[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 153 (Thursday, September 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4955-S4956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise to address three different topics, 
if I might.
  First, this week, the Senate of the United States did something 
important, something that is genuinely a big deal. We ratified a 
treaty. This is something we don't do often enough, and it bears 
repeating what this Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is.
  By a vote of 69 to 27, a big bipartisan vote, this Senate ratified a 
treaty that will reduce global warming by a full degree Fahrenheit--
something critical to the future of the planet--and we do it in a way 
that is a win for American manufacturing, a win for American exports, 
and a win for our planet and creation.
  Some of you may remember, a long time ago, we discovered a problem--a 
growing hole in the ozone layer that was being caused by propellants, 
by CFCs. So the world came together to eliminate CFCs and replace them 
with a new generation of artificial propellants and refrigerants known 
as HFCs.

  That was good news. The hole in the ozone layer had largely been 
addressed, and the threat of skin cancer and being bombarded by 
radiation that that posed was largely resolved. Yet, this next 
generation of chemicals, HFCs, had an unexpected additional problem. 
They are 1,000 times worse for global warming, for climate change, than 
carbon dioxide, so much so--and they are so broadly used in every 
industrial setting--that it has led to a rapid increase in global 
warming.
  Well, the solution was actually invented in Delaware. It is the next 
generation of chemicals that is much less harmful to the climate and to 
the environment, effective as a refrigerant, being manufactured now in 
places across the United States, and that, if exported to the rest of 
the world, can grow thousands of manufacturing jobs.
  I just wanted to take a moment and celebrate. The projections are 
there will be as many as 33,000 new manufacturing jobs in the United 
States, some in my home State of Delaware but spread across the 
country; over $1 billion in new exports that will impact just this year 
the American economy because of this; and a 25-percent increase in the 
exports of American-made refrigerators and air-conditioners and so 
forth.
  This was a rare moment of bipartisan consensus where we were able to 
come together and address a global challenge and create more 
opportunity here at home, and I thought it bore some celebration as we 
conclude this week.
  Mr. President, earlier this week, our President, Joe Biden, stood 
before the world at the United Nations General Assembly and continued 
his forceful, clear, and strong effort to call on the world to enforce 
the U.N. Charter and to push back on Russia's brutal invasion of 
Ukraine.
  Since February, when Putin's forces swept into Ukraine and threatened 
to overrun the entire country, the West has pulled together, and allies 
and supporters of the Ukrainian people from around the world have 
imposed sanctions on Russia and Russian oligarchs; have provided 
funding and support and assistance to millions of Ukrainian refugees 
who have flooded throughout the rest of the world; and, critically, 
have provided financial support for the men and women of the Ukrainian 
Armed Forces, who just in recent days made a dramatic breakout in 
northern Ukraine, recapturing an area the size of Delaware--more than 
3,000 square miles--in a rapid advance east of Kharkiv.
  President Biden has asked this body, in a bill we will take up in 
just a few days, to provide $11.7 billion in additional support for 
Ukraine. The Presiding Officer and I are appropriators, and we know how 
precious the resources of the American people are. And I am grateful 
that, on a broad bipartisan basis, we have provided tens of billions of 
dollars in humanitarian relief for refugees, in support for the 
Government of Ukraine, and in critically needed military support for 
the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
  It is because the Biden administration has delivered the most 
advanced and targeted long-range artillery systems we have, called 
HIMARS, that

[[Page S4956]]

suddenly the Ukrainians are making real advances on the battlefield. We 
must continue this critical support.
  President Zelenskyy has pulled together and mobilized the Ukrainian 
people in a remarkable show of determination, a fierce resistance. 
Despite being badly outnumbered by a much greater military force with 
advanced and sophisticated weaponry, Ukrainians have fought bravely and 
with enormous determination. They deserve our continued support.
  In just recent weeks, there have been some real signs of progress in 
opening the Black Sea ports of Ukraine so that grain can be exported to 
a dozen hungry countries, in making progress on prisoner-of-war 
exchanges between the Russians and the Ukrainians, and in protests in 
Russia.
  In an act of desperation, President Putin has called up hundreds of 
thousands of reservists in a mobilization to try to push back against 
Ukrainian forces. Russia is losing this fight. They are losing on the 
ground in Ukraine; they are losing in the court of public opinion; and 
they are losing strategically.
  My entire life, we had thought it was unlikely that Sweden or Finland 
would ever join NATO--the most successful multilateral security 
arrangement we have ever engaged in as a nation--but because of 
Russia's aggression against Ukraine now, both Sweden and Finland are 
seeking admission to NATO. This body acted quickly to ratify their 
admission to NATO, and we are down to just a few countries.
  In New York, I had a chance to meet with President Erdogan of Turkey 
to convey to him both our appreciation of his help in getting the grain 
out of the Black Sea ports of Ukraine but the urgency of expanding NATO 
to secure it against further Russian aggression.
  It is my hope that we will move quickly as a united NATO alliance and 
that we here in this body will act quickly to provide the additional 
assistance to the Ukrainian people, government, and armed forces that 
our President has sought.
  Earlier today, we took up a vote on the DISCLOSE Act. Since 2010, 
when the Supreme Court of the United States issued an ill-conceived 
opinion in the case of Citizens United, we have seen a flood of dark 
money steadily become more and more pernicious in its impact on our 
politics and our policies.
  Here in Washington and now around the country, wealthy individuals, 
corporations, and shadowy special interest groups have contributed 
hundreds of millions--now billions of dollars across several election 
cycles that have undermined the integrity and fairness of our elections 
that are at the very heart of our democracy.
  This bill would do a simple thing. It would require full disclosure 
of all corporations, trade associations, nonprofits engaging in 
electioneering. They would have to disclose any donors of $10,000 or 
more over any 2-year period. It wouldn't solve all the problems created 
by Citizens United, but sunshine is the best disinfectant, and it would 
allow the American people to know who is truly behind the dark money-
funded ads that now bombard citizens in competitive elections around 
our country.
  Tragically, it was a straight party-line vote today, and we were not 
able to proceed to take up and vote on the DISCLOSE Act. In the end, 
one party continues to defend the practice of dark money flooding our 
elections, while another is seeking to open up clarity for the general 
public and our electorate on who is giving money to whom. We should 
have had a vote on the DISCLOSE Act. Instead we failed to get to that 
bill because we could not get in this Chamber 60 votes to move ahead.
  It is my hope that the American people are paying attention and 
realize on whose side we are on in this fight over transparency in our 
elections.
  With that, Mr. President, I offer my thanks.
  I yield the floor to my colleague from Michigan.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I first want to echo Senator Coons' 
comments on the DISCLOSE Act and how unfortunate it was we could not 
get just 10 Republicans to join us to be able to end dark money and 
foreign--the potential of foreign dollars going into elections. So I 
want to thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership both in the House 
and in the Senate on this real important issue.

                          ____________________