Floor Statements

I call up my amendment No. 1078 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, I want to urge passage of an amendment to reauthorize this critical housing law for American Indians, Native Hawaiians, and Alaska Natives, NAHASDA. This amendment would reauthorize NAHASDA for 7 years, promote greater local control over NAHASDA programs, streamline environmental reviews for Native housing projects, and incentivize private partnerships.

Senator Murkowski and I introduced a stand-alone bill to reauthorize NAHASDA, which cleared our committee unanimously.

This amendment is an important win for Native communities to address their urgent housing needs. It has gone through regular order and has been well studied for years.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this important measure.

Mr. President, as we move forward with the National Defense Authorization Act, I want to say a little bit about why it is so important that we get this done.

Over the last several months, the administration and all of us in the Senate--with particular thanks to Chair Reed and Ranking Member Wicker--have worked hard to deliver a bill that will keep our country safe.

There is a lot in this bill, and we all know about some of the big stuff. This year's NDAA will better position us to deter conflict in the Indo-Pacific, strengthen our cyber security capabilities, help us acquire next-gen microelectronics to keep our military competitive, extend our security assistance to Ukraine, and authorize other programs that support our national defense.

These are all reasons that I support this legislation, but I want to highlight a couple of provisions that are just as important and are focused on taking care of the people who serve our country--civilian and military--and underscore the need for accountability. People are the glue that holds everything together, and they are why we have a strong national defense. Some of these provisions are included in this bill, but others we are still working on to include in the final package.

One provision we worked to secure in this bill deals directly with the State of Hawaii. When the Department of the Navy's Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility leaked jet fuel into the water system on the island of Oahu, many were exposed to contaminated water. Although we are on a path to defuel and permanently close the facility, we still do not have an accurate accounting of those affected.

This year's Defense authorization includes my bill establishing a registry to track and collect health data from those who were exposed to the fuel leak. This is a meaningful step to continue to deliver resources to community members, servicemembers, and military families and monitor long-term health concerns. This leak should have never happened, but now we need to do everything we can to help those who have been impacted.

A key provision we are still working to include in the final package will help us to better protect the most vulnerable among us--kids. In 2018, the Department of Defense's internet network was ranked 19th out of almost 3,000 nationwide networks in the amount of peer-to-peer child pornography shared--19th out of 3,000. The ranking remains shocking and unacceptable, but it was not entirely unexpected. A 2006 investigation by Federal law enforcement officials found that 5,000 individuals-- 5,000 individuals, including hundreds affiliated with the Department of Defense--subscribed to websites that contained child sexual abuse images and videos.

Out of those 5,000 people, 80 percent of them were not investigated-- 80 percent of them were not investigated. That is because the military lacked the capacity and the resources needed to follow up on leads, coordinate with local and Federal law enforcement, and prosecute the criminals.

So Senator Murkowski and I went to work and authored a bill that would give the DOD the tools that they needed to address this problem. The END Network Abuse Act received bipartisan support and was included in the 2020 Defense bill, clearing the way for DOD to act. But it is almost 4 years later, and the DOD has been maddeningly slow to implement this law.

This cannot wait any further. My amendment would simply compel the Department of Defense to implement this law immediately. We cannot afford to let another day, another month, another 4 years go by without addressing this matter. The stakes are too high, and we already have a Federal law.

While these provisions aren't the most attractive to cable news--they are not leading the headlines or national papers--they directly impact our greatest national security asset: our people. Talking about our national defense priorities means nothing if we neglect to support the people who make it possible. We have to continue to honor our commitment to care for them, whether it is through quality healthcare, protecting the most vulnerable, or keeping ourselves accountable to those who serve. Our job in Congress is to deliver for them, and that means passing a final bill.

Executive Calendar

Mr. President, on a different but related topic, later today, some of my colleagues, including Chair Reed and Senator Kelly, will speak on the critical topic of our military promotions

and the crisis currently caused by their delay here in the Senate by the obstruction of a few Republican Senators.

For example, for the first time in over 100 years, we have an Acting Commandant of the Marine Corps. The service that is reorganizing to better compete in the Indo-Pacific--the region that we all say we need to prioritize--has no confirmed head. General Smith, the nominee and Acting Commandant, is a decorated servicemember, and there is no reason to delay his confirmation.

More than 250 career military promotions are being held up--250 career military promotions are being held up. This is hitting the morale of the forces, and it is causing a backlog in the chain of command. If Senator Tuberville wants to have a debate, let us debate on the floor. But to penalize the Armed Forces of the United States of America in this way is an abuse of the power of advice and consent.

Let's just be really clear. We don't vote on flag and general officer promotions. That is done in what they call a wrapup script, right? At the end of some evening, the leader or his designee reads a script and says, ``I ask that nominations numbered,'' and then he lists them or she lists them. And then all of those one stars become two stars and three stars become four stars and you have a new Commandant of the Marine Corps and the pack fleet commander moves from one star to two stars, whatever it is.

It is perfunctory because we are not in the position of making individual judgments. We don't have the time or the expertise to make individual judgments about 250 flag and general officers, the people who oversee every service branch.

So the idea that we should sit here and burn up postcloture time and turn the Senate into the personnel committee for the Department of Defense is antithetical to the idea of advice and consent. And, yes, every Senator has enormous power. I could probably block the Defense bill this week if I wanted to. But I won't. You know why? Because I am not a maniac; because I understand that when you vest someone through your voters with this kind of power, you have to be very careful how you exercise it.

In my 11-odd years, I blocked one or two things. And when I block something, people know I am serious. I have never--and I know no one of the current 100 Senators besides Senator Tuberville and no one else before him--I have never seen this in my life.

This is a breaking of the Department of Defense, and this is a breaking of the basic understanding that, hey, we are going to vest each other with the kind of authority that is pretty enormous, right? But in exchange, you have to use that power wisely. In exchange, you have to use that power wisely.

Senator Tuberville is mad about an abortion issue, and so he is preventing all of these general and flag officers from getting their promotions. It is bad for morale; it is bad for the chain of command; and it is also bad for these individual families.

You have people who have to make basic choices: real estate decisions. Am I renting a condo or not? Where am I living? I am not even sure. Where should I enroll my kids in school? I don't know. My whole life depends on when Senator Tuberville decides that this craziness is over.

It has to end. It is bad for the country; it is bad for the Senate; and it is bad for the U.S. Armed Forces.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we start the vote now.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, 8 months ago, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act. Sometimes when a major bill is passed, its effects are not immediate, but that is not the case with this legislation.

Since the IRA was signed into law, more than 100 clean energy projects have been announced. These include solar, wind, hydrogen power, battery manufacturing, electric vehicle development, and clean tech investments. If it seems like I am excited, it is because I am. They are in rural areas, in major cities, and everywhere in between, and in more than 30 States, from Idaho to Louisiana, to Ohio, to Arizona. Collectively, these projects have created more than 100,000 new jobs for electricians, for mechanics, for construction workers, for technicians, and more, but these 100,000 jobs are only the beginning.

A report from the University of Massachusetts projects that the IRA will create more than 9 million jobs over the next decade. I want to repeat that: 9 million jobs over the next decade. Those are manufacturing jobs for wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles to make our power grid more resilient and our roads less polluted. They are construction jobs to make our homes and our buildings more energy efficient and to lower costs for families and small businesses. They are environmental jobs to support farmers, to protect fisheries, and to restore our public lands.

Investments supporting these new jobs and projects are already near $90 billion, and with financial analysts projecting a multiplier effect of 1.6 dollars in private sector investment for every dollar of public spending, even the most optimistic predictions about the IRA's impact seem low now. A Credit Suisse report analyzing the bill estimates that we will see double the amount of clean energy that the bill was initially projected to accomplish--double the amount of clean energy. A new analysis from Goldman Sachs puts the impact even higher: triple the amount of clean energy that we were contemplating.

This shift is already happening in Colorado, where it is seeing a rapid expansion in clean energy development.

DR Richardson, who runs a business in electrifying homes with heat pumps and induction wiring, said about the change that ``we are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. The Inflation Reduction Act has been a massive tailwind for us.''

In Michigan, the State's manufacturing background and embrace of electric vehicles could lead to as many as 34,000 new clean energy jobs. According to researcher Aaron Brickman, ``There's a strategy, there's a plan, and the benefits are already being seen. . . . Michigan is poised for an economic boom.''

In Texas, a massive $4 billion investment to create the country's largest green hydrogen facility was recently announced. It will also generate 1.4 gigawatts of wind and solar, enough to power nearly 750,000 homes. In the words of Seifi Ghasemi, the CEO of a company behind the investment, ``It will be competitive on a world scale while bringing significant tax, job, and energy security benefits to Texas.''

That is really what the IRA entails: new jobs, energy security, and a cleaner planet.

But there is an opponent to this progress. The opponent is the fossil fuel industry. They have gotten rich digging up oil and burning coal for generations, but now we are seeing the energy of the future that is not fossil fuels. They know that they have lost, so the industry and its supporters are attempting to stall this progress by throwing whatever they can find at it. They are pursuing litigation. They are pushing NIMBYism--``not in my backyard.'' They are trying to stop clean energy projects through the State public utility and public service commissions. They are attempting to hijack the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Through this CRA, they are trying to grind solar manufacturing to a halt.

So, if you hear this debate around this particular Congressional Review Act resolution, which we are contemplating today, it is not actually about this. There is a bigger story here, and the story is this: We finally took climate action that wasn't small. We finally took an action that was equal to the moment. We finally took action that was equal to the obligation that we have to future generations, that was equal to the opportunity for the United States and the entire planet to move forward on clean energy that benefits everybody, that lowers costs and saves our planet for the future.

So when they come after this particular action of the Biden administration, don't get lost in the weeds; they have lost. They are dead-enders. They know that. And so they will pick up a Congressional Review Act here or a Public Service Commission over there or they will gin up a bunch of NIMBYism over here or they will introduce another bill over there. But this is part of a story where, for the first time--and I mean this because it has been decades of us getting our butts kicked--for the first time, we are taking the kind of climate action that can actually make a difference, and they are terrified. That is what this CRA is all about.

We can choose more manufacturing jobs, or we can choose less; energy security or a continued dependence on foreign dictators; a forward- thinking outlook or a mindset from the past. That is what this CRA is ultimately about.

Despite the arguments the dark money apparatus of the fossil industry is making, it doesn't change what they are. They are arguments that belong in the past. It is the equivalent of a pay phone tycoon failing to adapt after the iPhone came out.

But we don't have to be beholden to an industry whose strongest days are in the past. No matter what happens with this vote, the demand for solar panels made in America is not going away. The demand for energy- efficient homes and electric vehicles is not going away. The demand for renewable energy is not going away.

The IRA was not a one-off but the first, most meaningful step in the transition to the clean energy revolution. And the forces opposing this progress will be forced to recognize that sooner or later.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations: all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of PN284, PN354, and the names sent to the desk under PN285; that the Senate proceed to their en bloc consideration and vote without intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I have four requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

committee on armed services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 8 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs

The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on foreign relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 10 a.m., to conduct a business meeting.

committee on the judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at a.m., to conduct an executive business meeting.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions introduced earlier today: S. Res. 182 and S. Res. 183.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to; the preambles be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, May 1; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Johnstone nomination postcloture; further, that all cloture time be considered expired at 5:30 p.m. and that the cloture motions filed during yesterday's session ripen on Tuesday, May 2; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Monday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

I ask for the yeas and nays.