Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20220920

Pann for the d. C. Court of appeals set for this morning and lawmakers are expected to debate a Global Climate change treaty, and to refuse gases commonly used in air conditioning and refrigerators. Live to the floor of the u. S. Senate. The chaplain let us p. Our father in heaven, in whom we live and move and have our being, we glorify your precious name. Lord, we ask you to guide our lawmakers as they influence the future of this nation and world. Lead them with your wisdom, direct them with your patience, and protect them with your power. Lord, we pray that our senators will faithfully fulfill the duties set before them, providing for the common defense, striving to bring domestic tranquility, and working to ensure liberty and justice for all. Likewise, we pray that you would lead and bless american citizens guiding them to protect liberty from sea to shining sea. We pray in your righteous name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C. , september 20, 2022. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable john w. Hickenlooper, a senator from the state of colorado, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patrick j. Leahy, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary. Florence y. Pan of the district of columbia to be United States circuit judge for the district of columbia circuit. Host as part of the discussions over continuing from the government their supervision by senator manchin order to change leasing rules. Our viewers what there that would be and what he think that is going . Guest when you say leasing you mean energy leasing, public lands and waters for Energy Production. Its unfortunate we got herself in a situation, whats happening right now is where seeing record gasoline prices, record your children prices we have seen fewer lands a lease for Energy Production than any administration dating back to the truman administration. To put in perspective there were 100 times more acres of land that were offered for Energy Production at this point in time during the carter administration, 375 times more energy made available for Energy Production during the reagan administration. This is a selfimposed crisis that were experiencing with Energy Prices and, of course, whats going on with ukraine and russia and we could be doing more to help our nato allies in europe. So this really is, these are unforced errors where experience and its having a profound impact on the American Public. The legislation you are referring to requires that lease sales for energy the issue because they are effective at the nine under this administration. The First Administration in modern history to do so. This shouldnt take an act of congress to force these actions, to force us to solve problems that should have never become a crisis or problem to begin with. Host President Biden during the 60 the 60 minw was asked about oil and gas prices and want to play what he had to say about it and response and get your response to that. The price of gasoline is down about 26 from the five dollars high. What can you do to keep that price down while Vladimir Putin is throttling Energy Supplies . A couple things. Remember i got some criticism for releasing 1 Million Barrels of oil a day from our Strategic Petroleum reserve. And then along came the industry saying they produce another Million Barrels a day by spring. We ran relatively good shape. Host Vladimir Putin is going to try to break your will on ukraine and using the prices to do it. Surety is, but we the United States are in much better shape than anyone else is relative to russia in particular. Hes been trying that for a while. Hes not going to succeed. Host he used a term good shape when it comes to america or lease in good shape when it comes to oil and gas situations. What is your response . Guest that answer unfortunately is just uninformed. Look, when President Biden took office my hometown were paying about 1. 82 a gallon. When President Biden took office we were paying 1. 80 or 1. 82 on the looming for regular gasoline. Just when and fill up as we can and it was about three bucks. So were in awful shape right now. The thing is looking back within the last two years we were entirely Energy Independent and we were taking care of all of her own energy needs. These are selfimposed problems. You cant be after thing were going to release energy from the Strategic Petroleum reserve, and say that we dont have an energy crisis, with supplyside problem. We dont need increase our production. This makes america week. Gives more power to folks like Vladimir Putin to exercise over the United States and it doesnt have to happen. We never should have put ourselves in the situation. The Biden Administration really needs to be more aggressive with both renewable and with conventional Energy Sources to ensure america has the resources it needs to bring prices down and have supply and demand meet one another. Host 2027488000 democrats. 2027488001 for republicans and 2027488002 for independence. You can text asked at 2027488003. When it comes to those renewable sources we saw the Inflation Reduction Act include the packets taking a look at green energy and those conventional or at least those ways of going forward. What did you think of the money thats going to be devoted and is there some benefit from that money being spent . Guest so what the bill does is it just floods the renewable market with money. It actually causes some problems because what is key with Energy Solutions with any Energy Solution is your content technologies that are both economically sustainable which means you dont have to continue flooding taxpayer dollars that we cant afford into these Different Energy technologies to subsidize them into affordability because if thats not sustainable. So you have to economically sustainable technologies that are also environmentally sustainable. Unfortunately i think what the legislation does is it artificially propped up the affordability but he gets it to the point where you cant continue subsidizing. To give an example over 40 years ago you had Renewable Energy Industries Come in and said hey, we need seven years of subsidies, seven years, yet what just happened is we just renewed it after 40 plus years of subsidies. The only way, i will say it one more time, the only way these technologies are truly going to be sustainable if they beat and economically sustainable test. Host theres an oped in the New York Times today from the former climate advisor to President Biden gina mccarthy. She wrote this when she assess whats happening with green energy and u. S. Pirg she said the United States is now becoming a magnet for Clean Energy Innovation investment since the president took Office Company seven invested nearly 85 billion and manufacture of electric vehicles, batteries and u. S. The u. S. Is now on track to troubled Domestic Solar manufacturing capacity by 2024 and 2021 hello to investors and as 2. 2 billion in funding 2 billion in funny for offshore Wind Supply Chain adding make the mistake with a long way to go the task to complete reshaping our economy is daunting especially in the country as vast and complex as ours. When she talks about those investment what do you think of those . Guest i think he used three criteria to evaluate the performance of energy under this administration. Look at affordability, look at omissions, emissions within vibrant and jeff to look at Energy Security. Affordability we talked about. Prices have surged. We should not be excited about a small drop considering that we are seeing huge increases compared to when Biden Took Office in energy and electricity prices. Number two, on the emissions aside, emissions of got it under President Biden. On average emissions went down about 2. 5 year under the Previous Administration. Last year they went up 6. 3 . They will go up again this year. You failed the emissions and environmental test. This president is sailing on climate. The third one is Energy Security. We made ourselves more dependent upon foreign Energy Sources. China manufacturers about 90 of the solar panels that are used globally, 90 , and the Biden Administration took trade actions which allows chinese solar panels that already subsidize or illegally dumped on u. S. Markets under money Domestic Production of that technology is basically waved the terrace for allowing them to continue to be dumped undermining, creating more uncertain young domestic manufacturing. Theres no metric you can look at today that says this administration is exceeding on Energy Policy and it is causing profound impact. Where one quarter of all americans today have to decide among purchasing food medicine or covering an energy bill. These are unforced errors. We never shouldve gotten to the situation. We have the resources and the United States to supply your own energy and Energy Security. Host our first call is from edward in Michigan Democrats line. Go ahead. Caller yes, i want to talk about the drought out west. I am amazed at how bad the drought is. It is been described as a one in 1000 year mega drought. Ill list the states that are affected or in severe drought now. California, nevada, arizona, new mexico, correct me if im wrong, colorado, utah, texas is now in the drought, colorado, utah, the whole southwest is in a drought. Theyre going to have to start, they are rationing water now. The Colorado River is extremely low. The reservoirs, lake mead and liked how are at record lows. They may have to turn off the hydroelectric generators because the water level is so low. Did the republicans of any plan or any statement of how to, what to do about this drought . Or example host edward, we got that. We let our guests respond. Guest edward, hope youre having a great morning and thanks for the question. This is a really important issue and on friday we will be talking about our commitment to america what we will be going through some of these topics and talking about the resiliency efforts were working on including disasters like drought and southwest, talking about our plans to address those things. Os and cowfntsing, just this and counting just this fiscal year. This is a larger group of people than the entire populations of 14 states. This recordshattering two million apprehensions only counts the subset of people that were actually caught. Experts estimate hundreds of thousands more people on top of that number who simply got away. The latest reports say that cbp encountered more than 2 00,000 people just in the month of august alone, and more than 20 of those people were not firsttime border crossers, but rather repeat offenders who are already previously been expelled or deported. Tens of thousands of individuals who are already been thrown out flooding it back in every single month. Orderly, Legal Immigration is part of what makes america strong. Anarchy and open borders makes us weak. Theres nothing compassionate or humane about the border crisis that democrats mixed signals and failed policies have unleashed. Its not fair to american citizens. Its not fair to Law Enforcement. And its not fair to the people whove been encouraged to undertake desperate and dangerous journeys by years of democrats signaling to the world that there are no real consequences for breaking our laws and cutting in line. Vice president harris says the border is secure. The American People know better, and theyre furious. Illegal immigrants know better as well. For years washington democrats have attacked republicans for calling for basic Border Security and Law Enforcement. The Democratic Party line throughout the last five years has been that enforcing existing Immigration Law would be cruel and securing our borders would be xenophobic. But over the last few days, some liberals seem to have changed their tune. Out of desperation a few governors along our southern border are now giving some democratrun states and cities just a tiny, tiny taste of what border communities have been enduring literally for years. According to the Washington Post the total number of individuals in texas and arizona have helped relocate to new york, washington and other places in recent months is roughly on the order of the number of Illegal Immigrants who arrive at our southern border in a single day. One day. All those cities combined have had months to accept between them approximately one days share of our nations ilLegal Immigration. But the democratic mayor of new york city is now declaring that his governments resources are, quote, at a breaking point. At a breaking point. According to the post these border states september to new york city less than one daze worth of one days worth of illegal crossers over a month, and the selfproclaimed sanctuary city cannot take it. The governor of florida helped a tiny number of Illegal Immigrants, about four dozen, secure transportation to the wealthy liberal destination of Marthas Vineyard, fills with millionaires mansions, which appointed itself a socalled sanctuary destination. Apparently, this sanctuary destination tolerated, housed and the fed the newcomers less than 48 hours before having the National Guard remove them to a military basin stead. Democrats military base instead. Democrats are melting down. Their absurd accusations flying around that its somehow illegal for republican owe fixes to help Illegal Immigrants move within our country. That would be breaking news, because of course, the Biden Administration has been flying and busing Illegal Immigrants around the country on a regular basis. According to one report from early 2021, the Biden Administration was already filling greyhound buses with people turning up at our border and driving them to various destinations from the south to the midwest to the northeast. Ah, but never to Marthas Vineyard. So these welltodo blue enclaves are finally witnessing the smallest fraction of the challenges that open borders have forced on working class communities all across our country. Now, on another matter, washington democrats runaway inflation caused a nationwide crisis. Its put working families and Small Businesses in a bind from coast to coast. Since President Biden took office inflation has shot up a staggering 13. 2 . The average American Household this translates to hundreds and hundreds of extra dollars every month, working overto barely, barely tread water. In kentucky, the democrats inflation forced proud, hardworking families to ask for help putting food on the table. In some cases, for the first time in their lives. The director of the food pantry in Nichols Ville says our numbers are going up like crazy. We have problems getting food now. Were not giving away as much as we were a couple of months ago because i cant find it, and i cant afford it sometimes when i can find it. These challenges arent limited to the commonwealth. In clifton, colorado, the director of one local food bank reports she had serve the 1,000 more families in the first half of this year than the first half of last year. It was her quote, they cannot short their rent bill, but they can short their grocery bill. So they come here, so i help fill the gaps. In coastal georgia, the director of a network of food banks says distribution at her facilities has increased 38 from july till august. Meeting the increased demand has meant stomaching steep spikes in meat and dairy prices. In concord, new hampshire, the director of the Friendly Kitchen says no one is ever turned away, but more and more people show up for dinner. Quote, im nervous its going to get worse. I think its going to get worse before it gets better. Washington democrats inflation is absolutely hammering states like colorado, georgia, and new hampshire, and senate republicans, we tried to stop it. We warned against inflation. We tried to block their 2 trillion inflationary bill. We offered amendments. But all three of those states have two senators who both voted in lockstep on party lines to ram through trillions, trillions of dollars. 100 of the United States senators from those states voted to bring this on. This is what happens when washington democrats put their own priorities ahead of our people. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer clerk will call the roll. Quorum call he also serves on the select committee on the climate crisis, services ranking member. Representative graves good morning. As part of the discussion over continuing funding the government theres a provision by senator manchin in order to change leasing rules. Could you first of all tell our viewers what that would be and what you think that is going . Guest when you say leasing you mean energy leasing, publc lands and waters for Energy Production. Its unfortunate we got herself in a situation. Whats happening right now is we are seeing record gasoline prices, record utility prices. We have seen fewer lands leased for Energy Production and any administration dating back to the truman administration. To put in perspective there were 100 100 times more acres of land that were offered for Energy Production at this point in time during the carter administration, 375 times more energy made available for Energy Production during the reagan administration. This is a selfimposed crisis that were experiencing with Energy Prices and, of course, whats going on with ukraine and russia we could be doing more to help our nato allies in europe. This really is, these are unforced errors where experiencing and its having a profound impact on the American Public. The legislation referring to what it does is it requires lease sales for energy the issue because theyre effectively have been none under this administration, the First Administration in modern history to do so. This shouldnt take an act of congress to force these actions, to force us to solve problems that should have never become a crisis or problem to begin with. Host President Biden unsightly during the 60 minutes interview was asked about oil and gas prices and the like. I want to play what he had to say in response and get your response to that. The price of gasoline is down about 26 from the five dollars high. What can you do to keep that price down while Vladimir Putin is throttling energy. With a couple things weve done. Remember i got some criticism for releasing 1 Million Barrels of oil a day from our Strategic Petroleum reserve, and then along came the industry saying they would produce another Million Barrels a day by the spring. We are in relatively good shape. Vladimir putin is going to try to break your will on ukraine and use Energy Prices to do it. Sure he is, but we the United States are in much better shape than anyone else is relative to russia in particular. But hes been trying that for a while. Hes not going to succeed. Host representative graves eus the term good shape when it comes to america are least good shape when comes to oil and gas situation. What is your response . Guest that answer unfortunately is just uninformed. When President Biden took office my hometown were paying about 1. 82 a gallon. Let me say that again, when President Biden took office were paying around a dollar 82 a a gallon under low in for regular gasoline. Just when and filled up at ts weekend and it was about three bucks. So we are an awful shape right now. The thing is, looking back is within the last two years we were entirely Energy Independent. We were taking care of all of our own energy needs. These are selfimposed problems. You cant be after saying were going to release energy from the Strategic Petroleum reserve just as administration reiterated with the sale of 10 Million Barrels from the Strategic Oil reserve and say we dont have energy crisis, we dont have a supplyside problem, we need to increase our production. Those things cant exist if i continue to tap our Strategic Petroleum reserves for energy it weakens the United States. We have the lowest volumes of energy in our Strategic Petroleum reserve then weve had in four decades. This makes america week. Gives more power to folks like Vladimir Putin to exercise Energy Leverage over the United States and it doesnt have to happen. We never shouldve put ourselves in the situation. The Biden Administration really needs to be more aggressive with both renewable and with conventional Energy Sources to ensure americas resources it needs to bring prices down and have supply and demand. Host 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488001 for republicans and 2027488002 for independents. You can text us at 2027488003. When it comes to those renewable sources we saw the Inflation Reduction Act include the package taking a look at green energy and those ways of going forward. What did you think of the money thats going to be devoted and is there some benefit from that money being spent . Guest so what the bill does is it just floods the renewable market with money. It causes some problems because what is key with Energy Solutions, with any Energy Solution, is you have to technologies that are both economically sustainable which means you dont have to continue flooding taxpayer dollars that we cant afford into these Different Energy technologies to subsidize them into affordability because thats not sustainable. You have to economically sustainable technologies that are also environmentally sustainable. Unfortunately what that legislation does is it artificially props up the affordability but he gets it to the point where you cant continue subsidizing. To give you an example, over 40 years ago you had some of the Renewable Energy industries coming in and said hey, we need seven years of subsidies, seven years, yet what just happened is we just when you get after 40 plus years of subsidies. The only way, i will say one more time, the only way these technologies are truly going to be sustainable if they meet and Economic Sustainability test and an environmental sustainability test and, unfortunately, in some cases these technologies are failing both. Host there an oped in the New York Times today from the former climate adviser to President Biden gina mccarthy. She wrote this when she assessed with tapping with green energy in the u. S. Pirg she said the United States is becoming a magnet for Clean Energy Innovation investment. Since the president took Office Copies of invested nearly 85 billion in manufacturing of electric vehicles, and batteries and u. S. The u. S. Is on track to triple Domestic Solar manufacturing capacity by 2024 and in 2021 investors and is 2. 2 billion funding for offshore wind went a long way to go. Task is daunting especially in the country is fast and daunting as ours. What you think of those . Guest you use three criteria to evaluate the performs of energy under this administration. You have to look at affordability, look at emissions or in private and just to look at Energy Security. Affordability would talk about it. Prices have surged. We should not be excited about a small drop considering that we are seeing huge increases compared to when Biden Took Office energy and electricity prices. Number two on the nation side, emissions have gone up under President Biden. On average in missions went down about 2. 5 a year under the Previous Administration. He senal take the First Step Towards ratifying an amendment to one of the most successful, international, environmental agreements in modern history, the Kigali Amendment to the montreal protocol. Members can expect to cast the first vote this afternoon after the weekly party lunches. Todays vote will require 60 votes in the affirmative to move forward. And since the Kigali Amendment is part of a treaty will require twothirds of the chamber to ultimately ratify this provision. The Kigali Amendment will be one of the most significant bipartisan measures the senate takes on all year and thats saying something because weve done a lot. It would affirm our countrys intention to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons commonly known as hfcs by 85 over the next 15 years. Experts say this step alone could prevent half a degree celsius of warming by the end of the 21st century. Is that incredible . Half a degree. We struggle to get there. And this one measure would do it. That may not seem like much, but within the larger context of global temperatures, it is really very significant. There are two paths our country can take depending on what we do with the can i gal whri amendment Kigali Amendment. If we ratify this treaty, not only will we protect our planet, but this is an economic issue. And an issue to go after china which is a rogue nation in this regard. It will provide us a golden opportunity for american businesses to dominate an emerging business. Every year millions of refrigerators and ac units are sold around the world. In the United States many families own more than one refrigerator. Thats a lot of appliances that will need hfc alternatives which u. S. Businesses particularly are already working to prepare for. By one measure the combined impact of ratifying the Kigali Amendment and other steps weve taken to reduce hfcs would create 150,000 new jobs and generate nearly 39 billion in investment by 2027. As new markets open up for trade. So this in many ways is a projobs measure, one supported by the chamber of commerce, by major retailers like walmart, by the Semiconductor Industry association and many other business groups. If we fail to ratify the amendment, the rest of the world is going to move on without us. Without kigali, were going to play second fiddle to nations like china whose businesses will surpass ours in developing viable hfc alternatives, taking jobs that by all rights belong here in america. And by 2033 parties to kigali will be prohibited, prohibited from any trade with in hfcs with nonkigali nations. Well lose out tens of billions of dollars of sales. Theres no reason to have that happen. Ratifying kigali will not require any change in the current u. S. Law. We already have domestic policies phasing out hfcs here at home. So were putting into practice many of the reforms the Kigali Amendment calls for. And no consumer will have to change any appliance. So for the sake of u. S. Businesses, for the sake of u. S. Innovators, for the sake of making sure china has to comply and be part of the World Community and not do what they think is just good for themselves which seems to be president xis way of doing things. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of advancing the Kigali Amendment later today. Its lowhanging fruit for creating tens of thousands of goodpaying jobs right here at home. Now, on the disclose act. Later today President Biden will deliver on one will deliver remarks on one of the gravest dangers undermining our democracy. The power of dark money that has taken over our elections. Expect the president s remarks will preview action here in the senate where we will have a vote this week to begin debate on the disclose act, a bill i have long promised to bring to the floor and which my colleagues led by the relentless and brilliant senator whitehouse have done a wonderful job championing this issue for years. The disclose act is very simple to grasp. It would require super packs and other dark money groups to report anyone contributing 10,000 or more during an election cycle. The same goes for any Group Spending money in support or in opposition to judicial nominees. In other words it would apply similar forms of trains parenty that traditional campaigns and candidates already face. We have to disclose. When accepting political contributions. And frankly why shouldnt this be law . What reason under heaven is there for keeping massive political contributions hidden from the public . Even the republican leader who has dedicated much of his career unfortunately to killing Many Campaign finance reforms claimed in the past to support though sadly hes opposed to our bill today for no good reason. If youre for disclosure, you should be for our bill. And these flimsy arguments that it will deter people from giving are absurd. Absurd. If the multimillionaire wants to spend colossal sums on candidates or nominees who are deeply antichoice or support antidemocracy candidates or who harbor views deeply in conflict with the views of the general public, shouldnt the public at least have a right to know it . The rights of voters and the health of our democracy far outweighs any interests that a multibillionaire could have in concealing political spending from public scrutiny. So the disclose act will give every senator a choice, a vote to bring trains parenty to elections or stand with the forces of dark money. Let me say that again. The disclose act will give every senator a choice, vote to bring transparency to our elections, remove the veil from this dark money that the public hates thats cascading into our elections or stand on the side of dark money. Who wants to be on that side . Well see this week. I want to take a moment now to thank my colleague senator whitehouse for his incredible work championing this legislation. Hes arguably the greatest the senates greatest champion in the fight against dark money, someone who has dedicated years uncovering the pernicious links between dark money groups and radical judicial nominees. You want to know one of the main reasons we have a maga court that overturns roe v. Wade, that stands in the way of smash gun control laws, gun safety laws, that stands in the way of environmental progress . Its because of dark money in good part, dark money. Sheldon whitehouse has exposed this link better than anyone i know. Hes gotten the rest of us to Pay Attention in a deeper way to the gravity of this issue. Hell come to the floor later today throughout the week to continue highlighting this issue. And i know others will be joining to stand by his side. I thank him for his work. I thank the president for speaking about it this afternoon. And i stand with senator whitehouse in highlighting this issue ahead of the vote and urge my colleagues to support the disclose act. And finally on judge pan or second to last on judge pan. In other matters, today the senate will vote to confirm our sixth Circuit Court judge in the month of september judge florence pan to sit on the all important d. C. Circuit court of appeals. If confirmed, judge pan will make history as the first taiwanese american ever to serve on the d. C. Circuit court of appeals joining in the Proud Company of so many other biden nominees who have expanded the diversity and experience of the federal bench. As we all know, the d. C. Circuit court is the second most important federal court in the country after the supreme court. Before this court comes to dispouts that involves congress and much of the federal government so many of its decisions involve constitution or administrative law. It goes without saying that nominees to this court must be individuals of the highest caliber. They need to be experienced, balanced, and above all committed to the rule of law. Thats exactly what we have in judge pan. Shes has over a decade of experience as a judge . T district of columbia in the district of columbia and has seen practically every legal dispute under the sun. Shes already well known to this chamber having been confirmed as a district judge with 68 votes. She should be similarly confirmed with bipartisan support. And last but certainly not least, puerto rico. As our fellow americans in puerto rico continue to feel the wrath of hurricane fiona, we continue to monitor the situation here in congress. Over the weekend President Biden issued an emergency disaster declaration for puerto rico where 75 of the costs of emergency medical care, disaster, and Food Distribution will be covered by the federal government. Yesterday i got on the phone with the fema administrator and urged fema to approve puerto ricos request to increase that figure to a hundred percent and to stand ready to approve a major disaster declaration request to unlock not just response money but funding needed to recover and rebuild. And on the call were my colleagues representatives velasquez and espy yot espiott. I ec copied the calls from my colleagues to ensure maximum and to get federal funding out of the door asap. Puerto rico desperately needs it. Later this morning, i will join with the Hispanic Federation and a number of my colleagues to talk about additional steps we are calling on the federal government to take. Including steps to strengthening puerto ricos electric grid. The electric grid is almost you know, its 50 years out of date. Its particularly susceptible to hurricanes. It hasnt even been repaired since the damage maria five years ago put upon it. And yet weve given lots of federal money for the reestablishment or the rebuilding of the grid and very little has happened. Five years so we need to focus on that issue as well as others. Five years to the day after the arrival of maria. Puerto rico needs help to recover from fiona. We need to make sure this time puerto rico has absolutely everything it needs as soon as possible for as long as they need it. I yield the floor. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i rise today to address the threats of violence against the men and women of the fbi. I take these threats seriously. This july 1 i chaired the Judiciary Committee hearing on Law Enforcement officer safety and the threats our Law Enforcement officers are facing. I have repeatedly made clear that violence against Law Enforcement is never never acceptable. No matter what ideology motivates it. But here is the reality in the past month following the fbis execution of a search warrant at Donald Trumps maralago resort, the fbi has faced a flood of threats against its employees and its facilities, and these threats have been egged on by the former president and his allies. The men and women of the federal bureau of investigation literally put their lives on the line every day to keep all of us safe. They put themselves in harms way to stop armed criminals, drug traffickers, terrorist organizations, and others who threaten our communities. They serve on the front lines of the Opioid Epidemic investigating and Holding Accountable those who travel in illegal opioids and who illegally prescribe pharmaceutical opioids. They investigate crimes against children and human trafficking, some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. They work day in and day out to combat international and domestic terrorism and they carry out judicially issued search warrants every day. Thats part of their job, and an Important Role that they play in our justice system. Unfortunately, ever since the august 8 maralago search, their dedication has been repaid with a flood of baseless attacks and violent threats. Attacking the fbi for his own political advantage is nothing new for the former president , but the attacks havent stopped with him. His allies and followers have spewed antifbi vitriol online and across the airwaves. In recent weeks there will been calls from republican members of congress to, quote, destroy and, quote, defund the fbi. There have been calls from republican congressional candidates to, quote, gut the phylic a fish and, quote, shoot fbi, atf, irs, and all other feds on site. It is no surprise that such outrageous and irresponsible rhetoric coincides with a stunning increase in violent threats against the fbi. Last month the fbi and the Homeland Security issued a joint bulletin detailing an increase in violent threats and acts of violence against federal Law Enforcement officials following the august 8 maralago search. These included threats took place a dirty bomb outside the fbi headquarters and online calls for civil war and armed rebellion. On august 11, a man wearing body armor and armed with an ar15 assault rival and a nail gun attempted to brief the cincinnati fbi field office. On august 16, another man was indicted for threatening to murder everyone at the fbi from director wray to the custodial staff. On august 25, a manupped the fence at a man jumped the fence at a fbi office but was taken for evaluation before he could hurt anyone. In response to the joint intelligence bulletin and these incidents, i asked the fbi and the department of Homeland Security to have a private briefing of members of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Last week. That briefing only added to my concern. I cannot share the specifics from this closeddoor briefing, but i will say this it should go without saying that the men and women of the fbi risk their lives every day on our behalf. But the increase in threats to their personal safety since the august 8 maralago search warrant are shocking. Beyond the direct threats and violence, there are also rising concerns about the public spread of Public Information about fbi employees and families, a practice known as doxing. I fear the situation may get worse. Last thursday, former President Trump kept up his threatening rhetoric against these Law Enforcement officers. He said that if was indicted for his actions, quote, i think youd have problems in this country, the likes of which weve never seen before. I dont think the people of the United States would stand for it, counsellest. That is unquote. That is exactly the kind of language President Trump used after he lost the 2020 election to incite the january 6 attack here at the capitol. As i have said many times, Political Violence and threats of violence and furtherance of any in furtherance of any cause, any cause, is unacceptable. It is time for the senate to stand up and support the men and women of the federal bureau of investigation who have been threatened and attacked for simply doing their job and working to protect america. Lets condemn these baseless attacks on the men and women of the fbi and the despicable political gain they represent. Mr. President , as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of Senate Resolution 775 submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. Res. 75, expressing the sense of the senate that violence and threats of violence against the employees of the federal bureau of investigation are unacceptable and should be condemned. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding . Without objection, the senate will proceed. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin mr. President , this resolution which just passed without action of any member of the senate will be a reminder to the men and women who serve in Law Enforcement, particularly the federal bureau of investigation that we stand behind them. That those who would exploit political events at the expense of the safety of these men and women are beyond the pale of constitutional conduct. We want to stand behind those who are standing for us to protect us and our families. And i thank the senate for agreeing to this resolution. It is timely. It is important. And it is clear. Mr. President , id ask consent to speak on a different topic and be placed in a different section of the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i listened to the republican minority leader, senator mcconnell, speak on the floor this morning, and i have to tell you on the issue of immigration, there are several things which he said which are not accurate, and i would like to clarify for the record. First, this morning senator mcconnell said, orderly, Legal Immigration is part of what makes america strong. Anarchy and open borders make us weak. I dont know of any rational person who would disagree with that comment, but i think for the record we should make clear that eight years ago when we considered comprehensive Immigration Reform, a bipartisan bill on the floor of the United States senate, the senator from kentucky voted against it. 14 republican senators voted for this measure. It passed the senate. It was the product of a bipartisan commission, selfappointed committee really, the socalled gang of eight. I think want to recount the names of those who were on that committee that produced comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. I was on the committee with chuck schumer, senator bob menendez, and the senator from the presiding officers home state of colorado, senator michael bennet. On the republican side, it was led by senator john mccain, senator lindsey graham, marco rubio and he thensenator from arizona jeff flake. We worked for months, put in all the effort that was expected of us in addressing an issue which had not been addressed by congress for 25 years to try to upgrade our immigration system, to do what senator mcconnell says needs to be done orderly, Legal Immigration. That was what the bill sought to achieve. 14 republicans joined us in voting for it. Senator mcconnell did not. And we have not had another measure since then. The bill we passed in the senate was sent over to the republicancontrolled house of representatives. They refused to even consider it in committee or on the floor or bring it to a vote. We missed an opportunity. And it was an opportunity at many different levels. It boost finally addressed it would have finally addressed the issue of Legal Immigration in america. Throughout our history, without exception, year in and year out, legal immigrants have come to this country. There have been some terrible laws passed by congress in relation to those allowed in this country, but the reality is we have acknowledged from the beginning of america as we know it that immigrants were part of our present and part of our future. And now we face the same reality again without the benefit of an update in the laws which the republican leader voted against. I recall specifically the work of senator bennet from colorado. He did a remarkable thing, something that people didnt think was possible. He managed to bring together all of the Interest Groups on the issue of Legal Immigration for those working in agriculture. He managed to find an issue among all these groups as to the humane and sensible treatment of all these individuals. If that had passed, it would change the circumstances we have today, circumstances where we dont have nearly enough legal immigrants to work in the Agricultural Sector of america. It is estimated that one out of two 50 of all the ag workers today are undocumented. We still eat the food that they pick and harvest, and we still take advantage of their hard work in Meat Processing plants, and yet the reality is we know in our heart hearts they are not being treated in a sensible, reasonable, humane way. Senator bennet time and again has shown leadership on this issue, as he did with the gang of eight. And once again we find ourselves, because the bill failed in the Previous Congress without a guiding law on the standards of immigration. There were other things said by senator mcconnell this morning which i wanted to make reference to as well, particularly the busing of those currently in the United States as new, legally recognized immigrants to various cities around the United States. Governors from the states of texas, arizona, and florida have been busing those who are crossing the border and legally recognized to stay here until further hearing, busing them to communities like new york, washington, chicago, and even Marthas Vineyard in massachusetts. The thing that weve got to keep in mind is that these governors do not call local officials first. They dont even contact the governors of these states where theyre send something these people. So they arrive helterskelter, unpredictable numbers and the local officials are expected to take care of them. Listen to what senator mcconnell had to say in describing what ive just told you. He said, quote, out of desperation, a few governors along our southern border are now giving some democratrun states and cities just a tiny, tiny taste of what border communities have been enduring literally for years. What hes trying to say to us is, this is an act of political spite. It is a political stunt by these governors. And what are they using to make their point . Innocent people here legally in the United States who are being shipped off many times with deception and promises thatll never be kept in terms of opportunities for them in these various places. Senator mcconnell went on to say that all those cities combined have had months to accept them, approximately a oneday share of our nations ilLegal Immigration. Immigrants, about four dozen, were given secure transportation, according to senator mcconnell, to the wealthy liberal destination of Marthas Vineyard, filled with millionaires mansions, socalled sanctuary destinations. You see the point thats being made here . These people are being bussed without any warning where theyre going to end up, what their final destination may be, simply to make the political point that the democrats have to be reminded of the republican position on immigration. We are doing this at the expense of many innocent people, and were doing this in a dangerous fashion. I will tell you that i visited the Salvation Army center in chicago, illinois, about ten days ago, and i met with these families and individuals. Little children are involved in this calculation. Why is did whenever the republicans want to make a point on immigration, it always ends up being the children who are the pawns, whether theyre kids in cages or forcibly removing children from their parents or, in this case, busing them off with their parents to communities theyve never heard of . Why do they always involve families with small children . You would think there would be more sensitivity on the republican side to that reality. Then senator mcconnell made a statement, which i want to correct. He said the Biden Administration has been flying and busing Illegal Immigrants around the country on a regular basis. This is not true. We checked again this morning, with the Biden Administration. They are not exercising that right. What we have going on are the transfer of those who are not in legal status, back and forth between various facilities. And the transfer of unaccompanied children, with escorts, to places like chicago and other cities, where for decades they have been cared for until their legal status is resolved. But this statement that the Biden Administration is guilty of busing people back and forth is not true at all. I think the record should be clarified, and i hope the senator from kentucky will do so when he receives that first opportunity. Biden administration has said we have the authority to do it, but we have not exercised it, and will not unless we confer with congress and also notify local officials as to whether anyone will be moved. Now, there are circumstances, and have been in the past, that i know of personally, on the border with texas and mexico, where people had come, been released, they found they have incredible fear, they asserted it, and they have legal status and they want to go to a specific location where they have friends and family. In those cases, theres help given to them to reach those destinations. But it is not the Current Situation where governors of florida, texas and arizona are deceiving these people onto these buses and sending them to places theyve never heard of, and not letting those at the destination even know whats coming. What is the right thing to do . The right thing to do is what we did eight years ago a bipartisan approach to fixing the immigration system. Instead of exploiting it for political purposes, lets fix it. Weve done that. Weve passed legislation on bipartisan basis, even in this evenly divided senate. The chips bill, this important Semiconductor Chip production bill, was a bipartisan bill. The infrastructure bill, the biggest Highway Program in the history of the United States since Dwight Eisenhower was a bipartisan bill. The gun safety bill, controversial issue, just as controversial as immigration, we passed that on a bipartisan basis. We can do it, but weve got to stop exploiting these people who are here with children. Weve got to do it by stopping exploiting this issue and Work Together on a bipartisan basis, with give on both sides. Thats how we can reach a bipartisan solution. Im ready to do that, and the senate Judiciary Committee would start as soon as we have republicans of goodwill willing to sit with democrats and Work Together. But continuing to exploit these people and the children of these families is just plain wrong. And its not consistent with american values. It doesnt reflect well on our nation. I hope that the people who are inspired to do this, the governors of florida, texas and arizona, will think twice about these kids and their families before they try it again. I yield the floor. Mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin i ask unanimous consent the vote scheduled for 2 30 00 p. M. Occur at 2 15 p. M. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Thune mr. President. Is the senate in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Thune we are not . Okay. Thank you, mr. President. Last friday President Biden said the following during a speech, and i quote, we have a process in place to manage migrants at the border. Were working to make sure its safe and orderly and humane, end quote. Safe and orderly and humane. Well, i have to ask, has the president visited the border lately . Thats right, he hasnt. In fact, if other than a driveby, by the border when he was a candidate for Vice President , and by driveby i mean his motorcade literally drove by, the president has never visited the border. Never. Although, i have to say, even reading the news should be enough to make it clear to the president the situation at the border is neither safe nor orderly nor humane. Mr. President , in case the president isnt clear about whats happening at the border, let me just read from one news story from last week. This was from nbc news. I quote, a new surge of migrants is overwhelming the Border Patrol and shelters in el paso, texas, where nearly a thousand have been released near bus stations over the past week in hope they will find their own way to their next destinations in the United States, end quote. Heres the title of another grim news article from last week, and i quote, texas border town requests refrigerators to store migrant bodies after drownings overwhelm mort yuaris. End quote. Texas border town requests refrigerators to store migrant bodies after drownings overwhelm mortuaries. In yet another news outlet, i quote again, el paso count why i sheriff sounds alarm over Border Patrol overwhelmed due to migrants, end quote. That article goes on to say, and i quote again, sheriff richard while stated thursday this incident raises a Law Enforcement concern because Border Patrol is so overwhelmed, undocumented immigrants may be released into communities with minimal or no screening, end quote. Mr. President , does any of this, any of this make the situation at the border sound safe or orderly or humane . I dont think so. Mr. President , the Biden Administration has been characterized by recordbreaking waves of ilLegal Immigration across our southern border, and i mean recordbreaking quite literally. In fiscal year 2021 u. S. Customs and Border Protection app rehelpedded more than 1. 7 million app remended more than 1. 7 million individuals. The highest number of apprehensions ever recorded. As for fiscal year 2022, well, we exceeded last years recordbreaking number of apprehensions in june. The final count of apprehensions for fiscal year 2022 will be well over two million. Mr. President , those numbers only count migrants who were actually apprehended. Cbs news reports there were, quote, an estimated 660,000 successful, unlawful border entries that did not end in an arrest in fiscal year 2021, according to unpublished department of Homeland Security figures, end quote. 660,000. Now, mr. President , i dont have to tell anyone, except maybe Congressional Democrats and the white house, that these kinds of numbers have resulted in scenes of near chaos at the southern border. Shelters have been overwhelmed. Border facilities have been overwhelmed. The Border Patrol has been overwhelmed. Who can forget the scene of 10,000 migrants camped under the bridge in del rio, texas, last september . In case anyone is thinking things at the border have substantially calmed down, heres yet another headline from this month. This one from the dallas morning news, and i quote, overcrowded Processing Center has Border Patrol releasing more migrants on el paso streets. Migrants are being released from facility filled at three times its capacity, end quote. That from the dallas morning news. Three times its capacity. Mr. President , over the past few months the governors of texas and arizona have been sending some Illegal Immigrants to places like new york city and washington, d. C. There has been a predictable outcry. What is so striking about this situation is how upset these places seem to have become when dealing with just a tiny fraction of the situation that border communities and border states have to deal with on a daily basis. Washington, d. C. Declared a state of emergency. New york city mayor was outraged. Mr. President , while im in no way dismissing the challenges of dealing with thousands of Illegal Immigrants, let me just put the situation in perspective for a minute. Washington, d. C. , a city of around 700,000 people, has received somewhere around 9,400 migrants over a span of five months. New york city, a city of around 8. 4 Million People, hasnt even received as many as washington, d. C. Compare that with the situation in eagle pass, texas, a town with a top lation of just with population of 29,000, with i sees 10,000 migrants a week. A week. Mr. President , for a party that likes to pride itself on compassion, the lack of compassion democrats and the white house display on this issue is really astounding. Even after catching a tiny glimpse of what its like to deal with an influx of ilLegal Immigration, democrats have apparently zero compassion for the border communities and states that have to somehow manage the arrival of thousands of Illegal Immigrants on a daily basis, along with all the logistical and security challenges that involves. There are Real Security challenges. Certainly, many of the migrants crossing our southern border illegally are simply looking for a better life, even if theyre trying to circumvent legal pathways to enter. But there are also a lot of potentially dangerous individuals coming across our border and passing through border communities. Gang members, d drug trafficker, human smugglers and other criminals. In one recent weeks, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector along the southern border arrested 21 gang members, two sex offenders and three migrants with prior convictions for various crimes. The white house and democrats dont just display a lack of compassion for border communities. They also display a real lack of compassion for the individuals attempting to enter our country illegally. There is nothing compassionate about an immigration policy that encourages individuals to come here illegally, with all of the risks that that entails. Mr. President , earlier i mentioned a border town that was seeking increased morgue facilities because it was dealing with the bodies of so many individuals who drowned while attempting to enter this country. Deaths at the southern border have surged under the Biden Administration, undoubtedly because of administration lacks immigration policies and obvious lack of concern about securing the border have encouraged individuals to attempt to come here illegally. According to department of Homeland Security numbers that have been reported, 748 migrants have died at our southern border so far this fiscal year. Thats a lot of lives lost, mr. President. A lot of lives. Mr. President , one illegal immigrant speaking to a news outlet this month said of the border, and i quote, its open, not closed. The border is open. Everybody believes that the border is open. Its open because we enter. We come in free. No problem. End quote. That is the message that President Bidens immigration policies have conveyed. And the longer that he continues with his de facto open border policies, the more individuals are going to be encouraged to attempt the dangerous journey across our southern border. Mr. President , the massive spending package, the socalled Inflation Reduction Act the democrats shoved through the Senate Last Month contained hundreds of billions for democrats Green New Deal priorities like tax credits for wealthy americans to buy electric cars and more than 80 billion for Environmental Justice priorities. There was also of course an 85 billion funding infusion for the irs, majority allocated for more irs audits and increased enforcement, including the hiring of additional irs agents. Nowhere in that bill were there any resources for addressing the crisis that has been raging for more than a year now at our southern border. During debate on the bill, republicans gave democrats five opportunities to vote for amendments aimed at providing resources to secure the border. Democrats rejected all them. All of them. Apparently democrats are willing to spend a lot of time and effort and government money on their Green New Deal and finding new ways to collect taxpayer dollars to help fund their Big Government spending plans. But when it comes to protecting americans and ensuring a humane situation at our southern bo border, democrats just cant be bothered. I heard the democrat whip down here just now talking about this just needs to be comprehensive immigration, a bipartisan approach to this. And blaming republicans for them not being able to do anything to address this issue. And i just have to say, mr. President , that one, the democrats control all of government in washington. They have the house, the senate, and the white house. And to my knowledge they have not attempted to bring Immigration Reform to the floor of the an immigration bill to the floor of the United States senate. And furthermore, the president reversed all the policies from the Previous Administration that affected the border when he took office. And now weve got a situation at our southern border thats nothing short of appalling. And if the president really had any interest in making the process at the border, quote, safe, orderly, and humane as he said the other day, hed be making securing our southern border a priority. And its not. And unfortunately given his record so far, i think its more likely that well see the scenes of chaos and human suffering continue. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. Mrs. Capito thank you, mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to speak up to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Capito thank you, mr. President. You know, since the Biden Administration really likes to celebrate things, i rise today on the one week anniversary of their party last tuesday for their socalled Inflation Reduction Act. But last tuesday most americans and certainly most West Virginians werent in a sell la toar mood s celebratory mood. Inflation rosele. 3 in august while President Biden and his party and climate activists began setting up for their Inflation Reduction Act party at the white house. Meanwhile, that same day, the u. S. Stock market had its worst day since june 2020 as the white house and the his fellow democrats celebrated their green spending bill that would only extend ininflationyear pain inflationary pain. It does expand irs enforcement on americans who are struggling to afford basic necessities. Days after the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office published analysis that the Inflation Reduction Act would actually not reduce inflation, particularly in the short term, President Biden announces that he will do student debt cancellation that would add another trillion dollars to the deficit. Today and tomorrow the Federal Reserve which is our United States monetary watchdog is meeting to set new Interest Rates in a bid to tame infl inflation. The body has had to raise Interest Rates aggressively by threequarters of a point. In june chairman powell who is the chairman of the fed admitted that the rate increase is unusually large and would not be common. The fed will likely raise Interest Rates again by the same amount tomorrow for the third consecutive time in a row. These are the most aggressive rate increases since the 1980s when my mortgage was way into the teens that chairman powell has plainly stated will bring, quote, pain to households and businesses. We cant forget that the democrats alone passed a bill last year that they called the American Rescue plan, which rescued nothing and instead endangered our fragile economy coming out of covid by hyper charging inflation. Democrats alone drafted and pushed forward their most recent bill bypassing the normal Committee Process and democrats alone passed it, rejecting every republican amendment along the way. In short, these policies continue to destabilize every single corner of our economy. How do we know this . We see some of the statistics i talk about. I know it because West Virginians have lived it and i hear from them qctly frequently about their legitimate concerns. A retiree from clarksburg, West Virginia wrote to me recently saying that she and her husband are struggling every month despite having done their Due Diligence to save well for their retirement. She says theyre trying not to dip into their 401 k s or their tsp retirement accounts but that it is getting harder and harder to not do that. As inflation drags on, the life span of Retirement Savings will continue shrinking for our seniors. In West Virginia and those seniors account for 41 of our population. Another West Virginian wrote to me about the tough choices her family is making. And i quote of the economy has crumbled in the blink of an eye. My husband and i have full time jobs and two children. Im tearful because i sit here looking at these upcoming bills and im having to decide to pay a bill or to buy groceries, end quote. A resident from weston, West Virginia, told me that his insurance premiums recently nmed. Increased. And when he asked the company why that happened, they told him point blank it was due to inflation. In the same letter the constituent wrote to me, quote, this crazy spending has got to stop. But its not just West Virginians who are experiencing this inflationary problems. The National Defense Industrial Association authored in part by former Deputy Defense secretary david n norquist released a whie paper recently that indicated inflation has cost the department of defense 50 billion and estimates that it will cost an additional 110 billion to our nations defenses from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2023. Think about this in the face of what were talking about in terms of trying to help ukraine overcome this terrible invasion by the russians. Residential real estate has skyrocketed 43 in the past two years. In fact, this year Mortgage Rates have risen from 3. 2 to 6. 3 which is the highest theyve been since 2008. Setting all kinds of records here, mr. President. So some are going so far as to predict an additional 17. 8 rise in home prices over the next year. A recent paper released by goldman saks aptly titled the housing downturn further to fall warns that higher Mortgage Rates and reduced affordability will continue well into 2023. For firsttime home buyers, that spells a death nail to their dream of owning their own home. What were seeing in real time are direct consequences of inflation fueled by spending. The increase in price of groceries is unbelievable. Its unbelievable when you go to the grocery store. Over the past year the price of basic pantry staples has continued to increase. The cost of eggs has gone up 40 . Butter 24. 6 . Luncheon meats 18. 2 . Fresh milk has increased 17. 7 . Sugar, flour, bread, pasta, peanut butter, and cereals have increased between 15 and 23 . These are the things that families buy weekly for to meet their grocery bill, for lunch and dinner. Elected democrats in the Biden Administration celebrated the socalled Inflation Reduction Act on a day when the Consumer Price index on inflation increased. For the many constituents that i talk to on a daily basis, inflation remains the number one concern. So this irony is not lost on me nor is it lost on the American Public. Its not lost on millions of americans making top choices because of these policies. And its painful, its hard to watch, and in many of my constituents opinions, its as if the president and his party are not paying attention. With that i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst mr. President , i ask for concurrence that the vote occur now. The presiding officer without objection. Under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. The question is on the nomination. Ms. Ernst i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote vote vote the presiding officer the yeas are 52, the nays are 42, and the nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Mr. Manchin mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. Mr. Manchin thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i rise today to talk about how the current process that were in right now with the Energy Challenges we have, not just in our country but around the world and how permitting the permitting process that were working on, how that can help relieve the challenges that the American Public have right now with high prices at the gas pump, high prices at home for heating and all the necessities they have. Whats at risk right now and i want people to understand whats at risk is the Energy Independence and Energy Security of the United States of america. If were going to remain the superpower of the world, if we are the one country that has it all, you better have Energy Independence. If you cant produce your own energy and ask other countries to do what you wont and you have the ability and resources to do it, god help us all. Thats what were dealing with. Im going to talk about how congress can provide some relief here. The 2022 Energy Independence and security act weve been working on, its going to be paramount to maintaining what we have. That means we have to quit blaming each other. This has become a personal thing back and forth, back and forth. Some of the extreme left liberals dont like it and we have some people in the caucus over here, my republican friends who have always been for it but now the leadership has made it personal to be against it. Let me tell you who suffers, its the American People, all the american citizens will suffer if we dont do something. Were all citizens of this great country and were all so grateful for the opportunities we have living here and we have an abundant amount of energy that we can produce cleaner than anyone else. Carbonization, we should help to decarbonization and that is expected in a developed nation. Decarbonizing means two things. Some people want to carbonize decarbonize by anything that has fossil. Our european friends tried that. Look where they are. There are those who say we can decarbonize by producing more oil in the United States of america and disbursing the dirty fossils around the world. When you have oil and gas coming from venezuela, which is produced with no oversight whatsoever, dirtier than any place in the world, we were going to them for sanctions to help us, were going to ask iran, who is a proliferating terrorist, it makes no sense. When we asked saudi arabia, no support, makes no sense at all. This is what were talking about. I have beside me here that kind of spells out what were confronting. Heres the common permitting time lines for energy and minls projects minerals projects. The United States, a minimum of fivetoten years. Canada, one to three years. Australia, one to three years. They havent deleted any of their oversight for review. They havent deleted any of that. Let me tell you the extremists going on in the world today. The European Union which has had pretty stringent oversight on environment, they are considering emergency bypassing all environmental reviews because its critical to them. Energy has been weaponized by putin. We in america can offset that. We can. No matter what you want to build, whether transmission, pipelines, hydropower dams, more often than not it takes too long, drives up costs. You can double your costs within a five, six, sevenyear period. Double from the original cost, and projected costs. Todays energy and Mineral Projects take too long. Then you come over here. Look basically what the ups citizens, all the constituents, 330 Million People are subjected to. Natural gas, up 200 . The cost of natural gas, 200 . The cost of natural gas in europe, 1,100 increase. Predicted by next year some utility, homes will be paying 7,000 a month. Theyll be subsidized by the. They cant do that forever. Can you imagine those type of outrhamous costs outrageous costs . Gasoline, up 67 , under both this administration, Previous Administration. 67 . Electricity is up 15 and climbing. Climbing. When you have countries, such as australia and canada, doing it and doing it in a clean fashion, but also doing accelerated fashion, thats something we should be looking at. Thats how. Weve talked about permitting for years and years and years. If youre on the renewable side and you want all renewable, no fossil whatsoever, you cant get a transmission line built. If youre going to build a wind farm or solar farm in the middle of the desert where theres no people, you got to take that elect rones, electricity back into the marketplace, you got to cross a multitude of state lines. Youve got to have permitting reform to get it done. Youre not going to be able to deliver the energy that people need. Look at our friends in, whether it be in california, look whats happened in texas. All of this. This very, very fragile whats going on. The good news is next week were going to have an opportunity to help accelerate these Energy Projects clear across the country and the needs we all have, if we dont let politics get in the way. If we basically look at what the United States of america needs, what the people in this country need, and what they want to make sure we have the Energy Independence to do it ourself and not rely on foreign supply chains. Thats what this is about. Ive always said, if i can go home and explain it, if i can talk to all of you and explain it, i can vote for it. I can explain what were doing. I truly can. It whether it be from the ira, a bill that basically gives us a pathway to walk and chew gum, provide the energy we need today, but also invest in the energy we need in the future. Were doing both, but you cant do them unless you have permitting reform. Everyone thinks this is a side deal. There is no side deal. We put this project together under one us a piss of Energy Independence under one auspice of Energy Independence. Also, the support we need for allies in europe, who are having a difficult time. It let me explain why voting for Energy Permitting reform is something that should make sense to each and every one of my colleagues on both my republican and democrat side. Put plainly, with the same state of Energy Prices our constituents across the country, they cant afford for the politics to stand in the way of a long overdue, bipartisan action on Energy Permitting reform. Domestically, American Families and businesses are feeling the pain. This is putins energy war. I wont acknowledge this is a russian war. This is one demagogue who basically has brought the havoc and unrest we have in the world today, one man, putin, and he has basically Weaponized Energy like weve never seen and never thought would be done. This must be answered. We have the infrastructure and we have the resources. Ive said that before. American Natural Gas Prices average around 9 million per million of btu. 9 per million. The same price, most of this energy comes from my state of West Virginia, a lot of the gas, because we have the shell, which is the richest deposits of natural gas weve ever seen in this country, let alone in the world. But with that, those prices were in the 2. 50, 3 range. That balances out pretty well at 5. At 9 it does not. But thats not look what the europeans are paying. The europeans are paying astronomical, 60 and 70 equipment to the same mcf. That versus our 9, which we think is outrageous. This is the crunch were in. Even the cost savings we have achieved by energy efficiency, electricity, home energy are up. Everybody is watching things taking a heck of a hit right now. The changing energy mix does not yield affordability for American Families evenly. In part because we havent been able to knit together the widespread resources of transmission and delivery of this energy. You can only do that by building more infrastructure. You cant do it by hoping one skips over another to get you what you need. Youve got to have infrastructure. Whether its transmission or pipelines, to get you the energy you need. The Consumer Price index tells the story. Consumers paid 16 more for Electricity Service and 33 more for gas services, and its only going to get worse, not better. Absolutely. Im grateful weve made progress addressing prices at the pump. A gallon of gasoline remains 67 higher than five years ago. These are the type of pocketbook issues, they truly are, impacting daytoday decisions americans make. People are making decisions now about how theyre going to get from one day to the next, one month be to the next, what will happen next year. Theyre making those decisions. Theyre making it when the gas prices are still too high, when the Energy Prices are absolutely too high, and the unrest from supply chains making it almost impossible to do the things or have the things you need or that you want. For my colleagues on both sides of the aisle propose a variety of solutions to address the rising costs of energy for american consumers, whether through more oil, gas, or switch to electric vehicles. Let me ask you, mr. President. , where do they think the electricity comes from if they buy an electric vehicle . Its got to be produced. Youve got california saying they want all electricity vehicles by a certain date. Yet, theyre telling people you cant charge your car certain times of the day. Something doesnt make sense. We have to be realistic, be practical about this, pragmatic. All those things are going to take federal permits for us to make sure they have the energy they need. Were going to have to face this sooner or later. Its only possible if you can build it. If you can build it, then you can make sure we have the changes that the consumers are going to demand in america, if we can make of those, then fine, we can supply it. If we cant, i guarantee you the chaos will be unbelievable for all of us who represent these great people. Our producer are handcuffed by an arduous permitting process that doesnt allow to might the supply problems that were facing, and its not getting any better. Let me kind of throw the political process that we have out. My republican friends have always been very supportive, always, and i have a lot of my Democrat Friends that understand we need permitting reform. But weve never gotten it done, whether all democrats in charge, whether the president being a democrat, house and Senate Democrat controlled, or four years ago you had the republicans who basically had a president who was republican, and senate and house. They couldnt get it done. You can only get it done if you Work Together. We can only get this done if our republican colleagues, and our democrat colleagues, Work Together. It wont happen. If we dont do it now, in my lifetime and a lot of my colleagues life time, lifetime, its not going to happen. Its not. If we continue to strap the American People with the highest cost of delivery of products they need because of our infrastructure and the cost of infrastructure, we double and triple the price because of the onerous position to go through the process of permitting, and they know that going up front, that cost is passed on of the they dont absorb that cost. If a pipeline costs 3 billion, which you anticipate to deliver the energy you have, whether hydrogen or natural gas, and that costs you 6 billion or 7 billion, you and i pay that price. Every constituent in our states pay that price. Were suffering from selfinflicted shortages. Were anticipating shortages right now. The next five years, basically our gas supplies, gas deposits are down, natural gas. Natural gas is down. We can change that. We can change that because the energy we have under our feet right now, if we just get it to the market, it will not only fulfill the surpluses we have, it will basically be able to help our allies across the globe that need it most. Because the worst thing in the scenario is if the ukraine war and the pressure that that war is putting on energy that goes into europe, and the europeans are facing absolutely astronomical hardships, those reflect where theyre putting pressure on ukraine to make a deal with putin, god help the world. God help us all if putin walks waway and says we have a victor. He has a Propaganda Machine that he can say anything he wants, no matter the devastating losses he has taken with his troops and the economic challenges in his country, but the unbelievable carnage and pain hes put on ukraine and theyre going to be forced, because of energy, to make a decision, and we can help that and prevent that from ever happening. Thats what we should be doing. Thats basically the challenge we have. You either rise to the challenge or you dont. You either put your politics aside and forget about your personal vendettas and arguments, whatever. Look at the contents of the bill. Look what well have in front of us that you can vote on and make a difference. Ive often said if you can go home and explain it, you can vote for it. I truly believe this piece of legislation will do that. Were putting people to make hard choices they shouldnt be put in that position. I tell americans every day, dont let washington make your belief youre divided. Youre not divided. Were divided here. We are forcing the constituents of our states to pick a side. What side are you on . Theres only one side. Thats the american side. Theres not another side. We have republican friends and Democrat Friends, we might have different ideas, but when the country is challenged we have one problem to solve. Thats what were working on now. Can you come with different ideas, go through the whole process, but we should come together. You shouldnt say my side is right, were against that, my side is right because were for it. Well, we both have to be. This doesnt pass, nothing moves on permitting unless we Work Together. If all the democrats vote for it, its not enough. If all the republicans voted for it, its not enough. The senate is eu tbheek. It takes 60 the senate is unique. It takes 60. It takes ten or more from one side of the other. Our republican friends and colleagues have to look deeply at something theyve always wanted and have a chance to grab. Dont let politics come between us. I hope not. I dont think so. I think the right thing will be done at the right time. I understand that the political process were in is highly charged. Im hoping the American Public says enough is enough. Come on. Its for the country, not for you. Its not to make your Party Stronger or to make the other one look bad. Its not to give one an advantage over the other. This process is a fixed to fix the problems to keep this country, the strongest country on earth, basically the superpower of the world and we only have one way to do it, to do everything for ourselves. I guarantee you, when youre able to do that, draw your allies closer to you. The people want to be associated with the winner. They want to be associated with an economy that you cant stop and with the quality of life that is next to none. Thats what they want to be associated with. The American Dream can be alive, but only if we do everything to keep it vibrant. Thats what were working on. Less than a year ago, congress, we acted in a bipartisan way to accelerate public works permitting the infrastructure bill. We did it for infrastructure. We finally came together and said for the last 30 years, we have known that our roads and bridges and pipelines and internet service, everything needed to be improved. We voted in a bipartisan way. You know was we did . We changed how we did the permitting to get those to fruition, to build a road or bridge. Yet we cant do it for energy. Doesnt make any sense to me. Why we cant do it for energy, but we were able to do it for infrastructure. In the coming days well have that opportunity to take the action that will move the needle on getting types of energy and Critical Minerals. Try getting a permit for a mine, Critical Minerals. We just passed a bill, the ray bill, that says on the car manufacturing, car manufacturing we want to get people transitioned, electric vehicles should be desirable. If you like the product or you dont. Youll make those decisions. The only way you get a credit is if the manufacturers are sourcing the Critical Minerals from either north america or favored nations, such as australia and our european friends. Not those, and right now all of it is from china, china has a lock on this. Unless we get off our butts, start doing what we should for ourselves so we dont have to be crippled by a supply chain. I told everybody, first time in the history of the United States of america, think about this great country, henry ford, the mass production line, we have been able to produce in the United States of america, without any foreign supply chains that were needed, the combustible engine, all the drive trains and Everything Else it took for transportation mode. We were able to do that. Whether it be for planes, or automobiles. Now they come out and say, were going to do electric vehicles. We cannot produce what is needed for that to be a transportation mode. And i refuse to give up and say we cant do it. So thats why in the bill that we passed, youre going to have to source the Critical Minerals thats needed for the batteries that are going to be supplying the power for these vehicles, and its going to have to be produced in north america. We shouldnt be waiting on foreign supply chains. Oh, im sorry, we dont agree with your geopolitical stance on so many things so were not going to agree to give what you need. We processed the anodes and cathodes that make these batteries but thats on china. Thats not us. Were not going to get caught this in a. Thats what we were trying to correct. In the coming days were going to have this opportunity i say that again, truly an opportunity. We can keep the costs down. We can make it affordable. We can relieve the pain at the pump, week relieve the pain when you sue your energy bills mailed to you every month. We can fight all this. And we can unlock the energy and climate benefits of the energy act of 2020. The bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction, we can do all of that. But you cant do it in a timely fashion to meet the challenges that the world has today unless you change permitting, which is something weve all wanted. Extreme lines, electric transmission lines i dont know what to tell you. Right now there are approximately 20 projects in various stages of planning. 20. Those take right now an average of ten years and on top of that, a quarter of those 25 of those go into litigious extensions, which is even longer, is 15, 17 years some of them. Theres nobody in the developed world saying were effective and efficient and what were develop something the most effective and efficient pricing we can and the most Reliable Energy thats needed. In this permitting bill, sir mr. President , we do not bypass any of the oversights from the environmental review. Whatever we have in place is still there. Were just going to put guidelines and timetables. You either do it in a sufficient amount of time, or we move on. So thats what were doing and were simultaneously going to two or three agencies at the same time. All we did was look at what was successful around the world. And we made it applicable to what were trying to do here so we can compete on an even Playing Field and were going to continue to do that a this bill isnt just my aid. Everyone says well its a personal thing. This bill is not my idea. This bill is a combination of everybody in this body and also the challenges we have right now. The war in europe has accelerated everything. The inflation has accelerated the need to do something quickly. And if we dont get off our proverbial hind ends and start acting like americans and not republicans and democrats fighting for our own respective side, you know, i see we have spectators here watching what were doing. We have people watching what were doing. Theyve got to be sick and tired of all we do is call each other names. Every republican over there, i consider them a friend, every one of the 50. And every one of my 49 colleagues i consider the same. Somewhere in between we can find an answer to the problems. And im going to continue to do that. Im not giving up and i wont give up. And we have an opportunity, lets take advantage of it. If we dont, then you got to go home and explain why not. I dont have to worry about that because i know why i am for this and i know why i think itll help every person in my state of West Virginia and every one of my fellow americans in this country. I really do. And i hope that we rise to this occasion. We are going to find out next week. Well find out where we stand. If there are people willing to vote to shut down this government because of political reasons they dont like permitting when it is something they fought for all their political life, they have to answer to that. So with that being said, mr. President , i appreciate very much the opportunity to be able to speak on this subject because i think its so important and its coming down to the point where we have great legislation. Weve done a lot of bipartisan things, worked on some good stuff this past two years. Unbelievable. Now, do you want to make sure you take advantage of that and bring it to the market quicker . You want to make sure you get the prices down, you fight inflation, show the rest of the world that you can depend on the United States of mechanic. Thats what its about the United States of america. Thats what its about today. With that, i say thank you and with that, i notice the absence of a quorum hold on. Hold on. I yield the floor. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Stands in recess until 2 15 p. M. The senate now in recess until 2 15 p. M. Eastern. Lawmakers held a confirmation vote for florence pan to be a a judge on the d. C. Circuit court of appeals. Later they are expected to take up a bill making changes to the Global Climate treaty. When the Senate Returns we will bring you live coverage here on