[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5518-S5521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 AFFORDABLE INSULIN ACT NOW--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. BRAUN. I ask unanimous consent that I, Senator Leahy, and Senator 
Schumer be permitted to complete our remarks prior to the scheduled 
vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


             Amendment No. 5765 to Amendment Numbered 5745

  Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 5765 and ask 
that it be reported by number.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment by number.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Indiana [Mr. Braun] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5765 to amendment No. 5745.

  The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To amend chapter 2 of title 1, United States Code, to create 
    requirements for calling an Article V Convention, and for other 
                               purposes)

       At the end, add the following:

       DIVISION H--CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF THE UNITED STATES

     SEC. 101. DEFINITION.

       In this division:
       (1) Archivist.--The term ``Archivist'' means the Archivist 
     of the United States.
       (2) Article v convention.--The term ``Article V 
     Convention'' means a convention as described in Article V of 
     the Constitution of the United States that is called by 
     Congress and organized by the Archivist on the application of 
     the legislatures of \2/3\ of the several States for proposing 
     amendments that shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution of the United States when ratified 
     by the legislatures of \3/4\ of the several States, or by 
     conventions in \3/4\ thereof, as one or the other mode of 
     ratification may be proposed by Congress.

     SEC. 102. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Article V of the Constitution of the United States 
     requires that ``The Congress . . . on the Application of the 
     Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call 
     a Convention for proposing Amendments'' to the Constitution 
     of the United States.
       (2) Since the first application approved by a State for an 
     Article V Convention in 1788, 42 States in total have 
     submitted applications.
       (3) The Constitution of the United States states that an 
     Article V Convention shall be called upon the active 
     application of \2/3\ of the States. Such application occurs 
     when a State, through its legislature, approves a petition 
     for an Article V Convention. The threshold of applications 
     from \2/3\ of the States to require an Article V Convention 
     has been met several times, as--
       (A) in 1979, there were 39 active applications;
       (B) in 1983, there were 40 active applications; and
       (C) not less than 34 States have filed active applications 
     as recently as 2021.
       (4) Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 85 stated that 
     ``The Congress `shall call a convention'. Nothing in this 
     particular is left to the discretion of that body''.
       (5) Beginning in 1979, the Federal Government failed in its 
     constitutional duty to count applications and organize an 
     Article V Convention. Since that time, the debt of the United 
     States has increased to more than $30,000,000,000,000 from 
     $830,000,000,000.
       (6) The unanimous opinion of the United States Supreme 
     Court in Chiafalo v. Washington, 140 S. Ct. 2316, 2328 (2020) 
     stated, ``electors . . . have no ground for reversing the 
     vote of millions of its citizens. That direction accords with 
     the Constitution--as well as with the trust of the Nation 
     that here, We the People rule.''.

     SEC. __3. DUTIES OF ARCHIVIST RELATING TO STATE APPLICATIONS 
                   FOR CALLING FOR CONVENTIONS OF STATES FOR 
                   PROPOSING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Duties Described.--Chapter 2 of title 1, United States 
     Code, is amended by inserting after section 106b the 
     following:

     ``Sec. 106c. Duties relating to State applications calling 
       for Article V Conventions

       ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Archivist.--The term `Archivist' means the Archivist 
     of the United States.
       ``(2) Article v convention.--The term `Article V 
     Convention' means a convention as described in Article V of 
     the Constitution of the United States that is called by 
     Congress and organized by the Archivist on the application of 
     the legislatures of \2/3\ of the several States for proposing 
     amendments that shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution of the United States when ratified 
     by the legislatures of \3/4\ of the several States, or by 
     conventions in \3/4\ thereof, as one or the other mode of 
     ratification may be proposed by Congress.
       ``(b) Certification and Notification.--
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after receiving 
     an application of a State calling for an Article V 
     Convention, the Archivist shall authenticate, count, and 
     publish,

[[Page S5519]]

     on a publicly available website, such applications, together 
     with any resolution of any State to rescind any such previous 
     application submitted by that State.
       ``(2) Existing applications.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the date of enactment of this section, the Archivist shall 
     authenticate, count, and publish all applications of a State 
     calling for an Article V Convention received before the date 
     of enactment of this section.
       ``(c) Certification and Notification Requirements.--Upon 
     receipt and authentication by the Archivist under subsection 
     (b) of applications calling for an Article V Convention of 
     the legislatures of \2/3\ of the several States which have 
     not been rescinded, the Archivist shall publish in the 
     Federal Register a certification that \2/3\ of the several 
     States have called for the Article V Convention, together 
     with a list of the States submitting applications calling for 
     the Article V Convention.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 
     2 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
     after the item relating to section 106b the following:

``106c. Duties relating to State applications calling for Article V 
              Conventions.''.

  Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, my home State of Indiana is America's 
heartland. I have traveled to every county, listened to businesses, 
schools, churches. I think that is where we need to get our cue in 
terms of what needs to be done. Farmers, as well, are in the middle of 
something they never faced before--probably the toughest job and 
business out there. It has never been tougher.
  The American people are strong and resilient, but they are 
represented by a government here that is not necessarily the same. 
Sometimes they get scoffed at, but they live within their household 
budgets. State and local governments have guardrails. But, naturally, 
they do it anyway because they know you can't borrow money from future 
generations and spend it today--bad business plan.
  For this reason, I think the U.S. Congress is broken because we have 
kept shoving this issue down the road. We haven't done a budget that we 
adhered to in nearly 20 years. The last time we did it, we were most 
ingenious about how to unravel it--roughly 10 years ago.
  When they look at our capital, they see a twisted knot of lobbyists, 
corporate interests, and a mountain of debt that just gets higher and 
higher.
  We now spend over a trillion dollars more each year than we take in, 
and, recently, that has gone up to $1.5 trillion. To normalize that 
just does not make sense. We are here twiddling our thumbs while our 
kids' and grandkids' future goes up in smoke. Every American family is 
paying for our failures here.
  Congress, as a whole, and particularly this body, seem to have no 
interest in turning this big ship away from the rocks. In the past 
year, I have brought to the floor four chances to do something. I 
offered a complete Federal budget that would match our spending and our 
revenues that are historical in nature. Only 34 Senators voted for it. 
It would have preserved Social Security, Medicare, and defense, just 
bringing it in line with what is sustainable.
  I offered an amendment that if we fail to get our budget and 
appropriations bills done on time, by the deadline, which is like in a 
few days for this year, we don't get paid until we do so. Forty-seven 
Senators voted for it--close, but still not there.
  I offered an amendment to cut pet projects through earmarks from our 
huge spending bill. It only got 35 votes. And we were doing that for 
almost 10 years, and now we have actually backslid into that bad 
behavior.
  I offered an amendment to require a balanced budget, like so many 
States have--they live in fiscal sanity--47 votes, short again.
  The Framers of our Constitution saw this coming. They had to raise 
revenue, especially back then, to do whatever they wanted to do. There 
were also checks and balances.
  Congress isn't just balanced by the Supreme Court and the President, 
but also by the States. Article V of our Constitution gives the States 
the power to pick up the slack when Congress refuses to act, where it 
doesn't exercise discipline, good behavior, what all of us expect.
  I believe the House and the Senate desperately need two things: term 
limits--the Founders never imagined people would come here and like 
that better than what they did before. Washington and Jefferson hurried 
back to their farms and their businesses. That is not the case anymore.
  If we keep doing it the way we are, we are going to get increasingly, 
increasingly deeper in the hole. With term limits, we get a class of 
political entrepreneurs here who have actually done something in the 
real world, before they think they can run the biggest business in the 
world and deliver such poor results.
  If two-thirds of the States petition to call a constitutional 
convention, we could take power away from the DC establishment and put 
it back in the hands of the American people. You are not going to 
believe how close that has come and how close it is currently. But the 
swamp, I think, knows it. That is why each time the right number of 
petitions have been filed, Congress refused to call the convention.
  The last time was as recently as last year. Today, 32 States have 
active applications for the convention. We need 34. It was actually at 
the level or above until a few States rescinded that.
  This plan is extremely popular because it makes sense. It puts 
political will and backbone into this place that we don't normally 
have. And a recent poll by Trafalgar found that 65 percent of likely 
voters agree with that. If you take either term limits or balanced 
budgets by themselves, it gets up close to 85 or 90 percent, and, in 
this poll, 81 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Independents--who I 
think elect the swing State Senators and the President; so we ought to 
be really paying attention to them--and 50 percent of Democrats.
  There is no Federal Government body managing this process. It is too 
easy for Congress to ignore what the States have done.
  My amendment would be very, very simple. It would direct the 
Archivist, who has all of these petitions somewhere in a drawer, to 
publish them as they come in so all of us can see what the people are 
thinking.
  We have conveniently just overlooked it or ignored it. It adds what 
we should all be for: transparency, having people be able to see what 
is going on here, and especially for something like this.
  America is the most powerful country in history because we are 
founded on the rock of the Constitution. So simple and direct, it can 
all be right in here. We need to pay more attention to it.
  The Framers were also wise to have a tool for the people and the 
States when Congress refuses to act on things so critical. Considering 
how broken and dysfunctional this place is currently and the dire 
threats we face from our debt and inflation crisis, you would think 
now, more than any other time in our country's history, that this would 
be at the forefront and we would at least give it to the States to 
weigh in and not hide it in a drawer somewhere.

  When each one of us swore in as Senator, we didn't swear our 
allegiance to our political party. We did it to the Constitution. We 
didn't promise to support the Washington establishment. We did it to 
the people, to the Constitution.
  It is in support of the American people and in defense of the 
Constitution that I come here to the floor today. It is not going to be 
litigated on the floor today, but I can tell you, for the time that I 
am here, I am not going to let the American public forget it.
  And we have another critical date in the middle of December, 2\1/2\ 
months away, and I think that will be a place where it will even be 
more important, and I am going to try to make the case in the meantime 
that we at least don't keep in a drawer, hidden away somewhere, what 
the American people want.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.


                               H.R. 6833

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, before I begin, I wanted to acknowledge 
that this morning, countless Floridians woke up to a world turned 
upside down in the wake of Hurricane Ian. Hundreds of thousands in 
Puerto Rico remain without power more than 10 days after the storm that 
ravaged the island.
  I want them to know that Vermonters will stand by your side as you 
rebuild your communities and

[[Page S5520]]

your lives, and so will Republicans and Democrats in this Chamber.
  Now, the continuing resolution we are about to consider contains 
$18.8 billion for the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund, which would bring 
available resources in the fund to approximately $35 billion to respond 
to these and other disasters.
  We likely are not going to know the extent of the damage for several 
days. Every time you watch the news you hear of more damage. But I 
remind my colleagues that we are the United States of America, and I am 
ready to work with my colleagues to respond with what is needed.
  I do not care whether a State is represented by Democrats or 
Republicans. You are part of the United States of America, and as 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I will work with you during 
the months ahead to get the funds you need.
  Now, that said, I am glad we have reached an agreement to fund the 
Federal Government through December 16, and I want to thank my good 
friend Vice Chairman Shelby for working on this. But I especially want 
to thank Leaders Schumer and McConnell for their work and cooperation 
in reaching this point. They both understand the need to go forward.
  I am glad that we were able to secure $1 billion to bolster LIHEAP 
ahead of the winter heating season. My home State of Vermont will 
receive an infusion of $5.7 million from this funding. Now, that is 
going to go a long way to help families pay their bills when they are 
faced with rising fuel costs and plummeting temperatures. It helps them 
not to have to make the decision ``do I eat or heat.''
  The bill also includes $12.35 billion in emergency assistance for 
Ukraine, $2.5 billion to support recovery efforts for the Hermit's 
Peak-Calf Canyon fire in New Mexico; $2 billion in community 
development block grants to help communities recovering from major 
disasters in 2021 and 2022.
  I am disappointed that some of my Republican colleagues blocked 
additional funding to combat COVID-19 or monkeypox. I will continue to 
work with Republicans and Democrats to secure these necessary resources 
in the omnibus.
  And, finally, I want to be clear. This is only a temporary measure. 
As the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I am committed to 
completing the work of the committee before the end of this Congress.
  Running on autopilot after December with rising inflation would be 
irresponsible. It would leave priorities of both Republicans and 
Democrats underfunded and underresourced. The Federal Government funds 
programs that the American people rely on. We should do the job that 
the American people sent all of us--all 100 of us--here to do.
  I want to thank Vice Chairman Shelby's staff. As I said earlier, I 
thank the majority leader and the Republican leader for their help and 
cooperation in bringing this together. I also want to thank my staff, 
Charles Kieffer, Chanda Betourney--there are too many names to mention, 
but these are people who worked through recesses, weekends, long hours, 
long nights. I get to go home by midevening. They stay there most of 
the night to get it done.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
all of the names of our staff at the end of my speech.
  The continuing resolution is a strong bill, and it is a bipartisan 
bill. I urge my colleagues to accept it.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                            Democratic Staff

       1. Charles Kieffer
       2. Chanda Betourney
       3. Aaron Goldner
       4. Abigal Grace
       5. Alex Carnes
       6. Alex Keenan
       7. Amanda Hill
       8. Amy Smith
       9. Andrew Platt
       10. Andy Vanlandingham
       11. Angela Caalim
       12. Anthony Sedillo
       13. Ben Hammond
       14. Blaise Sheridan
       15. Brigid Kolish
       16. Dabney Hegg
       17. Diana G. Hamilton
       18. Dianne Nellor
       19. Doug Clapp
       20. Ellen Murray
       21. Fiona O'Brien
       22. Frank Reed
       23. Hannah Chauvin
       24. Jason McMahon
       25. Jay Tilton
       26. Jennifer Becker-Pollet
       27. Jennifer Piatt
       28. Jennifer Winkler
       29. Jessica Berry
       30. Jessica Sun
       31. Jim Daumit
       32. Joanne Hoff
       33. John Lucio
       34. Kali Farahmand
       35. Kami White
       36. Kate Kaufer
       37. Kathryn Toomajian
       38. Katy Hagan
       39. Kelly Brown
       40. Kelsey Daniels
       41. Laura Powell
       42. Lindsay Erickson
       43. Maddie Dunn
       44. Madeleine Granda
       45. Maria Calderon
       46. Mark Laisch
       47. Martha Roberts
       48. Meghan Mott
       49. Melissa Zimmerman
       50. Michael Bednarcyzk
       51. Michael Gentile
       52. Michelle Dominguez
       53. Mike Clementi
       54. Rachel Erlebacher
       55. Rajat Mathur
       56. Richard Braddock
       57. Robert Leonard
       58. Ryan Hunt
       59. Sarita Vanka
       60. Teri Curtin
       61. Tim Rieser
       62. Valerie Hutton

  Mr. LEAHY. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, in a few moments we will vote on the 
continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-December.
  This legislation avoids a very bad thing, shutting down the 
government, and does a lot of good things: money for the people of 
Ukraine, funding for communities reeling from natural disasters, aid to 
families with their heating bills--just to name a few. I am very 
thankful to all the Senators, particularly Chairman Leahy and Ranking 
Member Shelby, who made this possible.
  This is commonsense, bipartisan legislation, following many other 
bipartisan bills that we have done in this session, and I am glad that 
we came to a timely conclusion and didn't go right up to the brink and 
risk a shutdown. Millions and millions of people can breathe easy 
knowing that we have done this in a timely way and the money to 
continue the government will be there.
  Of particular importance is the money to Ukraine. These people have 
struggled so valiantly. Make no mistake about it. American weaponry and 
help have helped them turn the tide of the war. We cannot stop now, and 
we are not going to.
  The heat program is so important. Winter is coming upon us. The 
program is running out of money. While we probably will get more money 
in the omnibus in December, between now and Christmas, there are going 
to be a lot of cold days, and people are going to need that heat money.
  The money for natural disasters--in my judgment, as a result of 
climate change, we have many more disasters, so we need more help, and 
this will go to many States and many parts of the country.
  So I want to thank, again, Senator Leahy. I want to thank Senator 
Shelby. I want to thank the members of the Appropriations Committee. I 
want to thank all the staff--mine and others--who worked so long and 
hard to get this done.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  Under the previous order, all motions and amendments other than 
amendment No. 5745 are withdrawn; amendment No. 5745 is agreed to; and 
the bill, as amended, is considered read a third time.
  The amendment (No. 5745), in the nature of a substitute, was agreed 
to.
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read the third time.


                           Vote on H.R. 6833

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall the bill, as amended, pass?

[[Page S5521]]

  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Utah (Mr. Lee), the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman), and the 
Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee) would 
have voted ``nay.''
  The result was announced--yeas 72, nays 25, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 351 Leg.]

                                YEAS--72

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Romney
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--25

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Braun
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Fischer
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Lankford
     Lummis
     Marshall
     Paul
     Risch
     Rounds
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Thune
     Toomey
     Tuberville

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Lee
     Portman
     Rubio
  (Mr. VAN HOLLEN assumed the Chair.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). On this vote, the yeas are 72, the 
nays are 25.
  The 60-vote threshold having been achieved, the bill, as amended, is 
passed.
  The bill (H.R. 6833), as amended, was passed.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the CR is a great bipartisan bill that 
is going to help a whole lot of people, and we are keeping the 
government open with ample time.

                          ____________________