Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 25, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 76.

Madam President, 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions, introduced earlier today: S. Res. 135, Osceola Turkey Day; S. Res. 136, AmeriCorps; S. Res. 137, Ombudsman Appreciation Day.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 30; that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 28, S. 870, and that all time be considered expired; further, that at 1:45 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Taylor-Kale nomination and vote on the confirmation of the nomination; that upon disposition of the nomination, the Senate resume legislative session; finally, 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.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, yesterday, by a large bipartisan vote of 65 to 28, the Senate invoked cloture on legislation repealing the Iraq AUMFs of 2002 and 1991. We will continue voting on amendments over the course of today, and Members should expect the final passage on repealing the Iraq AUMFs as soon as tomorrow.

I want to thank both sides of the aisle for their cooperation and bipartisanship. This has been a reasonable process here on the floor, with votes on amendments brought forth by our Republican colleagues. I hope this process can serve as a blueprint for how the Senate can work into the future and in the next few months for sure. We will have amendments without being dilatory. We will have debate without bogging down the process. We will look for opportunities to advance bipartisan bills as we did over the past 2 years.

So, again, I hope this AUMF portends good things to come. I hope it can serve as a blueprint for how the Senate can work in this session of Congress as we work together to make our country a better place.

I want to thank Senators Kaine and Young, Chairman Menendez, and all of the cosponsors of this legislation for their good work.

Women's Healthcare

But, unfortunately, there are disturbing trends here in the Senate, and one of the most disturbing is what the Senator from Alabama is doing to weaken our national security. For a long time, both parties have worked together to quickly confirm the routine promotions of generals and flag officers without partisan bickering, without needless delay. Confirming military promotions is one of the most important responsibilities of the Senate--a charge that rises far above normal political fights. But, today, one Member--one Member, the Senator from Alabama--is blocking the routine promotions of 160 generals and flag officers because he objects to women within the military getting access to reproductive care.

It is very simple. The senior Senator from Alabama wants to make the healthcare decisions for the women of our military, and the Senator from Alabama is holding up scores of military nominees, who have not done anything to be treated this way, until he gets his way.

The women of our military are more than capable of making their own decisions when it comes to their health. They do not need the senior Senator from Alabama making decisions on their behalf, and they certainly do not need any Senator throwing a wrench in the functioning--the vital functioning--of our military when they, our military, work every day to keep us safe.

So the Senator from Alabama risks permanently injecting politics into the confirmations of routine military promotions. The Senator from Alabama

risks permanently injecting politics into the confirmations of routine military promotions. And that would risk our entire national security. For what? So he can push the MAGA hard line on blocking women's choice, which is something that most women in this country--that most people in this country--reject? That is beyond the pale.

Now, let's be clear. The Senator from Alabama's delay of 160 routine military promotions is reckless. It puts Americans' security in jeopardy. The 160 nominees who are on hold, all of whom have worked to earn their promotions and all of whom we need to protect our security, include 5 three-star generals, commanders for the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific and Middle East--leaders who are confronting the likes of China and Iran--and the U.S. Military Representative to the NATO Military Committee, which is especially important right now as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.

So let me say it again. This level of obstruction of routine military promotions is a reckless departure from the Senate norm. None of us want to live in a world where military appointments get routinely politicized, and that is just what the Senator from Alabama is doing. He is inflicting unnecessary damage to our military leadership. It would paralyze the Senate if all of us had to take one rollcall vote after another just to confirm routine, apolitical, qualified generals and other flag officers.

I know that Members of both sides of the aisle feel passionately at times about certain issues. We all do. But if every one of us went to the floor and said that we are holding up every general, every admiral, every flag officer until we get our way, our military would come crashing down, would be in shambles, and our national security would be in jeopardy. But that is just what the Senator from Alabama is doing. The obstruction is dangerous--dangerous--for our national security.

I urge my colleague from Alabama to think about it. Why shouldn't a Member on this side block military appointments? Why shouldn't any other Member on that side on things they believe in just as passionately as he believes in his issue of choice? The proper place to take it up is on the floor of the Senate and the House as a legislative proposal, not as hostage-taking and taking hostage of our generals and admirals and people who deserve a promotion.

I urge my colleagues, my Republican colleagues on the other side, to speak out and to certainly speak to the Senator from Alabama and tell him how reckless this is. Several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, to their everlasting credit, have voiced their concerns with the Senator from Alabama's action. Our colleagues, our Republican leadership, should convince him to stand down and let these military promotions go through.

Debt Ceiling

Mr. President, now on the debt ceiling, this morning, Speaker McCarthy stated in an interview that he sent a letter to President Biden demanding the two sit down to talk about the debt ceiling. He has been saying that for a very long time, but for a very long time, he has not shown us any plan.

To date, Speaker McCarthy has failed to unite his conference behind a single proposal that can win 218 votes. We are hearing a lot of contradictions and U-turns by the Republican caucus in the House and lots of outlandish proposals that would harm a lot of Americans, but as far as a plan goes, the Republican leadership still has none. When the Speaker is asked about specifics for his plan, all we get is crickets. All we get is crickets.

Republicans have been flailing. One day there is a term sheet. Then there is having a budget. Then there is not having a budget. Now there is a supposed amorphous $4 trillion number. But the only thing missing is a real plan. You can't just pick a number out of the sky and say this is a plan. Of course it is not. You can't just put a number on the floor of the House and try to get it to pass.

So when Speaker McCarthy points fingers at Democrats, all he is doing is deflecting from problems he has in his own conference--that those on the MAGA right want to pull one way and those who are more mainstream want to pull another way, and he can't bring the two of them together.

Speaker McCarthy says he wants to sit down with the President, but if he comes to the President's office with no specific plan, no specific details about what the Republicans want to cut, what are they going to talk about? The weather? If the two sit down, the Speaker would have nothing to say because for 3 months he has been missing the one thing that he needs most: an initial plan that can unite 218 votes.

We Democrats have had a plan--House, Senate Democrats. Pass it without brinkmanship, without hostage-taking. Do what we have done under President Trump and President Biden in the past when we have reached the limit of the debt ceiling.

We say to Speaker McCarthy: Where is your plan? If the two were to sit down, the Speaker would have nothing to say because for 3 months he has been missing an initial plan that can unite 218 votes.

During today's interview, the Speaker also claimed multiple times that his party is considering $4 trillion in cuts.

Great. Fill out the specifics, where the $4 trillion exactly comes from. Put it on the floor, Mr. Speaker. Show us the plan. Have a vote. We need specifics. You can't say you are for $4 trillion in cuts if you can't point to specifics.

If the Speaker truly has a proposal, he should lay it out. This isn't about some amorphous, vague number; it is about having a plan. This is the central problem with Speaker McCarthy's approach. It is not even possible to meet with the President and have a true meeting if he can't guarantee he will keep his conference together.

That is why Republicans should drop their brinkmanship, drop the hostage-taking, work with Democrats on a clean, bipartisan extension of the debt ceiling, and remove this cloud that is hanging over our economy that is imposed by Speaker McCarthy's brinkmanship.

Lower Energy Costs Act

Mr. President, on H.R. 1, the House is expected to vote this week on Republicans' partisan, unserious, so-called energy package they call H.R. 1. All it takes is a brief glance at H.R. 1 to realize it is just a big giveaway to Big Oil, pretending to be an energy package.

House Republicans' so-called energy package would gut important environmental safeguards on fossil fuel projects. It would lock America into expensive, erratic, and dirty energy sources while setting us back more than a decade on our transition to clean energy.

Everyone admits we have to do something about the carbon that is causing global warming. We have seen all the changes that it has caused all across the country. And they want to move back 10 years at the behest of Big Oil?

It is a plan that has no support with the American people--very little--the oil interests, yes, but just about nobody else. It falls woefully short on long-overdue and much needed reforms for accelerating the construction of transmission to bring clean energy projects online. Transmission is hugely important to increasing access to clean energy, but the Republican plan falls woefully short on this front as well.

I want to make clear that H.R. 1 is dead on arrival in the Senate. It is another exercise. You can go back to the MAGA supporters back home, the big oil companies you are walking in lockstep with, and say: See, we put this on the floor, but it is not going to get anything done.

We are not going to waste our time on a bill that sets America back decades in our transition to clean energy.

A serious clean energy package would help ease America's transition to clean energy while ensuring that clean energy is reliable, accessible, and most importantly, affordable.

Fortunately, many Democrats and Republicans understand that we need a bipartisan, bicameral approach to produce a serious energy package. Everyone knows there is going to have to be give on both sides to get it done. We on our side will continue working in good faith on real permitting reform talks.

But, House Republicans, H.R. 1 is, very simply put, a nonstarter.

Student Loans

Mr. President, on the student debt CRA, yesterday, Republicans introduced legislation that would end the pause on payments and overturn President Biden's historic student loan debt

relief program, denying the millions of Americans with student debt the critical relief they need.

Republicans talk a big game about helping working families, but they are once again showing how callous and uncaring they are by blocking that relief that would immediately improve the lives of millions of families burdened with student debt.

Republicans call President Biden's plan a ``giveaway to high earners.'' That is just false. That is just malicious. That is just nasty. Under President Biden's plan, nearly 90 percent of relief dollars would go to out-of-school borrowers making less than $75,000 a year.

Republicans, look at the facts. Let me repeat it. Under President Biden's plan, 90 percent--nearly 90 percent of debt relief dollars would go to out-of-school borrowers making less than $75,000 a year.

Under President Biden's plan, no one in the top 5 percent of incomes will receive a penny in debt relief. President Biden's plan is not a giveaway to high earners. In fact, there are a lot of very, very wealthy people who never want to see the government help anybody except themselves who seem to push this idea of getting rid of the President's plan.

President Biden's plan is a ladder up to the middle class for millions of Americans who need it most. Rather than help the privileged few, the Biden plan would benefit students of color, poor Americans, children of immigrants, and working and middle-class families across the country. These are the Americans who bear the brunt of the student debt crisis. They are the ones hurt by Republican legislation.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the notice of adoption of regulations from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights be printed in the Record.

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

Madam President, we are just learning of the horrific, truly heartbreaking shooting at a school in Nashville earlier today-- six people, three children.

I still have the pictures of the kids at Sandy Hook--the little children there who were shot dead--in mind.

Well, six people, including three children, were shot and killed in their own school. Six people, three children, won't be coming home today to their families, to their friends, to their lives.

We are holding in our hearts the families of the loved ones, of those affected by this horrible tragedy, and thank the first responders who were on the scene.

Israel

Madam President, now on Israel, I welcome the news that the judicial legislation proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government have been suspended. The bond between the United States and Israel is rooted in our shared democratic values and fealty to the rule of law. When I was in Israel 4 weeks ago, I shared that message directly with the Prime Minister.

I echo the call of President Herzog to find a compromise. It is a good step that the legislation is put on hold, and I strongly urge Israeli leaders, I urge Prime Minister Netanyahu: Come to a compromise before pushing forward again.

Isaac ``Bougie'' Herzog has the trust of all parties and is the right person to come up with the compromise. I urge both sides to work with him. At a time when Israel faces real dangers, particularly from Iran, the last thing Israel needs is divisiveness at home. Let us hope they can come to a compromise.

Authorizations for Use of Military Force

Madam President, on AUMF, this afternoon, the Senate will vote on cloture on AUMF repeal, bringing us one step closer to finally repealing the 1991 and 2002 Iraq AUMFs. Once cloture is invoked this afternoon, we will hold a few more votes on additional Republican amendments. Senators should then expect to vote on final passage of the Iraq AUMF repeal as soon as tomorrow.

Repealing the Iraq AUMFs has been a good and reasonable process here on the floor. We had a strong bipartisan vote on cloture last week. We are allowing Republican amendments. Most importantly, we aren't being dilatory because this is something a majority of Senators want to get done.

I hope this can be a method, a pattern of what we do in the future. We are willing to allow amendments, but we must move forward and cannot be dilatory and cannot have amendments so extraneous that they just bog down the whole process. What happened on this AUMF bill is a good model for us for the future to get things done with bipartisan cooperation.

On this bill, I want to thank Senators Kaine and Young, the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and all the cosponsors of this legislation for their work on this measure.

Military Nominations

Madam President, now on the hold on senior military nominations, defense readiness is impossible without military commanders in place to execute our national defense strategy. Senators have regularly worked together to confirm routine military nominees quickly, ensuring no lapses in the work of our military. But right now, 160 military promotions--160--these are not political. These are men and women who have worked their way up through the ranks and deserve a promotion to general, to colonel, et cetera. But 160, including five three-star generals, are on hold because the senior Senator from Alabama is holding them up because he can't get his way on blocking 160,000 women within the military from receiving healthcare.

Blocking military choices is unprecedented--unprecedented, hasn't happened before--and it could weaken our national security. And the number of those who are blocked is going to grow even larger as new nominees are reported out of the committee, which they do regularly.

Among the general and flag officers on hold by the Senator from Alabama include commanders for U.S. naval forces in the Pacific, the Middle East, and the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee--something really important at a time when war rages in Ukraine. The commanders of the 5th and 7th Fleets are the commanders of U.S. naval forces confronting the likes of Iran and China. They are being held up singlehandedly by the Senator from Alabama.

It shouldn't have to be said, but the Senator from Alabama's hold on hundreds of routine military promotions is reckless. It damages the readiness of our military and puts American security in jeopardy.

Now, look, all of us feel very strongly, passionately, at times about certain political issues, certainly as strongly as the Senator of Alabama feels about this one, but if every single one of us objected to the promotion of military personnel whenever we feel passionately or strongly about an issue, our military would simply grind to a halt.

The Senator from Alabama's actions risk permanently politicizing the confirmation of military personnel for the first time ever, and that would cause immense damage to the military's ability to lead and protect us. I can't think of a worse time for a MAGA Republican to pull a stunt like this, as threats against American security and against democracy are growing all around the world.

I urge Members of his own party to prevail on the Senator from Alabama to stand down in this unprecedented and dangerous move and allow these critical, nonpolitical, nonpartisan military nominees to go through.

Medicaid and the Budget

Madam President, on Medicaid and the budget, today, the Governor of North Carolina is signing legislation to expand Medicaid eligibility following the passage of a bipartisan compromise through the North Carolina General Assembly last week. Once signed, as many as 600,000 North Carolinians will soon enjoy healthcare coverage previously denied to them.

House Republicans should follow the example of their State-level counterparts and work with Democrats to expand services like Medicaid, not cut them. They should join Democrats to strengthen healthcare for all Americans, not threaten extreme cuts like the House GOP has been doing for months.

In the American Rescue Plan, Democrats passed a major new incentive to get holdout States to expand Medicaid to cover their low-income citizens. We should build on this work.

Now, House Republicans have bent over backwards claiming Social Security and Medicare are off the table, but what are their plans for Medicaid? Republicans have been disturbingly evasive about whether or not they want to cut Medicaid, and so Americans, unfortunately, remain in the dark.

If a moderate State like North Carolina is expanding Medicaid with bipartisan support, what the heck are MAGA Republicans doing threatening to cut it? It shows how difficult it will be for House Republicans to put together a plan that gets 218 votes.

So we repeat: Leader McCarthy, today is March 27. It is nearly 3 months. Where is your plan? Is Medicaid on the GOP chopping block? Are the MAGA Republicans pulling the Republican Party here in the House further to the right even as North Carolina, a moderate State, in a bipartisan way passes legislation to expand Medicaid? Will tens of millions of Americans find out that their benefits will be curtailed or eliminated?

Let me say again, instead of obsession about ideological spending cuts that harm millions of people, Republicans should work with Democrats to strengthen vital healthcare services. We should do that while also agreeing to lift the debt ceiling together, without brinksmanship or blackmail or hostage-taking.

Student Debt

Madam President, on student debt, this morning, House Republicans introduced legislation to overturn President Biden's historic student loan debt relief program, denying millions of Americans the critical student debt relief they need.

It is hard to believe that, at a time when millions of Americans are struggling with student debt, Republicans are showing how callous and uncaring they are by trying to block debt relief that will literally transform the lives of so many for the better.

Republicans have tried to paint President Biden's plan as a tuition bailout and a giveaway to high earners. A giveaway to high earners? Republicans ignore the facts.

Under President Biden's plan, 90 percent--nearly 90 percent of relief dollars would go to out-of-school borrowers making less than $75,000 a year. This is a party that cuts taxes on the very wealthy but then says that this is a bailout and a giveaway to high earners, when 90 percent of the people who get it--nearly 90 percent--make less than $75,000 a year? Who are they kidding? What hypocrisy.

Under President Biden's plan, no one in the top 5 percent of incomes will receive a penny in debt relief, even though Republicans were happy to give them huge tax breaks a few years back and still want to do that.

Rather than help the privileged few, President Biden's plan would benefit Americans who need it most: students of color, poor Americans, children of immigrants, working and middle-class families. These are the people who would suffer from the Republicans' terrible proposal.

Madam President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 28,

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, March 27, be waived.

Madam President, just to inform the Members, I am moving to file cloture on this bill, which would make sure that both the SAFER grants and the AFG grants, which protect and help our paid and volunteer firefighters, continue. It expires in a few months if we do nothing.

Our firefighters, both paid and volunteer, are brave; they risk their lives for us; they run to danger, not away from it; and they need both equipment and personnel so that they can continue to do their jobs, particularly in smaller, more rural, and more suburban areas where there is not the tax base to support the stuff that they need. So I hope we can move forward quickly on this legislation.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, on the AUMF, negotiations to reach a deal on AUMF passage continue here in the Senate. We had a number of votes yesterday evening on Republican amendments, and I expect we are going to see a few more later today.

Senate passage of the AUMF is now a matter of when, not if, and today we are going to continue working to make sure it happens as soon as we can. Americans want to see an end to endless Middle East wars. Passing this AUMF is a necessary step to putting these bitter conflicts squarely behind us.

I thank my colleagues for their work. I look forward to this bill's passage very soon. We are allowing amendments, but we shouldn't just be dilatory. We should move forward.

Extremism

At the start of this Congress, I urged Republicans in both the Senate and the House to rid themselves of MAGA extremism and work with Democrats for the good of the country and even for the good of their own party. We believe MAGA Republicanism hurts their party, because so many Americans on both sides of the aisle reject it.

Well, over 3 months later, Republicans have failed in so many ways to abandon MAGA extremism. If anything, they have doubled down and embraced it even more tightly--again, to the detriment of their country and to the detriment of their party.

If you just want to know how extreme the GOP has become in the majority, look no further than what is happening on the House floor today and tomorrow. As early as this afternoon, House Republicans will try resurrecting their doomed attempt to protect retirement investors from considering governance ESG factors when making investment decisions.

Republicans talk a lot about their love of free markets and letting the private sector do its work, but their obsession--obsession--with eliminating ESG would do the opposite. By turning ``ESG'' into a dirty new little acronym, Republicans are trying to force their own views down the throats of every company and every investor.

President Biden has already vetoed this nakedly partisan measure, and it is clear the votes do not exist to override this veto in the House. It won't even come close.

So it is bad enough that House Republicans are wasting time on show votes, but it is even more astonishing that this show vote, of all things, is designed to restrict the private sector on purely ideological grounds. It is a sad sign of how radicalized and divisive the GOP has become over the past few years.

But that is not all. Today's potential vote on the ESG override is the appetizer. Tomorrow's main course is even more horrifying.

As we speak, House Republicans are considering a sweeping piece of legislation that would nationalize school policy, endanger billions in nutrition funding, and accelerate the trend of book bans across the Nation. The House Republicans' school control bill is Orwellian to the core, and it will not see the light of day here in the Senate. If passed, schools across the Nation would be forced to adhere to a panoply of Federal regulations that take power away from parents and school districts.

Again, let me repeat that. It would take power away from parents and school districts, away from educators, and put it in the hands of elected politicians. Again, the GOP that treasured small government and local control is long since gone, replaced once again by hard-right MAGA ideologues.

The bill could be devastating to our communities. According to one report from CBO, schools that fail to comply with these MAGA mandates would be excluded from Child Nutrition Programs, impacting over 9 million kids who rely on schools for their meals.

That is it. Punish the poor kids. Make sure they don't have a meal if the school board doesn't comply with these extreme provisions.

The GOP would also expose school districts to even greater risks of book banning, censorship, and intimidation. Last year alone, there were over 2,500 book bans across the country on titles that oftentimes aren't remotely offensive but would still draw the ire of the hard right.

One school librarian in Pennsylvania--listen to this; it is crushing--was reportedly forced to remove a poster quoting Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel for violating district policy--Elie Wiesel, violating district policy.

What was the quote in question?

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human

beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take

sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

That was removed.

What is going on here with the extreme right? They are just losing it. There is something deeply malicious going on within the hard right when even the quotes of Holocaust survivors are seen as too ``woke'' or ``offensive.''

Again, rather than abandon the MAGA hard right, the Republican Party as a whole seems to be doubling down.

Legislation like the GOP's radical school control bill would only make matters worse, and I will assure the American people and school children that if this bill is passed, it will meet a dead end when it comes to the Senate.

Budget

Mr. President, finally, on the budget, in the aftermath of major bank collapses, House Republicans have spent this week not calling for calm but sowing chaos. Chaos seems to be their calling card.

Earlier this week, House GOP Members, including the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said now is ``the best time'' to double down on debt ceiling brinkmanship and hostage-taking.

They suggest, absurdly, that Democrats and Democratic policies are somehow to blame for what went wrong with Silicon Valley Bank, and they are trying to link the bank's collapse with the debt ceiling debate.

This is a stupendously bad idea. This is an idea that has no logic. It has no linear thinking in it at all. It is just throwing things together, throwing spaghetti on the wall. Threatening the full faith and credit of the United States is never appropriate, but, at a time when markets require stability, it is supremely reckless.

Republicans should remember that poor management and deregulation under President Trump made these bank collapses possible. It wasn't Democratic policies.

And I would remind my Republican colleagues of this very important and telling fact: Inflation and interest rates are impacting institutions everywhere, but the vast majority of banks that have been properly managed are not in crisis.

So the Republican convoluted argument falls very, very flat. If this environment is so bad for the banks, why aren't all banks affected? No, it is the few that are mismanaged. It is the few that were not regulated properly by the regulators.

So to link the collapses with the debt ceiling--to suggest that these incidents should justify even more brinkmanship and hostage-taking--is stunningly reckless.

Instead of trying to promote financial catastrophe, Republican leaders should stop hiding from the American people, stop coming up with diversions and subterfuges, and finally show us your plan.

Today is March 23. It has been long enough.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

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

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 23, be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked on S. 316 on Monday March 27, it be in order to consider the following amendments: Sullivan, No. 33; R. Scott, No. 13; Ricketts, No. 30; Cruz, No. 9; Hawley, No. 40; and Johnson, No. 11; that, if offered, the Senate vote in relation to the amendments at a time to be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the Republican leader on Tuesday, March 28, and that 60 affirmative votes be required for the adoption of these amendments, without intervening action or debate.

So, Mr. President, before I finish the rest of the business, I just want to explain to everyone what happened.

A few moments ago, we entered into an agreement that puts the Senate on a path to repeal the Iraq AUMFs by early next week. By filing cloture today, we set up a vote for this coming Monday. If cloture is invoked, we will hold votes on additional amendments before final passage.

This has been a good process here on the floor. I was asked by several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to have a reasonable amendment process and then we could move the bill forward. I think we did, on a vote that got 70 Republican votes--or 70 total votes, or close to 70, on cloture last week. We have 11 amendments, and I think just about every Republican amendment that was asked for as of today was accommodated.

So this is a good thing, and I hope it can be a model for the future. We in the majority will allow amendments. Sometimes those votes are tough to take, but at the same time, the minority will not just be dilatory and allow us to move forward. That is what happened this week on AUMF, and I hope it portends good things to come as we work together to make this country an even better country.

Now back to other business.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, March 27; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 25, S. 316; further, that the filing

deadline for first-degree amendments be at 3:30 p.m. and the cloture motion filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m.

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 the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. 122, 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.

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, now on trains, after last month's terrible derailment in East Palestine, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has a chance today to prove before the Senate Commerce Committee that his company is ready to fix the damage they have created. During his testimony, I hope Mr. Shaw will offer some candid answers to a number of very troubling questions.

For example, if Mr. Shaw and rail executives truly care about safety, why did they spend years--years--lobbying the Republican administrations to claw away at regulations intended to keep people safe?

What is Norfolk Southern doing to prevent future accidents like the one in East Palestine? And, God forbid, if another one happens, how will Norfolk Southern ensure communities get the resources they need?

Also, I want to hear Mr. Shaw explain why his company has engorged itself with stock buybacks when that money could have been spent on safety. Listen to this: Norfolk Southern has more than doubled the amount they spent on stock buybacks in the 5 years

after the Trump tax law compared to the 5 years before it. In the same period, they cut jobs by thousands and lowered capital investments by billions. How is that justifiable?

I understand that NTSB Chair Homendy is offering testimony as well. I hope we hear from her that the NTSB is ready to conduct a full investigation, not just into Norfolk Southern but into all class I freight rail companies, as I have asked her to do. Such an examination could shed light on a number of rail accidents, if they occurred in populated areas, and which toxic chemicals were released.

A full NTSB investigation could tell us which of these accidents occurred because the tracks were severely degraded or poorly designed, and a full investigation from the NTSB could tell us which negligent rail company policies contributed to the 2,700 deaths in recent years and if any of these could have been prevented.

The Senate deserves explanations. Americans and communities like East Palestine want answers. I hope today's hearing provides some so we can prevent rail disasters like the one in Ohio from happening again.