The middle of anywhere, you should have fast reliable internet. Thats why were leading the way. Media com supports cspan along with these other Television Providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. And we take you now live to the floor of the senate where this morning, members will be considering a nominee to be undersecretary of the air force. And later, senators will be revoting on a Border Security measure that failed in the chamber earlier this year. Youre watching live coverage of the senate here on cspan2. The presiding officer the senate will come to order. Today ace opening todays owning prayer will be offered by pastor adam weber, pastor of embrace church, sioux falls, south dakota. The guest chaplain let us pray. Gracious lord, we thank you for this day. Help us not to take it for granted. Thank you for the breath in our lungs. Thank you for hearing our voice when we cry out, for hearing our voice when we ask for your wisdom. Today, i lift up this senate body to you. Would you fill them with your love, joy, peace, grace, and truth. Fill them with your wisdom, which starts and ends with you, o lord. Would you guide, lead and direct them, lord. Help their thoughts, conversations, and decisions today to be pleasing to you. Im so grateful that you are all powerful, that we are mere instruments in your hands. Today we dedicate this day, our country, and our lives to you. And we pray this in your holy and precious 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 23, 2024. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. Warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer the republican whip. Mr. Thune thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , let me just say a word of welcome today to pastor adam weber. You heard him offer the opening prayer today. Im very privileged to have him here. And adam is someone whose family i have known for a long time. Sort of watched him grow up, if you will. Hes a millbank, south dakota native. And at the young age of 24 started a Church Called embrace church in sioux falls, south dakota. And at that time i think the First Service had 32 people. His office was a chevy cavalier. And a decade later it was one of the Fastest Growing churches literally in this entire country. And theyve continued to grow through the years. And theyll do it the same way theyve always have and thats one person at a time. Emb embraces heart is to relentlessly reach the next person for jesus. Its something that adam lives out. He seeks out strangers. He goes for what he calls nonfluff conversations. And he reaches people. Lots and lots of people with the good news of the gospel. And i have had the opportunity to attend services along with my wife, mr. President. Adam also has a podcast which reaches literally thousands and thousands of people that ive listened to. He interviews people from all walks of life and talks to them about their spiritual formation. Its very meaningful to his listeners and certainly whens been certainly has been important in my life, too, as we try to apply the truth of the scriptures at a time when we face enormous challenges as a country and in a lot of our communities across the country. Im dwlieted to delighted to have adam here and thank him for his ministry and grateful to chaplain black for making it possible for him to be chaplain for the day. And i would tell my colleagues what i have said many times before, and that is that we do have a bible study that the chaplain leads on a weekly basis, thursday at noon and encourage all. My all of my colleagues to attend. Its been enormously important to me through the years in keeping me anchored and grounded on the solid rock at times when things can be very uncertain. And sometimes tumultuous around us. So im grateful for the chaplain for his leadership here and delighted to have pastor adam weber from sioux falls, south dakota, and embrace church with us here today in the United States senate. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer i move to proceed to calendar 397, s. 4361. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk motion to proceed to calendar number 397, s. 4361, a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for Border Security and so forth and for other purposes. Mr. Schumer thank you, mr. President. And first, let me add my greetings to our dhap lynn chaplain from south dakota and welcome him under john thunes auspices. So welcome, pastor. Pastor, welcome. Mr. President , three months ago something truly stunning happened here on the senate floor. Senate republicans filibustered the strongest, most comprehensive Border Security bill congress has seen in a generation. And they did it because donald trump wanted to exploit the border for political gain on the campaign trail. Well, today were going to try again. We will vote to move forward on a Border Security bill that democrats and republicans spent months on together. I hope our republican colleagues join us to reach a different outcome. We all know the situation at the border is unacceptable and demands attention from congress. Democrats believe that our republicans have been saying it and thats why three months ago we sat down with them to write a strong and necessary and bipartisan Border Security bill. Poll after poll shows that large a large majority of Americans Across Party Lines support our position of getting a bipartisan bill done and only 8 are in opposition. When republicans like donald trump say dont support a bipartisan bill, wait til next year, theyre in a distinct minority with the American People from one end of the country to the other. People want us to get things done. People want us to come together. And when they hear that the only reason republicans backed away from this bill is not that it wasnt Strong Enough but that donald trump said he wanted chaos at the border. They dont like that. This is our bill. The public is on the same page and in the polling data, democrats, republicans, and independents are all on the same page. Act on a bipartisan bill, get something done. Dont play political games. And this is a bill that will hire thousands of new Border Agents, a bill that will finally reform asylum, a bill that will commit billions to stop the flow of fentanyl, a bill endorsed by the National Border patrol union and the chamber of commerce and the very conservative wall street editorial page. So to my republican colleagues, you wanted this border bill. Today we vote on this border bill, and its time to show youre serious about solving the problem. Look, i understand that todays bill is not going to win every single democratic vote or every single republican vote. That was never the goal of this bill. The bill was rather to come up with something that could get 60 votes. A majority on both sides of the aisle. Thats how it was crafted. And its far different than what the republicans have done. Look at what happened to h. R. 2. It didnt get a single democratic vote here in the senate. It did not even get the support of every Senate Republican. If anything is political theater, its h. R. 2. Its not designed to solve the problem. Its designed to make a political point. The bill we are bringing up was designed to solve the problem. And republicans and democrats labored together in good faith to get that done, and it would have gotten done had donald trump not said, i dont want this done. Blame it on me. I want chaos at the border so i can win reelection. That is not what the American People want, as i mentioned. Thats the polling data is clearly on our side. The bipartisan border bill is something so different than h. R. 2 because it is a serious attempt at legislation that republicans helped put together. Now, people might forget that there was actually a lot of bipartisan interest in getting this bill passed before donald trump killed the bill and told the country please blame it on me. Thats what he said. Blame it on him. My friend, the republican leader, openly admitted that, quote, its actually our side that wanted to tackle the border issue. We started it. Thats what leader mcconnell said. My friend, the senator from texas, similarly said, it makes no sense to me for us to do nothing when we might be able to do things better. Thats just what were doing today, i would say to my friend, the senator from texas. A few weeks before our bill was released, our colleague from iowa warned, quote, we stand the risk of losing the chance to actually get something done on the border now because i dont see this opportunity coming again coming up again any time soon. Again, thats what were doing, just what our republican senators asked us to do for months. And i would be remiss not to include the good observation of my friend from South Carolina. He said, h. R. 2 was unable to get any democratic support in the house. We lost one republican in the senate. So to the conservative world, you have a unique opportunity to get Border Security reform. And he added, this moment will pass. Do not let it pass. I cant say it any better. And what they said then is perfectly applicable now. What made them change when she had such conviction that we had to get something done in a strong bipartisan way . One thing, donald trump said turn around, reverse yourself. 180degree reversal and they did. The words i have mentioned are not the words of senators who think this was all political theater. They sound like the words of senators who are hoping to get something done. But as i mentioned, it wasnt until after donald trump swooped in that they changed their tune. So were going to try again today. I hope republicans join us on todays vote to reach a different outcome than the one in march. If republicans were truly serious about calling the situation at the border an emergency, they shouldnt delay any longer. You cant call something an emergency one day and then suddenly kick the can down the road the next day. Let me finish with this. America is proud of its immigrant tradition. We always have been and always will be, a nation comprised of people who come from across the world looking for an opportunity here in this country knowing that theres no place better than america if you work hard, you can provide a good life for yourself and your family. That was what has importune people for generations. We should never let go of that. We must always work to give people more opportunity to come here to treat them humanely, and embrace people who want to contribute to our economy. Theres nothing more american than that. Immigration has been one of the great causes of mine since my earliest days in the senate. I was part of the bipartisan gang of eight led my myself and my friend, the late john mccain, that wrote comprehensive immigration reform. We passed that historic bill because both sides were able to work together. The lesson of that bill is it passed the senate i believe with 68 or 69 votes, bipartisan, is we can only do these things in a bipartisan way. Only. So today knowing that lesson, we need to try and work again together. We know our nation is stronger because of immigration. We know that the status quo at the southern border is unacceptable. The results of decades of neglect going back administrations on both sides. So to all those who have said for years we must act on the border, this is the chance to show youre serious about fixing the problem. This is our chance to show the American People that were willing to reach across the aisle and work to solve one of the most vexing problems that affects our country and what the public overwhelmingly wants in poll after poll. I urge my colleagues on both sides to join us in moving forward today. A chance like this, sadly, only comes once in a blue moon. To might Senate Republican colleagues, please do not let this moment pass. On big oil, mr. President , its disturbing its a disturbing tale as all this time while Big Oil Companies bask in record breaking profits, hardworking americans are feeling the pinch of high prices at the pump. Instead of working to lower gas prices for americans ahead of a busy memorial day weekend, Big Oil Executives seem to be huddling to find ways to keep gas prices high and keep profits soaring. One of those ways included Big Oil Executives spending their time cozying up to donald trump who, as we all know, is no enemy of big oil. A few weeks ago the Washington Post released a disturbing account of a meeting donald trump held with Big Oil Executives at marah largo where donald trump promised Big Oil Executives hell gut the Clean Energy Investments and jobs made possible by the legislation we democrats passed in exchange for 1 billion for his reelection efforts. This is sickening. Donald trump would quite literally be bought by the biggest polluters in the world and be totally beholden to the fossil fuel agenda. And americans will pay the price at the pump. Donald trump is not even hiding it. Sadly, big oils greediness doesnt stop with donald trump. A recent report showed Big Oil Companies were among the biggest perpetrators of stock buybacks, using soaring profits to further line the pox of wealthy example and shareholders. Stock bye backs arent good for the economy, for workers, or for anyone but the wealthy Oil Executives and shareholders. It shows that instead of fives in investing in investing in new energy, theyre instead raising stock prices. There is something deeply wrong with Big Oil Companies continuing to rake in the cash at the expense of the American People. So democrats will keep working to shine a spotlight on Oil Companies unfairness practices and hold them accountable. Choice next month, mr. President , america will mark a dark and somber anniversary. June 24 will be two years since a radical maga majority on the Supreme Court overturned roe v. Wade. It was one of the worst, if not the worst, Supreme Court decisions of modern times. In one fell swoop, maga justices pulled off one of the most draconian reversals of individual liberty ever. Today at least 20 states have near total bans or severe restrictions on abortion. Senate democrats will put reproductive freedoms front and center when we return after the memorial day state work period. Two days ago i began the process for the senate to consider the right to contraception, led by senators markey and hirono. Well consider that bill in june. There will be more action to come after that. At a time when tens of millions of americans are worried about reproductive health, tens of millions of american women worried about reproductive health, though many males are as well, Senate Democrats will focus on protecting fundamental freedoms, like the right to vote. Access to ivf, continued access to contraception and more. Democrats will never relent until we reverse the immense damage that the Supreme Court has inflicted on this country, and the American People have a right to know where their elected officials stand on protecting the rights and reproductive care. 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. 1,624,790 people have lately crossed our southwest border. 1,624,790. So far there we have at least 1. 6 Million People that of also been designated gotaways in the last three years. That is, they cross our southwest border, the Border Patrol can see them, but they couldnt get to them. Let me give you some context on that. As his body and as well because we talked about it over and over and over again, in the first three years of this administration weve had more illegal crossings on our southwest border than the previous 12 years combined. More in the last three years that we had in the previous 12 years combined. If you want to drill down, one year under President Biden has as many illegal crossings as we had under four use of President Trump. Yesterday we had more than 50000 people illegally cross our southwest border yesterday. That has been true every day, i believe, but three in the last three months that we had more than 5000 people a day. Now, the National News media has looked away from the southwest border, but those that live on a southwest border cant look away. They are still facing it every single day. And in cities and into marriages across the entire country, it is still happening every single day, day after day as this president has looked away from whats happening on our southern border. As i said to this department of Homeland Security multiple times, if they would enforce the border is the same as president obama enforced the border, we would be in a very different place. But they dont enforce the border like <