Floor Statements

Madam President, today, the Senate will continue making progress on the NDAA, one of the most important bills of the year and something that for more than six decades has passed with bipartisan support.

Yesterday, we adopted two important amendments to the NDAA, adding to the Senate's work on outcompeting the Chinese Government. Both amendments--one by Senators Cornyn and Casey and one by Senators Rounds and Tester--passed overwhelmingly, with 91 ``yes'' votes each. It is not often that 91 Senators can unite on a single measure, let alone two measures. So to see us unite on outcompeting the Chinese Government was an important demonstration that this issue remains broadly bipartisan and something we will continue working on throughout the year.

This morning, we will hold another vote on an amendment by Senators Warnock and Budd halting the harassment of our servicemembers by debt collectors. I hope this will also enjoy broad support.

Last night, we sent out a hotline with a number of additional amendments. I am hopeful we can lock in an agreement soon to begin voting on some of them.

Since last Wednesday, the Senate has voted on eight amendments here on the floor and adopted seven more by voice vote. This is how the process should work.

Finally, I will also keep working with the Republican leader, Chair Reed, and Ranking Member Wicker on a second managers' package that will have more accomplishments both sides can embrace, and I appreciate the cooperation and good faith of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

I have said repeatedly that the NDAA is an opportunity for the Senate to show we can work on the biggest issues facing our country through bipartisanship, cooperation, and honest debate. That is what we have seen play out so far this year on the floor--bipartisanship. The NDAA process in this Chamber is a welcome departure from the contentious, chaotic, and partisan race to the bottom we saw in the House.

As I have also said, if we continue embracing bipartisanship, we will finish our work on the NDAA before the start of the August State work period. We wish to finish the NDAA as soon as we can. There is no reason for delay. We aren't quite there yet--there is still some more work to be done--but we are close.

I thank my colleagues for their cooperation, and the Senate will continue working on the NDAA until the job is done.

(Mr. BENNET assumed the Chair.)

Mr. President, on the IRA anniversary--when we passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, I said here on the floor that it would endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century. Just 1 year later, the IRA is paying huge dividends for the American people, for our economy, and for our environment.

The Republicans claimed the IRA would make inflation worse. One of our Republican colleagues claimed the IRA would cut jobs and fuel inflation. But since we passed the IRA, inflation has gone not up but down. We are lowering costs day by day for the American people with the passage of this legislation. Inflation is now half of what it was a few years ago.

Across the board, costs are coming down for the American family. For the first time ever, we made it possible for Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, helping Americans save at the pharmacy. Because of the IRA, vaccines are free for Medicare beneficiaries, and a cap on out-of-pocket drug spending--no senior will have to pay more than $2,000 a year for drugs--is coming very soon.

What a relief for people, lowering costs on one of the things that bothered them the most--the high cost of prescription drugs. That is what we Democrats are doing, while over there in the House, the Republicans are just racing to the bottom.

We also capped the price of insulin for seniors on Medicare to $35 a month, spurring major companies like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to follow suit. Millions of people who buy their health insurance on the ACA exchanges are now saving hundreds--hundreds--of dollars each month.

Indeed, we are lowering costs. That is what we promised to do.

On top of these savings, I also said the Inflation Reduction Act would kick-start the era of affordable clean energy and create countless good-paying, green jobs. The Inflation Reduction Act has done just that too.

From the new wind turbine facilities in New York to the solar facilities in Arizona, the IRA is paving the way for America to lead in clean energy manufacturing. Eighty new clean energy

manufacturing facilities have been announced across the country, employing thousands and thousands of people--and not just in junky, low-wage jobs but in good, high-pay, high-skill jobs, with training to boot. Again, these new facilities mean even more good-paying jobs for years to come in construction, manufacturing, clean energy, and so much more.

As the new jobs are being created, wage growth continues to go up. It is now exceeding inflation. So the amount brought home in your paycheck has gone up more than the cost of goods has gone up. That is a new thing. It only happened in the last few years.

The policies that we have passed here in the Senate--that Democrats have passed here in the Senate, frankly--are making a huge difference. Of course, we are only getting started. As we continue implementing the IRA, the American people will see more evidence of the Democratic agenda working for them.

Mr. President, on AI, finally, with so much going on in the Senate, I want to remind my colleagues that today we will hold our third all-Senate briefing on artificial intelligence. Our presenters are Rick Stevens from the Department of Energy's Argonne National Lab, Dr. Sethuraman ``Panch'' Panchanathan from the National Science Foundation, and Dr. Kathleen Fisher from the Information Innovation Office at DARPA. Finally, our moderator will be Dr. Jose-Marie Griffiths, member, National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, and president of Dakota State University. It is a broad range of presenters.

The last few briefings were well-attended. I know people are busy today, but please try to make the time. And the Q-and-A was surprisingly very direct. We got a lot of answers and learned a lot.

So I look forward to seeing my colleagues at the briefing for what surely will be an illuminating, important discussion, and I thank everyone for their good work.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, in two criminal cases pending in Federal district court in the District of Columbia and arising out of the events of January 6, 2021, the prosecution has requested testimony from a Senate witness.

In these cases, brought against Mark Sahady and Leo Brent Bozell IV, trials are expected to commence on August 21, 2023, and September 6, 2023, respectively, and the prosecution has requested testimony from Daniel Schwager, formerly counsel to the Secretary of the Senate, concerning his knowledge and observations of the process and constitutional and legal bases for Congress's counting of the electoral college votes. Senate Secretary Berry would like to cooperate with these requests by providing relevant testimony in these trials from Mr. Schwager.

In keeping with the rules and practices of the Senate, these resolutions would authorize the production of relevant testimony from Mr. Schwager, with representation by the Senate Legal Counsel.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the following amendments to S. 2226: Cruz, 421; Wicker, 1055; Paul, 438; Barrasso, 999; Sanders, 1030; Cardin, 705; Marshall, 874; Gillibrand, 1065; Kennedy, 1034; Hawley, 1058; and Menendez, 638; further, that with respect to the amendments listed above, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate vote on the amendments in the order listed, with no further amendments or motions in order, and with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption, and that there be 2 minutes equally divided prior to each vote.

Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the substitute amendment No. 935 to the desk.

I send a cloture motion to S. 2226 to the desk.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, July 26, be waived.

Madam President, for the information of Senators, we will begin a series of three rollcall votes at 8 p.m. this evening.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, if the gentleman from Louisiana wants 1 minute, I would be happy to give it to him.

A fine act of bipartisanship.

Mr. President, we have two votes left. In order to expedite things and get out of here at a less unreasonable hour, I ask unanimous consent that--first, I ask that all our Members stay close, and I ask unanimous consent that the votes be 10 minutes each.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) are necessarily absent.

First, I want to thank my colleagues for all of the good work so far on the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. We were very productive last week, and I hope this week can be equally so.

Today, we will begin our work by holding two floor votes, one on Senators Cornyn and Casey's outbound investment screen amendment and then a vote on the Round-Tester farmlands amendment. Both of these amendments have been in the works for months, and I intend to vote in their favor. I urge my colleagues to do so as well.

I know there are concerns on both sides of the aisle with some of the text in both amendments. Senators Cornyn, Casey, Rounds, Tester, and I are all committed to working through these concerns in the conference process.

Tomorrow, we will vote on the Warnock-Budd amendment designed to halt debt collector harassment of our servicemembers. Again, I appreciate the cooperation of Senators on both sides as we worked to lock in these votes.

And today and tomorrow, Leader McConnell, Chair Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, and I will also work on assembling a second managers' package of amendments.

I hope this effort is successful. It will require everyone to work together, and we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Concurrently, we will also keep working on additional floor votes that we might need to finish the NDAA this week. We have a chance to show the American people that the Senate can work productively on our national defense, in stark contrast to the partisan race to the bottom that we saw over in the House.

But the work isn't finished yet. We are going to keep negotiating a path forward, and the Senate will continue working on the NDAA until the job is done. I thank both sides for their efforts.

Business Before the Senate

Mr. President, now on other Senate business, as we move forward with the

NDAA here on the floor, appropriators also continue working in committee. Last week, the Appropriations Committee marked up and approved three more bills, and, this week, they will hold another markup on Thursday. Just like the NDAA, I am proud to say the appropriations process has been largely bipartisan, precisely as it should be.

And, finally, with so much going on this week, I want to remind my colleagues that we will be holding our third all-Senators briefing on AI, following up on our classified briefing earlier this month. I thank all of my colleagues for making the time to attend these AI briefings.

Today, I also wish to recognize the efforts of the Judiciary Committee, which this afternoon is holding its own hearing on AI regulation. They join the work of many other committees that have moved quickly this year to begin focusing on AI in a very serious way.

The Senate will continue ramping up our focus on AI policy when we begin hosting our Insight Forums later this fall.

So, once again, thank you to my colleagues for their good work on this pressing matter.

Inflation Reduction Act

Mr. President, now on the IRA and its 1-year anniversary. We are approaching the 1-year anniversary of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act, known as the IRA, was one of the most consequential pieces of legislation passed in decades, and in just one year it is already paying huge dividends for the American people, for our economy, and for our environment.

Since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, costs are down for families. For the first time ever, we made it possible for Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. Vaccines are free for Medicare beneficiaries. A cap on out-of-pocket drug spending for seniors is just a few months away. No one will pay more than $2,000 a year for expensive drugs that they need to save their lives.

And, of course, after a lot of hard work, we also capped the price of insulin for seniors on Medicare to $35--only $35--a month. Since then, Ely Lilly and Novo Nordisk have also lowered insulin costs for everybody.

And we hope to build on all of this work with additional legislation later this year. Every American deserves to have affordable insulin, not just those on Medicare. Let's not forget that the patent for insulin expired a long time ago. It was invented in 1921 or 1922--I believe it was--by a Canadian inventor who sold the patent for only a dollar. So there is no need to have insulin at the exorbitant high price that it is for those not on Medicare.

The Inflation Reduction Act has also helped countless Americans manage their energy costs. The tax credits and rebates on energy efficiency are helping Americans keep their homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, all at a more affordable price, while at the same time reducing our carbon emissions.

And a few weeks ago, we saw that inflation slowed down to just 3 percent, the lowest it has been in over 2 years. In fact, since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, inflation has been cut by more than half on an annual basis, and wage growth is still continuing to grow. It is now significantly above inflation, meaning workers are taking home more while spending less. That is the emblem of an economy that America needs.

And, of course, the IRA is also paving the way for millions-- millions--of new good-paying green jobs. The IRA produced a boom in clean energy investment with nearly 80 new clean energy manufacturing facilities announced across the country.

So when you put it all together, the Inflation Reduction Act is a shining example of the Democratic agenda in action: lower costs for families, higher wages for workers, and millions--millions--of new good-paying jobs for years to come.

Democrats are proud of the progress we have made in implementing our agenda and will keep working until every American feels the benefits.

Honoring Officer Jacob J. Chestnut and Detective John M. Gibson

Mr. President, finally, on a sad anniversary, yesterday marked 25 years since Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut of the Capitol Police were killed in the line of duty while defending the Capitol Building.

It was a dark day in the history of the Capitol, and it would have been even darker if not for the heroics of Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut. In the face of grave danger, they acted with extreme valor and courage, undoubtedly saving the lives of many others in the building that day.

We are grateful for their sacrifice 25 years ago and grateful for the work the Capitol Police do every day to keep the Capitol Complex and those who work here safe.

And we pray that their families have some degree of peace, even though they have huge holes in their heart with these terrible losses.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to H. Con. Res. 57.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 308, 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 309, 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26; 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 resume the consideration of Calendar No. 119, S. 2226; further, that at 12:15 p.m., the Senate vote on the Warnock amendment No. 199, as under the previous order; that the Senate recess following the vote on the Warnock amendment until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; and finally, that the Senate recess from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m. to allow for the all-Senators briefing.

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

Mr. President, today, the Senate will continue the bipartisan process of passing our annual Defense authorization bill, the NDAA.

We had a productive afternoon yesterday. We held votes on four amendments, from both Democrats and Republicans.

We affirmed our unflinching commitment to our NATO allies by defeating an amendment that sought to undermine our support for the transatlantic relationship. Eighty-three Senators united to defeat this amendment, and I thank every single one of them for standing firm. It is a majority of both parties.

In another win for NATO, we also adopted Senator Kaine's amendment stating that no President can unilaterally take us out of NATO without Senate approval. Adopting Kaine's amendment was an unmistakable message to both our friends and foes that America's commitment to NATO will not waiver. The political winds may shift, but America's bonds to NATO will remain unbent.

That is what passing the annual defense bill should look like: both sides proposing and debating amendments, both sides having input, both sides working in good faith to get this bill passed as soon as we can.

We will keep working today. After voting on the Cruz-Manchin- Fetterman amendment this morning, I hope we can agree to additional votes. We will keep negotiating on additional reasonable amendments that we can bring to the floor, so we can keep this process going.

Nobody thinks this kind of bipartisanship is easy, and both sides have honest disagreements, as we do on so many issues. But that should not prevent us from fulfilling our obligation to take care of our servicemembers, take care of our DOD workforce, and provide for our common defense, so necessary these days.

There is every reason in the world to get this bill done as soon as we can. As I have said all week, the NDAA is full of provisions that both sides can celebrate--provisions that seem incremental on their own but together provide a strong foundation for the security of this Nation.

We will make important progress to outcompete the Chinese Government. We will pass the first pieces of legislation this year related to AI oversight.

We will strengthen our ties to Taiwan, increase our influence in the Indo-Pacific, make progress on the vital AUKUS partnership, and increase the administration's power to sanction and punish international fentanyl traffickers.

I mentioned this before, but I cannot emphasize it enough. This fentanyl bill is a major, major help in stopping the scourge of fentanyl from coming into this country. Members on both sides of the aisle should celebrate that in a bipartisan way. Under the leadership of Senator Brown and Senator Tim Scott, we were able to get this done.

All of these agreements are the result of both sides working together, each one a good reason to keep going until the job was done. Both sides will continue working today and into next week until we pass the NDAA. We are making good progress, but, of course, we still have more to do.

Mr. President, now on appropriations, as the Senate works to finish the NDAA, we will also vote this morning on an important executive nominee, David Uhlmann to be Assistant Administrator at the EPA. Mr. Uhlmann is one of the Nation's top prosecutors of criminal polluters. He has broad support from leading officials from both former Democratic and Republican administrations.

Off the floor, we will also make great progress on the appropriations bill.

This morning, the Appropriations Committee is marking up three more bills, continuing the great work of our appropriators over the past few months. This is never an easy process, but hats off to Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins. They are working really well together, and we are on track to pass all of our appropriations bills through committee, through regular order, with strong bipartisan support. It is hard to do, but they are doing a great job.

It is precisely how the appropriations process should work--both sides coming together, finding common ground, and advancing bills that invest in American families, keep our communities safe, and keep our government open.

It is this kind of bipartisan cooperation that prevented any government shutdown in the last Congress when Democrats had majorities in the House and in the Senate. Not one shutdown. Not even for a day. We didn't shut the government down. Americans don't want to see one this year.

There is a lot of work to do, but today's markup is another example that our appropriators are moving forward on a good path, and I thank them again for their efforts.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the following amendments to S. 2226: Lee, No. 376; Scott, No. 510; Romney, No. 823; Sinema, No. 315; Grassley, No. 273; Blackburn, No. 224; Moran, No. 949; Baldwin, No. 685; Cornyn, No. 931; Rounds, No. 813; and Warnock, No. 199; further, that with respect to the amendments listed above, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate vote on amendments in the order listed, with no further amendments or motions in order and with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption, with the exception of Lee, No. 376, and that there be 2 minutes equally divided prior to each vote, with 4 minutes equally divided for debate on the Lee amendment.

For the information of Senators, I expect one more rollcall vote today, which will be on the Lee amendment.

Mr. President, I am glad we are taking another step towards final passage today, and we will keep going when we return next week.

Providing for our national defense is always one of our highest responsibilities in Congress and something that should always be bipartisan, and today, we are seeing that play out in the Senate.

I want to thank my colleagues. For both sides, this has been a lot of bipartisan cooperation and back-and-forth, and I want to thank my colleagues on both sides for their good work.

I also want to thank Chairman Menendez and Senator Scott for agreeing to work on their differences with respect to the Scott amendment, to work out their differences in the conference committee. I have given both of them my assurance that I will work with them to find an amicable solution.

I yield floor.

I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.-

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

Mr. President, first, I am happy to talk about the 50th anniversary of hip hop, a great artistic creation in America, and we have a resolution celebrating that 50th anniversary. I am proud that my resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip hop will pass the Senate. The resolution again designates August 11 as Hip Hop Celebration Day, the month of August as Hip Hop Recognition Month, and the month of November as Hip Hop History Month.

I would like to thank Senator Cassidy, as well as Congressman Bowman in the House, for their work on this resolution, and I also want to thank my dear friend LeRoy McCarthy, the historian of hip hop, who proposed to me the idea of honoring hip hop. He deserves credit today, as do all my colleagues who made this happen.

Hip hop was born in my hometown of New York at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. Years ago, I worked with DJ Kool Herc, KRS-One, and the residents of 1520 to save the birthplace of hip hop when the owner wanted to sell the building to another developer and remove its affordable housing units to make a profit. They were going to destroy the rec room where hip hop was first created by DJ Kool Herc.

We were able to prevent so many people from being displaced and, at the same time, make sure that this historic landmark would forever be honored properly. And over the decades, hip hop has transcended language, race, age, and both geographic and socioeconomic barriers.

Many people can attest to the fact that hip hop actually changed their lives for the better, gave them purpose and meaning. I know many of them myself, many of whom are New York City and Bronx residents.

So hip hop is great. It is a uniquely American art form that quickly blossomed into a global movement. And we are proud--proud, proud, proud--today that this resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of hip hop will pass.