[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1023-S1031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

               POSTAL SERVICE REFORM ACT OF 2022--Resumed

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the bill by 
title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3076) to provide stability to and enhance the 
     services of the United States Postal Service, and for other 
     purposes.

  Pending:

       Schumer (for Peters) amendment No. 4955, to modify the 
     deadline for the initial report on the operations and 
     financial condition of the United States Postal Service.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.


                      Emmett Till Antilynching Act

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, in 1922, the first robust antilynching 
bill was successfully passed by the House of Representatives. Once it 
came to the Senate, a block of Southern segregationists mounted a 
filibuster to kill it in its tracks.
  Over the decades, similar bills met similar fates. Throughout the 
20th century, scores of antilynching bills were introduced, only to be 
promptly buried into obscurity. In 2018, Congress came closer than ever 
to finally passing antilynching legislation before it was thwarted at 
the eleventh hour.
  But last night, finally--finally--after more than 200 failed attempts 
to declare lynching a Federal crime, the Senate succeeded in taking 
long, overdue action by passing the Emmett Till Antilynching Act.
  Hallelujah. Congress has finally declared lynching a Federal crime, 
as it should have done more than a century ago. That it took so long is 
a permanent, bitter stain on American history; but, finally, a 
century's worth of efforts has now paid off.
  To say this is a historic accomplishment is impossibly inadequate. 
Generations of civil rights leaders and advocates dedicated their lives 
to getting Congress to recognize the humane, obvious truth: that 
lynching was an intolerable injustice inflicted primarily on 
disenfranchised Black Americans.
  Thousands upon thousands of Black Americans have been victims of 
lynch mobs across the country, and indifferent States have rarely 
responded, if ever. Many of the sworn officers of these States and 
localities not only ignored but often participated when these 
atrocities occurred.
  Despicable. Horrible. America should be so ashamed of this chapter in 
her history. And while no single congressional action can fully erase 
the injustices committed against victims of lynching, last night was an 
important step in the never-ending work of perfecting our Union. Only 
by confronting the darkest elements of our history can we make straight 
the path toward a brighter and more just future.

  I want to really applaud Senator Booker. He has been diligent and 
hard-working and valiant in getting this to happen. He had a great 
partner in Senator Scott--bipartisan. And on the

[[Page S1024]]

House side, the person who lit this candle and kept it glowing even in 
the most disappointing of times was   Bobby Rush. He never gave up.
  Congress has finally taken action, and this bill now heads to 
President Biden's desk, finally--finally--for signature.


                   Government Funding and Coronavirus

  Madam President, now on COVID, Republicans and Democrats continue 
making good progress toward reaching a deal to fund the government. We 
are almost there. We are very, very close, and, hopefully, it will be 
done in the next few hours.
  This bill, the spending bill, comes at a consequential moment. War in 
Europe has focused the energies of Congress into getting something done 
and getting it done fast, quickly. But one crucial element of the 
funding bill is getting less attention, and it is as important as just 
about anything in this bill. That is approving a new round of COVID 
preparedness funding.
  For all the important priorities we must address in this spending 
bill, I believe the COVID funding will go down as one of the most 
important--one of the most important--elements of the omnibus, and I 
have been pushing really hard to get it done, working across the aisle 
to convince our Republican colleagues that we need it.
  Now that all the Federal COVID aid under the American Rescue Plan has 
run out, approving new COVID funding is about insurance--far better to 
prepare for new variants today than to play a frantic game of catchup 
tomorrow, when it would be too late. We cannot let it be said that 
America, after the third or fourth variant hits our shores, is 
unprepared; does not have adequate testing, therapeutics, vaccines. We 
cannot let that be said again.
  The first time it happened, of course, we were unprepared. We didn't 
know what had happened. But, unfortunately, even in the second and 
third, President Trump's administration was not very eager to move 
forward, trying to ignore it, saying it didn't really present a danger, 
which, of course, it has.
  So now Democrats and Republicans, thankfully, have come together, and 
both sides of the aisle have come to realize that new COVID funding 
today is about insurance--far better to prepare today than play a 
frantic game of catchup tomorrow, when it is too late. The funding will 
support more vaccines, testing, therapeutics, and healthcare workers, 
and that is why I have been pushing so hard to get it done.
  Across the country, life is returning to normal, thankfully. Cases 
are falling. More people are going about without masks. Restaurants, 
churches, and stores are filling up. I see that in my hometown of New 
York. Most importantly, classrooms are full; schools are staying open.
  Now that we are turning the corner, now that we are getting back to 
normal, the last thing we can afford to do is let our guard down, lest 
a new variant comes back with a vengeance and catapults us all back to 
square one, a place where we all do not want to be.
  Sadly, we know from experience that another variant is a very real 
possibility. No one can say for certain how the virus will mutate, but 
today we have the tools and know-how to fight this virus the minute it 
hits our shores, while preserving as much of normal life as possible.
  All that is needed is the Federal funding, and $15 billion of that 
funding will be in the omnibus bill. So that is why I pushed so hard to 
get COVID funding into the spending bill. I am encouraged to see that 
Members have come around to recognize its importance, and I hope we can 
get it done very, very soon.
  Furthermore, I am pleased that we are likewise close--very close--to 
passing a strong and ample aid package that will help the people of 
Ukraine fight against Putin's immoral war. They desperately need 
humanitarian aid, as millions of people are without food, without heat, 
without shelter, without medicine. They desperately need the arms to 
defend themselves against brutal Russian aggression, often viciously 
aimed at civilians who are escaping. We pledged to get something big 
done, and in the coming hours I expect we will be able to announce that 
we have followed through.


                               H.R. 3076

  Madam President, on another matter--a lot is going on in the Senate 
this week--I am pleased to report that as soon as today the Senate is 
set to deliver for the post office. The post office usually delivers 
for us, but today we are going to deliver for them.
  Every single day, tens of millions of Americans rely on the post 
office for life's daily essentials. Seniors and veterans rely on it for 
their medication. Small business owners rely on it to keep their 
operations going. Small towns and rural Americans use it to stay 
connected, and every time we receive a wedding invitation, birthday 
message, or postcard from a relative, it is almost always the post 
office at work, making us happy, receiving those nice letters and 
birthday cards from brothers and sisters and relatives and friends from 
far-flung places.
  But we all know the frustrations of waiting on packages that fail to 
arrive on time. We all know that when the post office is forced to cut 
hours of operation or delivery routes or lay off workers, the rest of 
us are worse off.
  Thankfully, for the past few months, Democrats and Republicans have 
been working together in good faith to reform some of the most troubled 
parts of the Postal Service. Now, we are only one rollcall vote away 
from sending this bill to the President's desk, and that vote is likely 
to come today.
  After the Senate votes on this bill, we will happily be able to say 
that, finally, postal reform is signed, sealed, and delivered for the 
American people. I look forward to getting this done and thank my 
colleagues, especially Senators Peters and Portman, for their 
bipartisan work.


                                 Costs

  Madam President, on costs--the costs that the American people face 
when they buy things weekly through their daily lives--yesterday, we 
saw another instance of Republicans going out of the way to show the 
American people where their priorities lie.
  A few months ago, the junior Senator from Florida callously called 
inflation a ``gold mine'' for the Republican Party. People are 
suffering and paying more, and the Senator from Florida says it is a 
``gold mine'' for the Republicans?
  A few weeks ago, we saw what he meant. That same Senator released a 
party platform that openly called for raising taxes on millions of 
American families, potentially by more than $1,000 a year.
  People can't afford that.
  And, yesterday, the junior Senator from Wisconsin called for the GOP 
to revive their failed efforts to rip away affordable healthcare for 
tens of millions of Americans--a fresh reminder of an old desire that 
Republicans have harbored for over a decade.
  Cheerleading inflation, raising taxes on working Americans, repealing 
affordable healthcare: Is that the platform of today's Republican 
Party? At this point, perhaps the Senator from Wisconsin should join 
the Senator from Florida in creating a new ``Hurting Working Families 
Caucus'' so we can more easily track their truly repressive vision for 
the American people.
  Meanwhile, Democrats believe we should be lowering costs for 
Americans, not raising them. We should be working on a bipartisan basis 
to fight inflation, not root for it to go up. So, tomorrow, Democrats 
will hold our annual DPCC retreat to discuss our plan to lower costs, 
building on historic job growth, and expand opportunity for the middle 
class.
  Over the next few months, my colleagues will be holding hearings and 
markups on many of our cost-cutting proposals. Among the ideas we are 
working on are included bills to cap insulin costs at $35 a month, 
lowering the cost of meat at the grocery store, reforming unfair 
shipping practices that raise the costs of American goods for 
everybody, and fixing domestic supply chains.
  These are issues that the American people need help with. It is what 
Democrats will maintain a focus on. And I thank my Republican 
colleagues for helping us remind the American people which party truly 
stands in their corner.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

[[Page S1025]]

  

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The Republican leader is recognized.


                                Ukraine

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, as I mentioned yesterday, Senators 
had the chance to hear directly from Ukraine's President Zelenskyy over 
the weekend. He and his constituents--the brave people of Ukraine--have 
won the hearts and minds of all of us all across the world.
  Their pain, of course, is Putin's fault, but as I and others warned 
for weeks before the invasion, that pain has been compounded by the 
West's hesitation and sluggishness in helping Ukraine prepare for this 
onslaught, which we could all see coming. This crisis was not only 
foreseeable; it was, in fact, foreseen.
  Republicans spent months urging President Biden to put more lethal 
aid in Ukrainian hands before Russian invasion made those deliveries 
much more difficult. We urged the administration to reinforce our 
eastern flank NATO partners before Putin escalated his war against 
Ukraine rather than playing catchup. We called for heavier sanctions 
before Putin had fully committed his forces and his pride. We warned 
repeatedly that the Biden administration must not let these actions be 
slowed down to the speed of bureaucracy. But that is, of course, what 
happened.
  As President Zelenskyy himself said publicly last week, while he 
appreciates all the Western help, much of it is ultimately arriving 
``too late.''
  The Biden administration is now finally doing many of the things they 
slow-walked months ago as too provocative or too escalatory: providing 
Stingers, sharing intelligence, deploying more forces to NATO's eastern 
flank, finally, getting out of the way of sanctioning Nord Stream 2.
  Now, as supplies dwindle and safe resupply and transit corridors 
narrow, friends of Ukraine will have to work even harder to help the 
citizens and their government stay in the fight.
  It has been obvious for some time that Ukraine would benefit from 
receiving Soviet-era aircraft and air defense systems from our eastern 
flank NATO partners that still maintain inventories of such weapons. 
The United States can help these allies worried about giving up such 
capabilities by helping to backfill with American-made and NATO-
standard weapons. I understand the administration may be finally coming 
around to support this but, again, at the stately pace of bureaucracy. 
This needs to get done and get done yesterday.
  (Mr. PADILLA assumed the Chair.)
  Meanwhile, the Congress is acting; that includes additional security 
assistance funding for Ukraine and for our eastern flank NATO allies in 
the supplemental appropriations bill, along with funding for loan 
guarantees to help eastern flank countries buy American weapons to 
shore up our collective defenses.
  I appreciate the Democratic leader working in good faith to 
accommodate my request that the funding bill significantly increase the 
security assistance drawdown fund available to the President and to 
backfill our DOD stockpiles that are helping our friends in harm's way. 
I hope we finalize those steps soon.
  This supplemental is urgent, but the fact is, the White House has, 
thus far, taken steps to limit their own options and made them miss the 
window to provide impactful assistance. This administration not only 
reportedly refused a request prior to the conflict to increase the 
number of U.S. military trainers in the country but moved the advisers 
we had to the far west of the country and then pulled them from the 
country entirely, like they also pulled out our entire diplomatic 
mission.
  These noncombat advisers could have helped facilitate more shipments 
of weapons to the field and more training to teach Ukrainians how to 
use them. They could have laid important logistical groundwork to 
ensure weapons could continue to flow through the frontlines after the 
conflict began.
  In area after area, the record shows the Biden administration pulled 
their punches, even though everyone knew--knew--that the war was 
coming, and even so, the Ukrainians are mounting an incredible and 
brave resistance.
  Imagine where these brave people might be now if the administration 
had moved at the speed of necessity rather than the snail's pace of 
bureaucracy. Now we must commit to keep lethal aid flowing.
  We have to continue strengthening NATO and deepening our security 
partnerships and interoperability with other European partners. We need 
to encourage more commitments like the German Chancellor's recent 
announcement that they will massively step up their investment in their 
own defense and in NATO. And perhaps most important of all, we cannot 
have Washington politicians in the business of shortchanging our own 
defense spending at the very time when we are pleading with Western 
Europe to increase theirs.
  We have to lead by example and make the kind of robust investments 
needed for long-term competition with Russia and China.
  In the meantime, the sobering reality is that Ukraine is very likely 
to see more and escalating brutalities in the days and the weeks ahead. 
The world remembers the butchery in Grozny and the cold-blooded 
targeting in Aleppo, and the world will remember this moment as Russia 
sics conscripts on Ukrainian civilians and arrests its own people when 
they object.
  For all of the Kremlin's lies about Ukraine, about how it is 
supposedly just an extension of Russia and its people are really 
Russians, we now know for certain that Russians and Ukrainians do have, 
in fact, at least one thing in common: Vladimir Putin considers their 
lives equally disposable.


                          Biden Administration

  Mr. President, now on a related matter, the price of gas jumped more 
in the past week than any week on record. This, of course, began long 
before Russia invaded Ukraine. Even before that, families across 
America were paying dramatically higher gas prices than they faced when 
President Biden took office. I expect our Democratic friends will now 
try to blame the entire increase in prices on our efforts to punish on 
Russia, but don't be fooled. This is more than a year in the making.
  Back in November, President Biden's Secretary of Energy was asked 
about any efforts--any efforts--to ramp up production of our own 
abundant American energy, and she literally laughed at the question. 
``That is hilarious,'' Secretary Granholm said.
  The Secretary suggested that increasing domestic production would be 
futile because the market for oil is global. Well, it sure is. But 
right now the free world is considering making this market a little bit 
less global to punish Russia for its brutal conquests in Ukraine.
  So it would sure be nice if America had gone into this crisis with 
more headroom on supply and on gas prices. Just 3 years ago, under 
Republican policies, we had become a net oil exporter for the first 
time since World War II.
  But Democrats are completely committed to their ideological holy war 
on affordable energy. From the campaign trail, then-candidate Biden 
promised, ``I guarantee you we are going to end fossil fuel.'' And in 
office, the Biden administration has used its considerable Executive 
authority to actively target affordable American-made oil and natural 
gas.
  On his first day in office, the President canceled the pipeline 
project that would have sped the safe transport of reliable fuel. The 
very next week, he suspended all new Federal leases on oil and natural 
gas exploration.
  So Washington Democrats spent months trying to pass policies that 
would drive the most affordable, reliable, and abundant forms of 
America energy--and the jobs they support--literally into extinction.
  Just yesterday, as even our Western European friends are realizing 
that green fantasies can't fuel their countries and are trying to turn 
back toward nuclear, coal, and domestic natural gas, Biden 
administration officials gave a press conference where they repeated 
the same--the very same--platitudes about renewables.
  You really can't make this stuff up. The Democrats in charge of the 
United States of America want us to embrace the same failed strategies 
from which our European friends are frantically backpedaling as fast as 
they can.

[[Page S1026]]

  So while the Ukrainians are fighting Russia, Democrats are trying to 
fight a war on the law of supply and demand. They only want to have to 
look at solar panel and windmills here at home. So they want to get our 
oil and gas from everywhere else, but many of the biggest players in 
the global market are countries that don't much care for the United 
States. And now the Biden administration's green hostility to domestic 
energy production has been going hat in hand begging our antagonists to 
increase production. After spending a year hammering America's own 
energy producers, the Biden administration appears to be commencing a 
world tour to try to buy oil from people who don't like us.
  As I mentioned yesterday, the administration appears close to a deal 
that would help Iran enrich more nuclear material and enrich its 
economy by lifting oil export sanctions.
  Reports also suggest U.S. officials have met with the Maduro regime 
with the aim of relaxing sanctions on Venezuelan oil as well. This 
administration wants to ramp up energy imports from Iran and Venezuela? 
That is the world's largest state sponsor of terror and a thuggish 
South American dictator, respectively.
  So they would rather buy from these people than buy from Texas, 
Alaska, or Pennsylvania. Just let that sink in.
  The administration is also apparently making similar overtures to 
Saudi Arabia. Obviously, the Saudis are not an adversary like these 
other countries, but I doubt the American people are thrilled to see 
President Biden trying to increase our dependence on Middle Eastern oil 
and OPEC while declaring America's own resources off limits.
  A green light for the Arabian Gulf and a red one for the Gulf of 
Mexico--what sense does that make? The political left thinks that 
affordable energy is dirty and bad so they are happy to export the 
dirty work and import the oil. Let's ask our friends in Europe how that 
plays out.
  Outsourcing even more production to dictators and theocrats is not 
the answer. Dumping more subsidies into solar panels and charging 
stations, praying everything works out, is not the answer. The answer 
is to let Americans produce American energy.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                               Inflation

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, it took several months and the worst 
inflation in 40 years, but finally--finally--Democrats are 
acknowledging that we have an inflation problem.
  The President actually acknowledged inflation in the State of the 
Union last week. But, unfortunately, while Democrats may finally be 
talking about inflation, they still don't seem to understand how we got 
here, and they are continuing to push a whole raft of terrible 
proposals that would hurt working families and make our inflation 
crisis even worse.
  So how did we get here? Why are Americans currently struggling with 
huge grocery bills and big price increases on essential goods? It is 
true that supply chain issues and the reopening of economies after 
COVID shutdowns created certain inflationary pressure, but a big part 
of the reason things are so bad in the United States right now is 
because of the American Rescue Plan spending spree the Democrats passed 
last March.
  When Democrats took office last January, inflation was at 1.4 
percent, well within the Fed's target inflation rate of 2 percent. And 
it might have stayed there had Democrats not decided that they needed 
to pass a massive partisan $1.9 trillion spending spree under the guise 
of COVID relief--mere weeks, I might add--after Congress had already 
passed a major COVID bill. That is right. President Biden and 
congressional Democrats took office right after Congress had approved a 
fifth--fifth--bipartisan COVID relief bill, and it was abundantly clear 
that we were not in immediate need of trillions more in government 
spending.
  But that didn't matter to Democrats. Now that they were in control of 
Congress and the White House, they wanted to take advantage of the 
COVID crisis. So in the name of COVID relief, they pushed through a 
massive partisan piece of legislation filled with unnecessary spending 
and handouts to Democratic interest groups.
  And, of course, the results were predictable. The bill flooded the 
economy with unnecessary government spending, and the economy 
overheated as a result. In the words of Jason Furman in a January New 
York Times article, `` `The United States has had much more inflation 
than almost any other advanced economy in the world,' said Jason 
Furman, an economist at Harvard University and former Obama 
administration economic adviser. The difference, he said, comes because 
`the United States' stimulus is in a category of its own.' ''
  Unfortunately, Democrats seem unable--or unwilling--to recognize that 
it was their policies that helped push us into our current inflation 
crisis. In fact, the President used his State of the Union Address to 
push for even more--more--excessive government spending, a sure way of 
making our inflation crisis even worse--and not just increased in 
spending but major new entitlements.
  Yes, our Nation is massively in debt, inflation is soaring, and 
Democrats think now is a good time to create major new entitlements, 
and, of course, to raise taxes to pay for them. The President claims 
that he won't raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000, but that 
is not actually the case. Analysis of Build Back Better proposals 
reveals more than one tax hike would hit Americans with incomes below 
$400,000. And then there are the indirect costs.
  A centerpiece of the President's tax plans is increasing taxes on 
corporations. While that may sound like a tax hike on the uber rich, 
the truth is that the burden of corporate tax hikes would fall heavily 
on ordinary workers in the form of lower wages, decreased job 
opportunities and retirement savings, and a less vibrant economy.
  The President likes to talk about tax fairness, about hiking taxes on 
corporations and wealthy Americans so that they pay ``their fair 
share.'' Of course, he ignores the fact that wealthy Americans pay a 
disproportionately large share of taxes in this country and that the 
Federal Government has seen a huge increase in corporate tax receipts, 
thanks in part to business growth in the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs 
Act.
  All that aside, I find the President's call for wealthy Americans to 
pay their fair share highly ironic considering the Democrats managed to 
include a tax break for wealthy Americans in their Build Back Better 
plan. That is right. The Democrats' SALT proposal would 
overwhelmingly--overwhelmingly--benefit affluent taxpayers in high-tax 
States. Apparently, making wealthy Americans pay their fair share only 
applies to wealthy Republican Americans or until wealthy Democrats 
start asking for tax breaks.
  On the corporate tax side, in the State of the Union Address, the 
President highlighted the corporate minimum tax he is proposing. What 
he didn't mention was that his corporate minimum tax isn't actually a 
minimum tax at all. Thanks to the clean energy and affordable housing 
tax credits the President is advocating, among other credits, companies 
that take action on Democrats' preferred policies could end up 
completely evading Biden's so-called minimum tax. So much for making 
corporations pay their fair share.

  In his State of the Union Address, the President highlighted ``the 
revitalization of American manufacturing.'' He said, ``Companies are 
choosing to build new factories here when just a few years ago, they 
would have gone overseas.'' He said that in the State of the Union 
speech.
  The revitalization of American manufacturing is, indeed, something to 
celebrate. But, unfortunately, President Biden wants to undo the very 
tax policies that helped create the conditions for this manufacturing 
renaissance in the first place.
  Before Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, we were 
experiencing a wave of inversions, which is a wonky way of saying that 
companies were moving their headquarters overseas. Why were companies 
moving

[[Page S1027]]

overseas? Because of the punishing corporate tax system we had in the 
United States. Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the United States 
had the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. That put 
American businesses at a real disadvantage next to their foreign 
counterparts, and it created a significant incentive for U.S. companies 
to move jobs or their entire companies overseas. The Tax Cuts and Jobs 
Act addressed this problem by lowering our Nation's massive corporate 
tax rate and bringing the U.S. international tax system into the 21st 
century.
  How did it work? Well, in the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 
inversions stopped--stopped--and as the President pointed out, 
companies are building here in America. To quote the President of the 
National Association of Manufacturers:

       Reducing tax rates drove historic growth in the 
     manufacturing sector.

  Unfortunately, if the President has his way, this manufacturing 
renaissance would likely drastically slow or come to an end altogether. 
Hiking taxes on American companies, as the President wants to do, would 
once again put American companies at a competitive disadvantage next to 
their foreign counterparts.
  If the President hikes corporate taxes, we won't be seeing a surge of 
new building in America or companies keeping jobs here at home. 
Instead, we will be seeing fewer American jobs and more jobs and 
companies heading overseas. Democrats have already wreaked a lot of 
economic harm on American families with their American Rescue Plan 
spending spree. And the other policies that they are pushing and the 
tax hikes and new entitlements the President outlined in his State of 
the Union Address would prolong our inflation crisis and do further 
damage to our economy and to American workers and families.
  I am glad the Democrats are finally recognizing that inflation is a 
problem, but it would have been nice if they could also recognize how 
their spending helped get us into this mess in the first place and how 
their current tax hike and spending plans would hurt Americans and 
result in a less prosperous economy in the future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.


                                  Iran

  Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, much of the news media today is focused 
on Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine--and rightfully so--but not 
enough attention is being paid to negotiations that are happening today 
and have been happening in Vienna.
  The Biden administration seems dead set on reviving, at any cost, the 
Iran nuclear deal. Worse, President Biden's chief negotiator Rob 
Malley--who, I observe, is not a Senate-confirmed official--outsourced 
our negotiations for reviving this flawed Iran deal to the Russians. 
This is outrageous.
  Let me get this straight. We are working hand in glove with Vladimir 
Putin to reach a deal that will help Russia evade sanctions being 
imposed for its aggression in Ukraine and work with its ally Iran.
  This is not the way to protect the safety and the interest of the 
American people.
  This is what Russia's chief negotiator to the Iran talks had to say 
about what he has accomplished for the Biden administration:

       I am absolutely sincere in this regard when I say that Iran 
     got much more than it could expect, much more.

  He recently told reporters, adding:

       Realistically speaking, Iran got more than, frankly, I 
     expected or others expected. This is a matter of fact.

  Again, this is Russia's chief negotiator making this statement.
  Most alarmingly, this revived deal would pave Iran's path to a 
nuclear weapon. News reports also suggest that the revived deal would 
quickly unleash $90 billion in frozen funds to Iran--again, the world's 
biggest state-sponsor of terrorism. Moreover, Iran can expect to earn 
roughly $50 billion annually in renewed oil exports.
  It is unconscionable that the Biden administration appears more eager 
to unleash the energy production in Venezuela and Iran than right here 
in America. The Biden administration is so stubborn and blinded by its 
ideological green energy fantasies that it would rather work with 
terrorists and dictators--folks with some of the worst human rights 
records in history--than admit it was a mistake to abandon America's 
energy independence. This administration would rather work with killers 
than with American drillers.
  As before, the Iranian regime will use this massive windfall of 
sanctions relief to fund terrorism and aggression against our ally 
Israel, against our Arab partners, and against Americans serving in the 
Middle East.
  Let me be clear. The Trump administration was right to withdraw us 
from the Iran nuclear deal in May of 2018. But I am not here today to 
debate the pros and cons of resurrecting the Iran deal. We will likely 
have that debate in the days to come, probably sooner than most people 
think.
  Rather, I am here today to argue for preserving the role that 
Congress--amid concerns that the Biden administration will not submit 
their new Iran nuclear deal for review and for an up-or-down vote--that 
Congress must maintain its role as required by U.S. law.
  If news reports are to be believed, the Biden administration may be 
nearing the end of negotiations for an agreement to resuscitate the 
Iran deal. As Reuters reported recently:

       The draft text of the agreement, which is more than 20 
     pages long, stipulates a sequence of steps to be implemented 
     . . .

  In 2014 and 2015, many lawmakers passionately argued that the 
original Iran deal should have been submitted to the Senate as a 
treaty, requiring our advice and consent under the U.S. Constitution. 
But because the Obama administration refused to follow the 
Constitution, Congress was compelled to enact the Iran Nuclear 
Agreement Review Act, or INARA. INARA passed the Senate in a 99-to-1 
vote--99 to 1. This is nearly unanimous, a bipartisan vote that 
reflects how frustrated the Senate is that the executive branch was 
trying to circumvent Congress on such an important matter. INARA 
clearly requires that any agreement--I repeat, any agreement--related 
to the nuclear program of Iran should be submitted to the Senate and to 
the House for congressional review, including for an up-or-down vote.
  It is beyond debate that the Biden administration is required by law 
to submit any new agreement for reviving the Iran deal to Congress for 
congressional review, but the Biden administration has not clearly 
committed that it will submit whatever agreement it is negotiating in 
Vienna for our review and an up-or-down vote by Congress.
  If the Biden administration refuses to submit its new Iran agreement 
to Congress, it will be ignoring the law and undermining the role of 
this body in foreign policy.
  Last year, I was concerned this might happen. That is why I 
introduced the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act of 2020. My bill 
borrows a provision from the Countering America's Adversaries Through 
Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, an act that overwhelmingly passed Congress in 
2017.
  The CAATSA provision allows for congressional review and an up-or-
down vote on any Presidential waiver of Russia's sanctions. My bill 
takes word-for-word that same provision and applies it to any 
Presidential waiver of Iran sanctions. This is important because any 
new agreement to revive the Iran deal will require once again the 
executive branch to waive Iran sanctions. In other words, my bill 
protects the role of Congress if the executive branch ignores INARA and 
refuses to submit the new agreement to the Senate and to the House.
  So far, 37 Senators have cosponsored the Iran Sanctions Relief Review 
Act with me. This number is significant because 37 Senators would be 
more than enough to deny the Senate's advice and consent if the 
executive branch actually followed the Constitution and presented a new 
Iran agreement to the Senate as a treaty.
  I urge my colleagues who have not yet cosponsored the Iran Sanctions 
Relief Review Act to join me and to do so. We must protect the first 
branch of government from an executive branch that seeks to encroach 
upon it or even to ignore it.
  I also remind the Biden administration, the Iranian regime, and the 
world of a fact that should be patently obvious by now: Any agreement 
to revive the Iran nuclear deal that lacks the Senate's advice and 
consent under the

[[Page S1028]]

Constitution--that is, that lacks the support of 67 Senators--will not 
survive multiple Presidential administrations. It will be ripped up 
just like it was the last time. And I have zero doubt that, as before, 
the next Presidential administration will end this deal again and will 
snap back sanctions--with a vengeance--against the Iranian regime and 
those countries that were foolish enough to trade with it.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       Postal Service Reform Act

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I have come to the floor to speak in 
support of the Postal Service Reform Act, which is now pending before 
the Senate.
  The mission of the U.S. Postal Service since the Continental Congress 
appointed Benjamin Franklin as our Nation's first Postmaster General in 
1775 has been to ``bind the Nation together.''
  So it sounds kind of like a pretty quaint, outdated idea, but it is 
actually serious; it is actually statutory.
  And 39 U.S.C. tasks the Postal Service with binding our Nation 
together by delivering all of our mail to every American promptly, 
reliably, and efficiently, no matter where we live.
  The Postal Service Reform Act will improve the Agency's ability to 
meet that requirement, including in large, geographically remote 
places, like Alaska, where it certainly has a significant impact on our 
lives.
  We count on the Postal Service to deliver not only the letters and 
the magazines and the bills, but also necessities of life: food, 
medicine, business inventory, spare parts. Just about anything you 
could possibly think of for daily life comes to us in Alaska through 
the mail service.
  The Postal Service is unique in its universal service obligation and 
the fact that it delivers both mail and packages to Americans in every 
community, whether you live in Key West, FL, or Utqiagvik, AK. No other 
Federal Agency or commercial enterprise does this.
  But it is becoming more and more difficult for the Postal Service to 
accomplish the swift completion of their appointed rounds, as we 
recall.
  And believe me, I certainly hear about the Postal Service's 
decreasing ability to provide its services promptly, reliably, and 
efficiently. I hear about it as soon as I get off the airplane when I 
get back home. I hear from individuals all over the State, telling me 
the concerns that they have about mail that is late or perhaps not 
delivered at all.
  Our phones ring in our offices around the State because a small post 
office has been closed for a period of days because the postmaster has 
left, and there is no replacement available.
  I hear about the long lines to pick up mail, the long lines to just 
even buy a stamp in some of our smaller communities that get inundated 
by tourists in the summer.
  So we know. We hear the strains on our Postal Service. Despite postal 
workers' dedication, the fact of the matter is that the Agency is in 
trouble, and it needs the reforms that are contained in the bill that 
is pending before us.
  While many Americans believe the Postal Service is supported by the 
American taxpayer, that is not the case. Congress only reimburses it 
for mailing audio books to the blind and ballots to overseas voters. 
That is it.
  The Postal Service has to meet its payroll and fund retiree health 
benefits; maintain its facilities, equipment, and vehicles; deliver the 
mail to its destination on time with its own revenue from the sale of 
postage. But their financial instability is making those 
responsibilities harder and harder to fulfill.
  So we are debating this legislation on the floor today to give the 
Postal Service the tools that it needs to be successful and to fulfill 
its essential mission and to hold the USPS accountable for improved 
performance because we all want to see that.
  So this legislation that we will hopefully vote on later today is not 
without controversy. Reform legislation is never without controversy, 
but that is why I appreciate the opportunity to outline what I think 
are some of the positive provisions.
  Importantly, the bill increases the Postal Service's accountability 
for on-time delivery and requires greater transparency in achieving the 
goal. The bill requires that mail delivery not only be prompt and 
economical but also consistent and reliable and provided in a manner 
that increases operational efficiency.
  It requires the USPS to develop a new, searchable public performance 
dashboard that is updated weekly so both Congress and the public can 
keep a close eye on whether or not they are living up to our 
expectations.
  It also requires new regular reporting to the Postal Regulatory 
Commission, the PRC, and to Congress on a variety of indicators, 
including the impacts of price changes and information about 
reliability, efficiency, and cost effectiveness, Postal workforce 
recruitment and retention, and how investments in equipment and 
infrastructure are impacting service.
  In addition, the PRC and the Postal Service's inspector general must 
identify why there are inefficiencies in the collection, sorting, 
transportation, and delivery of large envelopes, newsletters, and 
magazines.
  These findings will be reported to Congress and the Postmaster 
General. USPS would then have 6 months to put in place PRC-approved 
changes that will fix whatever faults may have been found.
  The bill will also do what many of us have advocated for, which is 
reform the cost of healthcare for USPS employees and their retirees.
  So it provides needed stabilization for the USPS health benefits 
system, and, hopefully, it will relieve the pressure on their budget 
and support sustainable benefits for employees and retirees. This is a 
key provision.

  The bill also codifies an appropriations rider that has long required 
the USPS to integrate the delivery of letters and packages for 6-day 
delivery and includes a fair compromise on the attribution of costs for 
processing and delivering packages.
  One of the--I guess--top complaints that I hear from Alaskans is that 
the cost of shipping via commercial package services is oftentimes more 
than the price of the item itself. Integrated delivery of mail and 
packages saves the U.S. Postal Service money by allowing it to be more 
efficient.
  And while UPS and FedEx charge most Alaskans extra for delivering 
their packages, these companies then drop their packages off in 
Anchorage at that hub and let the Postal Service take care of what we 
call last mile delivery. Well, in Alaska, that often means the last 
several hundred miles.
  Now, some are concerned that USPS subsidizes the cost of packages 
with revenue derived from delivering letters. But in fact, the law that 
we passed in 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, 
forbids the Postal Service from cross-subsidizing revenue to make sure 
that it is competing fairly with commercial package carriers.
  Current law also requires that package delivery covers all of its 
attributable costs, and while the Postal Regulatory Commission and the 
Federal courts have examined and upheld the cost attribution 
methodology, the Postal Service Reform Act requires yet another look, 
which I think is probably a fair compromise.
  Importantly for Alaskans and for me, this legislation will not result 
in cost increases for the essential bypass mail program. This is what 
it says it is. It is essential. It is a program that allows rural 
Alaskans who live in communities that are not connected by roads--about 
80 percent of our communities are in that situation--but allows them to 
receive pallets of food, whatever necessary mailable matter that comes 
from stores in Anchorage or Fairbanks, without millions of individual 
boxes of goods going through Postal facilities. And that benefits the 
consumer, and it saves the Postal Service tens of millions of dollars a 
year in operating costs and untold millions in facility costs.
  While the Postal Service Reform Act directs the PRC to engage in 
another review of attributable costs, I have

[[Page S1029]]

been assured by both sides of the Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs Committee, by the PRC, and by the Postal Service that this 
provision will not impact bypass mail, and I certainly intend to hold 
them to their word.
  Another concern that I want to address over this bill is allowing 
USPS to partner with State, local, and Tribal governments to provide 
nonpostal services. Now, I understand where this comes from, but this 
legislation specifically requires that any nonpostal services must 
cover their own costs without any degradation to regular Postal 
services.
  So, in my view, if the U.S. Postal Service can help deliver 
additional services to the American public under these two caveats, 
then they should be allowed to do so.
  So H.R. 3076 is a big step forward in helping the Postal Service 
achieve financial stability. It will enable the Agency to continue to 
bind the Nation together with efficient and cost-effective universal 
service and allow postal employees to achieve the swift completion of 
their appointed rounds. It is supported by a wide array of businesses, 
both large and small, all who rely on our Postal Service. It is 
supported by Postal employees, by retired Federal employees, and the 
Postal Service itself.
  It has received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of 
Representatives. I certainly hope that it will draw the same here in 
the Senate, and I want to commend the chairman of the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, as well as Ranking Member 
Portman, for the good work that they have done in bringing this bill to 
us today.
  (Ms. ROSEN assumed the Chair.)


                       International Women's Day

  Madam President, now, while I am still here on the floor, I want to 
take just a moment and acknowledge that today, March 8, marks 
International Women's Day.
  This is a day for us to recognize the achievements and the 
contributions that women are making in communities across the globe, 
and, as an Alaskan, I am going to start local first, because I have got 
so many, many phenomenal women in my State who are doing incredible 
things, and I am exceptionally proud of them.
  I was home over the weekend. We were celebrating the start of the 
50th running of the Iditarod race. This is an extraordinary feat of 
just strength and grit and determination and resilience.
  There were 49 mushers that left Willow on Sunday; 17 of those mushers 
who will make the trek to Nome are women--17 women. So we have got a 
very, very strong field, but running a race like this, where it is the 
musher and your team of dogs going through the wilderness of Alaska--we 
have got deep snow throughout. The moose are not in a very cooperative 
mood right now. There are dangers along the trail, and who knows what 
the conditions are going to be like a week from now. And so it takes an 
extraordinary individual.
  And to know the strength of women, as they have taken on the 
Iditarod--when award-winning or world-renowned winner Susan Butcher 
first won that race--she has won that race four times--but when she ran 
it about three decades ago, there was a popular bumper sticker that was 
going around the State at the time. It was, ``Alaska, where men are men 
and women win the Iditarod.'' We were pretty proud of Susan Butcher. We 
are hoping that our women do well and all of our mushers do well.
  But like these female mushers who are racing, women leaders are 
virtually in every field, from healthcare to resource development, to 
fishing, to our universities, and everything in between, and many of us 
are very proud to know that they have become somewhat household names, 
some of them.
  This year, we were able to celebrate Emma Broyles, a young woman from 
Anchorage, 20 years old. She became the first Alaskan and the first 
Korean American to ever be crowned Miss America in the 100-year history 
of that event. So we are very proud of her. I was able to celebrate 
with her this weekend at the Iditarod itself.
  Another young woman that we have celebrated this past year is Lydia 
Jacoby. Lydia is from Seward, AK, and at 17, she competed in her first 
Olympics. She brought home the gold medal for this country, winning the 
100-meter breaststroke race. So we were all eyes on Lydia. So proud of 
her.
  And there are so many who deserve our thanks and our gratitude. I 
always like to give a shout-out to an exceptional leader in our State, 
who has provided critical leadership and guidance throughout the 
pandemic, Dr. Anne Zink.
  It is so important to know that it is not necessarily finishing at 
the end of a race or a crown or a medal. It is just the endurance that 
goes with the day-to-day completion of your work.
  I was on the floor just last month to recognize the work of Native 
civil rights advocate Elizabeth Peratrovich, who pushed the Territory 
of Alaska, our legislature at the time, to pass the first 
antidiscrimination act in the Nation. We did this in 1945. We are so 
proud of how she, as a Native woman leader, made our State and our 
Nation a more inclusive and more representative democracy.
  So, today, on International Women's Day, it gives us an opportunity 
to recognize the impressive feats that women have taken on and have 
accomplished. It is a day to thank women for their daily 
contributions--again, both big, where they win the awards and they make 
the headlines, but also for those day-to-day contributions that they 
make to raising healthy, strong children, to being the fabric in the 
family, to being that contributor in the workplace.
  But this isn't a day that we just look back and recognize those who 
have made great accomplishments. It is also a day that we look ahead at 
the work that we have to do to continue to advance equality and justice 
for all women.
  Just down the hallway from here in the Rotunda is the Portrait 
Monument. We all see it; we walk by it; and maybe we don't even notice 
it anymore but take a look at it next time. We know the pioneering 
women who are represented on it: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 
and Susan B. Anthony.
  But we need to look at it more carefully, and we need to remember 
there is a fourth bust that Adelaide Johnson did not sculpt, and the 
base of the monument is also unfinished. It is a reflection of the 
unfinished struggle for women's rights and equality.
  So for all the progress that we have made, and we know it has been 
considerable, Madam President, as you are sitting in that chair and 
this woman from Alaska is addressing you--we have made great progress, 
but the struggle is unfinished.
  The data documents the gaps in gender equality in our country, and 
too many women feel it firsthand in their daily lives. So on 
International Women's Day, I also want to remind the Senate of a couple 
important ways that we can help further women's rights.
  And I am pleased that my colleague Senator Cardin is on the floor at 
this moment because we have been working together. We have been working 
together to try to do this unfinished business when it comes to 
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, to ensure women's equality 
is expressly recognized in our Constitution.
  Three-quarters of the States have now ratified that amendment. Alaska 
did it back in 1972, Virginia most recently in 2020. I am hopeful that 
its time has come.
  And to help facilitate that, Senator Cardin and I have introduced a 
resolution to remove the arbitrary ratification deadline from the ERA 
so it can finally take effect. I think the Senate needs to take this 
resolution up and pass it like the House of Representatives did last 
year.
  Another step--a critical step--that we must take now is the 
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act to help ensure that 
there is a path to justice for survivors of interpersonal violence.
  I was very proud to introduce the new VAWA bill with Senator Durbin, 
Senator Ernst, and Senator Feinstein last month. I am pleased--so 
pleased--that we have 22 total cosponsors, 11 from each party.
  Our bipartisan bill modernizes the nearly three decades' old Violence 
Against Women Act, and it reauthorizes important programs that provide 
services to survivors. It directs resources to prevent further violence 
and hold perpetrators accountable for their

[[Page S1030]]

actions. And it takes needed and important steps to address domestic 
violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
  I mentioned dating violence. We have a provision that I have included 
and we have named after an Alaskan victim of dating violence, and that 
is Breanna Moore.
  We focused on improving access to medical forensics for victims of 
violence, including through training for medical professionals that 
will allow them to provide evidence-based and trauma-informed care.
  We have a strong Tribal title in this VAWA bill. It builds on VAWA 
2013 by closing the gaps in the law to protect Native people. The 
Tribal title also includes an Alaska pilot program which provides a 
targeted solution to help empower Tribes in a way that recognizes the 
unique and complex jurisdictional landscape that we have in my State. 
It is a recognition that Tribes are valuable partners. They are 
critical partners that can play a larger role in providing public 
safety while reducing the burden on my State.
  As I have said many times before, there should be nothing--nothing--
partisan about keeping people safe from violence. And our VAWA 
reauthorization is a result of many years of hard work and negotiations 
by advocates and stakeholders alike. I hope that we can consider this 
and pass this very, very soon.
  I recognize the great work of Senator Ernst on our side and Senator 
Durbin and Senator Feinstein on the other side of the aisle. It has 
been an effort that is timely, is needed, and is necessary.
  So I am happy to be able to recognize, for just a few moments on this 
International Women's Day--as we celebrate the many, many incredible 
women in our lives and in our country, we also recognize that our work 
for true equality remains unfinished, but we have got some good paths 
forward if we can just try.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, first, let me thank Senator Murkowski 
for her leadership on behalf of women's issues here in the U.S. Senate. 
I join her in calling for the reauthorization of the Violence Against 
Women's Act. I am glad that she mentioned that. I join her as her 
partner in the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. We have to 
pass a resolution here extending the date. Senator Murkowski has been a 
leader on all these issues.
  During Women's History Month, I am using this time to point out the 
progress we have made. Senator Murkowski mentioned that we have made 
tremendous progress on behalf of gender equality in the United States, 
but we still have a path in front of us. I was pleased to see Senator 
Murkowski point out the challenges that still exist and the reason why 
we need to be active in regard to gender equity issues, including the 
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the passage of 
the Equal Rights Amendment. So I thank her for her leadership, and I am 
glad to be her partner on many of these issues.
  So today, we can celebrate the progress that has been made and call 
attention to the obstacles that exist. Throughout our Nation's history, 
generations of women have won hard-fought battles in pushing closer and 
closer toward securing full citizenship and all that entails.
  Our Nation today is stronger from this progress, reaching new 
milestones in gender equality. President Biden announced earlier this 
month his historic selection of Judge Jackson to fill the role of the 
retiring Supreme Court Justice Breyer on the highest Court in our land. 
Judge Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the Court and 
only the fifth woman to serve as a Justice of the total of 115 who have 
served on the Supreme Court throughout our history.
  I was pleased, along with Senator Van Hollen, to recommend Lydia 
Griggsby to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of 
Maryland. She is the first Black female judge to serve in the State of 
Maryland.
  Yes, we have a lot to celebrate during Women's History Month here in 
March.
  During President Biden's recent State of the Union Address, which I 
attended, I was struck by the image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 
Vice President Kamala Harris flanking President Biden. Vice President 
Harris is our first woman and first woman of color to hold the second 
highest office in the land. Though they undoubtedly both experienced 
significant challenges and obstacles on their career path due to their 
gender, they are now serving in two of the highest ranking offices in 
our government.
  President Biden has appointed one of the most diverse Cabinets in 
history, including the first women to serve as Treasury Secretary and 
Director of National Intelligence.
  We have a lot to celebrate on our path for gender equality in 
America, but we still have more that needs to be done.
  At the same time, structural disadvantages and inequalities on 
account of gender persist across so many areas here in America. As one 
example, as chair of the Small Business Entrepreneurship Committee, 
where the Presiding Officer also serves, I have been working over the 
course of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the economic effects on 
small businesses and to help provide needed resources. In this role, I 
have seen firsthand the structural disadvantages experienced by women-
owned small businesses and how they have been compounded by the 
challenges of this pandemic. We need to take action to help in regard 
to that issue.
  Further, the Supreme Court actions to date in cases related to 
reproductive freedom indicate an alarming openness to overturning the 
precedents that have given women control over their own bodies and 
futures for decades. Among many other very important reasons, full 
reproductive autonomy is essential in ensuring that women are able to 
participate fully as citizens in all facets of our democracy.

  I am pleased that President Biden established the first Gender Policy 
Council to advance gender equity across the entire Federal Government 
and that the Gender Policy Council issued the first-ever national 
gender strategy to support the full participation of all people, 
including women and girls in the United States and around the world.
  Yes, we have unfinished business in regard to gender equity issues. I 
am committed to working to advance the Equal Rights Amendment that 
Senator Murkowski talked about. The two of us are the lead sponsors of 
the resolution in this body that would remove the arbitrary time limit.
  This simple amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, first written by 
Alice Paul in 1923, states:

       Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or 
     abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. 
     The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate 
     legislation, the provisions of this article.

  I can't understand any objection to including that fundamental 
protection in the Constitution of the United States.
  As President Biden stated in his Presidential Proclamation during 
this Women's History Month, ``But despite the progress being made, 
women and girls--especially women and girls of color--still face 
systemic barriers to full participation and wider gaps in opportunity 
and equality . . . The Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the 
States for ratification 50 years ago and it is long past time that the 
principle of women's equality should be enshrined in our 
Constitution.''
  And as Senator Murkowski said, the requisite number of States have 
ratified the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. The arbitrary 
time limit that was put on by Congress is the only reason we haven't 
had a certification process.
  The vast majority of Americans agree with this principle today. A 
2020 AP poll found that 74 percent of Americans--74 percent--favor the 
Equal Rights Amendment. A second spring poll conducted by Pew found 
that 78 percent of respondents were in support of adding women to the 
Constitution. In a nation as divided as ours has become, a principle 
with this level of support on this important topic compels our 
attention and our action.
  Given that so much has changed since this amendment was first written 
and since it was first proposed by Congress to the States, it is worth 
explaining some of the practical effects it

[[Page S1031]]

could have if formalized today. First, it would expand legal recourse 
against gender discrimination. Second, it would empower those of us in 
Congress to enact stronger laws preventing gender discrimination across 
a wide array of issues. Third, it would require the Supreme Court--or 
courts--to use a higher standard of review than is currently applied in 
the cases of gender discrimination.
  The ratification of the ERA could be expected to have effects across 
such diverse areas as pay discrimination, LGBTQ rights, gender-based 
and domestic violence, sexual harassment, and more. This constitutional 
amendment would provide a firmer foundation for existing laws and 
create new authority for Congress to pass laws in areas in which it has 
historically lacked a constitutional prerogative.
  Our Constitution is a framework of, by, and for the people. It must 
be able to evolve to meet the changing views and beliefs of the people. 
Already a majority of the U.S. Senate has cosponsored the bipartisan 
resolution that I referred to, S.J. Res. 1, that Senator Murkowski and 
I introduced to remove the procedural deadline that Congress once set 
to honor the clear will of the people and to make the legitimacy of our 
28th Amendment clear beyond a doubt.
  The House of Representatives has already passed this resolution 
twice. It is time for us to do the same. I look forward to the 
opportunity to bring this resolution to the floor in the coming months 
and would strongly urge every one of my colleagues to support that 
resolution. Thirty-eight States have already ratified it. Most 
Americans already think it is in our Constitution. Let's get that job 
done.


                  Bicentennial Birth of Harriet Tubman

  Madam President, March 8, as has been pointed out, is International 
Women's Day. It happens during the month of March, which is Women's 
History Month, here in the United States.
  I wish to commemorate the bicentennial birth of one of Maryland's 
most iconic leaders, a true American hero who has inspired global human 
rights' defenders, and that is Harriet Tubman.
  As we close this year's chapter of Black History Month and ring in 
Women's History Month, what better way to celebrate these annual 
observances than by honoring the valor, journey, and life of Harriet 
Tubman and her fight for freedom, which intersects with our modern-day 
fight for civil rights, climate action, and environmental justice.
  Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, MD, along 
our Eastern Shore, around 1822. She was the ``Moses of her people,'' 
personally leading at least 70 enslaved people to freedom. She is a 
cherished daughter of Maryland. She did this at great personal 
sacrifice to her own safety and freedom on the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland.
  This year, in 2022, we observe the bicentennial of the start of her 
life as a key leader in the abolition and women's suffrage movements. 
She embodied extraordinary courage and took immeasurable risks as a 
soldier, spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading her 
family and communities to freedom. In an unjust country to her race, 
she was there, working for America's future and helping to liberate the 
enslaved people.
  In Maryland, this year also marks the 5-year anniversary of the 
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, which opened its 
doors to the public in 2017. In its first year, it drew nearly 100,000 
visitors from every State and more than 70 countries, exceeding all 
expectations. It is inspirational to see this visitor center and to see 
her journey through life and what she was able to accomplish. One 
person can make a difference. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told us 
frequently, ``Each one of us in this world can make a difference.'' 
Harriet Tubman made such a difference throughout her lifetime.
  The visitor center houses exhibit space that shares Tubman's 
compelling story, surrounded by landscape and waterways preserved to 
resemble how they would have appeared to her over 200 years ago in her 
early life as an enslaved child, young woman, and freedom seeker. The 
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument and National 
Historical Park preserve these characteristics in her early home on 
Maryland's Eastern Shore.
  The visitor center serves as an orientation center to the national 
monument and historical park and gateway to the larger Harriet Tubman 
Underground Railroad Scenic Byway, which includes the Brodess Farm, 
where Harriet Tubman lived as a child; Bucktown General Store, where 
she first stood up against the oppressors as a young girl; and other 
places that were part of the Underground Railroad in Dorchester, 
Talbot, and Caroline Counties.
  I recently introduced legislation with my colleagues in the Baltimore 
congressional delegation, S. 3744, reauthorizing the designations of 
the Baltimore National Heritage Area, which encompasses listings on the 
Underground Railroad network.
  Harriet Tubman was not only a fierce defender for freedom from 
slavery but also for the women's rights movement, particularly for 
Black women. Following her treacherous journey to freedom, Harriet 
Tubman spoke on the importance of women's suffrage in New York, 
Washington, and Boston. In 1896, she was one of the first guests to 
speak at the National Association of Colored Women and was hailed a 
strong advocate. Women secured the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th 
Amendment, but it wasn't until 1965 that voting rights became a reality 
for Black women.
  Let me conclude my comments on Women's History Month by once again 
quoting from President Biden.
  As President Biden proclaimed Women's History Month this month, he 
said:

       As we reflect on the achievements of women and girls across 
     the centuries and pay tribute to the pioneers who paved the 
     way, let us recommit to the fight and help realize the deeply 
     American vision of a more equal society where every person 
     has a shot at pursuing the American dream. In doing so, we 
     will advance economic growth, our health and safety, and the 
     security of our Nation and the world.

  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________