Floor Statements

Mr. President, later this afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of Congress.

It has been 291 days since Israel suffered the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust at the hands of evil Hamas terrorists. The pain of October 7 remains fresh because, to this day, at least 116 Israeli hostages remain in captivity, including women, teenagers, the elderly; including American citizens; including New Yorkers--my constituents.

Yesterday afternoon, I met with some of the families of the hostages, where I reaffirmed a solemn promise I made months ago and each day since: I am doing everything in my power to ensure their loved ones come home safe and sound. Today is yet another opportunity to fight for just that.

Even though I disagree with many of Bibi Netanyahu's policies, I will attend the speech because the United States' relationship with Israel remains ironclad and transcends any Prime Minister or President, and we must do all we can to get our hostages home.

I told the families of the hostages I will continue supporting the Biden administration and all negotiators as they push Hamas to agree to a deal that will release the hostages and bring relief to Gaza. The negotiators have agreed on a framework, and now is the time to close the deal.

Later today, I will also meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu during a bipartisan, bicameral meeting of the congressional leadership. I promised the families I would relay their message directly with the Prime Minister: Do all you can to bring the hostages home now.

Many of the families I met with yesterday were the very same families I met with during my trip to Israel just a few days after the October 7 attack

where their loved ones were captured. I can only imagine what the last 8 months have been like for these courageous souls, not knowing if their loves ones are even alive.

I was particularly glad to meet with some of the families from New York, including the family of Itay Chen, who was murdered on October 7 and whose body is still being held hostage. I also met with the family of Omer Neutra, who remains in captivity and whose family will be attending the speech as my guests.

Omer was serving as a tank commander near Gaza when he was taken, but back home he had his whole life ahead of him. He is a student athlete, a Knicks fan, the captain of his school's basketball team, and was set to attend Binghamton University, one of the finest universities in the country, after his service. And there are many, many just like Omer whom we still need to bring home.

There is simply no time to waste with a deal within reach. Yesterday, another hostage family member told me the tragic story of her family. Her mother and brother were both taken captive by Hamas on October 7. Today, her mother is home, released in the November hostage deal, but her brother is dead, murdered in captivity. As she told me, ``the difference in fates of her mother and her brother lies at the negotiating table.''

The survival of the hostages depends on closing a deal now. The Prime Minister must make bringing the hostages home a top priority, and I promised the families that is what I will tell him when we meet this afternoon.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Acting President pro tempore of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, into the House Chamber for the joint meeting on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Mr. President, on a different issue, KOSA and COPPA, tomorrow, the Senate will get the chance to take a major step forward on ensuring our kids' safety. We will hold a cloture vote on a measure that contains two resoundingly bipartisan bills: the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

Both of these bills have been around since last Congress. Both have gone through the Senate Commerce Committee without opposition. But there have been many roadblocks to both KOSA and COPPA, and the parents who have been pushing and pushing and pushing for kids' online safety are fed up with the delay.

But I believe this time will be different. This time I am very hopeful that we can pass these bills through the Chamber.

I have worked closely with Members on both sides to get these bills ready for the floor. I made sure Members had plenty of time to offer their input, work through disagreements, and arrive at a consensus. Now, the moment to act has arrived. We are going to get our chance to take the next big step tomorrow.

I have had many difficult meetings with constituents as a Member of this body, but few, few have been as heart-wrenching as the meetings I have had with the parents of kids who took their own lives because of what happened to them on social media.

I met with one parent from New York yesterday whose child suffered this terrible fate. She has lost her child forever.

And I have met many others back home and across the country who are in a similar situation. Some of the parents told me about how their kids were relentlessly bullied online. Others told me about how their kids were targeted by predators or duped into buying deadly drugs. Virtually all the parents shared their stories about the intense mental anguish their kids suffered.

When I talked to the parents who lost their children, when I saw the pictures of their kids that they were holding up yesterday--I have seen those pictures before. I think of my kids when they were little. I think of my grandkids today. What if one of them goes online and loses their life? God forbid. God forbid.

The loss shatters your heart, and I think to myself that if we could get these bills done, it would do so much good for millions of families across the country. Tomorrow is the day we must act.

So I want to thank so many of the Senators who labored tirelessly on these bills. I especially want to thank Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn for their work on KOSA, as well as Senators Markey and Cassidy for their work on COPPA. I also wish to thank Chair Cantwell for her excellent leadership on the Commerce Committee. I look forward to voting on advancing KOSA/COPPA here on the floor later this week.

Mr. President, now, next topic, tonight President Biden will address the Nation on a most solemn matter, his decision--his generous, wonderful decision--to pass the torch at the end of his term and his vision for the future of America.

President Biden's decision to stand down from a second term in office will go down as one of the greatest acts of patriotism of any President in our long, storied U.S. history. To pass the torch is one of the hardest decisions possible for someone whose life has been entirely about leadership, but he did it because he believed it was the right thing to do for the country he loved so much.

Nevertheless, tonight I expect President Biden to remind the American people that one thing hasn't changed: Right now, our democracy stands at a crossroads, and we--all of us--have a lot of work left to do.

Democrats want to keep America moving forward with greater hope and opportunity for everybody. Republicans, on the other hand, are hell- bent on taking our country backward with chaos, with dysfunction.

If anyone needed a clearer contrast between the Democrats' and the Republicans' vision for America, just take a look at the latest Trump plan proposed by the very conservative, the arch conservative Heritage Foundation. The more the American people learn the details of Project 2025, the more trouble Donald Trump is going to have. Let me say that again: The more the American people learn the details about Project 2025, the more trouble Donald Trump is going to have. The Trump plan calls for the most conservative agenda in American history, chocked full of radical, rightwing MAGA proposals that are way out of line with the mainstream.

While Democrats are focused on protecting reproductive rights and a woman's right to choose, the Trump plan lays the groundwork for a national abortion ban. While Democrats are focused on providing student debt relief to millions of borrowers, the Trump plans calls for defunding the Department of Education. While Democrats are focused on creating jobs and making our Tax Code fairer for working families, the Trump plan calls for more tax cuts for the very wealthy, the corporate elites, the mega corporations. While Democrats are focused on tackling climate change and lowering energy costs, the Trump plan would gut our clean energy investments, empower the Nation's biggest oil and gas producers, and throw thousands and thousands who are now in good-paying jobs out of work.

The list goes on and on and on, but the bottom line is this: America cannot afford 4 years of the Trump plan. It would be dangerous for our democracy, disastrous for our economy, horrible for the average American family, and downright destructive for the progress we have made in the last 4 years.

Mr. President, I understand that the Chair has an announcement to make.

Mr. President, I understand that there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading en bloc.

In order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding en bloc.

Now, Mr. President, for as long as I have known Joe Biden, I have known him to be a man of one thing: a man who fervently loves his country. From the moment he was elected to the New Castle County Council to his swearing in as Delaware's Senator at age 30, to his elevation as our Nation's 47th Vice President, and to his election as our 46th President, Joe Biden's North Star has not changed: serving the people of the United States of America.

This weekend, President Biden made the kind of decision only a true patriot can make, choosing to pass the torch and to step away from the Presidency at the conclusion of this term.

I know President Biden's decision wasn't an easy one, but, once again, he put the needs of his country and our future first. It is a bittersweet moment but one that fills every single one of us who knows President Biden with limitless gratitude.

On behalf of a grateful Democratic caucus, on behalf of a grateful Senate, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I wish to say thank you-- thank you--to President Biden for dedication to our country, and we will keep working with him every single day until this term is done.

By willingly passing the torch, Joe Biden is precisely the kind of leader George Washington would have hoped for. In his Farewell Address, our first President affirmed that elected office belongs to no man or woman alone but to the people above all. Two hundred thirty years later, President Biden honors George Washington's example in a way few Presidents ever have.

But to those of us who have known Joe Biden all these years, we know that this is who he truly is: a man of profound decency. He is, at his core, an honorable man, a family man, a man of faith. And he restored those qualities to the Presidency after 4 years of disaster under the previous administration.

Now, future generations will look at Joe Biden's Presidency and see it was one of the most consequential in American history. It may seem like a lifetime ago, but when President Biden entered office, America was in crisis. A once-in-a-century pandemic was claiming thousands of lives by the day. Our economy was on life support. And in the aftermath of January 6, American democracy was hanging by a thread.

Three and a half years later, America is stronger, more prosperous, and our future is brighter because of President Biden's leadership. And it has been the honor of a lifetime for me to work side by side to bring the Senate Democratic agenda to life here in the U.S. Senate.

With President Biden, we have created 15 million new jobs since the depths of the pandemic, the most in a single term. With President Biden, we have lowered the cost of prescription drugs for tens of millions of Americans. We empowered Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for the first time ever. We have made insulin $35 a month for millions of seniors. And we expanded affordable healthcare to more Americans than ever before.

With President Biden, we enacted a generational infrastructure bill to rebuild America, fixing her roads and bridges and highways and lead piping and expanding broadband to so many rural and inner-city areas that didn't have it. I was proud to lead these efforts in this Chamber.

With President Biden, we passed the first gun safety law in 30 years, the first since the Brady bill that I led as a Member of Congress back in the 1990s. And I remember working then with Senator Biden on gun legislation, both the assault weapons ban and the Brady Law.

With President Biden, we enacted the boldest clean energy bill in the history of our Nation: the Inflation Reduction Act. Because of this bill, our kids will breathe cleaner air, our communities will see less pollution, the next generation will enjoy millions--millions--of new, good-paying, green jobs that will last for generations--jobs with a future.

With President Biden, we revived America's grand tradition of scientific research and technological innovation. With the Chips and Science Act, advanced manufacturing is coming back to America, to cities like Syracuse and Albany, but also in States like Arizona and Ohio and Idaho and Texas and so many others.

And with President Biden, America has led the free world to defend democracy in its hour of need. He united the nations of NATO to stand with the people of Ukraine against Vladimir Putin, and NATO is stronger and larger today than it was when he took office.

Incredibly, Mr. President, there is still much, much more. President Biden led the way in appointing the first Black woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. I worked with him and my colleagues here in the Senate--I thank so many of them--to confirm more than 200 Federal judges, the most diverse slate of judicial and Federal nominees America has ever seen. We worked with him on historic veterans' health reform. We expanded Federal protections for marriage equality--all this and more.

Truly, President Biden's legislative accomplishments are without equal in our recent history.

Of course, the work is not done. This is not a moment of culmination because we have a lot of work left to do. For everything that has transpired these past few weeks, one thing has not changed: Senate Democrats will continue working with President Biden and with Vice President Harris and with the entire Biden-Harris administration to make life better.

It was so typical of the President. When he called me to tell me the news that he was not running again, he said: But we have a lot more work to do over the next several months. It shows you the commitment of the man to making the lives of people better.

So we will continue to work on those issues, but, for now, I want to say for a grateful nation: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Joseph Robinette Biden.

What an amazing legacy President Biden will leave for future generations. History will say of this moment: Here was one of our great American Presidents. He is a leader who made the most difficult choice at the most important moment because he believed it was the right thing to do. Here is someone who put country ahead of self until the very end.

Now on KOSA-COPPA, when you are a parent, there is no greater pain imaginable than the pain of losing a child--in my case, I might say a grandchild as well. We all think of it almost every day when we have kids, when we have grandkids: What if they are gone? How would we even go forward?

My kids are now adults and have kids of their own. But I remember when they were little, nothing mattered more to me than keeping them safe. As parents, that is what we want to do--keep our kids safe as much as we can, to shield them from the harms they are too young to handle, and to ensure we as a country guard against those who would prey or exploit or otherwise harm our loved ones. I feel this way as strongly as ever as a grandparent when I think of my three beautiful grandchildren: Noah, who is age 5; Eleanor, who is age 2; and Henry, who is age 1.

Unlike decades past, ensuring our kids' safety today means ensuring their online safety, to protect kids from online bullying and exploitation and other risks to their mental health.

Social media has helped hundreds of millions of people to connect in new ways over the last two decades, but there are also new and sometimes serious health risks that come along with those benefits. We cannot set these risks aside. On this issue, we desperately need to catch up.

So this week, I am proud to say the Senate will vote on kids' online safety. For the information of Senators, I am announcing that this week, the Senate will take up two bipartisan bills to protect our kids while they use the internet--the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. Today, I will move to lay a message before the Senate that I intend to use as a vehicle for the substance of those two bills. Members should prepare for a cloture vote on the message as soon as Thursday.

Passing kids' online safety, Mr. President, as we all know, as you

know, has been months in the making. This has been a long and bumpy road, but one thing I always knew for sure was that it would be worth it. I worked closely with Members on both sides of the aisle to get the bills ready for the floor--Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn, Markey and Cassidy, and so many others. I made sure that Members on both sides had plenty of time to offer their input, work through disagreements, and arrive at a consensus. Now, after months of hard work, the moment to act has arrived, and the Senate should pass these bills swiftly.

Nothing has galvanized me and so many others of us here in the Senate more to act on kids' online safety than meeting with parents who lost loved ones. Over the past month, I met with many parents from New York and from around the country whose kids took their own lives because of what happened to them on social media. Some of these kids were bullied. Others were targeted by predators or had their personal, private information stolen. Practically all of them suffered deep mental health anguish in some way and felt like they had nowhere to turn. And in far too many cases, their suffering ended in tragedy, as they took their own lives.

I can't comprehend the pain these parents have felt. No one would fault them if they hid away, if they mourned their children away from the spotlight and processed their grief in private. But the parents I have met are amazing. They have done the opposite. Instead of retreating into darkness, they lit a candle. They worked doggedly to ensure other parents don't have to endure the pain they did.

I was just talking to one of the New York parents who was here. That is what she said. It so touched me: I want to make sure what happened to my child doesn't happen to others.

These parents made their children's memory into a blessing--a blessing that now bears fruit in the form of legislation that will prevent other kids from meeting the same terrible fate.

So, for me, this effort is personal. To every Senator who has been a parent, it is personal. When I talk to parents who lost their children, see the pictures of their kids, I think of my kids when they were little, and I think of my grandchildren today. The loss shatters your heart. I think to myself, if we could get these bills done, it would do so much good for millions of families across the country.

We are going to get this done.

We are going to get this done.

I thank the Senators who labored tirelessly on these bills, especially Blumenthal and Blackburn for their work on KOSA, Markey and Cassidy for COPPA, and Chair Cantwell for her excellent leadership on the Commerce Committee. I look forward to voting on advancing KOSA and COPPA here on the floor later this week.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I move to proceed to legislative session.

I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on S. 2073.

The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 2073) entitled

``An Act to amend title 31, United States Code, to require

agencies to include a list of outdated or duplicative

reporting requirements in annual budget justifications, and

for other purposes'' do pass with an amendment.

Motion to Concur with Amendment No. 3021

(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.)

I move that the Senate concur in the House amendment to S. 2073 with amendment No. 3021, which is at the desk.

I ask that further reading be dispensed with.

I have a cloture motion at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to concur with the amendment.

I have an amendment to amendment No. 3021, which is at the desk.

I ask that further reading be dispensed with.

I move to refer the House message to the Committee on Homeland Security with instructions to report back forthwith an amendment No. 3023.

I ask that further reading be waived.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

I ask that further reading be waived.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

I have an amendment to amendment No. 3024, which is at the desk.

I ask that further reading of the amendment be waived.

Madam President, I have some good news for the Senate. Before we adjourn this evening, I would like to celebrate two significant bills that just passed the Senate two moments ago.

First, just now, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to combat the spread of sexually explicit AI-generated deepfakes, the DEFIANCE Act. I commend Senator Durbin for his excellent work on this bill. I was proud to support it every step of the way, and it is a very, very important thing we get this bill done.

As we know, AI plays a bigger role in our lives than ever before. While it has many benefits, it is also easier than ever to create sexually explicit deepfakes without a person's consent. It is a horrible attack on someone's privacy and dignity to have these fake images of them circuiting online without recourse.

This isn't just some fringe issue that happens to only a few people. It is a widespread problem. These types of malicious and hurtful pictures can destroy lives. Nobody is immune, not even celebrities like Taylor Swift or Megan Thee Stallion. It is a grotesque practice. Victims of these deepfakes are deserved justice. This is one of the examples of the AI guardrails I often talk about.

AI is a remarkable technology that can spur incredible innovation, but we must pass guardrails to prevent its worst abuses from causing people grave harm.

By passing this bill, we are telling victims of explicit nonconsensual deepfakes that we hear them and we are taking action. I urge the House now to take up this piece of legislation so victims of nonconsensual deepfakes can have the justice they deserve. It is just awful what people do to people

with deepfakes. This bill will end that. It is a very good thing.

We passed another very good bill a few moments ago as well. The Senate passed the Preventing Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act. This bill will get to the root of financing behind these deadly and destructive drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. I have led the way here in the Senate for months cracking down on supply chains of drugs like fentanyl.

Last fall, I met with Chinese President Xi and urged him and the Chinese Government to do more work to crack down on companies that allow precursor chemicals to make their way to countries like Mexico and made often by gangs into fentanyl and sent into the U.S.

Just a few months ago, I led the Senate passing the national security supplemental, which included the FEND Off Fentanyl Act. This bill is another step in that direction--the right direction--to better understand and anticipate how malicious synthetic drug traffickers finance their operations.

Two Senators worked very hard on this legislation and deserve the credit. Our two Senators from Nevada, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Senator Jacky Rosen. I want to commend them for their excellent work.

So these two bills--they are passing quietly later this evening, but they are very important. I hope that people will take notice of them and show that the Senate is fighting the scourge of drugs and fighting the scourge of deepfakes.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3696 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Durbin-Grassley substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to.

I ask that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

The bill, as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill as amended.

I finally ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

That, by the way, just to note, is the deepfakes bill. It passed right now, as opposed to a few minutes ago.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee be discharged from and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1076.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, that was the fentanyl bill led by Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen that I mentioned a few minutes ago.

Madam President, now, finally, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 24; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, 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 Way nomination; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture vote on the Way nomination occur at 3:15 p.m. and the cloture votes on the Landy and Taylor nominations occur at 5 p.m. in the order in which cloture was filed; further, that the Senate recess from 11:45 a.m. until 3 p.m.; further, that if cloture is invoked on any of the nominations, the confirmation votes occur at times to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader.

Finally, as a reminder, tomorrow at 2 p.m., Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, will address a joint meeting of Congress. Senators should gather in the Senate Chamber at 1:20 p.m., and we will proceed to the House Chamber at 1:30 p.m.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of Senators Welch and Sanders.

I yield the floor.