All those people in there. Not saying ceasefire. Host raymond, youre muffled at times. Its difficult to hear you. Richard in srer roana, missouri, democratic caller. Caller yeah. Calling about the students. Doing for the arabs on the reauthorization of the federal Aviation Administration with the renewal deadline friday. Castronova house pass one week extension to allow the senate more time to come to an agreement on sunday. The senate could take up the shortterm extension today. Covid on cspan2. The senate will come to order. Let us pray. Gracious lord, ruler of our lives, help us today to trust you with all of our hearts, minds, and strength. Lord, keep us striving to stay within the circle of your will. Today, empower the members of this body to bring deliverance to captives, sight to the morally blind, and healing to those who are bruised by lifes trials and setbacks. Give our lawmakers the wisdom to follow your providential leading even when facing problems that seem too difficult to solve. Lord, help our senators to be strengthened with your peace, justice, and purpose, as you fill this chamber with your presence. Continue to equip each senator to do your will. We pray in your marvelous name amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. 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, may 9, 2024. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable angus king, a senator from the state of maine to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h. R. 3935, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 211, h. R. 335, an act to amend title 49 United States code to reauthorization the federal Aviation Administration and other Civil Aviation programs, and for other purposes. I want to thank chairwoman cantwell, Ranking Member coons and members of the Commerce Committee because as a general matter this is a necessary bill with a lot of good provisions in particular the work on air Traffic Control recruiting and training and Pilot Training hours. I feel very good about that work thats been done. But the gist of this bill is to promote air safety and there is one provision in the bill that is dramatically contrary to the bill. Will increase their safety. It will reduce air safety and or reduce air safety in the capital of the United States at Reagan International airport. Im going to summarize quickly argument i made the last couple of weeks and then i want to respond to at least three, you know, questions that folks who take a position opposite to me have raised and use some data to demonstrate that those questions though autosave odyssee answers and answers actually verify and uphold the position that my maryland and virginia and i collect take that we should not be jamming more flights onto the business from in the United States. Reagan national airport, dca, although taboo, a postage sta, 860 acres. By order of comparison does airport is about 12,000 acres. Dallasfort worth is about 19,000 acres. Denver is 32,000 acres. When Reagan National was built there was a little bit the United States to build a smaller airports near downtown because the airplanes were smaller. And they were props with fewer passengers and they were lighter in the didnt need as much landing runway space to take off or land. When Reagan National was built on this 860 acres and if you been there you know its 860 that can be expanded because its surrounded on three sides by water and on the other side by you is, not u. S. , the George Washington parkway. No way to expand this. It was built with three runways. A primary runway and two commuter runways, and the estimate was in the 1960s that Reagan National with these three runways could accommodate 15 million passengers a year. 15 million passengers a year. Where are we today circa 2024 . Reagan national is not 25. 5 million passengers a year. 25. 5 million passengers, an additional twothirds over what it was built for on a landlocked footprint with three runways. Theres been a couple of when i fixing our southern border, the American People demand that elected representatives prioritize action over rhetoric. Its the easiest thing in the world to do what many republicans have done this year and done year after year come to the floor, complain that the border is a mess, and then do just about nothing to fix the problem. Its the easiest thing in the world to do what donald trump and his followers have perfected over the years demonize immigrants, Pay Lip Service to our border agents, but ignore the work required to make change happen. Democrats know that the situation at the border is unacceptable. We know that the status quo cannot continue. But democrats also know that fixing the border requires Bipartisan Legislation from congress. Six months ago democrats sat down with our republican colleagues to get work, to get to work on drafting the strongest Border Security bill congress has seen in decades. It contained many of the biggest issues our republican colleagues demanded fixes to asylum, more money for border agents, and it increased the president s Emergency Powers to respond to high numbers of border crossings. Our bipartisan bill was the closest congress has been in decades to fixing our southern border. Until donald trump blew it all up for political gain. Ive seen many cynical things around here over the years, but its hard to think of something more cynical than republicans blowing up their own border deal in order to help donald trump win an election because they think chaos will help them win. After all, how many times have we heard from republicans that we need to fix asylum . How many times did we hear donald trump say that our asylum system was archaic and that, quote, what democrats should be doing now is changing the loopholes. Thats trump. Trump said that. How many times did we hear our republican colleagues say on the floor things like, quote, weve got to redo our asylum laws, unquote, as my colleague from florida has said. If my republican colleagues care about fixing asylum, why did they vote to kill the best chance weve seen in decades to fix it . If my republican colleagues care about our border agents, why did they vote against a bill that would have hired 1,500 more agents and given them more tools to stop the flow of drugs and weapons . If my republican colleagues truly believe the system is broken, why did they vote against a bill that would provided more immigration officers and had the support of the very conservative Border Patrol union . Two words is why donald trump. It was donald trump who didnt like that congress has finally reached a deal on border that would have taken away a key issue for him on the campaign trail. It was donald trump who made clear that exploiting the border is great, but actually fixing the problem is not. I know this is a frustrating issue for millions of americans. Many of us who want to solve the problem on both sides of the aisle are frustrated as well. Republicans are going on and on and on about the border, but facts are stubborn things. When americans ask this year who is to blame for the continued mess at the border, they should listen to the words that came from donald trump himself. He said, please blame it on me. Thats what trump said. On taxes, yesterday the cbo released a new report that should be a shot across the bow for republicans who supported the disastrous 2017 trump tax cuts. The cbo reported that extending all of the trump tax cuts which republicans support and donald trump has promised to do if elected would add 4. 6 trillion to the deficit. Thats 4. 6 trillion. Let me say that again. An extension of all of the tax cuts would add a wopg 4. 6 trillion to the deficit. To the selfproclaimed fiscal hawks on the right who always complain about deficits, this cbo report about the trump tax cuts is like a pie in the face. This report should come as no surprise. We all saw what happened when donald trump and republicans first pushed their tax cuts a few years ago. They blew a nearly 2 trillion hole in our deficit. They left American Families out to dry with no trickle down stemming from the benefits for the very wealthy and the largest corporations. The trump tax cuts were a dud for our economy and a political loser at the same time for the republican party. So i ask my republican colleagues, are they really willing to double down on the disastrous trump tax law and blow a hole in our deficit . Are my republican colleagues, who claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility, so desperate to help the very wealthiest few and large corporations that theyd add another 4. 6 trillion to the deficit . Do my republican colleagues believe so deeply in giveaways to the ultra wealthy that they would let programs like Social Security and medicare, which millions of americans rely on every day, would they let them run dry . If nothing else, this shows how out of touch republicans are working with sorry. This shows how out of touch republicans are with working and middleclass america. The americans dont want tax cuts that favor the wealthy and corporations. While republicans keep pushing terrible tax giveaways for the wealthy and cuts to Social Security and medicare, democrats continue to deliver meaningful results for the American People. This week, for instance, we learned that the u. S. Will triple its domestic chip manufacturing by 2032, thanks to our chips and science act. This is great news for both american jobs and the american economy. Its exactly what we envisioned when we were working on the bipartisan chips and science act, a new wave of tech jobs a new wave of scientific research, and a revival of federal investment in the technologies of the future. Under President Biden and democratic leadership, america is on the right track. Now, on the faa mr. President , later today, the senate will vote on cloture on faa reauthorization. We hope to get this done today to keep the faa funded and operational before tomorrows deadline. The work were doing on faa is going to have practical consequences for millions of americans who travel by air every single day. So, senators have every reason in the world to continue working together on a bipartisan basis to get this done. If we let funding for the faa lapse, it could be disastrous for the safety of our skies and efficiency of of our airports. Air Traffic Controllers would be forced to work longer and extra hours, funding for trucked projects would be halted. I for Infrastructure Projects would be halted. I urge my colleagues to Work Together to fund the faa and avoid missing tomorrows deadline. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. The federal Aviation Administration reauthorization act. Im glad we are here even if belatedly. Our nation depends on a safe, efficient and Robust National aviation system. The bill before us today will help strengthen aviation safety, dressed the Pilot Shortage, and approve airport infrastructure. All of which will contribute to better experience for the traveling public. Im particularly please my proposal to create and enhance program for perspective Airline Pilots was included in the bill. The United States is facing a serious Pilot Shortage which has resulted in reduced air ther service at airports around the country. This has real impacts on the flying public, kicker for those in rural states like south dakota since smaller regional upwards received the greatest reduction in flights. To help address this shortage and approve the quality of Pilot Training senator sinema and i introduced a proposal to create an enhanced Qualification Program for perspective Airline Pilots. It was a direct response to a recommendation from the air Carrier Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee a body of industry, labor, and safety representatives who meet under the auspices of the faas Office Aviation safety which recommended the implementation of such a program to create a structured pathway for pilots to obtain intensive training. While the United States has stringent requirements for the nova flight hours perspective Airline Pilots must complete before updating the pilots license, the quality of that cockpit time is often less than optimal preparation for flying commercial jets. So to better prepare pilots for airline jobs, our proposal will implement an enhanced Qualification Program designed and audited by the faa and administered by air call be disp with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell war is hell. It tears apart societies. It alters the course of entire civilizations. And innocent noncombatants suffer. Try as we might, humanity has not rad cated war has not eradicated war or stripped it of its horrors. But in the modern world, civilized nations hold themselves to the highest standards and take deliberate care to minimize harm to civilians. The United States is first among these nations, but even we make mistakes. On this administrations watch, precision military strikes have inadvertently killed civilians in multiple theaters of operations. Our ally israel goes to Great Lengths to avoid civilian casu casualties. Over decades of grinding conflict to preserve its security, a circumstance most americans can hardly imagine. Israel routinely accepts great risk to its own soldiers to avoid endangering innocent civilians. But the forces sworn to erase israel from the earth follow a different code. To hamas, civilian casualties are not tragedies, theyre tools of the trade. To these savages, kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder arent crimes, theyre tactics. For terrorists around the world, human suffering is the weapon of choice, and hamas seeks to mag any tie it magnify it. These are the facts, and any serious conversation about the war in gaza needs to start here. If war could be avoided entirely, so could its terrible costs. Israel tried to avoid this war, negotiated a ceasefire with the savage terrorists bent on destroying the jewish state, all to try to avoid the war. The terrorists used this ceasefire to plan and prepare for war. And on october 7, hamas launched it. They also chose how israel would be forced to fight it, putting fighting positions in hospitals, sch schools, and United Nations faci facilities, directly attacking humanitarian aid crossings. This doesnt just contravene the laws of war. It exploits human suffering. Why does hamas behave this way . Because it works. Because they know the media will cover it. If it bleeds, it leads. Because they know it creates an international rush, rush to blame israel. Because leftist fifth columnists and useful idiots on University Campuses will play at revolution and express solidarity with the terrorists. Because the president of the United States will be forced to choose between his supposedly ironclad commitment to an ally under attack and the will of his l leftist political base. And because they bet that the president would choose the latter. Well, it would seem that hamas bet correctly. President biden is withholding urgent military assistance to is israel, but he cannot have it both ways. He cannot claim his support for israel is ironclad while denying israel precisely the weapons they need to defend themselves. The president is old enough to remember 1968, but he seems to have learned the wrong lesson from that pivotal year. Caving to the college radicals will only whet their appetite to spend the summer demanding further antiisrael concessions at his partys convention. I fought for months to secure passage of the National Security supplemental to support israel, ukraine, and vulnerable asian partners, and to make important investments in our own military. I stood up to the opposition in my own party, to do the right thing. If the commander in chief cant muster the political courage to stand up to the radicals on his left flank and stand up for an ally at war, the consequences will be grave. Other allies who rely on ironclad guarantees from america will question our commitment. Nations on the fence in the middle of a major power competition for influence will look elsewhere for their own security. And our enemies will be emboldened. Now, on a different matter, ive spoken many times about adeel mangi, President Bidens nominee to the third circuit. Ive covered his shoc