Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1226 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill 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 Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3222, introduced earlier today by Senator Klobuchar.

I further ask that the bill be considered read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. 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. 447, S. Res. 448, and S. Res. 449.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the resolutions en bloc.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 499 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Cornyn amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to.

I ask that the bill be considered read a 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.

Madam President, I have six 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 when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, November 6; 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 upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Bertagnolli nomination; further, that the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

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

Mr. President, so last night, I filed cloture on President Biden's nominees to serve as Chief of Naval Operations and Chief of Staff to the Air Force, the remaining vacancies on the Joint Chiefs of Staff which we said we would fill. We will move on these critical military appointments soon here on the floor.

I also filed on the nomination of Lieutenant General Mahoney to be second in command of the U.S. Marine Corps. His appointment has become urgent because this weekend the Commandant of the Marines, Gen. Eric Smith, was unexpectedly hospitalized after a serious medical emergency. Now, normally, Lieutenant General Mahoney would have been able to immediately step in to temporarily serve as Commandant. But, unfortunately, because of the blanket holds of just one Senator, Senator Tuberville, that cannot happen. The situation at the Marine Corps is precisely the kind of avoidable emergency that Senator Tuberville has provoked through his reckless holds. Lieutenant General Mahoney is one of more than 300 nominees Senator Tuberville is currently blocking. So while the Senate will proceed quickly to vote on Lieutenant General Mahoney's nomination, these holds cannot and must not continue.

Yesterday, my colleague Senator Reed, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, introduced a resolution that will allow the Senate to quickly confirm the nominations that are currently being blocked by the Senator from Alabama. The resolution will be referred to the Rules Committee; and when the time comes, I will bring it to the floor of the Senate for consideration.

We must--we absolutely must--ensure that our military is fully staffed and fully equipped to defend the American people, and it begins by confirming these vital nominations that are currently on hold. Every day that Senator Tuberville continues his blanket holds, our military preparedness is degraded. Our military families--most of whom have served decades in the Armed Forces--suffer. Our military appointments risk being further ensnared in partisan politics. These nominees must be confirmed, and both parties should work together to make sure we fulfill our obligation to America's servicemembers.

Government Funding

Mr. President, now on the minibus, for the information of Senators, today we will pass the first of three bipartisan appropriations bills: Agriculture, MILCON-VA, and T-HUD.

When these bills pass, they will be the only--I underscore--the only bipartisan appropriations bills that have passed either Chamber. These bills will make a huge difference for America's farmers, for our infrastructure, for housing on our military bases, and for veterans. Bipartisanship isn't easy. On the contrary, it is very difficult. But here in the Senate, we are making sure

that the appropriations process is succeeding. I want to thank the good work of Chair Murray, Vice Chair Collins, and all the appropriators. Passing these appropriations bills today is not just terrific news for the country, but an affirmation of what I have said since the start of the year: The only way to get things done in a divided government is bipartisanship.

The House is going through a futile exercise in passing partisan appropriations bills that have no input or support from Democrats. They are going nowhere. The House ought to learn its lesson. The Speaker ought to understand that the 30 hard-right people should not be dictating what the entire House or the entire country does. Those bills are filled with poison pills. They break the agreement and cut below the agreement that we made when we wanted to avoid the debt from being not fulfilled, and they are nowhere.

On the other hand, the Senate has bipartisan bills. And that is the real difference here. Sooner or later, the House and the new Speaker will learn the lesson: If you don't do it bipartisan, it ain't getting done. The Senate has been a strong model for how bipartisanship can work, even amidst the deep disagreement, and I thank my colleagues on both sides for their work on these bills.

Artificial Intelligence

Mr. President, now, we continue on our AI Insight Forums. Today, as leaders gather in London for the first AI summit, the Senate will hold our third and fourth bipartisan AI Insight Forums. This morning will be focused on the intersection of AI in the workforce. We will hear from a balanced group of leaders in labor, tech, civil rights, and business about both the opportunities and risks that AI presents to the American worker and to our economy.

People are worried. Many people worry, Will I still have my job as AI kicks in? We want to make sure that we have guardrails that protect workers, not make the mistake that was done with globalization, where so many were thrown out of work through no fault of their own.

And then this afternoon, we will discuss AI's use in high-impact areas like finance, healthcare, law enforcement. We will focus especially on the potential bias in AI technologies in these high- impact areas and how Congress can create guardrails to protect our civil rights in the age of AI.

The Senate is continuing to be all hands on deck when it comes to trying to pass AI legislation. Yesterday our bipartisan AI gang-- Senators Rounds, Heinrich, Young, and I--had a great meeting with President Biden at the White House on AI. So we are making good progress, but we still have more to learn about AI as we work to develop bipartisan legislation. And the world is paying attention. There is a forum in London today where the Vice President will attend. And, inevitably, they will be looking. The whole world will be looking to the Senate to see whether and what kind of legislation we can pass. We will work hard to get the best possible bipartisan legislation done.

Government Funding

Mr. President, about the supplemental, on Monday, Speaker Johnson and House Republicans released a totally unserious and woefully inadequate package that omitted aid to Ukraine, omitted humanitarian assistance to Gaza, had no funding for the Indo-Pacific, and made funding for Israel conditional on hard-right, never-going-to-pass proposals. What a joke.

Yesterday afternoon, President Biden issued a veto threat on the GOP proposal, and it is no wonder why: It needlessly politicizes aid to Israel. It balloons the Federal deficit. Here the House is talking about we need to pay for, to reduce the deficit, and they put in a provision that actually increases the deficit. Why? Because they don't want their superrich, megawealthy friends to be audited by the IRS like every other citizen is.

As we know, when Trump was President, he almost exempted them from auditing. Someone making $40,000 a year had a greater chance of being audited than someone making $4 million a year.

It is amazing that the main focus as the world is in crisis--in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in the Indo-Pacific--our House Republicans are spending more time trying to further reduce taxes of those who don't pay much tax at all. So I am so glad that President Biden issued a strong veto message. I would urge every House Republican, every House Democrat, every Senate Member to read the President's veto message. It is strong and well thought out. He talks about it politicizing aid to Israel, it ballooning the Federal deficit, and it failing to address the national security threats America faces around the globe-- particularly our need to help Ukraine, provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, and help in the Indo-Pacific.

So the House GOP proposal is not going anywhere. It is dead before it even is voted on. The Speaker should start over--this time without terrible, partisan poison pills; this time sitting down with Democrats and working this issue through.

Israel has suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. It needs help. But House Republicans are asking a price for helping them by cutting off funding that holds rich tax cheats accountable. That ain't happening, House. It ain't happening.

Now, Speaker Johnson says that this supposed pay is needed because of his concern about the national debt; but as I mentioned, every independent estimate shows this partisan bill raises the deficit by billions of dollars. So, what hypocrisy. It is not responsible. It is reckless. It is utterly baffling--baffling--that at a moment that demands maximum bipartisanship, when the country is in crisis and our friends in Israel and Ukraine are in crisis, that the House GOP is, instead, trying to pick an egregiously partisan fight over wealthy tax cheats.

Years back, both parties would have come together for the good of the country and the good of security in the world when crises like these happen. But the House GOP--continuing the kind of recklessness, the kind of inability to get their act together--continues to do these kinds of things.

Their proposal is simply not a serious one. And, worse, it still wastes precious time at a moment when we need to help Israel, Ukraine, and send humanitarian aid to Gaza ASAP.

All friends of Israel should loudly and clearly say that any move to make the United States-Israel relationship a partisan one, as the House is doing, is a move that hurts Israel. That is what they do, unfortunately: harming our partnership with Israel by politicizing their aid package. I urge Speaker Johnson: Quickly change course, Speaker Johnson, because this stunningly unserious proposal is not going to be the answer. It is not going anywhere. As I said: It is dead almost before it is born.

Oil Industry Mergers

Mr. President, the FTC letter that we sent this morning--and I think people should pay attention to this because this is a very serious issue. Last month, America's two largest oil companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, announced two of the largest oil acquisitions of the 21st century--in fact, some of the largest mergers in the history--in the whole history--of the United States. And where are these mergers occurring? In the heavily concentrated oil industry where the consumer has almost no say whatsoever.

These deals have all the hallmarks of harmful, anticompetitive effect. And if they are allowed to happen, Americans could see the consequences through higher prices at the pump. People are complaining, justifiably, that gas prices are too high, and these mergers inevitably will make the price even higher.

So today, I am leading a group of 22 Senators calling on the Federal Trade Commission to use the full powers of the FTC to investigate these mergers. In our letter, we say that if any antitrust laws may be violated, the FTC should step in and oppose the mergers.

We broke up Standard Oil's illegal monopoly in 1911. We are quickly getting back to that place. The FTC should also investigate whether it is time to break up today's anticompetitive oil conglomerates. When America's largest oil companies can just buy some of their largest competitors--here we have Exxon, the biggest oil company in America, buying the largest oil driller in the Permian Basin, which is the biggest U.S. oil field--it is outrageous. When the largest companies can control the lion's share of the supply chain, when they are able to act

with little accountability, the result is a raw deal for American consumers, American workers, and the American economy.

And this isn't speculation. We have seen this happen before. In the 1990s, there were over 2,600 mergers across the petroleum industry. The number of major oil companies was cut in half.

I will never forget the day. This was a Democratic President. President Clinton, unfortunately, allowed the merger between Exxon and Mobil--two of the biggest oil companies. I opposed it at the time. The result of these mergers and lax accountability was market manipulation, an unstable supply, and, ultimately, price hikes for Americans.

Well, why repeat that mistake? We cannot allow it.

With ExxonMobil's merger with Pioneer and Chevron's merger with Hess, we are seeing history repeat itself. More consolidation and less competition may be good for the shareholders and the big oil company execs, but it ain't good for America, and it certainly ain't good for the consumer, who will inevitably pay more for gas, oil, and so many other things.

There is something deeply wrong about seeing the largest oil and gas companies in the world manipulate their way to higher profits as Americans are struggling at the pump. Last year alone, the world's five largest oil companies saw record profits--$219 billion--more than double the profits of 2021.

And where did the profits go? Did they translate to lower prices for Americans? Did the companies invest in worker productivity or in finding new, clean energy sources? No. The soaring profits fueled soaring stock buybacks. Americans, meanwhile, saw higher prices every time they filled up the tank.

And one other point about these mergers: At one point, the big oil companies said: Hmm, we understand that the world is moving in a direction of clean energy. We are going to move that way, too.

These mergers show they are not. They are not. They are simply investing in the old carbon resources that we know, in the long run, will do such damage to our world and our world economy. Yet they are just moving headlong in that direction--short-term gain, long-term loss.

Mergers will accelerate these disturbing trends of high gas prices and less competition. So we are calling on the FTC to look into the announcements made by ExxonMobil and Chevron and step in if necessary.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 60- affirmative vote threshold for the adoption of the substitute amendment, No. 1092, as amended, be withdrawn.

I know of no further debate on the substitute amendment.

Vote on Amendment No. 1092

Madam President, I am proud to say that today the Senate becomes the first Chamber in Congress to pass bipartisan, responsible appropriations bills: MILCON-VA, Agriculture, and Transportation-HUD. These bipartisan bills deliver big wins for America's farmers, for our infrastructure, for housing, and for our military bases and veterans and more. And passing these bills affirms what I have said all year long: The only way--the only way--to get things done in divided government is bipartisanship.

I hope the Senate's success today shows Speaker Johnson and House Republicans that bipartisanship is the way to go. The American people won't support futile exercise of passing partisan, extremist legislation that has no chance of becoming law, which is what the House is doing right now. Their appropriations bills, A, are loaded with poison pills that they know are not going to be accepted in this Chamber or by Democrats in their Chamber, and they make cuts in the budget that go against the agreement we made during the debt ceiling.

I told Speaker Johnson last week that if we can figure out how to work on appropriations together, we can get good things done for the country, which is what both sides, I am proud to say, in the Senate want to do. I urged Speaker Johnson not to repeat the mistakes of Speaker McCarthy's team, who pushed party-line funding bills that went way below the agreement from June, without input from Democrats. Only-- only--bipartisan appropriation bills will be able to fully fund the government.

I want to recognize my colleague. Chair Patty Murray has done excellent work in her first year as chair of the Appropriations Committee. She has been outstanding. I also wish to thank Vice Chair Susan Collins for her terrific work, as well as all the appropriators on both sides of the aisle.

Pursuing bipartisanship isn't always easy. Most of the time, it is difficult--more difficult now than ever. But if you stick with it, we can do it. And we have stuck with it, and we have done it. Thanks to both sides, we are reaching a good outcome for the country.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, just a little housekeeping, I understand that there is a bill at the desk due for a second reading.

In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceedings.

Now, Mr. President, on the business of today, today the Senate Appropriations Committee hears testimony from the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State on President Biden's emergency supplemental request, sent to Congress to address the national security threats happening around the world.

The right path forward for Congress is clear. We must stand with our allies in Israel; we must send humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza; we must give aid to Ukraine and hold the line against Vladimir Putin; and we must rebuff the aggressions of the Chinese Communist Party in the Indo-Pacific.

As has been true from the start of this Congress, bipartisan cooperation will be the only way anything gets to the President's desk.

So I am deeply troubled that yesterday, House Republicans released a partisan and woefully inadequate package with no aid to Ukraine, no humanitarian assistance for Gaza, no funding for the Indo-Pacific, and, in addition, poison pills that increase the deficit

and help wealthy tax cheats avoid paying their fair share.

The House GOP bill is woefully inadequate and has the hard right's fingerprints all over it. It makes aid for Israel, which has just faced the worst terrorist attack in its history, contingent on poison pills that reward rich tax cheats. In short, it makes it much, much harder to pass aid for Israel.

It is insulting that the hard right is openly trying to exploit the crisis in Israel to try and reward the ultrarich. The new Speaker knows perfectly well that if you want to help Israel, you can't propose legislation that is full of poison pills. And this kind of unnecessary partisan legislation sends the wrong message to our allies and adversaries around the world.

It is almost as if the real goal of this House GOP package is not to help Israel but to get tax relief for the superwealthy, while leaving out Ukraine aid, leaving out humanitarian aid for Gaza, leaving out funding for the Indo-Pacific.

Instead of advancing a serious proposal to defend Israel, defend Ukraine, and provide humanitarian aid, this House GOP proposal is clearly designed to divide Congress on a partisan basis, not unite it. The Speaker's allies have said as much to the press. I hope the new Speaker realizes that this is a grave mistake and quickly changes course. To protect Americans against any one of these foreign threats, we must protect against them all, because you can be sure that President Xi will watch what America does in Ukraine, just as much as they watch what we do in Israel, in the Indo Pacific, and everywhere else. And the last thing Republicans in Congress should be doing is exploiting the crisis in Israel to sneak in a highly partisan provision that caters to the ultrarich, as the GOP package blatantly does.

As I mentioned when I spoke to Speaker Johnson the night of his election, the only way we will get anything done is in a bipartisan way. Unfortunately, in his first major decision as Speaker, Speaker Johnson has ignored that advice.

Mr. President, now on AI, yesterday, President Biden announced the first ever artificial intelligence Executive order that will keep America in the lead on AI. Later this morning, the Senate's bipartisan AI gang--Senators Rounds, Heinrich, Young, and I--will go to the White House to meet with President Biden to discuss how we can work together to pursue bipartisan AI legislation.

I applaud President Biden for doing the right thing by issuing yesterday's Executive order. It outlines a number of commonsense guardrails that will increase American leadership on safeguards and better protect Americans against all sorts of risk, from cyber security to bio and nuclear threats.

President Biden's AI Executive order was welcome news, but everyone knows we can and must do more here in Congress. The President's action yesterday importunes us to act, to augment and expand his Executive order with bipartisan legislation. Congress must act with a sense of urgency when it comes to AI because AI is already changing our world in dramatic ways, and other countries are trying to gain ground on us.

Tomorrow, the Senate will continue our bipartisan work on AI with our third and fourth AI Insight Forums.

In the morning, the AI Insight Forum will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow and focus on our workforce, both the risks and opportunities that AI presents to American workers and our economy. We will hear from leaders in labor, tech, civil rights, and business on how Congress can best protect workers from the changes that IA will bring.

The afternoon AI Insight Forum will bring another diverse group to debate how Congress can prepare for AI in high-impact areas, including financial decisions, healthcare, law enforcement, among other highly consequential use cases. We will be careful to pay attention to potential bias when AI is used.

For the information of Senators, tomorrow's AI Insight Forums will take place in the Kennedy Caucus Room. Each will last approximately 2 hours. I encourage everyone on both sides to attend, and I thank Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young for their help making these bipartisan AI Insight Forums possible.

Mr. President, now on Jack Lew, it is going to be a busy day here in the Senate. Before the end of the day, the U.S. Senate will confirm Jack Lew as the next Ambassador to Israel. For the information of Senators, we will have a cloture vote on Mr. Lew's nomination this morning, with a final vote on confirmation in the early afternoon. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of sending an American Ambassador to Israel today.

With everything happening in Israel right now, confirming Jack Lew at this moment will be one of the most important and consequential nomination votes the Senate has taken in a long time. The need to confirm Mr. Lew is plain and irrefutable. Israel in crisis. America needs to stand with her, and a most urgent and obvious step would be ensuring we have an ambassador in place.

As the Senate takes this important vote later today, I want to applaud the remarkable team at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, all of whom have done exceptional work under the most difficult circumstances. When I went to Israel with my Senate colleagues, I got to see the Embassy's incredible work up close, especially the outstanding Charge d'Affaires. So I thank them all for their dedication in these hard times. But it was clear when we went there that Israel needs an ambassador from the United States, especially at this time. So I hope we will get as large a vote for Mr. Lew as possible.

I want to thank my colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who approved Mr. Lew on a 12-to-9 basis. Mr. Lew has a strong, long proven record as a public servant and a ferocious ally of Israel, and it will help send a powerful message of support to Israel to have this appointment filled ASAP.

Mr. President, finally, on the minibus, on the legislative front, the Senate will move forward this week on bipartisan appropriations legislation. I would note that we are the only bipartisan appropriations legislation in town. The House has passed a series of very, very partisan bills filled with poison pills, cutting deeply, way below the agreement that was made in the last resolution when we dealt with avoiding default.

Last week, we began holding votes on a large number of amendments here in the Senate, offered on both sides of the aisle. In fact, when all is said and done, we will have considered 40 amendments--40--here on the floor. If both sides cooperate, it is my hope we can pass these three appropriations bills by tomorrow. When that happens, these three bills will be the only appropriations bills that have passed through either Chamber with bipartisan support, which is the only way we are going to get any funding passed in divided government.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, the Senate, I am proud to say, has now taken an extremely important step in our support of Israel. We have approved, with bipartisan support, Jack Lew to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. With Israel defending itself against Hamas, this ambassadorship is as important and timely as any nomination that the Senate has confirmed in a long time.

Mr. Lew is the right man for the job of Ambassador to Israel. He is a capable public servant, a fierce ally of Israel's, and commands a broad base of trust and respect, and he is a decent and humane man.

When my colleagues and I met with the Israeli Government, we promised to send them an ambassador as soon as possible. Today, the Senate has kept that promise. Having an ambassador in Israel means stronger diplomatic ties between the United States and Israel at a time when these bonds matter most. It means Israel's messages will be conveyed appropriately to our government, but it also means our government's messages will be sent appropriately to the Israeli Government. So it helps the two-way street of communication--so important right now. Having an ambassador ensures America can work with Israel and communicate with Israel in both directions at the highest level as the fight against Hamas continues.

I thank my colleagues for confirming Mr. Lew on a bipartisan basis. Thank you to Chairman Cardin and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which championed Mr. Lew's nomination.

Finally, I want to applaud the remarkable team at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, all of whom have done exceptional work under the most difficult circumstances.

When I went to Israel with my Senate colleagues, I got to see the Embassy's incredible work up close, especially the outstanding Charg d'Affaires, but we also saw the need, the vacancy, the hole that was there during a time of crisis when we didn't have an ambassador, and we saw how much we needed one. We are easing the short-staffed Embassy's burden by sending a fully appointed ambassador so they can continue carrying out their mission with excellence during this pivotal moment.