inaudible the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain the presiding officer let us pray. O rock of our salvation, you alone are our hope for the years to come. Because of your mercies, you have given us the gift of this day. You have been our help in ages past, and we place our future in your hands. Lord, forgive us when we do things our way, refusing to submit to your holy will and seeking to derail your wise and powerful providence. Remind us to seek first to stay within the circle of your divine purposes for you are god and we are not. Today, use our lawmakers for your glory. Give them the unity they need to accomplish your will. Guide them with your wisdom. We pray in your matchless 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, september 8, 2022. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable christopher murphy, a senator from the state of connecticut, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patrick j. Leahy, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer now, mr. President , four words are inscribed in the stone above the United StatesSupreme Court equal justice under law. Equal justice under law. In many ways the story of america has been about making those words true for all americans. Sometimes we take bold steps forward. Other times, unfortunately, we take disturbing steps backward. We all know when the constitution was written there was not equal justice under law. Thats pretty obvious. So many people were excluded from voting and other rights. But we have tried to move forward, and thats one of the beautiful things about america. We keep moving forward. We push. But unfortunately today america finds its in one of those frightening moments of regregs. Of regression. Months ago tens of millions of women saw their fundamental rights taken away before their very eyes. Justice thomas in a concurring opinion suggested that other rights, like the freedom to marry protecting owe oberfeld might come next. The senate has a responsibility now to act. Because of this threat the senate will hold a vote on the respect for marriage act in the coming weeks so that no american is discriminated against because of whom they love. My colleagues, senator baldwin, sinema, and others, have worked for months to build bipartisan support for this legislation. I applaud them for their efforts. I hope that well get at least ten republicans to join us to pass Marriage Equality through the senate. If the respect for marriage act can win significant republican support in the house, theres no legitimate reason for republicans in this chamber to stand in the way. Over the past few weeks weve heard many on the other side say, well, this vote isnt necessary. They say Marriage Equality is not something americans spend a lot of time thinking about anymore. They want us to believe that the Supreme Court would never do something as reckless as reversing the precedent of Marriage Equality that millions have relied on for years. Well, where oh where have we heard that before . The very same people who suggested that roe was established precedent now want us to think that the Supreme Court wont go further, even though a sitting justice on the highest court on the land openly said something to the contrary, and hes often joined by four others. Mr. President , lest we forget, Marriage Equality was not the law of the land a decade ago. Discrimination against lgbtq Americans Still continues to this day. Now, maga republicans have escalated their rhetoric against samesex marriage and want to normalize gender discrimination. Maga republicans seem to make it their business to pick on certain groups, not to do things that are positive and move things forward, but to point their fingers at someone and blame them for some abstract reason that really doesnt hurt them at all. Thats where this Republican Party, unfortunately too many of them are headed, led by these maga republicans and often fomented by former President Trump. Earlier this year, heres what im talking about, this isnt pie in the sky, the texas republican gop earlier this year even adopted a Party Platform this is of the largest republican state in the country, the one with the most congressional did he go gatt, congressional delegates, congressional representatives, the texas gop adopted this year a Party Platform that said, quote, homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice. Let me repeat that. The largest republican state in the country, its Republican Party captured by maga fervor, absurd fervor, said homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice. Just yesterday we know just yesterday a judge said that employers can deny access to medication if they believe it would encourage hoam homosexuality. And we all know that these maga republicans and their ilk led by leonard leo with dark money moved the courts to move america backward. Moved the courts to move america backward. And thats what happened yesterday with this judge coming up with this absurd, obnoxious, despicable resolution. I trust that that radical view of that judge and of that texas gop is not something many of us embrace here in this chamber. But we cant act as if our fundamental rights will stay safe if we arent willing to safeguard them through legislation. If were going to let these maga judges, rightwing, appointed by leonard leoened a the federalist society, if were not going to let them move america backward, then we have an obligation to act. So let me make clear that a vote on Marriage Equality will happen on the senate floor in the coming weeks, and i hope there will be at least ten republicans to support it. On the related subject obviously of judges, today the senate will continue fulfilling its constitutional duty to confirm more judges to sit on our federal judiciary. Its really been a productive week here on the floor when it comes to judges. Yesterday we confirmed john lee to serve a lifetime appointment appointment, the first Asian American to sit on that court. Today well confirm andre b. Under President Biden. More than President Trump, more than president obama and president bush had at this point. Its a great record. Were proud of it. And we arent done. Later today we will work on our Third Circuit court judge of the week, salvador mendoza jr. To sit on the ninth circuit. Members should expect to vote on his confirmation as early as the beginning of next week. Moving forward, it will be one of our Top Priorities to confirm as many judges as possible. Its one of the best things we can do with our time here on the floor. Especially given how many magatype judges President Trump and the republican majority appointed. The lions share of legal disputes never make it to the Supreme Court, giving those who preside in the lower courts immense power to affect the lives of the American People. And, of course, when they get it wrong, as they have all too frequently recently, the results can be disastrous. Just yesterday, a hardright judge in texas, as i mentioned, stripped away americans rights to access Preventive Care. Over 150 million americans could now be at risk of losing everything from Breast Cancer screenings to free vaccinations, Mental Health assessments, and so much more. Add that to the previous case i mentioned before, and you can see that judges are out of control. Far away from what most americans want, fostered upon us by the Republican Senate majority, President Trump, and a small band of rightwing maga billionaires. In the long rung, long run, this decision could mean more people could get sick or die needlessly because they cant afford Preventive Care to stay healthy. That is the kind of thing that is at stake when it comes to judges. Its a frightening reminder of the difference between our side and the maga hard right, the extreme maga hard right. The hard right remains obsessed with stripping away peoples rights to Affordable Health care. Its dangerous, its malicious, its wildly out of step with the American People. Democrats want something different. We want to protect Peoples Health care, not destroy it. We want judges who will preserve long established precedent, not obliterate it, who will move us forward on our fight to equality, not take steps backward. In the coming weeks and months, we will maintain a laserlike focus on confirming judges who will do the kind of things that must be done in america. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call of the heritage foundation, warmer acting assistant secretary in the Treasury Department string to trump administration. Good morning to you both. Its great to be with you. Its great to have you both. I want to start with the latest jobs report from friday and trying to understand a lot of the numbers in these reports. 315,000 jobs added in august, a Labor Force Participation rate that picked up 3. 3 . Average earnings of 3 and is were in a recession, cracked . Explain whats going on. We might not be in a recession. The first two quarters of the year had negative gdp. We are not yet finished with the Third Quarter and this quarter might not show a decline in gdp. We might a gdp growth, no windows. The important thing is not whether were in a recession but whether we policies of Sustainable Growth and with policies to increase employment. Thats what we need to focus on rather than these details are in a recession or not. Host whats most important number from this report we got on friday and is . First of all i was very happy with the large numbers of jobs created because that shows we might not be an recession right now. I was also very happy with the increase in Labor Force Participation rate because we are about one percentage point below where we were before the pandemic. Thats about 3 million workers. We have 11 million unfilled job so we really need those extra workers who want to come into the workforce in order to alleviate some of the supply chain. Host dean baker, the most important number in your mind from that report . Guest i think i agree larger with diana. The Participation Rate is a big deal because many of us have been looking at that wondering why people were not coming back into the labor market. I dont want to get into dirty stuff but oftentimes we do two separate service, one to employers home and job stooge and the other two household, were you working. They often diverge and it did the verge a lot in the spring so we are creating 300, 400,000 jobs a month but finding no more people are saying they were working. A lot of us were saying thats weird. That was largely corrected with the august numbers and thats a really good story. In terms of where we stand in Labor Force Participation, we are all getting older, the baby boom generation is moving into their retirement. Economists tend to look at what we call prime age workers, between 2554 and we 54 and were back to where we were in terms of Labor Force Participation before the pandemic. Our peak before the pandemic was a little higher but right now we are above the average for 2019. We dont have story of a lot of people missing. We are missing more people, people are working later in her life and thats a good thing. This is a great report. If you just looked at that snapshot into wheres the economy in august, that 3. 7 unemployment near 50 year low, hireling force participation, good wage growth, not crazy. In other words, not inflationary, it was really a great report. Host by the way we are all about nerdy stuff so dont be afraid to talk about nerdy stuff. What brought people back for the late force participation and how many more workers do you think can be brought back here . Guest just to be clear, i dont think the was a big change in august. I i did a blog post on this, we see times where you have the Household Survey show either large increases or large decreases and Labor Force Participation that dont correspond to anything in the economy. We dont seem to be creating more jobs. We dont seem to and prior months i should say or the economy doesnt seem the growing facet of the times you see drops that dont make sense and thats what we saw in the spring. I dont think theres a question we just saw a lot of people come back in august. I think that was a quirk in our survey. Its good news. You have to work with the data you have, but i dont think that was his big change in august. For whatever reason that survey was understating Labor Force Participation. Guest could be because of the increase in prices can increase inflation come people feel a little squeezed. Theyre running down their savings. Some of the might feel the need to be back in the labor force. And with covid going away some parents might feel as though they could get back in the workforce, go back to work and be confident that kids wont be suddenly pulled out of school. Which was a big issue for a lot of parents not wanting to have both of them go back. Host inflation, a topic we talked about for months here, are we headed in the right direction . When will we get that next report to tell us where we are on inflation . Guest the next report will come out september 13 and we think that inflation is going to show downward progression because Energy Prices are a large share of the Consumer Price index, and gasoline prices went down this month. Were hoping to get good news on the inflation front. People of course are concerned about what chairman powell is going to do around the 21st when he announces the increase in the federal funds rate and most people think hes going to raise the federal funds rate by 75 basis points which will exert even more downward pressure on inflation. Host the lead story in todays wall street journal, the fed sets the path for another. 75 rate increase and the vice chair of the fed signaling that seems to be on the way. Dean baker, on that and what it means for inflation right now. Guest i took the more ambiguous because she did say they would be look at the data. So in other words, they have decided. Based on your comments, i have no inside knowledge there looking for another rate hike but she made it clear they would be looking at the data, the cpi report the diana referred to coming out next tuesday. Like her i think that would be very close to zero. Its possible to be negative because its not just were seeing falling gas prices. Gas prices plummeted, down 25 of last two and half months so theyre getting back to more normal levels. We are seeing some drops in food prices, beef prices have been dropping, milk prices have been dropping. Then all the supply chain problems that led inflation earlier this year. Those are getting larger and resolved. Shipping costs are plummeting. The backlogs at the ports are largely gone. Retailers are reporting lots, their complaint. They will have to include sales. I dont follow a closing notes i dont know what walmart is doing and target any other big retailers but they are complaining about it. Whether that shows up in august or not im not sure. We are going to see it showing up soon. I should mention car production. The Federal Reserve board puts out monthly data on our production and its data for july which is the most recent month we have shows we were somewhat above prepandemic levels. Most people realize we had a real shortage of autos because of the auto and semiconductor problems in japan. We need semi conductors for autos. We seem to be getting back online. We are likely to see auto prices at least not rising if not actually falling in the coming months. We are looking at a situation where a lot of the problems that created inflation earlier in this recovery are going away. Whats the fed going to do . I mean, i dont take for granted it will be. 75, i can going what vice chair brainard said, that she is very where they could go too far too fast and it might be i think they would be wise to be cautious here because were not in a recession. Its kind of nuts as they were in a recession, greeting to hundred thousand jobs a month, but if you keep raising rates they surely can put us in a recession. Host let me invite viewers to join this discussion, about 50 minutes in. It will be an hourlong discussion as were talking about the economy, about manufacturing and the United States. Diana furchtgottroth is our guest from the heritage foundation, the director, former acting assistant secretary in the top administration. Dean baker from the center for economic and policy research. Its 2027488000 for democrats to join. Republicans its 2027488001 and ind