[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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
____________________