    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
    [Senate]
    [Pages S1383-S1390]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

       TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED WITH RESPECT TO ENERGY

                                 S. J. Res. 10

      Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I wanted to come down here and talk a
    little bit about energy with my colleagues in the Senate today, and
    part of the reason why is that as you know, Mr. President, and others
    know, the President of the United States has declared an energy
    emergency, and he did it on the day he was inaugurated here in the
    Capitol, on a day when he had lots of comments about the fact that God
    had saved him so that he would be there to be inaugurated--that this
    was going to be the greatest moment in American history, and that we
    had an energy emergency because there was an insufficient production of
    oil and fossil fuels.
      As anybody who reads the newspaper in America knows--and there may
    not be anybody left who has access to a paper, but I encourage you to
    do it; it is a lot better than what you are reading on Twitter these
    days--the United States has actually produced more oil than we ever
    have produced in our history. In fact, last year, with the Biden
    administration, we produced more oil than any country in the history of
    humanity.
      The same is true for natural gas. The same is true for LNG exports.
    The United States produces more oil than any other country in the
    world. We produce more natural gas than any other country in the world.
    We are the leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, which, by the
    way, has been incredibly important recently because we have allowed our
    allies in Europe to get off the Russian oil that they were on and
    replace that with liquefied natural gas produced by American citizens,
    exported by American citizens, to break the back of Putin's ability to
    restrain Europe's participation in the war, because we were able to
    replace half their energy. I am so glad that we were able to do that.
      And we are also the world's leading producer of renewable energy, as
    well, and we have seen a huge amount of growth in solar, a huge amount
    of growth in wind, and I like to think of Colorado as the place that
    started an awful lot of that.
      We are both a producer of fossil fuels and a producer of renewables.
    We know it takes everything to drive this economy, but we want to do
    all of this in a way that is cognizant of the very real climate issues
    that our globe faces and that our country faces.
      The good news for the United States is there is no country in the
    world that is better positioned to lead the transition of our energy
    economy in this world than the United States of America. We are the
    wealthiest country in the world. We have the biggest and most abundant
    supply of fossil fuels and nonfossil fuels. We are less corrupt than
    almost any country on the face of the planet, and especially less
    corrupt than economies that are dominated by petrochemicals and by oil
    and gas around the world. We are the innovators in the world. We have a
    commitment to the rule of law. All of that puts us in this incredible
    position to lead.
      I believe, 30 years from now or so, we are going to be in a place
    where we are able to say, not just to the American people but to the
    world, that we are at net zero from a carbon point of view and that we
    were able to get there through American technology and through American
    leadership and American ingenuity and American exports; that we took a
    strategic approach; that we had a plan that made sense; and that we
    captured, along the way, every--every--molecule that we could find of
    fugitive methane from oil and gas and from agriculture and from
    landfills; that we said yes to wind and solar; that we said yes to
    nuclear and yes to geothermal; that we said yes to investing in
    emerging technologies, like hydrogen, like carbon capture, and like the
    carbon dioxide removal bill that I have with my friend Lisa Murkowski
    from Alaska, which just goes to show you that you can have a bipartisan
    approach; that we can move to a position of real leadership that can
    help us create an economy again that America, when it grows, it grows
    for everybody, not just the people at the very top--because we have got
    good energy jobs that are concerned with the production of oil and gas
    and the production of all those other forms of energy.
      By the way, just on that point--and I will be brief here because I
    know my colleague from Massachusetts wants to speak. On that subject,
    this Senate is about to get rid of the commonsense methane regulations
    that were passed in the last administration that are based on the
    work--that fee based on the work--that we had done in Colorado, working
    with industry, as the last administration did to create certainty, to
    create predictability, to send a message to the world that we want
    American gas to be the cleanest gas of any gas in the world.
      And having us capture that fugitive methane is a hugely important
    part of that. We are saying no to that now. We are saying yes to the
    air pollution that is going to result. We are saying yes to the climate
    pollution that will result.
      I say to my colleague from Massachusetts while she is here, I take no
    pleasure--and the President knows this--from the fact that Donald Trump
    is our President. I regret that he is our President, but he is our
    President. And one of the ways that he got to be our President is that
    he was elected twice.
      And, in fact, more people voted for him this time than voted for him
    last time. I regret that. I am sorry for that, and I think there are
    lots of reasons for that.
      But I think one of the reasons for that is that there is a mythology
    out there that the Democratic Party believes that we are going to turn
    fossil fuels off yesterday; or that we are going to turn fossil fuels
    off next week; or that we don't respect the men and women who work in
    our energy fields or in our energy processing across the country.
      If there are Democrats who feel that way, I disagree with them,
    because the worst thing we could do at this moment when we have the
    energy abundance that we have, when we have the economic freedom we
    have, when we have the lack of corruption that we have--the worst thing
    we could do is elect a climate denier to be President whose most
    creative approach to energy was Sarah Palin's shopworn ``drill, baby,
    drill,'' which is what he announced under the dome of the United States
    Capitol the day he was inaugurated President and said--completely
    untruthfully--that we were in an energy crisis, when what we have is an
    energy abundance and no excuse--no excuse--for not leading the rest of
    the world in making sure that this transition on net-zero carbon is
    accomplished and that we do it in a way that protects our economy; that
    we do it in a way that protects our national security; that we do it in
    a way that recognizes the contribution that people have

    [[Page S1384]]

    made for generations in Northwest Colorado and all over our economy to
    be able to drive this economy forward.
      And to the extent that the failure is a failure of the Democratic
    Party to make clear our position, I want to own that failure and that
    responsibility. It is not Donald Trump's fault that he was elected. He
    ran; he won. We own some of the fact that he got elected. And I think
    on this issue, we have not communicated clearly to the American people
    what we believe.
      And as a result of that, once again, our children and grandchildren
    have a climate denier in the White House, even though a majority of the
    American people believe that climate change is real and that we should
    be doing something about it.
      And those of us who are advocates on this, on this side, have to be
    very clear--much clearer, he said poorly and unclearly--but let me say
    again--have to be much clearer about what we stand for, which is for a
    transition that makes sense and that science commands and for the
    respect of people that are working in the energy industry no matter
    what part of the industry they are working in.
      And the fact that Donald Trump--even when oil is at $73 a barrel at
    his inauguration and we are producing more than we have ever produced
    in the history of mankind for the United States--thinks we are in an
    energy emergency or he claims that we are surprises me not at all.
      Since he said he was going to drive prices down, the price of eggs
    are so high today as we meet here, you need a mortgage practically to
    buy a dozen eggs in the United States of America.
      We can do better than that, and we can do better than his ``drill,
    baby, drill'' energy policy.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
      Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Colorado
    for your energetic leadership in this area. I am very grateful for your
    voice on this and for the work you do for the people of the country
    and, also, for everybody around the world. We have got to deal with
    this problem; so, thank you.
      I rise today in support of Senator Kaine and Senator Heinrich's
    resolution to terminate Donald Trump's Executive order declaring a
    national energy emergency.
      I just want to start by being clear about what is going on here.
    Donald Trump promised to gut our environmental laws if Big Oil CEOs
    gave him a billion dollars for his campaign. He was quite open about
    this. How could he do that? Well, he has figured it out. He declared an
    emergency that he has focused on that emergency will give him a chance
    to pay those oil executives CEOs back.
      Now, this order is not a serious attempt at lowering anyone's energy
    costs. And you know how I know this? Because a true strategy to lower
    people's costs would include clean energy sources like wind and solar,
    which this order deliberately excludes.
      So what does this Executive order do? It lets big oil and gas
    companies off the hook on following our environmental laws and
    regulations. And those are the rules that make sure that you have clean
    air to breathe and clean water to drink.
      Why would Donald Trump do this? It is simple. He does not care about
    lowering anyone's costs or helping create good jobs. All he cares about
    is his rich as hell--those were his words--his rich as hell donors and
    helping them make more money.
      Let's be clear. Energy prices are too high. Americans are feeling
    those high prices. Energy prices have been on the rise for the past
    decade. And last year, one-third of Americans had to cut back on
    necessary spending in order to pay their energy bills.
      Americans are looking for real solutions. And that is why Democrats
    got to work and passed the biggest climate package in the history of
    the world to unleash American innovation and to support a clean energy
    future.
      Now, America is producing more energy than ever before, including
    through offshore wind projects off the coast of Massachusetts, and we
    are creating good jobs while we are doing it.
      Clean energy jobs are now over 40 percent of all the energy jobs in
    the United States. They are growing twice as fast as other industries,
    but Donald Trump is now trying to unravel all of that progress. Why? In
    order to please his big oil and gas donors.
      And this sham will have real consequences for our communities--
    raising energy costs and cutting American jobs.
      Look no further than Somerset, MA, to see what is happening. At
    Brayton Point in Somerset, there is an old coal-fired powerplant that
    closed down years and years ago. But a private company called Prysmian
    had decided that they want to turn part of this plant into a factory to
    build undersea cables to support American offshore wind farms. They
    want to build the cables so we can bring that power in and use it, that
    clean power in and use it here in the United States.
      That project would be transformative for Somerset. It would create
    about 250 to 300 good manufacturing jobs and would deliver more than
    $10 million in annual tax revenues. That is a big deal for a small
    town.
      So for the last few years, local officials and our Massachusetts
    Federal delegation has been working hard with the Federal Government to
    help turn that idea into a reality.
      But last month, the company suddenly announced they are ending the
    project. No more jobs, no more tax revenue. And why? Because of Donald
    Trump's attacks on clean energy. Somerset's experience is just one of
    the experiences felt by many communities all around this country. Yes,
    Somerset will bounce back. But Donald Trump is cutting jobs and raising
    energy costs on communities all across this country just to please his
    oil and gas donors. And it is communities like Somerset that are paying
    the price for that.
      Make no mistake: We will fight back, that is why Democrats are here
    today. That fight starts with ending this sham of an Executive order.
      I urge my colleagues to vote yes on Senator Kaine and Senator
    Heinrich's resolution.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
      Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, here is the question: Do we pursue the
    20th century energy vision featuring dirty, expensive fossil fuels, or
    do we pursue the 21st century energy vision featuring inexpensive and
    clean, renewable energy?
      Trump's energy emergency declaration is about one thing: He is
    choosing the strategy of dirty, expensive fossil fuels. You know, he
    asked the powerful, big oil companies to contribute a billion dollars
    to his campaign, and now he is paying them back at the expense of the
    American people. Families lose; billionaires win.
      The plan. The plan features giving fossil fuel companies the power to
    seize public lands. It features giving fossil fuel companies the power
    to skip environmental assessments, environmental assessments that show
    how their projects will poison the air, pollute the water, kill
    wildlife, and despoil our ecosystems.
      It is the plan of giving fossil fuel companies the power to bypass
    the public comment period so the public can't weigh in about the
    terrible ideas the fossil fuel companies are putting forward.
      The public can't weigh in about the drilling rigs and the leaky
    pipelines and the export terminals polluting their communities. This is
    not government of, by, and for the people; it is government of, by, and
    for the oil and gas companies. Families lose; billionaires win.
      This emergency declaration is certainly a sham because renewable
    energy costs less than fossil fuel energy. The International Renewable
    Energy Agency found that the cost of new wind or solar is at least 30
    percent cheaper than the cost of running most fossil coal plants. So it
    is no surprise that in 2024, 94 percent of the new energy on the grid
    came from renewables, from harnessing the power of the sun and the
    wind.
      Prioritizing expensive fossil fuels over cheap renewables drives up
    the price of energy that families pay on their bills every month. That
    is Trumpflation.
      Exporting more fossil fuels mean families pay more at the pump, and
    they pay more to heat their homes. That is Trumpflation.
      And burning more fossil fuels intensifies climate chaos and wildfires
    and

    [[Page S1385]]

    hurricanes. It blows the top off the cost of insurance for people's
    homes as insurers flee the markets. That is Trumpflation.
      Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies make even bigger profits. Families
    lose; billionaires win.
      You know, this is not a red State or a blue State issue. Since August
    2022, investments from the Inflation Reduction Act have created more
    than 400,000 clean energy jobs with more than half of those jobs in red
    States. In fact, 19 of the 20 Congressional districts at the top of
    clean energy investments are represented by my colleagues on the
    Republican side of the aisle.
      What are the top three States overall of clean energy job growth?
    Idaho, Texas, and New Mexico--two out of those three States represented
    by Republicans in the Senate. For wind energy, it is Texas, Iowa,
    Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois--four out of five States represented in
    this Senate by Republicans. For solar energy it is California, Texas,
    Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona--three out of five of those States
    represented by Republicans.
      So this is not a blue versus red situation. Nearly 3.5 million
    Americans now work in the clean energy field, more than a million of
    those jobs in red States. And it is estimated that these investments
    will continue to create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the
    country.
      Prioritizing fossil fuels will kill this job growth for working
    Americans. So this strategy, this energy emergency strategy, this is an
    energy strategy in which families lose; billionaires win. And there are
    far fewer good-paying jobs for Americans.
      And, by the way, prioritizing fossil fuels is helpful to China.
      If we have a national energy emergency, we shouldn't be fueling our
    competitors by selling our energy to China to make their economy run
    better. If we have an emergency, we shouldn't cede the future of clean
    energy and all the jobs it will create and the less expensive energy it
    creates to China. We would want to make these products here and export
    them to the world, not have to buy them from China, helping China's
    economy grow at the expense of our own.
      This phony national emergency declaration comes down to this: Do we
    want families to win or do we want billionaires to win?
      Let's come together, red States and blue States together, and say: We
    want these jobs. We want this clean energy. We want this less expensive
    energy for America because we are fighting for the families, not for
    the billionaires.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
      Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, there are just two issues: One is about the
    policy, the energy policy, that the Trump administration is announcing,
    and we can have a debate about that. I am in full support of the
    comments that my colleagues have made. But there is another issue that,
    in many ways, is more important, and that issue is whether this U.S.
    Senate will accede to relinquishing its authority as a separate and
    independent branch of government to a President who tries to seize that
    power by claiming a phony emergency.
      What justifies this action, as far as President Trump is concerned
    and legally, is the assertion that we have an ``energy emergency.'' And
    by invoking that term, he is saying to Congress: Get lost. This needs
    immediate attention that only the Executive can give. And getting lost
    means that we don't act as an independent branch of government and
    fulfill the constitutional responsibility we have to be separate,
    independent, and a check and balance on Executive power.
      That is a separate question from whether Members agree or disagree
    with the ``drill, baby, drill'' policy, but it is fundamental to the
    well-being of our democracy. Congress, in the past, has never come
    close to relinquishing that authority. And whether you are a Democrat
    or Republican, if you are a U.S. Senator, you have to defend the
    institution, not because it is good for me or you or any other Member
    of the Senate, but it is good for America. We rely on that system of
    checks and balances.
      So the question is, Is it an emergency? And as my colleagues have
    laid out, no, we have never had more production of power in our
    history. We are exporting power. The power situation is not an
    emergency. There is power abundance.
      Now, second thing, as many of my colleagues are saying, there are
    real consequences because, essentially, what the President is doing is
    going all in on fossil fuels and casting aside the opportunities that
    come--economic opportunities as well as cleaner climate opportunities--
    with clean energy. I am not going to repeat all of the information
    provided by starting with Senator Kaine, but it is true. And, you know,
    selling out, as some of my colleagues say, to the fossil fuel
    industry--the President was reported to have said ``get me a
    billion''--what I don't understand is why you would kill jobs in the
    clean energy sector that is producing cheaper power and good jobs.
    There is no justification for an Executive or Member of Congress doing
    that.
      The other final point is that we are having this bizarre debate about
    whether there is a climate situation caused by carbon emissions.
    Reality is, we all know it is happening. We are all victimized by these
    wild weather events.
      And there are only two explanations that explain the actions of the
    administration: One is they just favor fossil fuels no matter what.
    There is a lot of truth to that. The other is, there is a lack of
    confidence on the administration about the capacity of the American
    people, the American innovators, the American entrepreneurs to take
    full advantage of solving the issue of climate change by building out
    clean energy, by doing efficiency.
      That really, really works. And a confident person, a confident
    country doesn't deny problems exist. They acknowledge them, face them
    squarely, and then solve them. And in the process of doing that, they
    all end up better and have a stronger economy as well.
      So there is no emergency. We must stand first for the separation of
    powers and the authority of Congress and not allow us to be stripped of
    that by an Executive; and, second, we have to have a wise policy that
    is going to create jobs, be sustainable for our economy and for our
    future.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.

                               Human Trafficking

      Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, there is an issue that I have spoken
    about so often on this floor, and it is one that should concern each
    and every one of us; and that is the issue of human trafficking and sex
    trafficking that is happening in this country. And what we have learned
    is that today in the United States a child is either bought or sold for
    sex every 2 minutes. Now, think about that and think about the harm
    that is happening to children because of this amount of human
    trafficking and sex trafficking.
      What we also have learned is that, globally, this has turned into a
    $150 billion-a-year business. This is something that we also have
    learned affects every town, city, and community in our Nation. It is
    pervasive.
      In Tennessee, my home State, there were 1,170 reports of human
    trafficking through November of last year, and that is according to the
    data we have from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. Now, that
    number was actually down from the number in 2023, which had been 1,432
    reports, and that was because of the effort that our Governor, Bill
    Lee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and the Tennessee Bureau of
    Investigations made into fighting this human trafficking and trying to
    bring an end to what truly is modern-day slavery.
      But, unfortunately, what we saw as we looked at the data was that
    last year's total of 1,170 was still 62 percent higher than the number
    in 2019. So as we have looked at this in recent years, what you have
    seen is an explosion of human trafficking and sex trafficking in this
    country. While we know that human trafficking has been a problem over a
    period of time, the concern is this heinous crime and how it has
    exploded in the recent past.
      Now, there are some reasons and some contributing factors to the
    escalation numbers, and one of them is during the Biden administration,
    basically they surrendered our southern border to cartels and gangs and
    criminals and traffickers. Many of us have been to the border. We saw
    what was happening on the border during the Biden years. And as a
    result of the inaction that

    [[Page S1386]]

    took place there, every town in this country became a border town, and
    every State became a border State. And because of the drugs, because of
    the human trafficking, the sex trafficking, the American people
    suffered the consequences.
      Just this month, earlier this month, authorities charged eight
    Venezuelan illegal aliens in Middle, TN, for trafficking women across
    our border for the purpose of sexual exploitation. That was eight
    Venezuelan illegal aliens. After entering our country illegally, the
    criminals conducted their operation out of Nashville motels between
    2022 and 2024. And like so many criminal illegals in our country--no
    surprise--they are tied to the violent gang Tren de Aragua, which has
    plagued cities across this country with organized crime.
      All too often these traffickers target not only vulnerable women,
    they also target children. According to our TBI data, there were 514
    reports of children being sex-trafficked in Tennessee in 2024. That is
    1 year, 514 reports. That was more than twice the number of reports of
    adult sex trafficking.
      The report also notes that there has been an increase in the number
    of unaccompanied minors who were trafficked into our country and
    exploited. This should come as no surprise. Under Biden, hundreds of
    thousands of unaccompanied children have reached our southern border,
    while many more arrived with adults who falsely claimed to be their
    relatives. Although Biden had a responsibility to place these children
    with vetted sponsors, his administration, obviously, did not do that.
    We have learned that they lost track of more than 320,000 migrant
    children who face the threat of abuse, trafficking, and sexual
    exploitation.
      Thankfully, after 4 years of failure under the Biden administration,
    President Trump is working to secure our border, to protect our
    communities, and to bring human trafficking to an end. And there is so
    much more that Congress can do to support this effort.
      Last week, I introduced the bipartisan GRACIE Act, which would
    require the recording of all Child Protective Services interviews with
    children and adults. Although 60 percent of child sex trafficking
    victims in our country have engaged with the foster care system, too
    often CPS staffers miss the signs of abuse. By recording interviews, we
    can increase the likelihood that child trafficking victims will be
    identified and rescued.
      Last month, I also reintroduced a package of bills that will do much
    to combat human trafficking. My SAVE Girls Act would provide States,
    local governments, and nonprofits with the resources they need to end
    the trafficking of young women and girls.
      My National Human Trafficking Database Act, meanwhile, would
    establish a national human trafficking database at the Department of
    Justice and incentivize State law enforcement agencies to report their
    data.
      To help bring an end to trafficking at the border, I also introduced
    the End Child Trafficking Now Act, which would require a DNA test to
    determine the relationship between illegal aliens at the border and any
    accompanying child. Now, it is so important to note, I have introduced
    this bill before, and I did it because during the Trump administration,
    there was DNA testing. It was ended during the Biden administration.
    They said it took too much time. I inquired about the amount of time.
    It took 45 minutes.
      What we know from the time we did DNA testing, 30 percent of the
    children that were DNA tested by border agents shared no relation to
    the illegal aliens who were falsely--falsely--representing themselves
    as family members. I think 45 minutes is worth it to save the life of a
    child.
      And my PRINTS Act, which has been reintroduced, would give Customs
    and Border Protection the authority to fingerprint noncitizens under
    the age of 14 to combat the horrific practice called child recycling.
      Just this week, I also sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel and
    Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that they release the complete,
    unredacted flight logs from Jeffery Epstein's private jet.
      In addition, I also requested Ghislaine Maxwell's little black book
    and all video surveillance footage from Epstein's residence in Palm
    Beach, FL. After years of stonewalling by former Director Wray, we
    still do not have all the necessary information regarding Jeffrey
    Epstein's crime, who his associates were, and who was involved in his
    global human trafficking and sex trafficking ring. That is information
    we need if we are going to bring an end to this practice of human
    trafficking and also if we are going to bring justice for the women and
    children that were abused and trafficked during these human trafficking
    and sex trafficking rings.
      It is past time to bring this practice to an end. With these efforts,
    we can provide this administration with the tools they need in order to
    bring an end to this practice.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

                                  S.J. Res. 10

      Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, first of all, I want to thank Senator Kaine
    for his extraordinary leadership on this.
      I think America is at a crucial time on energy policy, and Senator
    Kaine cuts right to the heart of the debate. Donald Trump wants more
    tax cuts for the ultrawealthy, and he is willing to pay for those tax
    cuts by raising your energy bill.
      Here is how the flawed idea goes down. Clean energy today is
    plentiful. Clean energy today is cheap. Clean energy today is
    generating thousands of good-paying jobs. I was involved deeply in
    writing the Inflation Reduction Act. I developed this law that created
    the clean energy tax credit package, and it is making progress in
    communities across the country.
      What Donald Trump is talking about doing--and Senator Kaine has
    spelled this out--is defying the reality of the marketplace.
      For example, we are constantly seeing people in the fossil fuel
    business saying that this isn't time for ``drill, baby, drill.'' They
    have been very blunt about saying that doesn't make sense from a
    marketplace standpoint.
      What we want to do as it relates to clean energy is to build on the
    progress we have made--making sure clean energy is part of an ``all of
    the above'' program that is technologically neutral and competing in a
    marketplace with choices.
      Under the Kaine legislation, we can have that reality and not the
    flawed idea that we would somehow benefit from having more tax cuts for
    the ultrawealthy and somehow that will take care of people's energy
    situation. It won't. If you go with tax breaks for the ultrawealthy and
    this program that is based on ``drill, baby, drill,'' it is going to
    create rising energy costs for working families across the land.
      I urge my colleagues to support the Kaine proposal.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.

          Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems

      Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today in support of my friend from
    North Dakota, Senator Hoeven's Congressional Review Act resolution to
    block the implementation of the Biden administration's waste emissions
    charge, otherwise known as the natural gas tax.
      Since the day this regulation was finalized last November, I pledged
    that I would work with President Trump and my colleagues in the
    Congress to repeal this misguided, anti-energy tax. Today in the
    Senate, that is exactly what we are working to do.
      We must recognize that we are in a critical moment for American
    energy. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has found
    that over the next 10 years, due to a rise in energy consumption and
    the early retirement of our existing fossil fuel generation, our
    country could face major electric generation and reliability concerns.
      We must take action now to ensure that our future demand is met, that
    the lights remain on, our homes remain warm, and our economy keeps
    moving for Americans all across this country. We can do this by
    continuing to invest in natural gas.
      Over 60 percent of Americans every day heat their homes, their water,
    or their food with natural gas. Natural gas is responsible for over 40
    percent of the electricity generation and fuels more than half of our
    industrial sector's process heat.
      While the natural gas tax fails to recognize this reality, let's look
    at what is

    [[Page S1387]]

    true. Fracking and shale gas have both revolutionized and transformed
    American energy, leading to lower prices, job growth, and increased
    American energy security. According to the Energy Information
    Administration, the rapid expansion of natural gas-fired powerplants in
    this country has decreased the power sector's carbon dioxide emissions
    by 35 percent over the last 25 years. Natural gas has the potential to
    further reduce American greenhouse gas emissions if we continue to
    increase production.
      Natural gas is an affordable, reliable, and clean source of energy
    vital to our country and our economy. We should be expanding natural
    gas production, not restricting it. Instead, the natural gas tax will
    constrain American natural gas production, leading to increased energy
    prices and providing a boost to the production of natural gas in
    Russia.
      Simply put, repealing the natural gas tax is a win for our economy, a
    win for our national security, and a win for our environment.
      As part of establishing this tax, the Democrats' so-called Inflation
    Reduction Act ordered the EPA to revise its subpart W requirements in
    order to facilitate the reporting and calculation of the tax. The EPA's
    subpart W revisions blatantly disregard and overstep even the partisan
    mandates of the IRA and would excessively increase the tax burden on
    American energy under this natural gas tax.

      The revised emission factors within subpart W reporting requirements
    make broad assumptions about oil and gas operations and technologies
    that will lead to inaccurate reporting for many owners and operators.
    The rule would not only radically expand the scope of emissions
    required to be reported by each facility under the Greenhouse Gas
    Reporting Program, but it also excessively expands the number of
    facilities that are covered by subpart W and consequently responsible
    to pay the natural gas tax.
      Due to this uninformed and artificial overestimate of U.S. methane
    emissions, some smaller operators who were once below the waste
    emissions threshold are now at risk of seeing their reported methane
    emissions inflated and owing large sums under the natural gas tax.
      If not repealed, this rule will arbitrarily increase the costs and
    burden of reporting under subpart W, motivated by the Democrats'
    interest in growing the revenues generated by their natural gas tax.
    This will make it even more difficult and expensive to produce,
    transport, and consume American natural gas and in turn will hurt both
    American families who rely on the energy and the environment of the
    communities we live in.
      It is important that we note that our effort today works in tandem
    with this Chamber's recently passed budget resolution.
      As chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I have
    long intended to stop the natural gas tax, and we will continue to
    pursue this through the reconciliation process.
      Today's vote on the CRA provides all Senators the opportunity to put
    our vote on record after witnessing the Biden's EPA bait and switch on
    the implementation of this misguided policy. I encourage my colleagues
    to support the CRA that is central to our mission of American energy
    dominance and reject this tax that will bolster our adversaries,
    increase energy costs on American families, and put our energy future
    at risk.
      I would like to yield, but before I do that, I would like to thank my
    colleague from Iowa for letting me step in front of her to make my
    speech. I appreciate that. I know she will be supporting this.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

                                  S.J. Res. 10

      Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, for over a decade, I have led the charge to
    expose government abuses, curb reckless regulations, and protect hard-
    working taxpayers from Washington's overreach.
      As my colleagues have so rightly discussed, the actions by the Biden
    administration made it necessary for President Trump to declare a
    national energy emergency on day one.
      The Biden administration's green energy programs artificially
    incentivized electric vehicles using billions of taxpayer dollars, with
    only 60 charging stations to show for it. Folks, that is just one of
    the many energy-related billion-dollar boondoggles by the former
    administration.
      As chair and founder of the Senate DOGE Caucus, I committed to
    preventing unchecked bureaucrats from issuing regulations that impose
    significant new costs and stifle growth. Every day, DOGE is uncovering
    just how far the Biden administration went to conceal its reckless
    spending through the Federal Agencies, especially regarding their
    climate pet projects.
      Instead of transparency and objective analysis, Biden's bureaucrats
    relied on manipulation, inflated so-called ``net benefits,'' and
    completely disregarded economic reality in their rulemakings. And they
    were prolific, churning out nearly 110,000 pages of regulations just
    last year. That is 1 year and 110,000 pages--the highest number ever.
      Between November 2023 and January 2025 alone, Agencies issued 50
    final rules using shady accounting gimmicks, slapping over half a
    trillion dollars in regulatory burdens onto hard-working Americans.
    This included a relentless push to regulate truckers out of business,
    based on the audacious claim that its extreme emissions rules would
    somehow create $99 billion in benefits for society.
      But here is the reality, folks: These policies make everything more
    expensive for families, they kill jobs, and they hurt our small
    businesses.
      It doesn't stop there. The Department of Energy cited billions in so-
    called ``climate net benefits'' and the ``social cost of greenhouse
    gases'' to justify heavyhanded mandates, ignoring the very real costs
    passed on to farmers and manufacturers.
      For too long, unelected bureaucrats have ignored the voices of job
    creators and working families, pushing costly regulations while hiding
    the true impact. This is why my RED TAPE Act is critical. My bill
    ensures that Agencies can no longer manipulate a cost-benefit analysis
    to push their own agenda. It requires Agencies to prioritize data-
    driven, measurable economic benefits, not vague ideological
    justifications.
      While some Federal employees complain about the new directives from
    the Trump administration, they should take a moment to understand that
    hard-working Americans who have had to show up to work and take risks
    to open businesses will no longer tolerate having to foot the bill for
    regulatory overreach.
      I am voting no on this effort to end President Trump's national
    energy emergency. I support the President's efforts to make energy more
    available and affordable to power economic growth.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Democratic leader.
      Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to thank Senators Kaine and
    Heinrich for introducing this resolution and for taking the floor to
    highlight Donald Trump's energy emergency gimmick.
      We Democrats are using every tool available to expose Republican
    hypocrisy, revealing the so-called energy emergency for what it is. It
    is a shameless power grab by Republicans to pay obeisance to Big Oil,
    plain and simple--nothing more, but nothing less.
      Republicans are raising prices by excluding clean energy from their
    emergency, meaning families could see electricity bills go up by $500 a
    year. Republicans are killing jobs by gutting domestic energy
    investments that we made, that have created so many new good-paying
    jobs. Republicans are rewarding China by weakening our economic
    competitiveness and ceding American energy leadership to our
    adversaries.
      The hypocrisy is simple. On the one hand, they say we need more
    energy for AI and for everything else, but then, on the other hand,
    they greatly curtail the cheapest form of electricity we could make,
    which is solar and then wind, because, really, what they are doing is
    just hugging Big Oil because Big Oil hates clean energy because they
    know clean energy eventually means the great reduction of polluting oil
    and gas and what they put into our atmosphere.
      Senators Kaine, Heinrich, and all Democrats will continue to shine a
    spotlight on Republican attacks on domestic energy in the weeks and
    months ahead.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.

    [[Page S1388]]

      Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise to conclude the debate. I believe
    the vote will follow these remarks.
      I want to thank my colleagues. Seventeen Democrats appeared on the
    floor to speak on behalf of S.J. Res. 10. I needn't repeat the comments
    I made at the beginning. I will be very brief.
      No. 1, there is no energy emergency. We have established the United
    States is producing more energy--more oil, more gas, more renewable
    energy--than at any time in the history of this country and that we are
    now a dramatic net-energy-surplus nation, as we are producing more and
    more energy than we consume every year. That surplus is great because
    we can export to develop both reducing the trade deficit and helping
    other nations wean themselves off their reliance on petrodictators.
      Second, President Trump's energy emergency declaration is a sham. He
    ignores the facts of America's energy dominance in order to benefit Big
    Oil because he told them he would do that. Last summer, he said: If you
    support me for President and invest in me, I will give you rollbacks in
    environmental laws on day one of my administration.
      And that is precisely what he did.
      We can tell that that is what he is doing by reading the exact terms
    of the energy emergency, in which he sidelines critical environmental
    laws so long as you are producing oil and gas but not if you are
    producing wind and solar. If the President really wanted to accelerate
    energy, he would not leave out wind and solar. Instead, he is doing the
    bidding of Big Oil by trying to kneecap wind and solar in his energy
    emergency declaration.
      But it is more than the words on a page in the declaration; it is
    also in his actions. I have many projects in Virginia that have
    announced with great fanfare--including announced by our Republican
    Governor--that have relied upon tax credits provided in the Inflation
    Reduction Act or other incentives in the bipartisan infrastructure law.
    These are projects all over Virginia--rural areas, urban areas--
    creating big jobs to create clean energy that will bring prices down.
      President Trump has undertaken a series of actions to put in jeopardy
    all of these projects in Virginia, to jeopardize the jobs and to
    jeopardize the energy that would be produced that would lower costs,
    and he has done the same thing in every State in this country. So we
    need to reject this energy emergency so that we can have a true energy
    innovation economy and bring prices down for everyday consumers.
      I have listened to the comments of my Republican colleagues as they
    have argued against my S.J. Res. 10, and they have basically made two
    arguments.
      The first is the argument that they don't believe renewable energy is
    reliable. So, for that reason, they justify the President's leaving out
    renewable energy sources in his energy emergency order. To the
    contrary, 94 percent of the power that was added to the American
    electricity grid in 2024 was wind, solar, and battery.

      Colleagues may stand on the floor and mouth the words that renewable
    energy is not reliable, but let's look at what the market is doing. The
    market is investing in these energies because they are reliable, they
    are American, they are clean, and they are cheap. And I would venture
    to say that those investing in these sources are more expert about what
    is reliable and what is not than Members of this body, with all
    respect.
      The second argument that is being made by my colleagues is that they
    support ``all of the above'' energy, and they use that to argue against
    S.J. Res. 10. My S.J. Res. 10 is about ``all of the above'' energy, and
    it is against the notion of leaving out wind, solar, and battery
    technologies that are driving our green energy economy.
      The question is, If you are not opposing, really, because of
    reliability concerns and you are not really advocating for all of the
    above, what is the real source of the opposition?
      The real source of the opposition is this: People do not want to
    stand up against Donald Trump. They don't want to stand up against a
    President who declares a fake emergency. They don't want to stand up
    against a President who is unplugging jobs in their States. They don't
    want to stand up against a President whose actions will lead to
    increased energy costs for consumers. They don't want to stand up to a
    President who is targeting and reversing investments that they even
    voted for when they voted for the bipartisan infrastructure law.
      At some point, the question to my colleagues is, When will you stand
    up?
      How much do prices have to go up on everyday Americans before you
    will stand up? How many jobs do you have to lose in your State before
    you are going to stand up? How many end runs of congressional statutes
    will you allow a President to take and be voiceless before you stand
    up?
      That is what this is about.
      I urge my colleagues to stand up for an American innovation energy
    economy. Don't let President Trump use a fake energy emergency to
    kneecap it.
      With that, Mr. President, I yield to my colleague from Massachusetts.
      Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I thank my great friend from the State of
    Virginia. I thank him for his leadership on this. I thank him for
    bringing out this very important subject because the American people
    are being robbed by the fossil fuel industry in broad daylight, and the
    Trump administration is driving the getaway car.
      As the Senator from Virginia just said, in the United States, in
    2024, 94 percent of all new electrical generating capacity installed is
    wind and solar and battery technologies--94 percent. What I am hearing
    on FOX News and what I hear from the--not ``all of the above'' but--
    ``oil above all'' crowd is: Oh, my God, it is terrible what is
    happening in our country. Look at the war that is being declared upon
    oil and gas and coal.
      Saying that wind and solar and batteries are a war against oil and
    gas and coal is like saying that the cell phone was a war against the
    black rotary dial phone. It is not a war. It is the entrepreneurial,
    innovative spirit in our country that is coming up with new
    technologies and new ways to solve the problem.

      Just like, by the way, the black rotary dial industry, they didn't
    like it. They didn't like it at all. They had a monopoly, but there is
    a way to get around it. There was a way to have, out in the
    marketplace, new ways of generating communications technologies, and
    now there are new ways of generating electricity--new ways. They hate
    it. The incumbents hate it. They hate it because they had a bottleneck.
    It could only be they. It could only be oil, gas, coal. Then, all of a
    sudden, a new generation of young people arrived, and they say: No.
    Climate change is threatening this planet, and there are new,
    innovative ways that we can move.
      So what is at the bottom of all of this? The oil, gas, and coal
    industries are scared--they are petrified--in the same way as the black
    rotary dial phone industry, in the same way that the horse-and-buggy
    manufacturer was scared.
      There is an automobile now. Oh, no, what am I going to do?
      How about getting in the transportation business rather than the
    horse-and-buggy industry? How about becoming, maybe, an auto dealer in
    Ohio? How about moving on, rather than being a horse-and-buggy company?
      No. No. We are stopping that. We are stopping that. There are not
    going to be any roads. We are not going to build any roads for
    automobiles. That would be terrible.
      So that is what we have. Right now, we have a war against innovation,
    a war against nonpolluting sources of electricity; a war against a
    generation of young Americans who are saying the planet is dangerously
    warming, and there are no emergency rooms for planets--$300 billion
    worth of damage in two storms, Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene;
    $250 billion worth of damage in the fires of LA. That is $550 billion
    worth of damage in just three incidents, and that is just the tip of
    the iceberg of what is coming.
      So what the young generation is saying is, Can we please install wind
    and solar and batteries and all-electric vehicles? Can we be smart? Can
    we think ahead? Can we have a generational response?
      And what is happening is the oil, gas, and coal industries are just
    calling in their chips. They are just saying that they want to kill
    everything--kill innovation.
      By the way, I was the chairman of the Telecommunications Committee in

    [[Page S1389]]

    the 1990s, when we were still in that old era. Believe me. Those old
    companies love their monopolies. There are three wires that go into
    people's homes: the cable wire, the telephone wire, and the electricity
    wire. So now we are on the third wire, the electricity wire. Are we
    going to make that competitive, too, or not? And they are petrified.
      Just today--this is unbelievable--the Trump administration announced
    that he wants to lay off 65 percent of the Environmental Protection
    Agency's staff. Those are our frontline fighters who ensure our water
    is safe, that our air is clean, and that our land is not polluted with
    toxins and chemicals. They want to turn the EPA into every polluter's
    ally. That is their goal. That is what they want to have. That is not
    what the younger generation wants in our country.
      The EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin also told the White House that he
    wants to get rid of the EPA's authority to regulate dangerous
    greenhouse gases based on the threat they pose to public health or
    welfare. It is known as the endangerment finding. Do greenhouse gas
    emissions cause warming that endangers the coastlines? that endanger
    cities like LA? that lead to $300 billion storms just ravaging through
    States?
      Do you know that the Supreme Court decided 5 to 4? In April of 2007,
    the Supreme Court said: You must determine whether or not there is an
    endangerment, EPA; and, EPA, if you make that determination that it is
    an endangerment, you then have to do something about it.
      That is what is ticking them off. No one will tell you.
      In a footnote, in his dissent, Justice Scalia said: I am voting no.
      Justice Scalia said: What is next--the regulation of flatulence from
    cows? Where are they going with all this craziness?
      Do you know where we are going? Do you know where we went? We went to
    94 percent of all new electrical generation capacity in the United
    States, in 2024. It is wind, solar, and battery technologies. That is
    where we went because there was an endangerment because you knew what
    was happening.
      By the way, even the IRA that was passed just in 2022 has already
    unleashed $400 billion of public and private investment. It has created
    400,000 new jobs--400,000 new jobs--in the clean energy sector. Oil and
    gas and coal are petrified. They are the black rotary dial phone of
    2025. They can see what is happening. It is change. It is a brandnew
    era. It is almost as though, somehow or other, they have found enough
    allies here to lock us into the past--to lock us into the 19th century,
    to lock us into the 20th century.
      Kids don't want to go backward. They don't want to look at the world
    in the rearview mirror. They want to look ahead to a brighter, better,
    safer, cleaner future, and that is what is going on. It is threatening
    the business model of all of these people.
      So I directly questioned Lee Zeldin on this exact issue in his
    hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee because I
    knew he wouldn't have the courage or the ability to stand up to the
    demands of Trump's Big Oil and Big Gas and Big Coal donors because, if
    these donors tell Zeldin to wipe any policy meant to protect public
    health and the planet off the books, it seems he is ready to take out
    an eraser and to hop to it, regardless of the science, regardless of
    the law, regardless of the well-being of the American people in the
    long run, especially young people. The Green New Deal generation, they
    want change. They want action. They want to move the same way we moved
    from a black rotary dial phone to this. It only took 20 years. It would
    have seemed impossible to a black rotary dial phone manufacturer, but
    it happened because you trusted young people to do the work.

      What else is Trump doing for his fossil fuel friends? He is taking
    their money while he costs you your money.
      Trump's billionaire oil and gas donors promised him $1 billion last
    April in a meeting if Trump would take all of the clean energy
    incentives off of the books--$1 billion. This is all pay-to-play. They
    raised the money for him, and he delivered a sham energy emergency
    Executive order that is already forcing working families to pay more in
    order to line the pockets of those big oil, big gas, big coal donors.
      This emergency is a lie. The United States is already the world's
    largest oil and gas producer. It is the largest exporter of LNG in the
    world. It is a lie. It is a lie. It is a lie.
      Everything Donald Trump says about an energy emergency is a lie to
    the American people because he has to lie to cover up the fact that oil
    and gas production is up. But they are so greedy, they want this body
    and the EPA to kill wind and solar, battery storage technologies, all-
    electric vehicles. That is how greedy they are. It is not enough that
    they have their largest production capacity in history, because this is
    really an excuse for Trump and Musk to rig the rules for Big Oil so
    they can produce the dirty energy while they easily seize Americans'
    lands and pollute the air and water.
      They want to go on public land now to drill for oil and gas, even
    though we don't need it. We don't need it.
      There is a revolution that if we just let it unfold, it would be 94
    percent next year, 94 percent the next year. What they are afraid of is
    10 years from now, when everyone says, oh, I love this new world we are
    living in, the nonpolluting, nongreenhouse gas world of renewable
    energy.
      The real emergency, the real crisis is the climate crisis itself,
    which continues to turbocharge extreme weather. It is costing lives,
    billions in damages, sky-high energy bills, insurance rates out of
    control in all these States that are having these superstorms and
    fires. Yet Trump is dismantling programs that reduce energy prices,
    lower heating bills, keep our air and water clean, and create jobs
    while trying to ram through the dirty energy projects that will do just
    the opposite.
      And what does he want to do? He wants to take out a chain saw. That
    is what he wants to do. He is taking out his chain saw.
      He wants to call this waste, fraud, and corruption, a revolution that
    creates this incredible economic--
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time for the proponent is expired.
      Mr. MARKEY.--to chop all of those programs down at the knees. We are
    going to fight it every single step of the way.
      I thank Senator Kaine, and I thank Senator Heinrich for giving us
    this time on the floor to be able to explain to the American people
    what is going on.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.

          Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems

      Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to come to the floor again
    today to discuss my resolution to block the Democrats' natural gas tax,
    which I will call up right after we vote to affirm President Trump's
    national energy emergency declaration.
      The Biden administration's tax and regulatory onslaught over the past
    4 years have driven up the cost of energy and led to a national energy
    emergency for our Nation.
      One of the most egregious examples is a new tax on natural gas, and
    that is why I am leading S.J. Res. 12, a Congressional Review Act
    resolution to block this tax from taking effect.
      My resolution will rescind the rule implementing the Democrats'
    natural gas tax that the Biden administration finalized late last year.
      Congressional Democrats and President Biden mandated this new tax
    under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was, of course, the
    Inflation Acceleration Act, taking inflation all the way up to 9
    percent. The Environmental Protection Agency issued its final
    implementing rule on November 18 of last year.
      The EPA's natural gas tax rule imposes stringent methane emissions
    charges on qualified petroleum and natural gas infrastructure, starting
    at $900 a ton for emissions in 2024; it then goes up to $1,200; and
    then, ultimately, up to $1,500 per ton in 2026 and subsequent years.
      Unless overturned, this would be the first time the Federal
    Government has ever imposed a direct tax on emissions. This new charge
    can equate to an effective tax increase on natural gas on top of other
    taxes of more than 5 percent.
      This will have a disproportionate impact on small oil and gas
    producers in my home State of North Dakota and across the country, many
    of which already operate on thin margins and cannot afford the high
    costs to comply with this onerous rule.

    [[Page S1390]]

      Simply put, this is a punitive tax that will be passed along to
    consumers and will force energy developers to shut in production. That
    means higher prices to heat your homes. That means higher prices to
    cook your food. That means higher cost of natural gas for all
    consumers. Also, less supply of domestic energy means higher gas bills
    for consumers and an increased reliance on energy imports.
      Instead of new taxes and regulations designed to stifle production,
    we should be supporting innovation to maximize the use of our abundant
    and affordable oil and gas reserves.
      Our energy producers utilize the latest and the greatest technology,
    enabling more energy production with the best environmental
    stewardship.

      Today, the United States is the world's largest oil and gas producer,
    and at the same time, we have also led the world in emissions
    reductions
      Since 1990, U.S. natural gas production has doubled--this is an
    interesting stat. Since 1990, U.S. natural gas production has doubled;
    yet at the same time, we have reduced total emissions by 20 percent--
    double the output--double the output and a 20-percent reduction in
    emissions. We have been able to increase crude oil production by 60
    percent over the same time period.
      When I was Governor of North Dakota in 2000, our State was producing
    less than 100,000 barrels a day. We took that up to 1.5 million barrels
    of oil a day. This doesn't just happen overnight. It is because we work
    to provide the regulatory certainty to empower innovation and
    entrepreneurial spirit to unlock the potential for energy development
    in our State and in our country.
      As North Dakota became an energy powerhouse, our State producers have
    worked hard to meet the challenges of managing growing volumes of
    natural gas associated with oil production.
      North Dakota producers have endeavored to dramatically increase the
    targeted gas capture rate from 74 percent to 95 percent over the past
    10 years, again, through innovation, through technology--the latest and
    greatest methods that we have implemented.
      Producers want to improve on that rate--and we continue to--but the
    Biden administration and its Green New Deal allies tried to make it--
    and, in fact, did make it--harder to permit the very gathering systems
    that we needed to capture that natural gas. So they impeded our ability
    to reduce emissions.
      Instead of supporting more gathering lines and interstate pipelines,
    the Biden administration's natural gas tax will hinder domestic
    production.
      Further, because our Nation generates over 40 percent of our
    electricity from natural gas, burdensome taxes on natural gas producers
    will result in more expensive and less reliable electricity, more
    inflation for consumers across the country as a result.
      Also, less production at home makes other nations and our allies
    abroad more dependent on adversarial nations that have no regard for
    environmental standards. Think Russia. Think Venezuela. Think OPEC.
      At the end of the day, energy security directly impacts our economic
    and national security. This is about taking the handcuffs off and
    empowering our energy producers to increase supply and bring down
    prices for American families and businesses. That is why we are working
    to roll back the Biden administration's disastrous policies on energy,
    like this natural gas tax.
      I want to thank EPW, Chairwoman Capito, and the 25 other cosponsors
    of my resolution.
      I urge all of my colleagues to support this Congressional Review Act
    resolution.
      I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and the Trump
    administration to repeal this misguided tax on natural gas, while
    increasing energy production across the board in this country with good
    environmental stewardship that will truly make America energy dominant
    once again.
      I yield back all remaining time.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
      The clerk will read the title of the resolution for the third time.
      The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading
    and was read the third time.

                              vote on S.J. Res. 10

      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The joint resolution having been read the
    third time, the question is, Shall the joint resolution pass?
      Mr. WYDEN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
      There appears to be a sufficient second.
      The clerk will call the roll.
      The assistant bill clerk called the roll.
      Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the
    Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).
      The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 52, as follows:

                          [Rollcall Vote No. 95 Leg.]

                                    YEAS--47

         Alsobrooks
         Baldwin
         Bennet
         Blumenthal
         Blunt Rochester
         Booker
         Cantwell
         Coons
         Cortez Masto
         Duckworth
         Durbin
         Fetterman
         Gallego
         Gillibrand
         Hassan
         Heinrich
         Hickenlooper
         Hirono
         Kaine
         Kelly
         Kim
         King
         Klobuchar
         Lujan
         Markey
         Merkley
         Murphy
         Murray
         Ossoff
         Padilla
         Peters
         Reed
         Rosen
         Sanders
         Schatz
         Schiff
         Schumer
         Shaheen
         Slotkin
         Smith
         Van Hollen
         Warner
         Warnock
         Warren
         Welch
         Whitehouse
         Wyden

                                    NAYS--52

         Banks
         Barrasso
         Blackburn
         Boozman
         Britt
         Budd
         Capito
         Cassidy
         Collins
         Cornyn
         Cotton
         Crapo
         Cruz
         Curtis
         Daines
         Ernst
         Fischer
         Graham
         Grassley
         Hagerty
         Hawley
         Hoeven
         Husted
         Hyde-Smith
         Johnson
         Justice
         Kennedy
         Lankford
         Lee
         Lummis
         Marshall
         McConnell
         McCormick
         Moody
         Moran
         Moreno
         Mullin
         Murkowski
         Paul
         Ricketts
         Risch
         Rounds
         Schmitt
         Scott (FL)
         Scott (SC)
         Sheehy
         Sullivan
         Thune
         Tillis
         Tuberville
         Wicker
         Young

                                 NOT VOTING--1

         Cramer

      The joint resolution (S.J. Res. 10) was rejected.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Justice). The Senator from North Dakota.

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