[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2919-S2926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

   HONORING OUR PROMISE TO ADDRESS COMPREHENSIVE TOXICS ACT OF 2021--
                                Resumed

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Also, under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3967, which the clerk will 
report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3967) to improve health care and benefits for 
     veterans exposed to toxic substances, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Tester-Moran amendment No. 5051, in the nature of a 
     substitute.
       Schumer amendment No. 5065 (to amendment No. 5051), to add 
     an effective date.
       Schumer amendment No. 5076 (to the text proposed to be 
     stricken by amendment No. 5051), to add an effective date.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

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


                              Gun Violence

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as we speak, the U.S. Senate is working 
on something not seen since the time we passed the Brady bill I 
authored nearly three decades ago: a bipartisan effort to draft 
meaningful gun safety legislation.
  For decades, the rhythms of the gun debate in Congress have followed 
a dispiriting pattern: a mass shooting takes place somewhere in 
America, innocent people are slaughtered, families grieve and demand 
action, but gridlock takes over, and nothing--nothing--gets done. This 
was the cycle of inaction after Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Orlando, 
Charleston, Parkland, El Paso, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and so many others. 
But after Uvalde and Buffalo, perhaps--perhaps--this time could be 
different.
  To many Senators on both sides, this debate certainly feels 
different. With Sunday's announcement of a bipartisan framework for gun 
legislation, we are further down the road to gun safety reform than we 
have been in a long time.
  I spoke with Senators Cornyn and Murphy this morning, and they 
updated me on their progress. They are working with the urgency the 
situation demands, and they are hopeful the legislative text can be 
finalized in the coming days.
  I have assured my colleagues that once we get legislative text to a 
gun safety bill, I will move to hold a vote on the Senate floor as soon 
as possible.
  I hope that in the very near future, Democrats and Republicans can 
take the real momentum of the past few weeks and translate it into 
something that has escaped this Chamber for decades: voting on and 
passing long-sought gun safety reform.
  It is a rare opportunity for the Senate. So in order to reach our 
goal, we have to keep working with the same urgency and good faith that 
has carried us this far.
  For sure, the bipartisan framework is far from perfect, but if 
passed, it will unquestionably save lives and would be the most 
significant action on guns that the Senate has taken in nearly

[[Page S2920]]

three decades. If passed, it would enhance background checks for those 
under 21. It will help States with their red flag laws, preventing 
shootings before they happen. It will make it harder for domestic 
abusers to acquire a weapon by closing the boyfriend loophole.
  Significantly, this framework also calls for new punishment for gun 
traffickers. We all know one of the biggest weaknesses in our country's 
gun laws as they are today is that anyone can buy a gun in one State 
and then simply smuggle it into another. We could begin to fight 
against that with stiffer penalties on gun trafficking.
  Of course, this framework will help lower crime and reduce gun 
violence in our neighborhoods by increasing funding for mental health 
as well. And even on its own, funding for mental health with great 
increases in mental health problems that we see after COVID is very 
much needed.

  Taken together, the policies outlined by the bipartisan framework 
would be an important first step to saving lives. It would lay the 
foundation for a more sensible approach to gun safety in the future. It 
certainly is not everything Democrats want, but if we can save even one 
life--one life--our efforts will have been worth it.
  I hope that very soon the Senate can break the cycle of violence, 
grieving, and gridlock that has held firm for far too long. This is the 
best chance we have had in years to finally tell the American people 
that, yes, after the horrifying tragedies of Uvalde and Buffalo, this 
time--this time--will be different.
  We have more work to do so I urge my colleagues not to let this 
precious opportunity slip away.


                               H.R. 3967

  Mr. President, now on the PACT Act, today, the Senate will continue 
consideration of the Honoring Our PACT Act--the most ambitious and 
important expansion of veteran healthcare benefits that we have seen in 
decades.
  Yesterday, we invoked cloture on the substitute amendment to the PACT 
Act with a very strong bipartisan vote, 78 to 17. Seventy-eight votes, 
a clear indication that both sides want this bill passed through the 
Senate. There is no reason to delay that outcome.
  Today, we will continue working with our Republican colleagues to see 
if we can speed up consideration of this legislation. With Republican 
cooperation, we could be done with the PACT Act as soon as tomorrow.
  We need to pass the PACT Act ASAP because our veterans have waited 
long enough for their healthcare benefits to treat complications from 
toxic exposure. Over the last two decades, an estimated 3.5 million 
servicemembers were exposed to dangerous chemicals while in the line of 
duty while risking their lives for us.
  Burn pits were a common method of eliminating all sorts of waste 
throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, from everyday trash to hazardous and 
poisonous materials. After returning home, many veterans developed 
terrible diseases because of their exposure to these toxic waste dumps. 
But even so, nearly 80 percent of all disability claims related to burn 
pits have been denied by the Veterans' Administration. What an 
indignity. What an injustice. No veteran should ever have to carry the 
burden of treating complications from toxic exposure alone, and we can 
change that with this bill.
  There is every reason in the world to get the PACT Act done quickly. 
Both parties want it, our veterans deserve it, and the time is long 
past for us to make a change at the VA.


                       Ocean Shipping Reform Act

  Mr. President, on shipping, last night, finally, the House 
overwhelmingly approved the Senate's Ocean Shipping Reform Act--the 
most significant maritime reform law passed by Congress in years.
  The inflation-fighting shipping bill now goes to the President's desk 
for signature, finally providing relief to American exporters and 
consumers alike.
  Shipping reform is exactly the kind of bill that can make a 
difference to the American people: It fights inflation. It relieves our 
supply chains. It helps small businesses and consumers alike. Not too 
much has been written about this bill because, sadly, the way our world 
and media work, if there is not a big conflict, they don't write much 
about it. But this is very important.
  If high prices are our No. 1 nemesis, one of the main reasons is the 
ships piled up at our ports. We have all seen the pictures outside the 
ports of L.A. and Seattle and Savannah and Norfolk and New York, New 
Jersey. This is causing people to pay more. It is no one's fault. It is 
COVID-related, and now there is a big rush to make up for the delays 
that COVID caused.
  We have to do something about it, and we have. There are many 
frustrating reasons why prices are going up right now, but one of the 
main ones is abuses from ocean carriers.
  Over the course of the pandemic--listen to this, folks. Over the 
course of the pandemic, unfair shipping practices led carriers to 
increase prices by as much as 1,000 percent--1,000-percent increase in 
prices in shipping. And who is paying that? The average family in 
America and the average exporting business.
  Even worse, foreign carriers oftentimes refuse to even transport U.S. 
goods overseas. And by now we are seeing the results: backlogs at the 
ports of L.A. and Seattle and Georgia and New York and New Jersey and 
other major hubs.
  This is not just a problem for the coasts. When backlog occurs at the 
ports in Los Angeles, it hurts farmers in Minnesota or Wisconsin. It 
hurts truckers and tech companies and manufacturers in mom-and-pop 
shops all over the country. And most of all, it hurts American 
consumers.
  Our shipping reform bill will fix this by making it harder for ocean 
carriers to unreasonably refuse American goods at our ports, while 
strengthening the Federal Maritime Commission's powers to stop abusive 
practices by foreign carriers.
  I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and my House colleagues who worked to 
pass this bill. And special thanks goes to Senators Klobuchar and Thune 
for authoring the legislation, as well Chairman Cantwell who used her 
legislative skills, which are indeed very, very fine. She shepherded 
the bill through this Chamber. Because of the hard work of these folks, 
shipping reform will now become law. American consumers will soon feel 
the benefit.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. 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.


                                 Crime

  Mr. McCONNELL. A few months ago, from this desk, I talked about the 
results of a recall election in San Francisco. In February, a 
multilingual, multiethnic coalition in San Francisco stood up for 
common sense and rejected three members of the far-left school board 
who had prioritized woke lunacy over the basics of education.
  Well, last week, these same fed-up citizens provided a sequel. Even 
the deep-blue Bay area decided they had had enough--enough--with their 
radical-left district attorney--a prosecutor in name only--who had 
become nationally famous for running a soft-on-crime experiment.
  As deaths from drug overdoses skyrocketed, his office chose to almost 
entirely stop prosecuting drug dealing. Burglaries shot up 50 percent. 
Chain stores had to close locations because of rampant shoplifting. One 
person who had been arrested five times in 6 months in 2020 was let out 
every time--every single time--until he killed two women with a stolen 
car. Liberals actually bragged about how they had cut down 
incarceration rates, even as disorder swallowed up more and more of the 
city.
  The citizens were fed up--fed up--with being the far-left's guinea 
pigs. They flocked to the ballot box, and they voted for change.
  This phenomenon is not only playing out in San Francisco, it is 
nationwide--nationwide. For years, the far left has zeroed in on local 
prosecutors and district attorneys as juicy opportunities to make 
America radically softer on crime.

[[Page S2921]]

  According to recent news reports, for example, one far-left 
billionaire donated more than $1 million each to the political 
campaigns of soft-on-crime prosecutors in Chicago, New York, Los 
Angeles, and Philadelphia. According to one group's analysis, the army 
of soft-on-crime prosecutors supported by this one donor--this one 
donor--and his networks oversees as much as 20 percent of the Nation's 
entire population.
  Once in office, many of these prosecutors set about abusing their 
authority by basically unilaterally decriminalizing various crimes that 
neither voters nor legislators have actually decriminalized in reality. 
As the attorney general of Virginia put it recently, ``Instead of 
trying to change the law . . . these groups are electing prosecutors 
who simply ignore it.''
  As this liberal campaign has been playing out at the State and local 
level, we have seen violent crime surge all across the country. Here 
are just a few recent news reports.
  From Minnesota: ``Robberies, assaults, and gun crimes are causing 
waves of anxiety and fear among suburban residents across the Twin 
Cities.''
  From Colorado: ``Since the beginning of the pandemic . . . murders 
had gone up 47 percent, some types of property crime had nearly 
doubled, and [the] seizures of fentanyl and methamphetamine had 
quadrupled'' in just the last year.
  Atlanta ``saw a 30-year record in homicides last year [in 2021],'' 
and 2022 has been looking actually even worse. At least as of a few 
months ago, both murders and rapes were way ahead of even that 2021 
pace.
  Residents of Phoenix who try to use public transit to escape soaring 
gas prices have found out that ``assaults and drug crime in and around 
public transportation have risen over the last five years.''
  Philadelphia is reporting an 80-percent increase in assaults aboard 
buses.
  In my hometown of Louisville, we are struggling as well. ``Over the 
past several years, violent crime has sharply risen across the city, 
breaking gruesome records including record homicides and assaults.'' 
And we have seen carjacking ``more than triple in the [last] five 
years.'' Last weekend alone--last weekend alone--Louisville saw 3 
homicides and 10 nonfatal shootings. Five teenagers and a 9-year-old 
were shot during a single altercation at my hometown's Big Four Bridge. 
Violent criminals turned a popular attraction for families and tourists 
into a literal war zone.
  Stable prices, border security, and public safety are three of the 
most basic deliverables that any government owes to its citizens--
strike one, strike two, and strike three for Democrats at the Federal, 
State, and local level.
  That explains one last headline I will mention this morning: 
``Americans are more worried about crime than at any other time this 
century.''


                                Ukraine

  Mr. President, now on a different matter, the latest news from 
Ukraine confirms that our friends need more robust weaponry, and they 
need it fast.
  ``Outgunned Ukraine Needs More Weapons Fast as Russia Advances, 
Officials Say.''
  ``Ukraine Pleads for Weapons, Saying Russia Has Much More 
Artillery.''
  The people of Ukraine have inspired the world with their resilience, 
but resisting Russian aggression takes reliable supplies of lethal 
force.
  As the Biden administration continues to provide shipments and prod 
our allies, they must adopt the kind of strong and positive posture 
that has eluded them at earlier points in the conflict.
  As early as last November, I was urging sanctions for deterrence and 
pushing for NDAA provisions to send enhanced lethal aid last November. 
Throughout December and January, I urged the President to bolster 
NATO's eastern flank with more U.S. forces and get more weapons to 
Ukrainian forces before--before--Russia attacked. In February, I called 
on President Biden to anticipate Russian manipulation of the energy 
markets and back off his own holy war against domestic American 
production. But for months, the Biden administration seemed mute, 
seemed actually more focused on deterring itself than deterring Putin--
too much hesitation, too much hemming and hawing, too little preventive 
action in advance.
  The United States cannot make the same mistakes again with prolonged 
dithering over whether to provide longer range or more powerful 
weapons. That is where we are now. It is time to get Ukraine what it 
needs to finish this fight, including artillery and long-range rockets, 
and strongly and firmly push our European allies to do the same. The 
wealthiest European countries need to move fast to do their part--no 
more hesitation, and quit making excuses.
  This war has carried terrible human costs for the Ukrainian people. 
We cannot bring back the thousands who have been lost, but with strong 
assistance, we can help Ukraine limit future losses, reduce the risk of 
greater conflict, and create a deterring precedent for other would-be 
aggressors, like China.
  There is another area where the Ukraine crisis has showcased the need 
to take decisive action quickly while there is still time. That is with 
respect to our own defense industrial base and our supplies of critical 
arms.
  Equipping Ukraine has seriously depleted our own stockpiles of 
Javelins and Stingers. According to the Secretary of the Army, the U.S. 
military has ``taken some risk to our own readiness.'' This sounds 
exactly like the sort of situation that prompted the creation of the 
Defense Production Act, but thus far, we have heard far more from 
Washington Democrats about using the DPA to fast-track green energy 
boondoggles than to expand production capacity for critical weapons and 
munitions.
  Our allies and our partners are interested in buying American 
military technology. This should be a win-win: allies spending their 
own money to strengthen themselves by buying American and making our 
militaries more interoperable in the process. But too often, our 
partners are hamstrung by American constraints on the process, like the 
heel-dragging bureaucracy that runs our military sales, and lagging 
production schedules.
  We must adequately stockpile weapons and munitions for our own 
military and have sufficient supplies and production capacity to arm 
our friends, and we need to do this before it is too late.
  Building up our own stores and upgrading our allies' is the best way 
we can avoid nightmare scenarios down the road where America could be 
forced into a terrible choice between committing U.S. troops to a 
conflict or doing nothing. The remedy is to help our allies upgrade 
their military capabilities in advance.
  Of course, this takes money. All the serious preparations and 
military modernization that it will take to compete with Russia and 
China require resources. Tomorrow, the Armed Services Committee will 
mark up the National Defense Authorization Act. This is a key 
opportunity to show that both parties are serious about the real growth 
in defense spending that it will take to keep us on the cutting edge.
  The Biden administration's defense budget request was woefully 
insufficient. The President has proposed a real-dollar cut for defense 
spending after President Biden's own inflation.
  Our colleagues on the committee must help Congress to deliver an NDAA 
that provides for real, robust growth above inflation so that we can 
modernize our forces, ensure adequate inventories of critical weapons 
and munitions, and keep America safe.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. 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.


                               January 6

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is hard to believe it was 50 years ago 
this week--50 years ago--when five men were caught breaking into the 
offices of the Democratic National Committee here in Washington.
  Two years after that, the so-called Watergate break-in and the 
coverup by the Nixon White House, it brought down the President.
  For nearly half a century, the Watergate scandal really ranked as 
America's greatest constitutional test since

[[Page S2922]]

the Civil War--then came January 6, 2021.
  An angry mob, summoned by a defeated President, attacked this Capitol 
building, attacked this Chamber, and those of us who were in it knew it 
was an attempt to overthrow an election, an election which Donald Trump 
lost but never admitted.
  How did we respond?
  Well, the proposal was made--the right proposal--to create a 
bipartisan commission to investigate what happened on January 6, 2021. 
Unfortunately, the Republicans, led by Senator McConnell in the Senate, 
filibustered the creation of an independent commission to investigate 
January 6. Fortunately, the House went forward to proceed on its own on 
a bipartisan basis to get to the truth.
  Now, after 11 months and 1,000 interviews--more than 1,000--the 
bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the 
U.S. Capitol is sharing its findings with America, and the revelations 
are so damning.
  In its first two public hearings, the committee has shown that the 
attack on the Capitol was not a demonstration that changed 
spontaneously and became a riot. The attack on our Nation's Capitol, 
the attack on this Chamber, was the result of a plan: a violent effort 
to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from the Trump administration 
to the Biden administration, to stop the peaceful transition of power 
in America for the first time in our history.
  To quote Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the former President Donald Trump 
``summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this 
attack.''
  When the mob beat our police officers and ransacked the Capitol--
going through our desks here on the floor, posing for pictures where 
the Presiding Officer is now sitting, all sorts of things to make them 
look famous with their friends at the expense of the integrity of this 
building and this Chamber.
  They beat the police officers. Donald Trump did nothing to stop 
them--nothing. He wouldn't order the National Guard to defend the 
Capitol, the Senate, the House. He watched the mayhem on TV, rewinding 
it to watch it over and over again. He gloried in the moment.
  When the crowd threatened to hang Vice President Pence, Donald Trump 
said, ``He deserves it.'' Deserves it. The Vice President of the United 
States deserves it.
  His own advisers told him repeatedly that the voter fraud conspiracy 
theories that he was pedaling were false. They were called ``idiotic,'' 
``amateurish,'' ``detached from reality.'' Who said that? The former 
Attorney General serving Donald Trump said it in describing the false 
claims that President Trump continued to pedal.
  Donald Trump was told the truth over and over again, and yet he 
continued to push his deadly Big Lie.
  He deliberately--the former President of the United States--
deliberately undermined America's faith in our election process to 
overturn the election and to hold onto power no matter what.
  He used the Big Lie to make big bucks. We learned that yesterday--
quarter of a million dollars--quarter of a billion dollars in 
donations, including millions of dollars for an election defense fund 
that didn't exist.
  In a coming hearing, the committee will show how Donald Trump 
pressured the Justice Department into helping him overturn the 
election. I know a little bit about that. Our Senate Judiciary 
Committee, which I chair, documented this attempt to subvert the 
Justice Department in an 8-month investigation and report that we 
produced last fall. We produced this report in a bipartisan fashion, 
inviting Republican and Democratic Members of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee to witness the testimony of key individuals and to ask 
questions themselves.
  We interviewed former Justice officials like Jeffrey Rosen and 
Richard Donoghue, the then-acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney 
General, who resisted Donald Trump's pressure to take over the Justice 
Department.
  They told us how repeatedly they informed the former President that 
his bogus election claims were false. They told us how Trump, 
nevertheless, asked the Justice Department to ``Just say the election 
was corrupt--and leave the rest to me and Republican Congressmen.''
  And they resisted Donald Trump's plan to replace Jeffrey Rosen with 
the Big Lie lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who wanted the Justice Department to 
help overturn the election.
  The facts that the Senate Judiciary Committee uncovered are damning. 
The January 6 committee will unveil those--many of their own discovery 
and reporting and some that we sent to them from our testimony that we 
gathered in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  We came close to losing this democracy in America on January 6. I 
believe that by laying out the truth for us and for future generations, 
members of the committee are performing a public service of heroic 
proportions.
  It is sad--sad--that given an opportunity of a bipartisan commission, 
just as we had with 9/11, that the Senate Republicans stopped it. Why? 
It is a question they are going to have to answer.


                          Political Prisoners

  Mr. President, on another topic, we speak often in the Senate about 
threats to peace and freedom around the world: Russia's unprovoked 
invasion of Ukraine, China's brutal repression of the Uighurs, the 
dismantling of democracy in Hong Kong, Nicaragua's repressive 
dictatorship, and more.

  In each of these struggles, there are some brave men and women who 
are prepared to risk their liberty and their lives to defend democracy 
and dignity. Many of them languish in prison as political prisoners. 
Their captors often try to torment them by telling them: The world has 
forgotten you; no one knows you are here.
  Well, I want to make sure that that doesn't happen by coming to floor 
of the Senate and sharing some of these stories. Today, let me tell you 
about a few of them.
  Let me start with a Russian opposition leader of remarkable courage: 
Vladimir Kara-Murza. He was poisoned twice by the Russian spy agency 
FSB, in 2015 and 2017. He not only survived that, but he continued his 
work for a democratic Russia.
  He was a close friend of Senator John McCain, who asked him 
personally to serve as a pallbearer at his funeral.
  I met Mr. Kara-Murza in March, 3 weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. 
He was living in Washington at the time with his wife and three 
children, and he told me he was going back to Russia. He had work to 
do.
  On April 11, he was arrested in Moscow, 1 day after giving an 
interview in which he called Vladimir Putin's government a ``team of 
murderers.''
  His wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, also an advocate for democracy in 
Russia, who I expect to meet with later on this week, said: ``He's 
doing as well as you can do in a Russian prison that is notorious for 
torture, humiliation, and mistreatment.''
  Earlier this month, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution I led 
with Senator Marco Rubio, calling on Russia to release Vladimir Kara-
Murza immediately, along with Alexei Navalny, another Russian 
opposition leader, and thousands of others--Russians jailed for 
speaking up against repression, for even mentioning the possibility of 
the murderous war in Ukraine.
  It is time for America to stand up for Mr. Kara-Murza and those like 
him who have shown extraordinary courage.
  Senator Leila DeLima is a leading human rights advocate in the 
Philippines. She is a state senator who just passed her fifth year in 
jail.
  Here she is in her cell.
  Why is she in prison for 5 years? She criticized the repressive 
regime of President Rodrigo Duterte.
  From time to time, she writes to me from her prison cell. Let me 
share a short excerpt of a recent letter:

       Warm greetings from my detention headquarters . . . I do 
     not know for how long I will remain behind bars but there is 
     one thing that I am sure of--my will to fight for what is 
     right continues to be undeterred.

  Recently, two key witnesses in the sham case against Senator DeLima 
recanted their testimony, proving what we already know: The case 
against her is contrived. It is a travesty of justice.
  Many Filipino Americans in Illinois tell me they are deeply concerned 
about the accountability and democracy and its prospects in the 
Philippines.

[[Page S2923]]

  The incoming Marcos regime can demonstrate its commitment to a 
democratic Philippines by ending the harassment of journalists and 
making Senator DeLima's release one of its first priorities.
  Let me now turn to Saudi Arabia--timely.
  I have been troubled by the human rights record of this Kingdom, 
including the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, for which there is no real 
accountability yet.
  This year brought a bit of welcome news. Writer Raif Badawi was 
finally freed from prison after completing a 10-year prison sentence 
for dubious charges about his peaceful writings.
  I hope that the Saudis will allow Raif the dignity of reuniting with 
his brave wife, Ensaf Haidar, who I met in Washington, and their three 
children, now living in Canada.
  Badawi's lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, a leading human rights 
defender, is still in prison. He was convicted in Saudi Arabia's 
Specialized Criminal Court, usually reserved for terrorists.
  I appeal to the Saudi Government to free Waleed and to allow Raif to 
be reunited with his family.
  These gestures would be particularly notable in light of President 
Biden's upcoming visit.
  Finally, let me turn to the United Arab Emirates.
  This is Ahmed Mansoor, one of the last major human rights voices in 
the Emirates.
  He was arrested in 2017 for using blog posts to advocate for reform 
and human rights in his nation. He was convicted of charges of 
threatening the UAE's state security and social harmony, they sentenced 
him to 10 years in prison. He has been there for more than 5, at times, 
in solitary confinement, isolated from other prisoners, no contact with 
his family. He has reportedly been tortured.
  Despite the dismal conditions of his incarceration, he remains 
steadfast in his commitment to human rights. He has conducted multiple 
hunger strikes to protest prison conditions.

  I appeal to the United Arab Emirates' new President, Muhammad bin 
Zayed Al-Nahyan, to take this opportunity early in his Presidency to 
demonstrate compassion and courage by releasing Mr. Mansoor.
  America's strength around the world comes not only from our military 
and economic might but from the power of our values. Over the years, I 
have heard from many political prisoners. They tell me the support this 
body, of Congress, of America, and so many others in our government 
sustained them through the lonely, desperate times they spent in jail 
for days and weeks and months and years.
  I will close with the words of Vladimir Kara-Murza. This is from a 
recent op-ed he wrote for the Washington Post from his Russian prison. 
He wrote:

       The prisoner's worst nightmare is the thought of being 
     forgotten . . . I always knew how true those words were--and 
     how important were international campaigns of solidarity with 
     prisoners of conscience. I now feel it with my own skin.

  To Vladimir Kara-Murza, Raif Badawi, Waleed Abulkhair, Senator Leila 
de Lima, and Ahmed Mansoor, I say: You are not forgotten, and we will 
continue to advocate for your freedom.
  Let me also close by acknowledging that a member of my staff, Chris 
Homan, has really inspired me to take on this cause, and he works at it 
diligently--our reward, an occasional political prisoner makes it here 
to my office here in Washington. One of them from Africa presented me 
with basically a baton that he had made while in prison with my name on 
it because he heard that I remembered him and spoke of him on the floor 
of the Senate.
  I would say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle: Make this 
part of your responsibility as a U.S. Senator. Find these people, these 
heroes who are sadly wasting away in prison and remember them on this 
floor. It can make a difference. Some will be released; all will 
remember the fact that you stood up for them at a time of great need.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.


                               Inflation

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the latest inflation numbers came out on 
Friday, and it has become par for the course in the Biden economy that 
they weren't pretty.
  Inflation hit 8.6 percent in May, the worst inflation since December 
of 1981. Grocery prices increased nearly 12 percent on average. Eggs 
were up 32 percent; chicken was up 17 percent; milk was up 15 percent; 
and the list goes on and on.
  Gas prices were up 48 percent. Since President Biden took office, the 
price of gas has more than doubled. Gas is at $5 a gallon, and the 
price of diesel, so essential to our Nation's farmers and ranchers, is 
even worse. The problem is, there is no end in sight. JPMorgan 
estimates that gas prices could exceed $6 a gallon by August. Other 
energy costs have also increased with electricity up 12 percent and 
utility gas service up 30 percent.
  By one estimate, inflation is costing American households $460 per 
month. That is right: $460 per month. It is no surprise that in a 
recent poll, 83 percent of respondents--83 percent--describe the state 
of the economy as ``poor'' or ``not so good'' or that just 27 percent 
said they have a good chance of improving their standard of living.
  President Biden likes to talk about creating ``an economy that works 
for working families.'' Well, I have news for the President. This 
economy is not working for working families. Working families can't 
absorb an additional $460 a month. They have to cut back. They have to 
put off needed car repairs or eliminate a family vacation or cut down 
on milk for their kids. The President said the other day that ``[the 
economy] is strong as can be but for inflation, but for gas and food.''
  But for gas and food? Well, I have to tell you, gas and food prices 
are two pretty essential economic measures for families.
  Moms and dads wondering how they can afford to fill up their cars to 
get to work or get their kids to baseball practice don't care how good 
the President says the economy is when the price of a tank of gas has 
more than doubled since the President took office.
  I guess we can at least be glad the Democrats and the President have 
finally started acknowledging our inflation crisis. For months last 
year, as inflation climbed, the administration dismissed those 
concerns. Even as it became more and more clear that we had a long-term 
problem on our hands, the President and congressional Democrats spent 
their time focusing not on solutions to our inflation crisis but on a 
massive spending spree almost guaranteed to make our inflation problem 
worse.
  That is right. Let's remember how we got here. When President Biden 
took office, 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 to pass a massive and partisan $1.9 trillion 
spending spree under the guise of COVID relief mere weeks after the 
Congress had passed a fifth bipartisan COVID bill that met essentially 
all current pressing COVID needs.
  The Democrats' so-called American Rescue Plan sent a lot of 
unnecessary government money into the economy, and the economy 
overheated as a result.
  And you don't have to take my word for it.
  Here is what one Democratic economist who worked in the Obama 
administration had to say on the subject:

       The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in the early 
     days of the Biden administration will go down in history as 
     an extraordinary policy mistake.

  Let me just repeat that.

       The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in the early 
     days of the Biden administration will go down in history as 
     an extraordinary policy mistake.

  That is a direct quote from a Democratic economist who worked in the 
Obama administration.
  Democrats were warned that the American Rescue Plan ran the risk of 
overstimulating the economy, but they went ahead anyway. What is almost 
worse was their subsequent decision to pursue another massive spending 
spree, their so-called Build Back Better plan, even after it had become 
clear that their first spending spree had helped plunge our economy 
into a serious inflationary crisis.
  Even now--even now--as Americans deal with the worst inflation in 
decades, it is looking like Democrats are trying to revive elements of 
their Build Back Better plan and use reconciliation rules to pass yet 
another partisan spending spree. It is the triumph

[[Page S2924]]

of Big Government ideology over economic reality. If Democrats succeed 
in passing another partisan spending spree using reconciliation rules, 
Americans' economic situation is going to get even worse.
  Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to the Democrats' largely 
self-inflicted inflation crisis, but the first priority is to do no 
more harm. That means no more partisan spending sprees like the 
Democrats' Build Back Better plan.
  Another big priority should be unleashing American energy 
production--in particular, the domestic production of oil and gas--to 
ease energy prices. High gas and energy prices fuel higher consumer 
prices across the board--no question about it. Unleashing American 
energy production would not only help reduce the price of gas, but it 
could also help rein in prices for other commodities. Unfortunately, 
the President has demonstrated a clear hostility to conventional energy 
production, which is discouraging investment in American energy and 
prolonging the current gas price situation.
  Another thing we should be doing to help make life easier for 
consumers is trying to ease supply chain woes whether that involves 
removing burdensome trucking regulations or passing legislation like my 
Ocean Shipping Reform Act.
  I am pleased that both Democrats and Republicans have come together 
to support my bipartisan bill, which I introduced, along with Senator 
Klobuchar, earlier this year. I am particularly grateful to my fellow 
South Dakotan, Representative Dusty Johnson, who helped usher this 
legislation through the House of Representatives.
  The Ocean Shipping Reform Act would help ease supply chain pressures 
by addressing unfair ocean carrier practices, speeding up the 
resolution of detention and demurrage disputes, and improving the 
movement of goods at our Nation's ports. It won't solve our Nation's 
inflation crisis, but it should help make life easier for U.S. 
exporters, importers, and consumers alike.
  I am very pleased that this legislation passed the House of 
Representatives yesterday and that it will soon be on its way to the 
President's desk, and I hope that we will be able to pursue more 
bipartisan propositions to help make life easier for American families.
  Democrats' big-spending, Big Government agenda has resulted in a lot 
of pain for working families. If President Biden and Democrats really 
want to make life better for ordinary Americans, they will decisively 
reject any further spending sprees and work with Republicans to do what 
we can to alleviate the inflation crisis the Democrats have helped 
create.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.
  (The remarks of Mr. Grassley pertaining to the introduction of S. 
4393 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lujan). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to complete my remarks before the Senate adjourns for the lunch hour.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                              Gun Violence

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I want to report that we are making 
serious progress in our bipartisan effort to respond to the shooting in 
Uvalde, TX, and other places around the country. Over the last few 
weeks, I have been working, in particular, with Senator Murphy, Senator 
Sinema, and Senator Tillis on mental health and school safety reforms, 
and we have narrowed the scope of our discussions to provisions that we 
believe can earn broad bipartisan support in the Senate, and a number 
of our colleagues on both sides have joined the discussion.
  Over the weekend, we announced an agreement on principles for 
bipartisan legislation, 20 Senators--10 Republicans and 10 Democrats. 
This included a range of targeted reforms to keep our children and our 
communities safe, from mental health resources to funding to harden 
schools and make them more safe. No parent should have to send their 
child to school wondering whether they are going to be safe at school, 
and certainly no student should be afraid to go to school for fear of 
their safety.
  We also included a number of targeted measures to prevent violence by 
people committing crimes and other dangerous individuals. I am proud of 
the work we have done so far, but, of course, we are not at the finish 
line. We are still at the beginning when it comes to drafting 
appropriate text.
  Our agreement is based on principles alone. And translating this 
proposal into legislative language is no easy task, as Members of the 
Senate understand. Here is an example of the many details that need to 
be ironed out: One of the big pieces of this bill relates to State 
crisis intervention programs and initiatives.
  The idea here is pretty simple: Support programs that reduce 
violence, protect the public, and help individuals in crisis get the 
help they need. But there are a number of different ways this provision 
could be drafted, and I am committed to ensuring that we get it done 
right.
  But I want to be clear because there has been a lot of 
misinformation, misunderstanding on this point. None of what we are 
proposing would create a national red flag law--no national red flag 
law. Some have mischaracterized this provision as an incentive for 
States to pass a red flag law, but that is something I am aiming to 
avoid. I trust the States to make their own decisions, and 16 States 
have decided to pass red flag laws. But that is fewer than half of the 
States with red flag laws on the books. Congress should not only send 
Federal funding to those States but also other States that are doing 
things to deal with people in crisis. And as the agreement, in 
principle, said, what we are focused on is crisis intervention.
  But there are a number of different ways that this could be 
approached. And I am fighting for this proposal to include a grant 
program that gives every State, regardless of whether it has a red flag 
law or not, funding to administer programs that they do have that will 
reduce violence, increase public safety, and make sure that individuals 
in crisis get the help that they need.
  There should be no requirement for States that do not currently have 
a red flag law to pass one. The existence or lack of a red flag law 
should not impact on any States' ability to receive funds for crisis 
intervention. And if a State does want to use this money to implement a 
red flag law, they should not be able to do so unless their red flag 
law contains a full set of due process and Bill of Rights protections 
in the Constitution.
  So how can States without red flag laws use this money? Well, there 
are a range of evidence-based programs that support our shared goal, 
which is, in fact, to keep communities safe and to save lives. One 
great example is the assisted outpatient treatment programs. These are 
sometimes just called AOTs. These programs allow courts to order people 
with serious mental illness to receive outpatient treatment as a 
condition of living in the community. AOTs can be life changing for 
people who struggle to maintain consistent mental health treatment.
  Programs vary from State to State but typically include medication, 
along with a variety of other services including counseling. AOTs rely 
on evidence-based treatment plans to help individuals live healthier, 
safer lives, and they have a successful track record. Assisted 
outpatient treatment programs are effective in reducing arrests and 
incarceration, violent mental crises, and hospital stays and 
homelessness. I think this is another way that States without red flag 
laws might be able to use the funding that we would provide under the 
provisions of this bill. At least that is what I am hoping we 
ultimately will land on.

  I think it would be kind of strange if we passed a national law that 
said only 16 States were going to be eligible for this money and you 
would only be eligible for it if you passed a red flag law.

[[Page S2925]]

I think that would almost be like trying to commandeer the States' 
legislature and government and force them to accept something they 
decided not to do but because maybe they tried to do something a little 
bit differently, like assisted outpatient treatment, mental health 
courts, which have been very successful in my State and veterans 
courts, in particular, to focus on our veterans community who has 
particular challenges.
  While I am talking about assisted outpatient treatment, 47 States 
actually have those laws, and I would like the money that would be 
available under this fund for crisis intervention to be able to be used 
for that. Again, I don't support any prescriptive mandates or national 
mandates at all, including a national red flag. Each State should be 
able to make their own choices and use its share of funding in the best 
way it sees fit to protect the constitutional rights of somebody who is 
in mental health crisis or to provide other resources, like assisted 
outpatient treatment or mental health court adjudications or veterans 
courts hearings, in order to help them address their challenges.
  The great thing about the design of our country is that we have a 
national government, but we have sovereign States. Louis Brandeis once 
called them the laboratories of democracy. And, actually, it makes 
plenty of sense to me that we learned from the experience of the States 
that have passed red flag laws and States that have passed other types 
of ways to address people requiring crisis intervention. This provides 
the ability to innovate and to try new ideas and to come up with best 
practices that the Federal Government simply cannot do when you are 
considering legislating for a country of 330 million people.
  So I personally do not support an overly prescriptive grant program 
that favors only a few States over all 50 States. And, of course, I 
won't support any grant program that violates the Constitution or the 
requirement of due process of law when it comes to a constitutional 
right like the Second Amendment.
  So I do believe there are a range of options to improve public 
safety, and the States should have the funding and flexibility to 
invest in programs that they think best delivers the result--to save 
lives, to help people in crisis. And that is really what we are trying 
to do with this legislation.
  So the details are still being worked out. And we are drafting 
legislative text, and, of course, that is sometimes hard. Sometimes, I 
found that people use the same word, and they mean something different 
by it, or they come to it with a sort of context that maybe isn't 
apparent from a conversation about principles. And that is why going 
from the principles that 20 of us have agreed on into legislative text 
that we can then vote on and pass is a challenge.
  We know that on a sensitive topic like this, a single word or the 
placement of a comma can make the difference between protecting and 
infringing on rights. So I am laser-focused on drafting text that 
reflects the commonsense, targeted proposal that we have agreed to in 
principle. Again, we are working through the details, and I hope we 
will have legislative text later this week. But I am not willing to 
rush it for the sake of speed.
  I spoke with Senator Schumer, the majority leader, this morning, and 
he said he would like to have this bill ready to vote on next week. And 
I am certainly with him in terms of that aspirational goal. That means 
we are going to have to complete our work on the text by the end of 
this week so Senator Schumer will have that legislation available to 
take up next week.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Thank you, Senator Cornyn, for the work you are doing 
and working with Senator Murphy and so many other Senators. You and I 
have done so many bills together, including the historic Save Our 
Stages bill, which made such a difference. And I am very pleased that 
we are finally advancing gun safety legislation. And a lot of these 
provisions are things that we have been working across the aisle on for 
many years, the boyfriend loophole--something that I introduced in 
2013, 10 years ago--to close the boyfriend loophole. That is a part of 
this negotiation, part of the framework. We have so many women killed, 
1 every 14 hours, from domestic partners--1 every 14 hours from 
domestic partners--with guns in this country. And, sadly, half of those 
involve dating partners, people who aren't married to someone, but they 
are in a romantic relationship with them in some way. And the way the 
law works in all but 19 States where it is fully closed, in many of 
these States, you get convicted of domestic abuse, and you can still go 
out and buy a gun the next day.
  So I am really pleased that we are moving forward on this provision. 
This isn't the first time we have heard the call to action from America 
when it comes to guns. We heard it after 23 people were killed at a 
Walmart in El Paso; after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman 
Douglas High School in Parkland; after 59 people were killed at a 
country music festival, just out there on a beautiful evening enjoying 
the music; after 59 people dead in Las Vegas; and after 49 people were 
killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
  Today, we hear calls for action because of more tragedies: a White 
supremacist murdering 10 people who are simply shopping for groceries; 
one guy out buying a cake for his little boy, a birthday cake for his 
son, who never returned; 10 people killed.
  The American people are demanding that we do something after the 
senseless murder of 19 children and 2 teachers who died putting their 
very lives up to protect those children in Uvalde, TX. We have seen the 
pictures of those kids in their confirmation-communion dresses, in 
their sports uniforms, the Converse green sneakers, the glasses, the 
smiles. In some photos, they were actually holding awards they had won 
just that morning.
  But today, after too many of these tragedies to name, I rise with 
renewed hope that we are finally working together to help keep 
Americans safe from gun violence. While there is so much more work to 
be done, reforms outlined in the bipartisan framework, like encouraging 
States to enact risk protection orders, which are also known as red 
flag laws, expanding access to mental health services, and supporting 
school violence prevention--Senator Grassley and I led that bill after 
Parkland that we passed with significant funding for schools. Clearly, 
more must be done.
  As I noted, I am particularly pleased to see that the framework will 
include my bill to finally close the boyfriend loophole. Every year, 
more than 600 American women are shot to death by intimate partners. We 
understandably focus on the horror of these mass shootings, but think 
of those numbers: 600 women shot every year by intimate partners.
  We know that preventing convicted domestic abusers from getting guns 
saves lives. We know that because we have seen the numbers in the 
States that have the laws in place.
  Currently, Federal law only prohibits domestic abusers from buying a 
gun if they are currently or formerly married--think about that: 
currently or formerly married--or if they have ever lived together or 
if they have a child. That is despite the fact, as I noted, that half 
of these homicides--half of the women killed are killed by dating 
partners. That is why in 2013 I introduced this bill to close this 
dangerous loophole, and now, I am so pleased that there is growing 
bipartisan support for the bill.
  By the way, we have shown that support in the past. It was part of 
the Violence Against Women Act that passed in the House, and it had 29 
Republicans vote for it. That included an even more broad version of 
the bill, which also included stalking and was broader than what we are 
going to see in this bill.
  Obviously, I support my original bill, but the fact that we are 
making progress to close the loophole in the States that so far have 
not gotten to where the other 19 are is incredibly positive. It did not 
pass last time when we passed the Violence Against Women Act in the 
Senate. Sadly, it didn't make it in there. But, again, it got 29 
Republican votes in the House, and that just shows the kind of growing 
momentum we have for this.
  I come from a State with a proud tradition of hunting and fishing, 
like yours. I always think about my Uncle

[[Page S2926]]

Dick and his deer stand, and I always ask, when I look at these 
proposals--from closing the boyfriend loophole to putting in better 
background checks, to doing something about better checking the records 
of 18- to 21 year olds--I think, does that hurt my Uncle Dick and his 
deer stand? Of course, the answer is, it does not.

  This is our moment to act. It is not just one killing, and we all 
know that. It has happened in every single community. Every single 
Senator in this Chamber knows of a moment where they thought ``How 
could this happen in my community?'' when they meet with a family.
  What I remember the most, actually, is a case involving a police 
officer out of Lake City, MN. He was a good cop doing his job. He was 
called to a domestic violence incident.
  What people don't often know is that for police officers, these 
domestic violence calls can be some of the most dangerous because you 
have someone who is very angry, and you don't know what you are walking 
into. It is in the moment.
  He gets there to the door. He has his bulletproof vest on, but the 
perpetrator--clearly mentally ill--who had been beating up his young, 
young, young girlfriend, meets him with a gun, shoots him in his head, 
and he dies.
  I was there for that funeral. There was an outpouring of support from 
the community. The funeral was held in the very same church where the 
officer and his wife and their three little kids had gathered for the 
nativity play just a few weeks before for Christmas, those two little 
boys and a little girl. The father had sat in the front row to watch 
his boys in that nativity play only a few weeks before, and the next 
time the family is in that church, it is the widow, the two little 
boys, and this little tiny girl in a dress with blue stars on it 
walking down the aisle of that church at his funeral. That is a moment 
I won't forget.
  I just shows you how domestic abuse and those kinds of cases--yes, 
there is one immediate victim--most likely the woman--but it is a whole 
family who is the victim. Kids who witness domestic abuse through their 
lives are so much more likely to get into crime themselves. Statistics 
have shown it. But it is even more than the family, it is the whole 
community, as that family who lost their dad and lost their husband 
would tell you if they were standing in here right now.
  So I am so pleased we are finally moving on this. I thank Senator 
Murphy. I thank Senator Cornyn and all those involved. I am also so 
grateful that my 10 years of work leading this bill with Representative 
Debbie Dingell in the House has not gone for naught. We kept it moving. 
It is probably a sign for anyone that perseverance matters in this 
place. I am very pleased that it is part of the final negotiations, and 
it will make such a difference for saving lives.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________