Floor Statements

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, March 12, be waived.

Mr. 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 eight 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:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 104, S. 1189.

I ask unanimous consent that the Capito amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 105, S. 1194.

I ask unanimous consent that the Carper amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2882, which was received from House and is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask further that the Kelly substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be discharged from further consideration of S. 50 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Rubio substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 587, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Finally, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 14; 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 upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of Calendar No. 318, Dennis Hankins, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti; further, that at 12 noon the Senate vote on the confirmation of the Hankins nomination, and that if the nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; that upon disposition of the nomination, the Senate resume consideration of the Berner nomination; further, that the cloture motion with respect to the Berner nomination ripen at 1:45 p.m.

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

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

Madam President, today, President Biden released his budget for fiscal year 2025. President Biden's budget can be summarized in three words: bold, optimistic, responsible.

President Biden's budget highlights the sharp contrast between the Democrats' positive, proactive vision and the Republicans' negative, regressive vision for our country.

Democrats are focused on growing the economy in a responsible way, while making smart investments in the American people and our future. That is why a centerpiece of President Biden's budget focuses on creating opportunity for working Americans by ending the reckless Trump-era tax scam, which overwhelmingly cut taxes for the wealthiest few and large corporations and added trillions to the national debt.

It was recently confirmed that the Republican tax law did not pay for itself, as we heard over and over again from our Republican colleagues. Democrats know that we can and must do better.

As the President pointed out during his State of the Union Address last week, a fair Tax Code is how we can better invest in things like healthcare, education, and economic opportunity for more Americans. President Trump's tax scam proved everything but fair. It rewarded the wealthy and well-connected, while leaving working families with the tab.

Time has shown that this tax scam was a dud for our economy and a political loser for the Republican Party because the American people saw it for what it was.

Republicans also talk a big game about lowering the deficit, but President Biden's budget actually proposes measures to do it. It proposes measures to reduce the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade.

That budget will help improve the solvency of vital programs like Medicare and Social Security, which tens of millions of Americans rely on every single day.

It will reinstate the child tax credit we passed in the American Rescue Plan, which greatly reduced child poverty before expiring.

That is not all. President Biden's budget builds on the progress Democrats have made to help grow America from the middle out and the bottom up. From the infrastructure law, to the CHIPS and Science Act, to the Inflation Reduction Act, to the PACT Act, and more, Democrats made a lot of good investments that are already paying off for the American people. Inflation is cooling down. Manufacturing is surging. Consumer sentiment is growing. The cost of insulin and other drugs

is falling. We have created a record 15 million new jobs since President Biden took office. President Biden's budget will help ensure we continue to make good on the investments from our agenda and build an economy that works for everyone.

Here is the bottom line: President Biden's budget shows there are two clear choices for America's future and highlights Democrats' vision for a better America.

Democrats want to keep taxes low for middle-class families and make the ultrawealthy pay their fair share, while Republicans fight to make it easier for wealthy tax cheats to pay less than middle-class families. Democrats will protect Medicare and Social Security, while Republicans look to cut these hard-earned benefits. Democrats want to make investments so every American family can do better, while Republicans want those who have already done very well to do even better.

So I thank President Biden for releasing a bold, optimistic, responsible budget for the Nation.

Madam President, now on the healthcare cyber attack, after last month's devastating, unprecedented cyber attack on tens of thousands of hospitals, pharmacies, and doctors' offices in New York and across America, I am proud that last week HHS and CMS heeded my call to provide healthcare providers immediate relief to help get their systems back up to speed.

This weekend, we received more good news: CMS expanded its response to the cyber attack to include Medicare Part B providers. This new action by CMS will directly help our doctors on the frontline of this crisis continue to stay open and provide care for their patients. Because of the cyber attack, people weren't getting the dollars they had to expend to do their jobs. I commend CMS for continuing to heed my call for an all-hands-on-deck approach to this crisis.

For over 3 weeks now, providers--including hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies big and small--have all been unable to submit medical claims as a result of this cyber attack, leaving many facing imminent insolvency. I met with Rome Health in Rome, NY, and Cayuga Health in Ithaca, who told me they are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and have stacks of claims nearly 2 feet high that they are unable to file.

The American people are feeling the pain of this cyber attack too. Many are struggling to refill prescriptions, some are having their care delayed or denied, and others are unable to use patient assistance programs they rely on.

Had CMS not stepped up to the plate, hospitals and pharmacies-- especially the smaller ones that don't have large cash reserves--faced the risk of laying people off or even shutting down entirely because they were not being reimbursed.

So this new action by CMS to expand its response and include Medicare Part B providers in relief efforts is an encouraging step, but this crisis is far from over. I will continue working with the administration, my colleagues in Congress, CMS--I talked to the Administrator just a few hours ago--and others in the healthcare industry to get providers the relief they need and to protect our healthcare system from future attacks.

Mr. President, well, we have until tonight for the Senate to send an appropriations package to the President or else the government will begin to shut down.

For the information of Senators, we are going to hold a live quorum call in a few moments, and we will vote on cloture at approximately noon.

I hope my Republican colleagues will work with us on a reasonable agreement so we can get this funding package done today and send it to the President's desk before a shutdown.

quorum call

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I move to instruct the Sergeant at Arms

to request the presence of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the only motions and amendments in order to the House message to accompany H.R. 4366 be the following: motion to concur with Lee amendment No. 1623; motion to concur with Schmitt amendment No. 1626; Scott of Florida motion to refer; and motion to concur with Hagerty amendment No. 1634; further, that the Senate vote on the above motions and amendments in the order listed; that upon disposition of the Hagerty motion to concur with further amendment, the pending motion to concur with a further amendment be withdrawn and the Senate vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 4366 without further intervening action or debate and with 2 minutes for debate, equally divided, prior to each vote.

Mr. President, after months of hard work, we have good news for the country. Tonight, the Senate has reached an agreement, avoiding a shutdown, on the first six funding bills. We will keep important programs funded for moms and kids, for veterans, for the environment, for housing, and so much more. Because both sides cooperated today, we have taken a major step toward our goal of fully funding the government. Today's bipartisan agreement gives us momentum and space to finish the remaining appropriations bills by March 22. Of course, it is going to take both sides working together to keep that momentum alive.

To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise. It helps parents and veterans and firefighters and farmers and school cafeterias and more. We have fully funded WIC so 7 million moms and kids won't be malnourished. We have built on the infrastructure law by providing billions to repair our roads and bridges and highways. We have given our Federal firefighters a raise. We will be able to hire more air traffic controllers and rail safety inspectors, and we are taking care of our veterans with support for veterans' homelessness, mental health, and women veterans.

Now, to my colleagues, please be on notice. We expect five votes, including a final vote to approve the bill. We want to move quickly. So I ask Senators to come here quickly for the first vote--so we don't have to drag that out--and then stay in their seats or near the floor until we finish our work. We are seeking 10-minute votes on the final four votes.

I want to thank our appropriators, who have done such a fine job-- Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins--as well as the Appropriations staff and my staff.

Thank you to Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Leader Jeffries. This is an outcome both parties can be proud of because we have found the way to put the needs of our country first.

Madam President, can we have order, please. There are a lot of people who have to get to a lot of places. We are going to be real strict on 10-minute votes. Stay in your place.

I also ask unanimous consent that the remaining votes in this series be 10 minutes in length.

That took 17 minutes. I please ask the Members' indulgence. Stay here. Let's get it done so people can get on their way.

My colleagues, that was 10 minutes, 30 seconds. Let's beat 10 minutes now. Stay in the Chamber--the next to the last vote.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 94.

I further ask that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and

the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.