of our states, and do something about our national security concerns, then we must do something about energy, and that is related to emissions. the most effective way of doing this is looking at how china addresses their emissions and how the united states does. now, when i speak of emissions, i speak of the fact that we now use natural gas instead of coal and natural gas cleans much more cleanly than coal, so therefore we have a cleaner air in the united states than we did even 20 years ago. but china uses coal for about 60% of their energy feed stock. so to understand china's -- china as a competitor, let's look at their economic, geopolitical, and natural security strategies against us. and we're going to look at it through the prism of carbon emissions. because if we think about national security without thinking about energy and the associated emissions, if we don't think about them all at the same time we're wasting our time, just wasting our time. again, examining as a nexus. there is a petrochemical plant in louisiana that is invested heavily in lowering their emissions. we pay a little extra for the products they produce, but we accept that extra cost so that we have this cleaner environment. just as an example, the plastic that is on the back of my phone, that plastic is made from natural gas usually, and the process of making that has rigorous environmental standards to make sure that we protect those that live around the plant. china does not do that. they do not enforce those standards. nor, as i mentioned earlier, do they use natural gas. they're much more likely to use coal. and they preferentially build their power plants on the pacific coast of china so the emissions that go into the atmosphere and they blow across the pacific and they land in the united states. much of the west coast of the united states' problems with socks and knocks are from plants that originate their emissions in china. did i say it lowers their cost of production by not enforcing those? by lowering the cost of production, you attract american jobs away from the united states of america over there. did i say it strengthens their economy? by strengthening their economy, they have more money to invest in their military and more money to pursue their geopolitical strategy, which is to undermine the influence of the united states of america. by not applying our emissions standards to china, giving them a free pass, we are allowing them to implement their strategy now, by the way, i'm not against international trade. we can look at the treaties we have with canada and with mexico, or with central american countries, and we can see that there are certain labor and environmental standards that are embedded in those. it's an even playing field, of sorts. if we have a clean air standard here in the united states, there's something like that in mexico and something like that in canada. we have labor standards here, we have something like that in honduras and something like that in guatemala. we're still competing, but the playing field is more even. now, there are other benefits of trading in the western hemisphere. about 40% of the goods that mexico produces are reimported from the united states. there's an exchange that goes back, so that the revenue produced in trade disproportionately comes from mexico back to the united states. whether that number is 40% with mexico, it is only 4% with china. it's not like we're sending all this money to china. we have about a $355 billion trade deficit with them. i'm not talking about the deficit. i'm just saying only 4% of that revenue comes back to the u.s. in order to reinvest in the american economy. so, i'm all for trade, but i want to have something which is more mutually bep figures -- beneficial, and one in which there's a level playing field, and one in which the disregard for environmental standards is not used as a strategy to strip jobs away from americans from -- from americans in order to improve the economy of a competitor who uses that money to improve their military standing and to undermine our influence. by the way, to attempt to expand their geopolitical viewpoint. now, i will say once more, i love capitalism. it has the ability to elevate people out of poverty. three generations ago my family left ireland and came to the united states because they didn't have enough to eat. and because this is the greatest capitalist country in the world my family did quite well. because of the system of government we have here. i'm not arguing against that. but what we cannot tolerate is the arbitrage of rules put in place by developed countries to protect not just our own citizens but the global environment from the ill effects of certain types of activities, say in this case burning energy. if we're going to equalize the playing field, if you will, to lawfully and peacefully defeat a strategy which has as explicit goals to take jobs from the united states of america and to eclipse us as a world power, we need to think -- we need to think strategically as to how to defeat this strategy. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. mr. sullivan: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. sullivan: thank you, madam president. well, i want to say that it's thursday and it's my favorite time of week. six years strong, almost seven years we've been doing our alaskan of the week series and we love to do this because we get to recognize a special alaskan, someone who makes the state very special. our pages, i think they -- they don't always admit it, but this is probably the best speech of the week because it's interesting. we've got some cool stories. i know some of the reporters here like the speech because it means kind of the end of the week, so that's good. and today we are honoring a really amazing alaskan. her name is teresa grey of anchorage. and she was recently featured by cnn as one of their heroes for the work her organization does that teresa founded to provide medical help to people all over the globe. so before i talk about teresa and her amazing work, i always love to give a little update of what's going on in alaska now. i was home for a couple of weeks traveling all over the state and it didn't seem like it was that long ago when i said winter is coming. i love winter, but winter is now leaving alaska. now, it's cold in many places. my house in anchorage still had snow on the ground but the sun is high in the sky staying up longer every day, although i was in fairbanks and had the northern lights going, that was awesome. but today in anchorage the sun rose at 6:00 a.m. and then set at 10:00 p.m. birds are migrating back by the tens of thousands. the excitement of spring is everywhere, so to everybody watching, if you're thinking about great summer travel plans, alaska is the place to be. so come on up. we'd love to have you. now, let me talk about teresa grey and the organization she founded called mobile medics international, which is doing great work across the globe even as we speak. so teresa is originally from michigan. as a paramedic, she moved to alaska in 1999 to be with her then-husband, who is from alaska. and like so many do, when she came to alaska is she fell in love with alaska. she wasn't really an outdoorsy type but she said i just melt felt at -- i just felt at home. it's the people that she loves. she said we all share a kindred spirit, we're all committed to living the alaskan way. that's what teresa teresa grey . and she put her medical skills to use. initially she worked as an instructor at the only paramedic school in the state. within six months she created two additional schools, one in fairbanks, one in wasilla and made these successful and later she sold those to the university of alaska. then she became a flight medic for aerial med. she was with the 210 rescue squadron. they are very brave intrepid people and she helped out with the anchorage fire department. when they adopted a child, their second adopted child, teresa decided it was time to retire. and her boy was a marine with my great command up in anchorage, so semper fi staff sergeant. i hope you're watching. let's talk about your mom. but that retirement of teresa did not last long. one day she watched the news and saw the image -- and i think a lot of us remember the image -- of a 3-year-old syrian refugee on the beach face down in the water. very powerful. i think a lot of people saw that ghastly image. and she said, why isn't anybody doing anything about this? she realized she should and she could. so she volunteered for an irish medical nonprofit, which took her to greece and other places across the globe. it didn't take her long to see a need that wasn't being filled. there are a great many medical nonprofits, but the general model is that the doctors and other medical professionals arrive at a place and set up shop. the people in need of care come to them. but there's so many times teresa witnessed people who couldn't leave their communities. in the case of puerto rico there was a mud slide that led to a village that couldn't receive medical relief for over a week. people couldn't get a doctor there. so back in alaska, she put a call out on social media and soon mobile medics international was born. the group is focused on nobility. i'm -- mobility. they get to hard places to get to where she said some of the places that are lost or forgotten in disasters because they're so hard to get to. roughly five years later, the group now has roughly 120 volunteers from across the globe, including from alaska, on nearly every continent. they've been on over 30 missions. they're agile, they are expedition ri, they are like -- expedition ri. when they go to a place experiencing a ref -- ref fewee crisis, everything they need is in their backpack. she said we try to basically take an ambulance in the backpack. great image. great idea. if someone requires more extensive care, then they help to get that individual to a medical facility, maybe in another part of the country. in addition to natural and humanitarian disasters, mobile medics international also trains people in medically underserved villages to provide treatment to others in their community so it's train the trainer, teach someone to fish. they find people in those communities that are willing to commit to five years to build their own program in that community and they support them during that time. they visit a few times a year, get them equipped, get them supplies, get them training and then all of a sudden you have people in those communities who have these medical skills. they are -- teresa talked about her team going to a remote island in the philippines where this remote island and the population there had a really bad problem with cleft pallot babies, and she said they eliminated that by giving out prenatal vitamins. that is incredible. one american with a vision. great work. so let's fast forward today. where do you think she is? where do you think they are? well, they're on the front lines in ukraine and romania to help with the refugee crisis there. they have four teams there. they are providing a 24-hour clinic in romania and go person to person to help with medical care. they organized a warehouse of donated goods and they are providing emotional support to people who really need it because of the barbaric invasion that happened there. to teresa and her group helping through a refugee crisis is particularly emotional and wrenching. she said, quote, natural disasters can be horrific. a refugee crisis is even more emotionally difficult. these are people who have lost everything, including their country, including their heritage, including their language. she talked about how the ukrainian refugee crisis is particularly chal exing. all of the -- challenging. all of the men have been left behind. the young women and children lives have been gone. when she traveled to romania, there was an elderly woman who she was treating for health issues. the woman asked for a different kind of help had she asked that she and her son be driven to the border so she could see ukraine for the last time, a ukrainian woman just wanting to see her country and teresa did that. she asked for help so we gave it to her, teresa said. so, madam president, this is a great example of the drive, determination, vision, hard work of just one person -- think about it, one person, teresa gray, one person and how they can change hundreds of lives, thousands of lives. teresa thank you for providing so much help to so many. congratulations for being chosen as a cnn hero, but much more importantly, sorry, cnn, congratulations on being our alaskan of the week. you really, really deserve it and made us all proud. i yield the floor. madam president, i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: thank you for having me. >> this week, earlier this week with met with president biden, what was the goal of the meeting? >> i think the goal was to catch up on several issues, not just immigration but also infrastructure, student loans and a host of things i think are important to the american people, the caucus, immigration focus on a host of issues. >> according to according title 42 and immigration issues was a large part of the meeting? >> it was and during the meeting it came through so we were privy to that information but we did discuss issues regarding executive orders and title 42 as well. >> when it comes to title 42, what was the caucuses stand on his plan removal later on this year end what your personal take on it? >> first, title 42 takes a cdc mandate, it pertains to the covid pandemic and it was used by the previous administration to circumvent migration loss and implement it as an immigration tool. that was a mistake and cdc has issued an opinion we have not changed regarding the pandemic and it should be eliminated. this is a public policy based on science, medical opinions and we should follow. >> when it comes to the lifting of it, what makes it justifiable as far as the conditions here in the united states, why do you think it's ready to be lifted? >> the conditions, although the pandemic still is very much alive but not the same level it was in the past and we all know that. of course there's no evidence migration will fuel -- ms. cortez masto: i ask the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cortez masto: i ask unanimous consent the appointment at the desk be placed separately in the printed in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cortez masto: i ask the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 4119. the clerk: a bill to reauthorize the radiation exposure compensation act. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. ms. cortez masto: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without ms. cortez masto: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate stands adjourned the senate stands adjourned on saturday, the daily show host trevor, headlines the first white house correspondents association dinner since 2019. president biden is expected to attend making this the first time since 2016 a sitting president has made an appearance. our television coverage begins 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. the sights and sounds from inside the ballroom and highlights from past dinners ahead of the speaking program. coverage on c-span.org and c-span now video app against live 6:00 p.m. eastern or watch celebrities, journalists and he

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