combination of property managers and that balance keep ago bipartisan per spect and i have not leaning into any one more connection than the other and thinking why is this guy and this center being a big support and bipartisan policy center and the earmarks and we're totally disconnected from that and we really see this as a way to improve the legislative process. there's been studies, some scholars and one of the coauthors that is with the mckenna college and kevin is the

scholar for the area and they looked at this and they found that actually the 10 year moratorium on earmarks and law making decline ....

the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. and under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, robert stewart ballou of virginia to be united states district judge for the western district of virginia.

publicans want to see what biden is putting out, suggesting as far as spending but you didn't hear arrington say they are working on a puzzle expected to have it in the next 30 days so that around and publicans the might be critical about the white house and on board with it. biden promised his budget will cut to trillion dollars from the federal deficit the next ten years. a good portion will be with tax increases, bringing more revenue, lower the debt room we will see tax proposals with go back better so increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations call it will be interesting proposals that was any proposals but republicans mostly will look at what the white house is okay

with cutting rather than what they want to raise. >> remind viewers what republican's are looking at even if they are not specific, what generally is the approach to the budget? >> we don't have a lot of clarity from republicans about exactly what they want. we know what they are looking at spending caps but that's on the table, they talk about bringing fiscal 22 level so that's on the table. we did see publicans released local priorities they want eliminated. these are things like lgbtq pride centers, a trail georgia called michelle obama walking trail, things in the last budget acs but undercuts. the key there is these are a couple million dollars where they will need to find much more and they've taken entitlement programs off the table and vowed not to cut social security and medicare, both sides are firm on that. those are big parts of the

budget so it will be interesting to see exactly if republicans wind up running out with specific lists of things i would like to cut or just spending caps across the board and that's how it gets done. >> we are several weeks now with republicans gaining control of the house. we see hearings on china and legislation on various issues, what would you say is the same as we seek emerging going forward what happens want to do with the power they now have? >> is interesting republican's have taken on a lot but they are going forward with so much. we seen the focus on the border, number of congressional hearings and they will see different things on biden family and a hearing about the biden family and u.s. treasury coming up later this week. we have a hearing with the house weaponization committee on the twitter files and that is something the same oversight to look into whether there was coordination between the government and twitter officials when they decided to temporarily hold back on letting the article

about hundred biden's laptop out to you heard twitter officials talk about no coordination with the government we made a mistake, look at it because of exploit and seek but you're looking at the twitter files, internal documents put out by a select group of reporters and concerns about how accurate that is and what is going on but it continues trying to see, is the government trying to block free speech particularly free speech from conservatives? will see that in the hearing this weekend buildup coming to the house floor that address that. >> our guest with us until 8:30 a.m., (202)748-8000. democrats 748-8001. independence (202)748-8002. you can texas at 2,027,488,003. the hearing was expected to testify?

>> we will have matt, one of the main journalists who's been releasing twitter files. we got another journalist as well who's done the same and it could be interesting. the committee this year, the house weaponization committee will look into by the government has been what eyes. he got jim jordan put out here but it's one of those blockbuster committees and blockbuster hearings were publicans expect to have a lot of attention. a lot of this is set to undermine the biden administration particularly if he runs again in 2024 and is the nominee in 2024. if her publicans raised doubt in the minds of voters, it could potentially have an impact on biden's ability to be president again. >> go back to the previous hearing you talk about, we seen mr. biden himself but now the family is extended in a look at

congress. >> a lot of it is concerned that looking at hunter biden and check connections he's had with companies, they really big into that and you are seeing these different hearings about biden and his family, financial ties but wider administration, concerns his home and secretary is taking care of the southern border and they are trying to limit free speech in a way, concerns about covid-19 lissy the first select committee on covid-19 and hold hearings this week and they will look into the origins of covid which is something you have conservatives pushing this theory that it leaked from a levin want and we saw the energy department go ahead and say with think there's evidence on the table looking that is a credible explanation. federal agencies are divided on this, there's no agreement as to where covid started but it will

be interesting with a hearing to see how they make their arguments and what information they are looking for, are they more interested in preventing something like this from happening again or are they more interested in holding the biden administration the fire in the information they've put out how they have approached covid? >> we know the story of how kevin mccarthy became speaker of the house that week but the republicans now? >> i think republicans realize they don't really have another option besides kevin mccarthy. he one speakership and was able to keep everyone together and so far, house republicans have run relatively well, there are a couple bills over the finish line was so far, no one really. mccarthy is taking the strategy of bringing as many people to the table as he possibly can. you got five ideological practices in the republican, house republicans group and mccarthy is giving each a seat with elected leadership council

and as something they brought back the council and he's got these different groups there and the idea is to troubleshoot problems early select the debt limit they are starting conversations now figuring out what they are cool with and not cool with. it will be interesting to see if the strategy plays off and we talk about this a lot and mccarthy clearly likes this and it will be interesting to see if they are able to get things like the debt limit as well as other major spending. >> you describe the five groups as private families keep the peace, talk about that. >> it is really interesting, some people find it funny, the chair of the freedom caucus, not a fan, did you see the movie? but i think it's this thing that they acknowledged there are five of them and there are tensions between the group as well as speakership it is not like everybody holds her hand but

they all have a bigger mission which is to make sure republicans keep the majority to make sure republicans when the senate and the presidency so even though there might be tensions between the group, they share a big local promoting themselves making sure they come out on top after 2024. >> covers congress and if you want to see her work, first call from ronald in georgia. democrat line, you're on with our guest. >> good morning and thank you for c-span i was curious as far as congressional action or oversight, what's the status of any public hearings as far as the allegation made the nord stream two pipeline, the destruction was done by u.s. government forces? such a long track record in journalism breaking stories longer than i've been alive way

back to vietnam so much credibility and most people's eyes, will congress get on oversight? >> a fair question i'm not aware of any hearings with nord stream two but doesn't mean there won't be any more that there aren't any discussed? certainly energy is a big one right now, currently putting together a large package of energy bills. we saw movement on permitting and drilling on public land. art expect to see house republicans continue to come out and focus on different ways for energy to make sure the u.s. has national security imprecations from reliance on other nations or buying oil and gas. >> republican mind in virginia. >> hello, thank you for c-span.

c-span board member alec, came to destroy local journalism. he's trying to dismantle his workers on strike since october. why does c-span approve of keeping him diabolical thing on your board? >> i will say the editorial process is different than the corporate government at c-span. he mentioned in this programming not only on the network the program but we will go to sarah in new hampshire, independent-minded. >> good morning. i am curious as to why republican's are so concerned about hunter biden is not a government official donald trump's daughter and son-in-law can't hand it down to the white house to the tune of a billion dollars and we never hear anything about that. why is it donald trump in prison

for trying to overthrow our country? never hear any real mileage on that and why is jim jordan wasting american taxpayers time and money with the witchhunt against every entity? fbi, cia, all this bull. we american people deserve better than this and i resent i will have to choose between joe biden and donald trump again and you for that. >> i will take a piece of that. the house oversight committee talking with james, as well as ranking number jamie raskin, they are interested in legislation that might address presidents family members.

they say it's not just about the top or biden's but they want to make sure there isn't anything going on even with the president adult children were president might wind up involved in something that could jeopardize national security. as far as what the limits would be, i think it is too early to tell but it's interesting when i talked with gomer, he does acknowledge there were potentially concerns with the trump family and how they were able to run things, they are not empowered right now and why they are looking into the biden's and i'm sure there are plenty of democrats would agree with that color. >> we saw democrats last week in maryland talk about their agenda and not only from the president but the congress itself. >> maybe the only good thing is house democrats feel united right now, they clearly have one goal which is to take back the house. they feel comfortable with their

talking points against republic and trying as hard as they can to pay them as extremists but democrats don't have much of an agenda they can enact in the next two years so what they will focus on is going back to the bills we saw past previously, bills on semiconductor, manufacturing bills on infrastructure and climate and healthcare trying to get the message to voters that the bridge repair in your community is because of us, biden but the frederick douglass tunnel in baltimore and underneath is that bipartisan infrastructure law and from california she's like it's great, we just need that so not an easy thing to do, loosing recent polling in the washington post and abc seeing 62% of americans feel biden hasn't really done much in the first two years and democrats need to be able to have that perspective if they have any help winning

back the house keeping the senate in 2024 so they both will have those particularly depending on -- weekend the people of kentucky endured significant severe weather. the storms that ripped through the commonwealth on friday caused mass power outages, localized flooding, and high winds that reached up to 75 miles an hour. at least one tornado was recorded in western kentucky. sadly, the storms have taken the lives of five kentuckians. elaine and i send our deepest condolences to the families who are grieving their lost loved ones. my office has been in close contact with governor beshear's team and local officials across the state. emergency response efforts are working overtime to ensure those

impacted have the resources to make a rapid recovery. at peak, there were more than half a million household without power. i'm grateful to the linemen and chain saw teams that tirelessly worked around the clock to restore power throughout the state. a number of school districts remain closed today as power restoration efforts continue. so thank you to all of the first responders who courageously deployed without hesitation, the generosity and resilience on display in the on-the-ground operations have been truly inspiring. throughout the commonwealth, kentuckians are rolling up their sleeves to help where they can, will it's assisting cleanup efforts with chain saws in hand or opening their homes to those

in need. kentuckians have both big hearts and hard knuckles, and together we'll get through. my prayers are with all the storm victims and their families. i stand ready to assist with our swift recovery in the days ahead. now, on an entirely different matter, a number of senate republican colleagues and i recently met with america's allies and partners across europe and the middle east. i spoke last week about our message to nato and our friends in europe. how the west confronts russia's invasion of ukraine today will shape the future with respect to not just russia but china and iran as well. of course, these same adversaries are aggressively working to counter american influence in the middle east. we met with top leaders in

israel, saudi arabia and the uae, and a great deal of what we saw was very encouraging. america has many friends in the middle east. the abraham accords are uniting arabs and israelis to a degree that would have been literally unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago, and uniting them around shared interests with their own. our partners want even stronger relations with the united states, but the problem is that, just like in europe, our friends are questioning america's reliability and america's commitment. our partners are not asking us to take care of their security for them. they want a confident and engaged america to coordinate more closely with them and help them upgrade their own defenses. if america disengages from the middle east, some of our partners will, of course, turn to other major powers.

a world in which china and russia exert more influence in this pivotal region is not good for america. yet too often this administration has turned to the obama-era playbook of flirting with our adversaries russia siding with our friends. president biden started his administration trying to dismantle the maximum pressure campaign on iran that he inherited. less than two weeks into the job, he made iran's day by removing the official terrorist designation of the iran-backed houthis in yemen. iran is the world's most active state sponsor of terror. it was continuing its shameless years-long targeting of america's partners and our own u.s. personnel in the region. but right from the jump, president biden took pressure off tehran.

then, the biden administration tried desperately to resemble the -- reassemble the wreckage of the failed obama-era iran deal, which was all carrots and no sticks. then the president ignored the concerns of our commanders and partners in ordering the disastrous retreat from afghanistan. at crucial moments, president biden has made decisions that have undermined confidence in america. for example, when an iran-sponsored attack struck the capital of the uae, it didn't occur to the biden administration to send anybody to stand in solidarity with our friends. our friends didn't expect an american military response, but they certainly deserved at least a phone call is. our friends from saudi arabia to cuatar to the -- qatar to the

uae have facilitate sd america's access which contributes to deterrence of common adversaries. the botched retreat from afghanistan has made these basic agreements even more vital if we wish to maintain any remotely effective way to conduct current terrorism in the -- conduct counterterrorism in the region. the abraham accords pointed to a new and enormously beneficial chapter for american involvement in the middle east, where we could stay engaged and keep promoting our own interests in the region without shouldering an outsized burden. but on president biden's watch we have squandered michigan of the momentum. -- much of the momentum. democrats sought to keep shrinking our influence and credibility in the middle east, they've objected to arms transfers that would leave our friends better able to defend

against common enemies. so look, protecting america and our interests takes power, takes presence, and most importantly it takes partners. it's true in europe. it's true in the indo-pacific. and it's true in the middle east. power, presence, and partners. but president biden's attempt to underfund our armed forces with inadequate budgets would reduce our power, his clumsy attempts to cut and runs -- cut and run from the middle east have reduced our preps. and letting key friendships languish erodes our partnerships. it's a recipe for less american influence, less national security, and a vacuum, a vacuum that russia and china would of course be delighted to tbil.

-- to fill. account biden administration needs to get more serious toward iran. the president says he won't allow iran to acquire nuclear weapon. anyone believe that? iran inches closer and closer to a bomb, while the administration dithers. after two years of squandered leverage, the administration finally admits their foolish negotiations with iran are, quote, on life support. on life support. well, it's past time to pull the plug. we need to rally american allies in a campaign of coordinated sanctions, maximum pressure on tehran for real. we need to closely coordinate with our middle east friends, not keep them in the dark. we need to help israel acquire the capabilities it needs to put iran's nuclear program at

credible risk. we into ed to clear roadblocks that -- we need to clear row blocks that prevent our partners from acquiring the superior american weapons and technologies they need to defend themselves. that means reforming our broken bureaucratic and convoluted foreign military sales process. right now, it takes our partners an average of 18 months -- listen to this -- 18 months just to put american weapons under contract. our friends are literally trying to buy american, but we're making it more difficult. we need to streamline the process and ensure we do not drive our friends to buy weapons faster, cheaper and easier from the chinese. and the next time iran's proxies attack american outposts in syria or iraq, we need to pit back hard and restore the

deterrence that's eroded. so madam president, some people seem to have a mistaken impression that america can project more strength in one region by projecting weakness in other regions. the notion is that an america in retreat from europe and/or the middle east somehow, somehow magically have a stronger hand to play in asia. that's not the way the world works. if america would roll over and let putin eat our strategic lunch in europe, if we were to abandon our friends in the middle east and let china and russia strategically dominate this important region, none of this, none of it, would put america in a stronger position to assemble and lead the international effort that it will take to confront the long-term expansion of china and others.

it would only weaken us. america has strong friends who want to continue to take our side over china's and russia's. the administration needs to stop making it harder for them and start making it easier. mr. durbin: madam president. the president pro tempore: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. durbin: madam president, i have a few statements i would like to make this morning but i would like to respond to the republican leader's statement that he just completed. i'm not naive when it comes to iran. i know what's happening there from press reports. their treatment of women is abominable. there's no excuse for it and the

protests in the streets of tehran and all across this country really is an expression of human dignity which the united states -- at least as i as a senator in the united states supports publicly. secondly, there are no excuses for the assistance iran is giving to vladimir putin and his ruthless attack on the people of ukraine. i won't make excuses for that or any other terrorist conduct by iran, but for the record, for the record, it was president obama who moved forward with the notion that we ought to stop iran from developing nuclear weapons. they're guilty of bad conduct in many quarters but we didn't want them to have a nuclear weapon. we didn't think it made america any safer, the middle east safer, or our allies like israel any safer either. so president obama pushed for arms control when it came to development of nuclear weapons in iran. it put together a coalition which sounds amazing today. to think that he can gather at

one table in this effort. russia, china, great britain, france, european union and the united states in this effort to stop the iranians from developing a nuclear weapon was nothing short of a political miracle. retied every step of the way by the republicans. they didn't want to have this. we did it anyway. and with this nuclear effort was an inspection team, international inspection team on the ground in iran to make sure they didn't violate it. we were safer, not by much but we are safer then. and who came along but president donald trump and said his approach would be just the opposite. we're going to eliminate the whole program to stop iran from developing a nuclear weapon. and he did. and so for the republicans to come before us today and argue that we're not being tough enough on iran, i'd like to tell them i'm not going to make excuses for iran and its foreign policy. but their nuclear weapons, we

had a chance to do something about. some of us voted for it and some of us voted against it and i think that ought to be a matter of public record. madam president, on an item, separate subject matter, the city of chicago which i represent is a city in mourning today. last thursday chicago police officer andreas vasquez laso was killed while responding to a domestic violence 911 call cha end -- that ended in a chase and exchange of gunfire with the subject. officer vasquez laso was 32 years old and had been on the police force for five years. he's married, has a little daughter. the man accused of killing him is 18 years old. officer vasquez laso had chased this man a short distance on foot when the man reportedly turned on him, pointed a gun at

him, and killed him. that chase ended on the playground of an elementary school in the city of chicago where neighborhood kids were playing. as the bullets flew, the children took cover under slides and other playground equipment. officer vasquez laso was shot three times in the arm, leg, and head. he was the first chicago police officer killed in the line of duty since officer elfrench was murdered 18 months ago during a traffic stop. they had a memorial service for officer french. my wife and i went to it. it was at rita high school in the beverly section of chicago. i have never seen a larger outpouring of men and women in uniform to come and pay tribute to this officer who was killed in a traffic stop. i was there with my wife and we had a personal feeling about the about the occasion once we went

inside. saw her family and heard more about her life. i got to know her mom and when the time came, we picked a program to help police across the united states and named it after her in her honor for serving not only the city of chicago but the country in protecting us. sadly here we are again. officer vasquez laso didn't just protect the southwest side neighborhood where he served. he actually lived there. he and his wife had bought a home only two and a half miles from where he was killed with a year and a half ago. i want to say clearly for the record something that needs to be said. officer vasquez laso was an immigrant to this country. he came here from columbia. he became a citizen and he became a police officer and he gave his life for the people who live in this country. on wednesday night police officers, other first responders

and community members lined the street to salute the ambulance carrying his body as it drove slowly from the hospital where he died to the county coroner's office. black bunting draped the entrance to the headquarters where officer vasquez laso was assigned. several vigils have been held around the city of chicago since his death. the largest was a candlelight prayer vigil in hale park attended by the officer's wife and mother. hundreds of police officers, community members and friends came out to pay their respect. a friend of the prayer vigil recalled that officer vasquez laso, quote, was always a proper man. a fellow officer said he was always smiling. today a memorial stands on the block where he was shot down. people drop off flowers and notes and other tributes. a rosary hangs on a fence.

all flags have been ordered to fly at half staff until officer vasquez laso is laid to rest thursday. these are especially difficult times to be a member of law enforcement. a growing arsenal of high-powered guns in the hands of criminals makes weapons more dangerous than it has ever been. domestic violence calls are fraught with danger for police, victims and innocent police standing by. at the suspect's bail hearing, judge murray rubio noted that danger and she said this case from start to finish, it begins in violence. it ends in violence. the director of a local domestic violence prevention organization said your heartbreaks because it was all so preventable. madam president, for the sake of law enforcement officers who protect our communities, and the victims of violence, we must do more to break the cycle of violence that kills far too many and leaves so many scared.

we must, must do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and others who flatly should not have them. the bipartisan safer communities act that congress passed last year in the wake of the horrific uvalde school shooting made important progress but more is needed to protect our communities and our law enforcement officers. in closing i want to our my condolences to officer vasquez-lasso's family, especially his wife, his mother, his sister, niece, and little girl as well as his fellow officers in the chicago police department and his many, many friends. officer vasquez-lasso gave his life protecting his community. he was protecting the children on that playground and the families living in the community that he personally called home. we join the city of chicago in saluting his courage and mourning his loss. madam president, i ask that the

next statement i make be placed in a separate part of the record. the president pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: madam president, last week farm suit cal giant eli lilly announced it was going to lower the price of their insulin product. it's called humalog. they're going to lower it dra dramatically, by 70%. and cap the out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month. after two decades of price gouging, this is a major relief for more than seven million patients. more than 200,000 living in my state of illinois who depend on insulin every day to stay alive. but despite the importance of this announcement, i won't be sending thank you cards to the executives of this pharmaceutical company. you see, it was a century ago, 100 years ago, when basic forms of insulin were discovered.

the nobel prize winning researchers who pioneered that discovery surrendered the pat tent rights -- patent rights, their property rights in this new discovery for $1. why? to prevent profiteering on this lifesaving medication. now fast forward almost a hundred years to 1996. eli lilly introduces its insulin drug humalog. they set the price of a vial of this insulin at $21. made sense. it only cost a few dollars to manufacture. but in the years since 1996, eli lilly prioritized profits over patients. the same vial of insulin that eli lilly first sold for $21 was now being sold for $300. eli lilly raised the price more than 30 separate times. what happened to the same drug made by the same company sold in

canada? it was only $40. $300 in the united states. is it any wonder that eli lilly generated more than $22 billion in revenue from insulin alone between 2014 and 2018. let me repeat that number. $22 billion in profit during that four-year period. and let's be clear. during the same time, eli lilly spent $1.5 billion on sales and marketing for insulin. try to turn on the television set and get away with not seeing a pharmaceutical commercial from this company and so many others. eli lilly spent four times more than it spent on research for marketing this product and others. the company's profit taking on this life-or-death drug has had deadly consequences. when the price went up to $300 a month, many people just couldn't afford it. more than one million americans

report having to ration or cut back doses of insulin, an extremely dangerous gamble. i received a letter from one of my constituents from paylows park who faced that. his name is phil. 73 years old. phil told me he's had to skip insulin injections because of the cost. he wrote he was anxiously awaiting lower prescription prices. there's good news for phil and a lot of other americans. you don't have to way any longer. last year democrats lowered the cost of prescription drugs. why didn't i say the senate lowered the cost? because not a single republican would vote for it. not one. we enacted a new penalty to stop pharma's outrageous price hike. we also made vaccines like the shingles vaccine which costs nearly $400 a dose entirely free for seniors under medicare. we said no senior on medicare will pay more than $2,000 out of

pocket for medications in a year. finally, we capped the price of insulin at $35 a month. all of these measures were part of the inflation reduction act which president biden signed into law and republican members of the house are now saying they want to repeal in its entirety. clearly our legislation put big pharma on notice. it let them know their days of price gouging are numbered. we're not finished. there are now two very different visions of health care in america. the democratic vision and the republican vision. instead of voting to cap insulin prices, republicans blocked our proposal, when applied the $35 premium to all americans and not just senior citizens. we needed ten republican votes on the floor. we got seven. and get this. now many republicans are talking about repealing the whole law and raising drug prices, exactly what america does not need.

as long as we're in charge in the senate and have a president in the white house, we won't let it happen. in fact, we want to work with republicans if they're willing to do more. let's extend the $35 insulin cap to all other diabetic patients in america. is that a radical idea? senator warnock of georgia has a bill to do this. the question, are republicans willing to join us? that's what it takes to pass it. while we we're at it, let's putn end to pharma schemes take unjustifiably extend monopolies and harm patients. last year five partisan bills were reported out to address patent abuse and tactics that prevent generic drugs from coming on the market, keeping prices high for american families. the full senate should take up and pass these bills and we should pass the bill that i'm introducing with the republican from iowa, senator grassley, to address

the out ages direct to consumer drug ads you see on television. we all see them. on average every american who watches tv is going to see nine drug ads every single day. how many countries allow advertising of drugs on television? two -- the united states of america and new zealand. go figure. pharma spends $63 a year flooding the airwaves so the average american sees all those ads. promoting the most expensive drugs in the world. pharma thinks if they bombard you enough with ads so that you finally get to the point you might be able to spell xarelto, you will insist to your doctor that's the blood thinner you want even though there may be less expensive alternatives just as effective. well, senator grassley and i have a radical idea. if they can put all those disclaimers on those ads, give you all the information, say things that sound nonsensical on their face, if you're allergic

to this drug, don't take this drug. how do i know if i'm allergic? if they put that on there they ought to be able to put for five seconds on every ad the cost of the drug. the cost of the drug. some of these drugs cost $9,000 and $10,000 a month and they are peddling them on the air like they are pretty common, pretty affordable. they're not. if they are advertising drugs and rattling off side effects, disclose the price up front. it's a basic step towards transparency for patients and even former president trump agreed with us on this one. he supported our efforts. i'm glad we capped the price of insulin. there's a lot more to do. it will be bipartisan. if it isn't bipartisan, it's going nowhere. i hope the republicans will join us as people across america celebrate the affordability of prescription drugs for medicare recipients. madam president, i ask consent that the last statement i will make be placed in a separate

part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, when i was a college student in 1965 -- i've given away my age -- there was this discussion one night about getting in the car here at georgetown university in washington, and three or four of us driving down to selma, alabama, to participate in a march. well, things intervened like work schedules and class, and we didn't do it and i regretted it ever since. i wasn't there for the march on selma which was commemorated just this past weekend with president biden going to selma. but i did get to the city of selma, alabama, on a fateful morning. congressman john lewis, who i served with in the house of representatives, one of the real civil rights heroes of my generation, took a group of us down to selma, alabama, and part of the trip was to march over the edmund pettus bridge, which he had done and almost love his life in the process --

almost lost his love in the process. at the last minute i had to go back to illinois and catch an early morning plane to take the trip back home. i told john lewis well maybe next time i'll get a chance to do it. he said there may not be a next time so let's you and i go over there. we got up at 6:00 a.m., drove over to selma, alabama. in the early morning foggy walked across the edmond puss -- end mund pettus bridge. he pointed out where they almost killed him and african american fractured -- i fractured his skull. i think of john surviving that and the amazing courage which he showed. it sometimes escapes us as to why that march was taking place. it sounds like a bunchl of people who just wanted to get public attention. there's a lot more to the story. there's a woman who publishes a column almost every single day, free for those who want to read it. her name is heather cox richardson.

i've come to know her a little bit. she was in the senate democratic caucus a few weeks ago. she published a column on march 5, sunday, which spoke about selma, alabama, and what was behind that march. it was all about registering african americans to vote in the state of alabama. in the 19 6's she wrote despite the fact black ameri 25, the city's voting rules were 99% white. in 1963 local black organizers launched a voter registration drive. during the 1964 freedom summer voter renal strayings drive -- registration drive in neighboring mississippi, ku klux klan members worked with local law enforcement officers to murder three voting rights organizers and did is pose of their -- dispose of their

bodies. to try to hold back white supremacists congress passed the 1964 civil rights act designed in part to make it possible for black americans to register to vote. in selma, a judge stopped voter registration meetings by prohibiting public gatherings of more than two people. to call attention to the crisis this their city, they invited dr. martin luther king to come to selma. king and other prominent black leaders arrived on january 1965, and for seven weeks black residents made a push to register to vote. county sheriff in the selma area, james clark, arrested almost 2,000 of them on a variety of charges, including contempt of court, parading without a permit. a federal court ordered clark not to interfere with orderly organize strayings. -- orchestration. there were judges who risked their lives and one of them was frank johnson.

john lewis told me about him. the federal court ordered clark not to interfere with this voter registration, so he forced black applicants to stand in line for hours and subjected them to a literacy test before they were allowed to register to vote. not one single person passed. then on february 18, white police officers, including local police sheriffs sheriffs deputies beat and shot jimmie lee jackson who was voting for voting rights registration in march john, alabama. jackson had run into a restaurant for shelter along with his mother when the police started rioting, but they chased him and shot him and killed him in a restaurant kitchen. he died eight days later on february 26. black leaders in selma decided to diffuse the community anger by planning a long march 54 miles from selma to the state capital in montgomery.

on march 7, 1965, the marchers set out. as they crossed the edmund pettus bridge, the unarmed marches with met with billy clubs. they fractured john lewis' skull. a newspaper photograph of a 54-year-old seemingly dead in the arms of a marcher illustrated the depravity of those determined to stop black voting. i tell that story about black sunday because very often people don't hear the whole story. it was just a march. what was going on? why did they do all that? it involved the right to vote. the right to vote in america. is there anything more fundamental? is there anything more debated at this point? the big lie of the previous president about the results of the last election i hope has been debunked by americans who are open to the facts but we still fight to make sure states do not restrict the right to

vote, but too many still do. why do they make it so hard for residents of america to legally vote? it should be the easiest thing in the world. we shouldn't ask a great personal sacrifice to achieve it. heather richardson made that point in her column and i wanted to recount it on the floor of the senate. as we think about selma, alabama, we think about more than just that picture of people coming over the bridge. we think of the reason they were coming over that bridge. to vote, to be part of america. to have an opportunity to speak in a democracy. it's so fundamental, it's so basic, it's so america. madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you, madam president. since coming to washington two years ago, i learned a lot about the senate and about how washington works. politics can at times be like a game. while we may be on different teams politically, we should all be focused on winning for all american people. and if there's one thing i know about in my last 40 years as a coach and educator, it's trying to win and how to win. 50 years ago we discovered a winning strategy for all of american female athletes. it was called title 9, probably one of the most successful pieces of legislation that's ever came out of this body.

signed into law in 1972, title 9's 37 words empowered women to win by leveling the playing field and providing them access to the same opportunities as young men. i believe those words are worth repeating today to remind this body of their importance. no person in the united states shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. those sometimes on the left argue that allowing males to compete against females makes sports more inclusive.

i don't believe that. the opposite to me is true. forcing females to compete against males destroys the playing field, the level playing field created by law. it would exclude young women from the safety and fairness that they deserve. line success would be undone if it continues to happen. since its enactment, participation in female sports has increased by more than 600%. think about that now. in 50 years, because of title 9 to participate, the participation of women's sports has increased 600%. and the number of female college graduates in the united states

increased dramatically from 8% to 40%. you don't see things like that happening. title 9 has afforded many women the opportunity to receive athletic scholarships and become our engineers, our doctors, our lawyers, our leaders without the burden of college debt. sadly, title 9 is being detracted by activists who care more about politics than what's best for women and girls. the u.s. department of education is caving, is giving in to progressive activists and moving ahead with plans to force schools to allow biological males to share locker rooms and compete in women's sports. this irrational and

unprecedented move comes despite record numbers of educators, parents, and athletes who have voiced their concerns about this disastrous impact that this would have on female athletes of all ages. the department of education, president biden, and my colleagues on the left have ignored those concerns because they care more about appeasing activists and the left than young women. i just can't understand this. it'sha year, coaches will be forced to decide whether opening up their locker rooms to biological males. allowing biological males to

compete against women is unfair, unsafe, and it's wrong. we can't look americans in the eye and honestly say we support female athletes if we stand by as they are forced into uncomfortable settings they do not deserve. and we can't tell young women we can't allow them to succeed if we let the radical left push them to the sidelines of sports and take away opportunities for scholarships and fair competition. it is not the american way. if you visited my hometown of auburn, alabama, on a friday night over the past few months, you would see an arena, thousands of people, an arena full of excited young girls

watching the auburn gymnastics team. many of them dream of becoming olympic gym nists -- gym nists just like sunni leigh who is anp gold medal -- olympic medalisit. others make the trip to alabama to see the world games and to see them on the mound aspiring to become a softball pitcher at a high level. our girls and young women should be able to dream and compete. taking away their title 9 protections by twisting the law

could strip those opportunities for female athletes across our great country. since 2003, biological men have won 28 women's sports titles. let me read that again. since 2003, biological men have won 28 women's sports titles. we've all heard from athletes like riley gains, the college swimmer who bravely spoke out after having to share is a locker room and the podium of a swimmer who had an unfair advantage of swimming in a male body. a judge in minnesota has ordered the usa power-lifting teams to

allow biological men to lift again female power lifters. when will this end? when will we step up and say enough is enough. congress must act and save title 9 and make sure competition is safe and fair for everyone, including girls and women. this is why last week i reduced the protection of -- reintroduced the protection of women and girls sports act. this legislation would require institutions to recognize an athlete's gender solely based on what it is at birth or else be banned from receiving federal funding. you know, it sounds absurd, even to me, to say, but sadly, this legislation is now necessary to preserve title 9 for current and future female athletes.

it's really sad. and i'm thankful for those and those colleagues here in the senate who have joined me in standing up for women's sports, and i hope that others will join our efforts in the future. we have to save title 9. we have to save young girls and women to be table to participate on the same level with the same funding and access to coaches as men. millions of young girls and women are looking to us -- to us in this body and to the people across this country, looking to us to stand up for them and have actions to assure that the playing field remains level for generations and generations to come. this senate must take up this crucial legislation and help every young woman and young girl in this great country that we live in.

madam president, i yield the floor.

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. 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, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 6 is.

-- 16. the presiding officer: -- 61. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. the ayes appear so have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of the treasury, daniel werfel, to be commission of the internal revenue. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. 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 bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 61, daniel i. werfel, of district of columbia, to be commissioner of the internal revenue. mr. schumer: i ask the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, march 6, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. schumer: madam president.

the presiding officer: the senate majority leader. mr. schumer: this thursday president biden will release the third budget proposal of his presidency, one of the most important chances all year to emphasis the contrast the budget. when you look at his proposal and compare it to the nasty plans coming from the republicans, the differences will be glaring. president biden's budget proposal will keep his promise not to raise taxes for anyone making less than $400,000 a year. he will show how democrats will keep medicare solvent for another two decades and he'll lay out a plan, realistic, serious plan for lowering the deficit by $2 trillion over the next ten years. republicans love to talk about cutting the deficit, but democrats have actually done it. the inflation reduction act cut

the deficit and cut prescription drug costs and expanding tax credits for millions of middle-class families. compare president biden's budget to the nasty vision laid out by our republican friends. while the president's budget will keep taxes and cost low for the vast majority of families, republicans went on record wanting to raise taxes by 30% for millions of americans through their recent national sales tax proposal. while the president promised no new taxes for people making under $400,000, the very first bill that house republicans passed, helped tax cheats get away with paying little or nothing. socialwhile democrats are cleart social security and medicare are

are -- the result, fewer benefits for retirees. we cannot overlook the threat republicans also pose to medicaid, which tens of millions of middle-class americans rely on to ease the burden of paying for nursing homes and assisted living. democrats want to preserve and strengthen medicaid, but republican proposals would cut medicaid by $2.2 trillion and end coverage for millions of americans. that average middle-class family, let's say they're 40 or 50 worried about paying for their kids' college but also have a parent in the nursing home, right now medicaid would pay for it if the parents don't have the resources, if this cut, that burden would fall on families in the prime of life. the president will make clear in order to strengthen social security and medicare and lower the deficit responsibly, the ultra rich must pay their fair

share. there is no conceivable scenario where wealthy ceo's should pay a lower rate than nurses, teachers, and firefighters, but that's how republicans preferred it. it's as if republicans care more about making sure the rich stay rich than they do about building ladders to the middle class, than they do about keeping middle-class people in that position. now, when president biden called out republicans for targeting social security and medicare, they erupted with feigned outrage during his state of the union, but leader mccarthy and the house republican leadership have failed to show their own plan to the american people. it's now march 6, speaker mccarthy, where is your plan? speaker mccarthy, where is your plan? the president is about to release his budget. are you going to release yours any time soon? enough with the dodging, enough with the excuses.

show us your plan and how it will get 218 votes on your side of the aisle. americans deserve to see for themselves what democrats and republicans propose for the iewrt of the country. republicans -- for the future of the country. republicans should come clean to the american people about what cuts they're pushing and explain how those cuts will cause unnecessary pain for millions of americans across the country. now, on rail safety, it's a busy time for the senate as we get to the bottom of what went wrong last month in east palestine. last week my colleagues, senator brown, democrat, senator vance, republican, introduced the bipartisan railway safety act of 2023. i promised to work with them and with colleagues on both sides to push this bill forward. this thursday the environmental and public works committee under the able leadership of chairman carper will also hear from norfolk southern's ceo alan

shaw. i expect a candid, honest, clear-eyed discussion about how we can prevent another east palestine in the future. and while i'm glad that norfolk southern's ceo is testifying, we cannot have an open debate, an honest debate in congress about rail safety unless republicans acknowledge how they spent years opposing safety rules intended to prevent accidents similar to the one in ohio. the story of rail safety deregulation over the last decade has been a disturbing tale of republicans placing profits over people and currying favor with the rail lobby all at the expenses of workers' and families' safety. as far back as the obama administration, republicans pushed numerous bills to weaken environmental standards, delay safety upgrades and even prohibit, prohibit federal funding for amtrak. under president trump's watch,

it became easier to transport flammable liquids and hazardous materials without proper oversight. under president trump's watch, it also became easier to cut back on staffing requirements while operating a train. and it was the trump administration that killed proposals to expand electronic brake requirements across the industry. the reason for that delay, the trump administration thought it was, quote, not economically justified. you can't come up with a better slogan for republicans' attitude toward rail safety than this. not economically justified. imagine the message that sends to small towns across america like east palestine with rail lines running right through them. i want to be clear. a full investigation into the cause of these -- east palestine derailment must be complete before we know the specifics behind the accident but it doesn't take an expert to see that if you spend years trying to cut back safety regulations,

if you spend years doing the bidding of the rail lobby, then in the long run communities like east palestine are at greater risk of accident. and so are so many of my communities in upstate new york where two of the major national rail lines run through the state, one across the center of the state along eowe near where the erie canal ran, going through buffalo, rochester, syracuse, utica, albany down the hudson river and the other across the southern tier. in fact, now this weekend we saw yet another norfolk southern derailment in ohio near springfield. thank god nobody was hurt. so i look forward to hearing from norfolk southern's ceo this week. i look forward to working with both sides to increase rail safety through legislation. but republicans need to acknowledge that accidents like the one in east palestine don't happen out of the blue. they become more likely when maximizing profits is crown king

above everything else, even above people's safety. on the irs commissioner. today i'm going to file cloture on the nomination of daniel werfel to serve as commissioner for the irs. for the information of all senators, this will set up the first procedural vote on this nominee as early as wednesday. mr. werfel was reported out of the committee with bipartisan support. and should be no different -- it should be no different on the senate floor. confirming someone as qualified as mr. werfel as irs commissioner is crucial to making sure americans take full advantage of all the tax credits we approved last year through legislation like the chips and science bill. it's also crucial for deploying resources we approved to go after rich cheats, and ensure middle-class families are not needs willly audited while those at the top get by scot-free. the senate has a responsibility to make sure the irs is fully staffed, to handle its enormous workload, all the more important

this year because of the new tax credits we approved through bills like chips and science last congress. and finally on spectrum, madam president, senators from both sides of the aisle are working to approve a 60-day extension of the fcc spectrum auction authority by the march 9 deadline. the house recently passed a 60-day extension by voice vote. we are working right now to get the senate to act quickly in order to give both sides more time to arrive at a larger comprehensive agreement. congress has never before allowed the fcc spectrum auction authority to lapse and to let it happen for the first time would be disastrous. spectrum is essential for building out 5g capabilities, its application impacts everything from families' internet access, to satellite communications all the way down to baby monitors. i expect both sides will come to an agreement very soon to approve a 60-day extension before the march 9 deadline.

i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

earmarks. what's an earmark >> an earmark is mcellroy r oughts congress with direct money to projects in hair district or state. going back to early days of the republic.

>> well, it really allows them meet the local needs of their constituents and congress is not get ago lot done for them they feel and this is a way members of congress can demonstrate and direct ways that congress and federal government can deliver for them weather fixing a road or build ago new hospital. >> developer gives the legislator the ability to say i did this for you and show them the dollar figure attached to it. >> whether or not in the constitution is this? >> it's not in the constitution but the constitution is clear that the power of the purse lies within congress and no money shall be drawn from the treasury without a law enacted by congress and we think this falls squarely within that article one power of the purse. over the last few decades, a lot of that power has been more delegated to the executive branch to make these decisions

that we've seen a lot of agencies and departments making decision on where funds should be spent rather than congress and we at bipartisan policy center see this as a way for congress to take back the power. >> brings us to your point specifically and looking at publishing of the report. >> a few things and what's important for viewers to know is that there was what's called an earmark moray tore rum from the last ten years and 2011-2021 there was no earmarks and came after a lot of desire for >> fix the process and making it more ethical and congress decide it

was going to restore the process and we want to assess how that went and went across a few different things and how well they did in terms of implementing guardrails that we asked them to put in place on congress and bipartisan effort and the bipartisan policy center made recommendations of other experts and across a number of things congress did make good and any project they're requesting and no for profit recipients can receive funds, which there's a lot of problem withs that if the old earmark days and with move the away from calling it earmarking and the government moved away from the accountability office and

community support shown for projects and members aren't just moonlighting and coming up with ideas on their own and have to get local leaders to buy in and for the most part local leaders are coming to their remittives and tell them what they need and mayors, city council members and people on county commissions. last thing is that they implemented actually a regime of transparency unprecedented in the directive spending process. we've never known so much about who is reconnecting funds for what and how much money they're getting and where it's going. >> (202)748-8001 for republicans and (202)748-8002 for democrats and text us at

(202)748-2003. jot senate calling it directionally intend spending and that's what it is more. >> fy22 the average request of the survey is 6.9 and 98% change from previous 2.4 million was the total request made with 3,019 with 2 million+ projects approved. fill in the blanks. >> sure, 80% of the houses and bipartisan effort and 80% of the house participated including 60% of republican conference made requests and members were limited and this was not a free for all. member k only make 10 requests

for fy22 and bumped it up and they can do this responsible and it's a bit of a cap and also a cap on the overall amount nose numbers about 435 members and making recommendations to the appropriations committee making request and getting those projects back to their district. >> what states have received and looking at per capita funding with florida being on the top of the list going down to others being on the bottom of the list. >> thinking that large in population do a bit better and again makes sense and more congressional district and more remittives making requests and

bump that number up. there were some states that they put on the state and that left money on uneven distribution in the house and republicans sitting out the process. >> as far as legislators who refuse to participate in this process, are there those that will not put earmarks in? >> there are. yeah, like i said about 80% of the house participated on the senate side and almost all democrats with a couple of exceptions and then only about a third of their republicans confidence in the senate participated and not going to have it reflect a few things. one said after all the new guardrails and kept things in line and the report demonstrates and there's a bit of concern there still and we hope they'll

see the new reality that this process is much better and really can do a lot for their constituent. >> the headline from role call and debate over the december spending bill last year. senator shelby, richard shelby of alabama and also having a record as far as more with a total of 1.2 billion and talking about that figure and that happened as far as those high earmarks. >> given that we have to keep in mind is that sometimes an earmark in terms of dollar value reflects a major national priority combined with a local priority and think about florida everglades protection and that's a pretty ex-pension project, coastal -- expensive project and coastal project to undertake in terms of the infrastructure that

goes into that. sometimes the high dollar values really kind of make it look like an outlier for a member but historically there's been an issue and i think a fair criticism where mcellroys of the appropriations committees did better -- members of the appropriations committee did better in the earmarking process. it's a ranking republican and partly also reflects this and the ranking republicans and we ask you to look at this and be more mindful of the distribution and try to make it more equitable among members. >> more from anthony and chicago and the bipartisan policy and the positive earmarks and anthony go ahead. >> i want to know about the congress first thing let's be real and they're there for two years at a time and a lot of appropriations and they have to

expand much longer terms of times. talk through the long term nature and guardrail to ensure these dollars had the longevity of the policy to narrow roads and make them safer including bike lanes, et cetera, speeding people because a lot of times the funding can get tunneled through ngos and fooled around and subgranted out and there's no game plan for some of the projects and we don't like the term pet project and a lot of times the money with the cap and put it back into my community. where does it really go. can you speak to the guardrails to track how the spending goes

and the appropriations. >> that's an excellent question and a few things to keep in mind in terms of long term here. some of the dollars are available for multiyear and it's expected that they are not going to be spent right away but at the same time they want you to keep in mind even though congress is directing in money, it's the executive agencies and departments in the federal government is distributed and they've got a number of processes that you have to go through. they do a lot of tracking and there is a lot of paperwork for we need to make for more permanent authority gao going

forward now and on a year-to-year basis with the understanding that that will continue to be extended and we think longer term extension of that would be better. in terms of how this ends up in places that the system is very different now and most of the recipients are state and local government entities and some nonprofits receiving it and those are very specific and they have to show evidence how the money can be used and want to prove this specific time line and how they use the funds and in terms of longer term challenges and the caller mentioned housing for instance and fixed the local problems and congress maybe is struggling to address things like housing and supply and issues around

homelessness and this is a way for local communities to breakthrough gridlock and short term solutions and in terms of congress having to act, we're talking about really five, ten year programs to improve transit to improve housing or whatever you're interested in. >> mary in potomac, maryland. >> thank you. what would happen with other republicans so hesitant to text the rich and just like taking our taxes and regular people on their earnings and also --

>> caller, i don't know -- caller, i don't know if this within the author's per view but if you want to take that on. >> i'm not a tax expert but keeping that in mind and directive spending doesn't add to the deficit or more and advise a top line number of what they're going to spend and just congress deciding in is the percent of money we're spending and executive branch you can decide the rest of it and in terms of extra spending and directive spending or earmarks don't add anything to that . >> is there a percentile of how much the federal budget makes up the earmarks? >> it is .x it's fairly small in the grand scheme of things and adds up to one-third of 1% of

all federal spending so if you think of the federal budget as a dollar, that's a third of a penny and then it's about 1% of just the discretionary budget so very small in the grand scheme of things, but for the communities who receive some of this money, it can make a really big difference talking about for instance with eastern tennessee sweaters and serves about 73 of the 95 counties in tennessee and only independent nonprofit hospital that can be served for them not being paid for mri machine and in the life span of $2.5 million and now the budget in the trillions and that's using an mri machine, $2.5 million make as big difference.

that's an example of the kinds of ways. >> a viewer take this is look and now a policy built for reelection. >> same perspective and that's the case and i don't blame her for having that view and things have really changed and i hope you'll be open to that. i think the proof of the pud asking in the last spending and the available projects for a lot of members voting against the bill and it would explicitly be understood and i think now this new system that's really understood is pretty hard to do that kind of vote buying like

you could under the old system where there was not a lot of transparency. and transparency in the system now it would be really hard to cheat and do something like that, either do something corrupt but it would be even easier to get caught. >> our guest with the bipartisan policy center and serves with michael thorning and how is the center financed? >> we are financed through a combination of property managers and that balance keep ago bipartisan per spect and i have not leaning into any one more connection than the other and thinking why is this guy and this center being a big support and bipartisan policy center and

the earmarks and we're totally disconnected from that and we really see this as a way to improve the legislative process. there's been studies, some scholars and one of the coauthors that is with the mcke scholar for the area and they looked at this and they found that actually the 10 year moratorium on earmarks and law making decline in that time and in terms of federal spending and the debt, that got worse while there were -- there was no directed spending so the idea of getting rid of this is somehow going to solve it doesn't make a lot of sense. >> this is keith in connecticut, independent line. >> yeah, hi. first time i've ever gotten on the air or gotten through but here's my very simple

questions: how does this -- first of all, they never want to tell you about their tax status and they never want to be specific about who gives -- who funds them. so i want to know what he feels that direct, indirect unlimited financial support of finances to congress really run this is country and when you use the phrase american institute of enterprises and thank you from your listening. >> yeah n terms of bpc and financial status and 501c3 nonprofit and tax information and 990 form are available -- mr. cornyn: madam president, last thursday and friday, i hosted several of our senate colleagues for a visit to texas'

southern border. as you can see, senators thune, wicker, fischer, britt, and ricketts, joined me for for for a series of tours and meetings in the rio grande value i will this followed a bipartisan visit that we made to el paso and yuma just a few weeks ago. so far i've been happy to host, along with senator cruz, about ten separate delegations to the border. each of those senators saw a beautiful and vibrant region, overwhelmed by the burden it's been handed by the federal government. since president biden took office, border communities and our entire state, for that matter, has been forced to carry the massive weight of a humanitarian and security crisis. border communities are left with no choice but to provide food, clothing, and shelter, medical

care, and transportation for tens of thousands of migrants each week. and they're forced to use their local tax dollars towards costs that really should be borne by the federal government. and, of course, they're left to wonder how this crisis is impacting the safety of their communities. during conversations last week, law enforcement officers shared their concerns about the security breakdowns along the border. given the overwhelming number of people entering our country every day, border patrol has to respond and reposition with its limited personnel. as a result, highly trained law enforcement officers are shifted from the front lines to pushing paper. agents who should be arresting cartel members that attempt to trafficking drug in our country are now spending their days on administrative

duties. 1,008 americans died last year alone from drugs coming across the border. of course this isn't a coincidence. this is a plan. the cartels are smart, they're shrewd, they're scheming, and they are in pursuit of the almighty dollar. they orchestrate migration surges in specific areas to flood the zone and overwhelm law enforcement so they can take advantage of unpatrolled areas nearby. when we arrived thursday night, we saw firsthand the sheer volume and diversity of migrants that agents were apprehending from a 6 noald -- 6-month-old baby to single adult males and previously we had seen sections of the border like yuma where hundreds. mr. schumer: and claim -- show up and claim asylum. this is part of the overwhelming

strategy of the cartels. their strategy is to distract and overwhelm. while professional law enforcement agents are busy processing and transporting migrants, cartels can smuggle heroin, fentanyl, and heaven knows what else across the border. it's all part of a game plan by the it on their own. on friday we spoke with local, state, and federal law enforcement about the far-reaching security impact of this broken border. the fentanyl that comes across the border doesn't stay in border communities. it moves to cities and towns across the country, mainly distributed by criminal street

gangs who then battle each other for market share, for territory, and of course engage in a whole host of other crimes too. but selling drugs is how they pay for much of it. these local and state and federal officials weren't just concerned about this poison slipping across the border, but dangerous criminals that come across too. last year customs and border protection arrested more than 750 criminal gang members and 98 people who were on the terrorist watch list. we all remember what happened not that long ago, 20 years ago now, i guess, on 9/11 when fewer terrorists than that hit the world trade center and the pentagon killing 3,000 americans. but the biden administration seems to be completely oblivious to the potential threat of people on the terrorist watch

list making their way into the united states undetected. you can't help but wonder how many people are able to sneak into our country undetected while law enforcement is distracted caring for migrants. hundreds of thousands of migrants are what border patrol calls got-aways, people who are running away from law enforcement, and it doesn't take any imagination to wonder why. the current state of affairs is unsustainable, but president biden continues to promote the false narrative that only congress can fix this border crisis. during his state of the union last month, president biden even said america's border problems won't be fixed until congress acts. but that myth, that myth is easy to debunk. just compare what we're seeing now to what we saw during the previous administration.

during president biden's first two years in office, customs and border protection encountered nearly 4.7 million migrants at the southern border, an absolutely unprecedented and astonishing figure. but during the first two years of the trump administration, the agencies reported fewer than 950,000 encounters. from one administration to the next, we saw from 950 to 4.7 million. congress did not pass any sweeping immigration laws in the interim. there hasn't been any major legislation that might have caused this dramatic increase or restricted the administration's ability to respond to it. despite the fact that president biden has, was dealt the exact same hand, when it comes his authorities at the border, we've experienced nearly four and a half times as many border

crossings under his presidency. four and a half times. so this crisis wasn't created by congress, and crisis is not the problem when it comes to solutions. it is the biden border crisis, and only he can fix it. we don't need to completely rewrite our immigration laws in order to fix the humanitarian and security crisis at the border. president biden needs to do what other administrations have done and force the laws -- enforce the laws already on the books. the administration needs to get serious about things like expedited removals and ensure that those with invalid asylum claims are quickly removed from the united states. the administration needs to increase detention space so frontline personnel have the capacity to actually carry out their job. they need to is to be paroling or essentially waving people

into the united states to wait an appointment with immigration and customs that is years away because of the backlog. time and time again the border patrol tell me that what's missing now that existed previously were consequences, consequences with coming to the united states illegally or by exploiting our asylum system. there were consequences, and that offered a deterrent effect on millions of people that are now coming to the border. so by taking a few simple actions, the biden administration could send a clear message to anyone considering crossing our border unless you have a legitimate reason to be here, you will not be able to stay. that's the very essence of consequences. deterrence is a key component of a safe and secure border, and

until the administration starts deterring would-be migrants with frivolous asylum claims from crossing the border, we will remain in a constant state of crisis. now to be clear, i'm not suggesting congress should just sit on the sidelines. we have an important role to play too. for one thing, there's obviously a need to improve border security. we need to strengthen the combination of technology, infrastructure, and boots on the ground that is the recipe for closing the security gaps that are being exploited every day. last week law enforcement told in no uncertain terms that they need additional resources, and providing those resources should be a top priority. but congress also needs to address the glaring problems with our asylum system that are being exploited massively. in the yuma sector, where i traveled with the bipartisan

delegation just weeks ago, the border patrol sector chief told us that 2 hundred -- excuse me, 176 people, people from 176 countries speaking 200 languages were taking, coming through the yuma border patrol sector and claiming asylum because they knew they would be released to the interior of the united states. so that's a broken asylum system, especially when once people ultimately do appear in front of an immigration judge, no more than 15% to 20% will have those asylum claims validated, which means 75% to 80% or so are staying in the country awaiting a future asylum hearing without any legitimate claim to asylum. so one of the places we visited was a border patrol processing center. you can see that here.

and we saw just how overwhelmed the border patrol is by the number of people that they have to process. we discussed the growing backlog of cases and the fact that it will be years, if ever, that these cases will ultimately appear in front of an immigration jungle. that's un -- immigration judge. that's unfair to families who have to live in uncertainty for years because the system is so underwater and dysfunctional. it's fair to those who do not qualify for asylum and whose claims will be rejected. they'll spend years living and working in the united states only to be told at some point in the future that they have to leave. but the dirty secret -- and it's not a secret -- is that many people will simply not. mr. schumer: for that -- show up for that future court date knowing that thanks to the biden

administration's open borders and nonenforcement policy that they'll likely be able to stay in the united states even though they don't appear in front of an immigration judge at some point in the future. there are a lot of problems that congress can and should solve but the border crisis does not hinge on all those reforms. madam president, i appreciate my colleagues coming to texas to visit our southern border, the ones that did last week and the many others who will join recently on a bipartisan basis. mr. cornyn: i think it's important for every senator to see what's happening on the southern border, but the con constant refrain i here is because of the drugs being imported into the united states that are being distributed virtually throughout the country, what i keep hearing people say is every state is now effectively a border state, and every city, including washington, d.c., new york, and chicago, where many of these migrants have been bused because

that's where they requested to await their future hearing, all those are border cities in effect as well. the problem does not stay at the border. the problem is all across the country, thanks to the message that the biden administration is sending that this' no reason not to come. in fact, if you do come, you're likely to be successful in staying. it's simply unfair to the professionals who work on the border who are overwhelmed by the burden they have been asked to carry and frustrated beyond belief by the lack of support that they received from this administration. essentially what the border patrol has been told in so many word is you hired on to do a job, an important law enforcement job, but we are going to, we're going to shackle you and prevent you from actually doing the job that you

entered the border patrol to do, because we're not going to embrace the right policies and we're not going to provide enough resources for you to actually do your job and succeed in doing your job. so communities across the u.s.-mexico border are dealing with the fallout from the administration's policy failures. and as i said a moment ago, the biden administration has tools at its disposal to address this crisis without any action from congress, and it's time to put those to use. madam president, i yield the floor. and i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: doreenicapósvc10cal:

a the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: i ask that we dispens with the quorum call. dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: in the months leading up to the 2020 election, joe biden distanced himself from the far left and pitched himself as a -- and the media played along right until day one of the joe biden administration when joe biden handed the reins to the -- he claimed that this

administration is transformative, but that's not what tennesseans believe. all they see is a president who is not in control of his government and a host of unelected bureaucrats on a mission to rip apart this country and to rebuild it in their image. that's the kind of transformation they are carrying out in this country. this complete disregard for the american people was on display last week during attorney general merrick garland's testimony before the senate judiciary committee. it became clear to me from listening to his testimony and reviewing his tenure as our attorney general that he has truly created a two-tiered system of justice in this

country. two systems of justice. two different types of investigations. now, under these two separate tiers of investigations and response and justice, there is one standard that applies to people of faith, to parents, to conservatives, really the heartland of america. and there is a separate standard for the liberal, political elites, people that are after power, people that want to control your life. and since the dobbs opinion leak, violence and threats of violence have increased among far-left groups, but not among pro-life and conservative

groups. still, the garland jod targeted pro-life advocates for investigation and prosecution and even full-scale fbi raids. let me give you some examples of this. over 70 pro-life centers have been targeted by pro-left activists yet only two individuals have been indicted. compare that with 25 pro-life advocates indicted under the face act just in the last five months. the attorney general has been keeping very close tabs on the pro-life community. as i said, there are 25 that are being prosecuted while only two

are being prosecuted after having carried out 70 acts of vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers and comoiches. but he is -- churches. he is watching this pro-life community closely, so i was taken aback when he said in his testimony that he was completely unaware of a widely reported attack on a crisis pregnancy center in nashville. the far-left abortion advocacy group jane's revenge claimed responsibility on the fire boehming attack -- fire firebomg attack, but they are unwilling to classify this group as a domestic terrorist organization.

you heard me right, madam president, they firebombed a pro-life pregnancy center, a center to help women with health care, to provide diapers for newborns, formula for babies. this group, jane's revenge, they were so proud of their work they spray painted their name on the walls and took credit for it. now, mr. garland likes to throw around the label domestic terrorist when it comes to parents who are concerned about what their children are being taught in school, but he will not use it to condemn far-left radicals who attempt to burn down a crisis pregnancy center. the american public should find this appalling and completely

unacceptable. tennesseans find this unacceptable. it is also unacceptable that he won't enforce the federal law that explicitly prohibits protesters from intimidating our supreme court justices. that's right. there is a federal statute against this, but he is has prosecuting these individuals. five justices and their families have endured unimaginable harassment from constant protesting outside of their private homes. one justice has even fallen victim to an assassination attempt. but no one, not one, zero, no one has been indicted or prosecuted. this is a federal crime.

it is a law on the books. this is two tears of justice at -- two tiers of justice at work. the american people can see this, and when i'm at home in tennessee, madam president, i hear a lot about this. it doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum someone sits on. i hear complaints about this two tiers of justice from republicans, democrats, independents. the reason you do is because people know sometimes when you establish such a precedent that it leads to areas you don't want to go, seeing that continue. we are a nation of laws that believe in the rule of law. now here are more examples of this two tiers of justice.

pro-life advocates are being targeted for prosecution and arrest while far-left pro-abortion radicals are free to commit violence in our communities. concerned parents are labeled domestic terrorists. our supreme court justices, who are subject to relentless protests outside their homes, are not being protected. and not a bit of concern from the country's chief law enforcement officer. i ask you, does that sound like normal conduct to you? of course not. it was, as chairman durbin said after another recent meeting of the judiciary committee, a rough hearing. conditions weren't much better over in the commerce committee last week where my republican colleagues and i truly struggled

to see why president biden had nominated someone with only a year and a half of aviation experience to lead the faa. that's right, a year and a half of aviation experience to lead our federal aviation agency. field wesh's only experience amounts to a year and a half stint at the denver airport. he is totally unqualified to lead an agency that is desperate for true leadership. the faa's main mission is to ensure the safety of the flying public, but instead of prioritizing safety, what has mr. washington chosen to prioritize in denver? well, mr. washington's goal is

to ensure inclusion and equity. during the hearing, i asked him why he included dei during the procurement process. the faa's current process, which is already long and convoluted would collapse under a dei mandate, but mr. washington made it clear that he believes while the faa should, indeed, focus on problems like the no tam incident and make sure that planes don't crash into each other, he would need protection to ward an unpopular woke crusade that would nothing to improve the safety of the flying public. the administration needs to go back to the drawing board and send the senate a nominee with

true aviation safety experience. unfortunately, a lack of experience was the least of our concerns in the case of another biden nominee who moved through the senate last week. on thursday, the finance committee voted to advance the nomination of danny werfel to be commissioner of the irs. the irs has a long history of doing whatever it decides it wants to do from the lowest lerner scandal to last year when the irs decided to destroy 30 million taxpayer documents, something we only know about because the treasury inspector general alerted us -- it to us. the irs did not alert congress. the irs has been out of control

for too long and the fact that we have seen this agency move forward on a so-called transformative agenda without a confirmed commissioner is change -- this is something that is proof that in this administration, you have people in that white house that are not sending forward nominees who have the relevant experience and are qualified to do the job to which they are being appointed. while i commend mr. werfel for being willing to serve our country, his responses during the confirmation hearing and the information he submitted in writing did little to inspire confidence and his willingness to take back control of this agency. tennesseans have serious

concerns about how the irs plans to use the $80 billion blank check that the democrats gave them this year. they know that under the current regime, this will lead to more audits, more harassment, not of big corporations, but guess what, small businesses, gig economy workers and main street merchants. meanwhile, taxpayers are sitting ducks for hackers and other bad actors who have found it far too easy to access and steal data from the irs's own systems. the american people are entitled to know how any nominee asking to lead this agency will approach the job. the last thing they want to be told is well, just wait and see. and there you have it. one week of damage and disregard for the american people courtesy

of president joe biden and the senate democrats. there is only way that the biden administration will be able to earn back the confidence of the american people, and that is to start respecting the norms and institutions that our great nation is built upon. this will require everyone from the president on down to discipline themselves and show the same common sense that tennesseans show every day as they stretch their budgets to try to deal with high inflation, the price at the grocery store, the price at the pump. as they try to work through dealing with crime in their communities courtesy of gangs coming in over the southern border and drugs running into our communities, again coming over that open southern border. i'm not optimistic that president biden and the

democrats are going to buckle down and be serious about securing our border, about bringing forward nominees who are competent and ready to serve in this administration, judges that have the relevant experience to serve on a federal bench. but, madam president, i welcome the democrats to buckle down, get serious, take governing seriously. and let's make certain that they bring forward people who are going to do the job with respect for the american people. i yield the floor and notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

recently met with american allies and partners across europe and the middle east. i spoke last week about our

message to nato and friends in europe, the west conference russian invasion of ukraine today shape the future with respect to not just russia china and iran asff well -- judge robert ballou of virginia, nominee to be the united states district judge for the western district of virginia and about ten minutes we will move into a cloture vote to advance his nomination, and i am proud to stand in support of this great jurist. judge ballou has deep and abiding ties to the commonwealth. he was born in roanoke, virginia, just like my wife, and he graduated from the university of virginia and then uva law school. other than a judicial clerkship for the late judge peter bear for the eastern district of louisiana, judge ballou has spent his entire 35-year legal career in virginia. following that clerkship, judge ballou worked in private practice in both richmond and

roanoke from 1988 through 2011. he built a successful civil litigation practice, and he regularly appeared in state and federal courts. judge ballou became a u.s. magistrate judge for the western district of virginia in 2011. madam president is a lawyer and i know understands the role that magistrates play in the federal court system. first they usually have to go through a fairly rigorous application process where they are chosen by the sitting article 3 judges in the court to serve in the magistrate's role. second, once they're on, they have a wide variety of responsibilities in criminal procedure, in pretrial practice in civil cases, in mediations to try to help litigants find a path forward without the need for trials. judge ballou is extremely well regarded for his 12-year service as a magistrate judge.

and one of the things that being a man state gets you is it gets you the opportunity to be before so many litigants and practitioners the court, in this case the western district of virginia, that when you are up for consideration for a judgeship, there's a whole lot of reviews out there about whether or not you've got the judicial temperament, the work ethic, the fairness to be a good article 3 judge. in over a decade as a magistrate, judge ballou has developed a sterling reputation on the bench. he's well known. he's respected in the western district of virginia for running his courtroom in a fair and efficient manner while ensuring that all parties, even low-income people who might be unrepresented, often there are pro se indications before federal courts. all parties are respected and heard. the american bar association unanimously granted to judge ballou its highest rating of well qualified for this nomination. judge ballou enjoys broad and

deep support across the virginia legal community. for example, former u.s. attorneys for the western district of virginia who served under both democratic and republican administrations for the last 20 years wrote that judge ballou, quote, enjoys the highest reputation in the legal community for his intelligence, thoughtfulness, and preparation. judge ballou is consistently displayed the temperament, character, and work ethic necessary to make an outstanding judge. the observation is echoed in the letters of support from civil and criminal attorneys practicing in the western district of virginia representing a wide range of litigants. one other thing that i just want to say about judge ballou that impressed me. this is the second time that senator warner and i following a process that we use where we pull together lawyers from the district to interview candidates, it's the second time we have recommended him to the white house for a nomination to

be an article 3 judge. the first time the white house went a different direction. sometimes that happens and people say okay, well, i'm not interested anymore. i give credit to judge ballou that after we recommended him and you recommend multiple candidates and not everybody gets it, he hung in there. there's been the case with some of the other nominees that senator warner and i have recommended. the ones that hang in there and who eventually get to the bench do a great job. and i'm absolutely convinced that judge ballou who received wide bipartisan support in the judiciary committee, i'm absolutely confident he's going to do a great job in this position. i urge my colleagues to confirm him. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: thank you, madam president, for the recognition. i want to thank my friend. 43 years, senator kaine, for his comments. i apologize to the presiding

officer and folks up front that i didn't hear all his comments so you may be hearing from me a bit of repetition of what tim has already said. but i think in terms of judge ballou who senator kaine has already mentioned, a little bit of repetition might be appropriate. i also join with senator kaine in urging all my colleagues in about eight minutes to support president biden's choice to serve as a u.s. district court judge for the western district of virginia. he really is -- rob ballou is a pillar of the legal virginia community. i want to start where senator kaine left off. he went through our whole vetting process under the trump administration and the fact that someone has at least in terms of our criteria i think qualified as an extraordinarily competent,

well suited individual under both president trump and president biden is a real credit. and i give the white house credit for moving forward and putting his name forward. i think senator kaine has already mentioned the fact he got bipartisan support in committee, something that unfortunately is becoming rarer and rarer. but it's probably already been indicated this is the kind of individual who's got both the legal acumen and the temperament, i think, to be a great judge. he is a virginia native, originally from roanoke, two-time uva graduate. following his time at uva and uva law school, he originally clerked for judge peter bear for the eastern district of louisiana. following this brief stinlts outside of virginia he returned to private practice in richmond and roanoke where he litigated complex civil issues. in 2011 he was selected by the article 3 judges of the western district to support as a

magistrate judge. over the past 12 jeers judge -- years judge ballou has continued to earn the respect and admiration of the article 3 judges that hopefully for the next few days he will actually serve with. and i think will do, again, a great job. he will be replacing retiring judge jones. i know senator kaine and i both have had the pleasure -- i think you may have practiced with him occasionally, but big shoes to fill in, he will do that. again, as has been mentioned, judge ballou has really been known as a magistrate judge for his temperament. the fact that he is -- that lawyers that appear in his courtroom indicate he works diligently, always has an open mind, and he has a real sense of fairness. he loves southwest virginia. his father had served as a state court judge. he's been very involved in

community and charitable activities throughout the whole region. this is i think a man whose time has come. i wish he would have been already on the bench. we'll have a chance to rectify that with our move to cloture today and hopefully a couple days later his confirmation as a judge from the western district of virginia. i heartily join my friend senator kaine and urge the confirmation of judge ballou as a judge for the western district of virginia. with that, madam president, i yield the floor and i think i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be

dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to 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 a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 31, robert ttewart ballou of the virginia to be united states district judge for the western district of virginia, signed by 18 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of robert stewart ballou of virginia to be united states district judge for the western district of virginia, shall be brought to a close.

the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 59. the nays are 35. the motion is agreed to.

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? no. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i understand there is a bill at the desk that's due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 347, an act to require the executive office of the president to provide an inflation estimate with respect to executive orders with an significant effect on the annual gross budget and for other purposes. mr. schumer: --. the presiding officer: without objection. continue. mr. schumer: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard.

mr. schumer: madam president -- the presiding officer: the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. schumer: excuse me. i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business today it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, march 7, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour 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. following the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session, resume consideration of the ballou nomination postcloture. further, that all postcloture times on the ballou nomination be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and that the senate vote on confirmation of the nomination, that the senate recess following the cloture vote on the schopler nomination until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus meetings. further, that if the cloture has been invoked at 2:15 p.m. the senate vote on the confirmation of the schopler nomination and if cloture is invoked on the subramanian nomination, the confirmation vote be at 4:30. if any nominations are confirmed

during tuesday's session the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stand adjourned until senate stand adjourned until u.s. senate today continued work on president biden judicial nominations. vote throughout the week nor more nominees for judicial corporate centers are expected to vote later in the week on house passed resolution to repeal her d.c. law reducing criminal penalties. if approved president biden said he would not veto the legislation. watch live coverage of the senate when they returned here on cspan2. >> preorder your copy of the congressional directory for the 118th congress. it is your