Maria Cantwell

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I think my colleague knows darn well the President of the United States has been doing something about this. That is why he used his leadership to make sure that we made major infrastructure investment so we could move products. That is why he has gotten the ports to work 24 hours to move product more expeditiously. That is why he has been focused on all of the infrastructure needs in moving our country forward and continuing to deal with chokepoints, whether they are on the highways, our ports, or our rail system. My colleague knows, too, that the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce--whom I am sure he has talked to--are working very diligently on this. I am sure they are willing to talk to him. There is no secret here. There is the administration and a bipartisan group of people who are working together to try to solve these issues, but there are those on the other side of the aisle, probably those who didn't support the infrastructure investment, who also don't support having people spend the money and make the investments. I am going to yield to my colleagues who are also here to try to move some of these important nominees to make this investment work in the United States.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, my colleague from Montana is making some great points in this debate. I can't emphasize this enough to my colleague from Florida, a member of our committee. He knows how hard we have all worked on these. He knows how bipartisan this effort was. He knows that he is not joined by a bunch of other colleagues here tonight, you know, in making these objections. It is because they want these nominees. They voted for them. To come from a State like mine, where one in four jobs is related to trade, it is all about infrastructure. It is about our ports, our airports, our railroads, our roads. It is about getting the products from Montana out to the Pacific and to those destinations. It is all about making this infrastructure investment, and we finally have a President who is willing to put everything on the line to get us back to making an infrastructure investment that is more than 1 percent of GDP and who is smart enough to know that those ports and everything else are not going to function well and that we are not going to be competitive with Canada or with South America or with other places if we don't make this investment. Well, now we have made it. We have made the investment. Now, we just need the people to execute on it, and our colleague doesn't want those individuals to be part of this process. He is not ready for them. Everybody gets frustrated with the position of an administration. Everybody wants to hear from a nominee. I have called nominees. You would think that some of those people might call me, but, no, I have had to pick up the phone and call them and say: Here is what my concern is. Where are you going to be on this issue? What are you going to do about this problem? Did I have everything guaranteed? Did I have every policy that I wanted to see for that nominee? No, but I picked up the phone and got the commitment that I needed to see things through and get things moving. So, now, the fact that we have these nominees who continue to be held, as my colleague said, by a minority of the minority because they don't want to see the infrastructure investments that we have already voted on put in place is just really holding up government. It is just holding it up. I think the President deserves to have his nominees. We deserve to get to vote on them. We deserve to give the President of the United States our opinion, but we also deserve to have these nominees voted on and not held in this process so that the government--so the actual functioning of the infrastructure bill--can't be implemented even though the majority of the Senate voted that way. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make the same request of Executive Calendar No. 468, Mohsin Raza Syed, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation.

Ms. CANTWELL. We are here on whatever today is--December 16. We are here, you know, as Congress careens toward trying to get some work done before we break for the holiday season. I am sure that my colleague knows very well where the administration is on getting its nominees. We are not even the only committee that is out here on a weekly basis complaining about the number of nominees who are not allowed to serve. Even though they come out of committee with bipartisan support, they are not being allowed to be taken up and acted upon. We have had people out here from the Foreign Affairs Committee. We have had nominees. We have had various committees--the HELP Committee. So we are just here now talking about the Transportation Committee. So, yes, we have a minority within the minority that doesn't want the administration to have the nominees it needs to get things done. In this case, it is infrastructure. The importance of that is that the majority of people voted for infrastructure. The majority of people have voted for these nominees, and these nominees deserve to get in their place so that individuals can do their work. If the Senator from Florida doesn't want to support--didn't want to support the infrastructure bill, doesn't believe that it was done just like he would do it, I would ask him to consider the fact that his colleagues, the majority of whom did support it, are now going to be delayed in getting those resources out the door. Now, maybe that is what he wants. Maybe he is playing a game of the calendar. He is just hoping that those nominees won't ever get into these spots, that it will take forever for us to get these programs implemented. Our economy can't wait for that. Our economy and the investments that we all decided to make can't wait for this kind of gamesmanship. The small businesses that my colleague from Montana talked about can't wait for that gamesmanship. I guarantee you those Secretaries will be in front of the Commerce Committee in the new year at some point in time. I guarantee it. That is what happens around here. I am pretty sure they will be asked these questions. I am sure they are asked these questions every single day. I am pretty sure they would take a call from my colleague tonight or tomorrow. I am pretty sure they would have the input from him that he would want to give in these situations. But this is an issue about whether you are for the infrastructure investment and whether you are for making that a reality by having the people whom it takes to implement it. And if you don't have CFOs, if you don't have the Administrators of the Agencies, if you don't have the people who are targeted to do the investment, I am not sure how you can do it. One of those nominees, Arun Venkataraman, currently serves as a counselor to the Secretary of Commerce on trade and international matters. He has more than 20 years of experience in working on these issues and is somebody who could benefit us in this analysis of the challenges that we are facing to get our products into these markets and get them into these markets quickly. So I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 586, Arun Venkataraman to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, my colleague knows very well that, just yesterday, the Deputy Secretaries of Commerce, Transportation, and Agriculture met with--and it may have been on a Zoom call or on the phone--Senators to talk about exactly what is going on to help work on the supply chain. The Senator knows very well. Now, he may not have liked exactly what he heard in the outcome, but there are no harder working people than the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Transportation in implementing the things that need to be implemented to keep our country moving. The problem, I think, is that the Senator from Florida may not understand that there is a huge upside. We just had a hearing yesterday with all of the airlines, and we acted on the Payroll Support Program. The end result of that has been a big boon to our economy because they were there and in place to capture the upside when the vaccines worked and the flying public returned. So we, the United States of America, have outdone Europe and Asia and Canada. Basically, the upside is having our air transportation system now back up to 90 percent of capacity. We did that because we acted. We made an investment, and the investment is paying off, and it kept a workforce that otherwise would have been on unemployment benefits. So this administration is working. This administration is working, and it needs people to help them implement the bill we just passed. The administration has been working with major ports to have night and weekend cargo operations. It has been working with companies to improve the transparency of logistics and pricing. It has been working with shippers to get the cargo and containers in and out of the ports faster. He is urging some of the largest shippers--Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Samsung, FedEx, and UPS--to commit to moving cargo during off- peak hours and making those commitments. Two major railroads--Union Pacific and BNSF--have announced that they will create new incentives for cargo owners to move cargo on the weekends. CMA CGM--one of the largest carriers--has begun providing $100 discounts on the containers if they are picked up immediately, which is helping move them off the docks. One of the problems is that empty containers have been left on the docks, and this has caused congestion at the ports. So the administration has worked with these carriers to help incent people who have been part of the shipping system to get that product off of the docks. We have begun to see positive results from this. This month, the CEOs of the major retailers told President Biden that the supply chain conditions have begun to show signs of improvement. This is from the major retailers. As to the issues that we are focusing on here, we are talking to two people who are out fixing the problem. The Senator had a chance to talk to their Deputies about this. These are people who are definitely available to be talked to about this problem. Yet they are asking us to continue to have a workforce. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 469, Victoria Marie Baecher Wassmer, of the District of Columbia, to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transportation.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, these nominees we are talking about are nominees who are literally just the people who are going to help get these things done within the Agencies. The Senator is basically denying people the ability to have analysis, to talk about competition, to talk about the effective strategies that we need to put in place. The Commerce Committee has had three hearings on the supply chain. In fact, we had some fabulous testimony, starting in--I think it was-- February or March, about the supply chain. It was a fabulous panel of experts, and it was about the complexity of what was happening to the supply chain and what our problems were going to be. The one thing that is clear is that this isn't an issue for just COVID; that this isn't an issue for just this administration; and that this isn't an issue even for the next, you know, few years. This is an issue about the fact that, in the world economy in 2019, prior to the pandemic, something miraculous happened: The majority of the population of the world reached middle class. That meant the majority of people outside the United States was going to be a huge market opportunity for our goods and our products. It is a huge economic opportunity that 95 percent of consumers are outside the United States. That means we have to get things to those markets cost-effectively and competitively. For us in Seattle, the Port of Seattle has to compete with the Port of Vancouver. The Port of Vancouver and the infrastructure of--Canada has made all sorts of infrastructure investment all across Canada with rail and port investment so that they can have the state of the art and so that it can be cheaper to ship through Canada than the United States. The same thing is happening in South America and other parts of the world. This is about who is going to reach the Asian market and how fast they are going to reach the Asian market. The infrastructure investment was critical. It was critical to making sure that our railroads worked, that our ports worked, that our motor carriers had the right people and had the right safety. This was, literally, upgrading our infrastructure that had been ignored-- basically kept on life support--for so long, and now, we have a President and a bipartisan group of people who are going to make the investment. So the fact that those Agencies now need people--even the next nominee we are talking about--it is just literally about making investments so that they can figure out the strategy and the strategy moving forward on these individuals. I don't understand why so many of these nominees my colleague has to object to because these nominees are individuals who are part of our infrastructure investment and, in this case, are part of where we are with the Department of Commerce in understanding what is even happening in the supply chain and what we also want to do. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 355, Grant T. Harris, of California, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5746, which was received from the House.

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask that the Cantwell amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask that the committee-reported substitute be agreed to; and that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

Ms. CANTWELL. I know of no further debate.

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 127, S. 1543.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 177, S. 1097.

Ms. CANTWELL. 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.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 497, 597, and 598; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statement related to the nominations be printed in the Record and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, and all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session. Without objection, it is so ordered. The nominations considered and confirmed are as follows: in the army The following named Army National Guard of the United States officer for appointment in the Reserve of the Army to the grade indicated under title 10, U.S.C., sections 12203 and 12211: To be major general Brig. Gen. William J. Prendergast, IV The following named officer for appointment to the grade indicated in the United States Army while serving as Chief Defense Counsel for Military Commissions under article II, section 2, clause 2 of the United States Constitution and section 1037 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014: To be brigadier general Col. Jackie L. Thompson, Jr. in the space force The following named officer for appointment to the grade in the United States Space Force under title 10, U.S.C., section 624: To be brigadier general Col. Timothy A. Sejba in the army The following named Army National Guard of the United States officer for appointment in the Reserve of the Army to the grade indicated under title 10, U.S.C., sections 12203 and 12211: To be major general Brig. Gen. Roger D. Lyles in the marine corps The following named officers for appointment in the United States Marine Corps to the grade indicated under title 10, U.S.C., section 624: To be major general Brig. Gen. James H. Adams, III Brig. Gen. Eric E. Austin Brig. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte Brig. Gen. William J. Bowers Brig. Gen. Stephen E. Liszewski Brig. Gen. Keith D. Reventlow Brig. Gen. Sean M. Salene Brig. Gen. Roberta L. Shea Brig. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson Brig. Gen. Christian F. Wortman Nominations Placed on the Secretary's Desk in the air force PN1307 AIR FORCE nomination of Troy J. Johnson, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1308 AIR FORCE nomination of Mary T. Guest, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1309 AIR FORCE nomination of Eric J. Jordan, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1310 AIR FORCE nominations (24) beginning ZACHARY P. AUGUSTINE, and ending MICHAEL L. TOOMER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1311 AIR FORCE nominations (11) beginning CHAD A. BELLAMY, and ending ANDREW L. THORNLEY, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1312 AIR FORCE nominations (37) beginning ROSS ANDREW BROWN, and ending LISA MARIE WOTKOWICZ, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1313 AIR FORCE nominations (25) beginning KIP T. AVERETT, and ending DANIEL S. WALKER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1314 AIR FORCE nominations (73) beginning SHAWN J. ALVES, and ending ALEXANDER J. ZOLL, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1315 AIR FORCE nominations (29) beginning PATRICK E. BRACKEN, and ending THADDAEUS J. WERNER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1329 AIR FORCE nomination of Anthony W. Perez, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1330 AIR FORCE nomination of Dustin R. Meredith, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1387 AIR FORCE nominations (9) beginning GEORGE L. CHAPMAN, and ending MICHAEL L. YAMZON, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1388 AIR FORCE nominations (79) beginning LUIS J. ADAMES, and ending MICHAEL J. WILLEN, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1389 AIR FORCE nomination of Rebecca L. Hess, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1390 AIR FORCE nominations (2) beginning ANGELICA M. DREXEL, and ending WILLIAM R. SINGISER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1391 AIR FORCE nomination of Kyle P. Allen, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1392 AIR FORCE nominations (5) beginning SEAN M. BATZER, and ending LENARD W. TOL, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1393 AIR FORCE nominations (4) beginning ASHLEY D. BROWN, and ending ALEXANDER T. PINGREE, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1394 AIR FORCE nomination of Ross C. Stanley, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1395 AIR FORCE nominations (296) beginning BRANDON R. ABEL, and ending BRANDON A. ZUERCHER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1396 AIR FORCE nominations (110) beginning BRADLEY D. ALTMAN, and ending ROBERT J. YATES, III, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1397 AIR FORCE nominations (52) beginning ALICIA D. ABRAMS, and ending JAMES A. WRIGHT, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1398 AIR FORCE nomination of Simone E. Zacharias, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1414 AIR FORCE nomination of Adrian A. Andrews, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 17, 2021. in the army PN984 ARMY nomination of Richard J. Sonnenfeld, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of August 4, 2021. PN1266 ARMY nomination of Andrea N. Apple, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 19, 2021. PN1304 ARMY nominations (21) beginning ROBERT J. ABBOTT, and ending MEGAN WAKEFIELD, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1305 ARMY nomination of Tanya K. Bindernagel, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1306 ARMY nominations (80) beginning GRANT T. ALEXIS, and ending THOMAS J. WITKOWSKI, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1331 ARMY nomination of Gabrielle L. Murray, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1332 ARMY nomination of Michael R. Ruiz, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1333 ARMY nomination of Nicholas J. Beck, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1334 ARMY nomination of Peter A. Doblar, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1335 ARMY nomination of Francis E. Igo, IV, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1336 ARMY nomination of Ken M. Woods, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1337 ARMY nominations (46) beginning KATHARINE M. E. ADAMS, and ending HANS P. ZELLER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1338 ARMY nominations (3) beginning ALEJANDRO L. BUNIAG, JR., and ending MICHAEL W. WEAVER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1339 ARMY nomination of Erica A. Wheatley, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1340 ARMY nomination of Jamison S. Nielsen, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1341 ARMY nominations (2) beginning ROBERT P. LEWIS, and ending SCOT W. MCCOSH, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1342 ARMY nomination of Jader A. Morales, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1343 ARMY nomination of Moises Salinas, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1399 ARMY nomination of Michael S. Schwamberger, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1400 ARMY nomination of Kyle A. Lippold, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1401 ARMY nomination of Taylor K. Opel, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1402 ARMY nominations (21) beginning SHAWN G. ABBE, and ending NATHANIEL C. STONE, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1403 ARMY nomination of Jamie E. Mueller, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1415 ARMY nominations (9) beginning PETER S. BLACK, and ending ROBERT G. SACCA, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 17, 2021. PN1430 ARMY nomination of Edward W. Lumpkins, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 1, 2021. PN1431 ARMY nomination of Gina M. Farrington, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 1, 2021. PN1432 ARMY nomination of Disa L. Rifkin, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 1, 2021. PN1449 ARMY nomination of Jessica K. Smyth, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 2, 2021. PN1450 ARMY nomination of Brock A. Chavez, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 2, 2021. in the marine corps PN1344 MARINE CORPS nomination of Eric A. Walraven, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1345 MARINE CORPS nomination of Daniel T. Celotto, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1346 MARINE CORPS nomination of Jason A. Retter, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1404 MARINE CORPS nominations (100) beginning RYAN P. ALLEN, and ending MATTHEW P. ZUMMO, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1416 MARINE CORPS nominations (629) beginning NICHOLAS P. ADAMS, and ending JOHN B. ZIMMER, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 17, 2021. in the navy PN1316 NAVY nomination of Stephen M. Dyer, which was received by th Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of October 27, 2021. PN1347 NAVY nominations (34) beginning MITCHELL I. BELL, and ending PATRICK Z. X. YU, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1348 NAVY nomination of Matthew C. Dennis, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1405 NAVY nomination of Joseph M. Molina, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1451 NAVY nomination of Stephen B. Koye, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 2, 2021. PN1452 NAVY nomination of Michael J. Urbaitis, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 2, 2021. PN1453 NAVY nominations (3) beginning ALEXANDER C. CHARALAMBOUS, and ending TAIBATU E. I. OBASI, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of December 2, 2021. in the space force PN1349 SPACE FORCE nominations (2) beginning CHRISTINA N. GILLETTE, and ending D. S. ROGERS, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 1, 2021. PN1406 SPACE FORCE nominations (10) beginning ALBERT J. ASHBY, and ending JOHN C. ZINGARELLI, which nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1407 SPACE FORCE nomination of Kevin G. Amsden, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021. PN1408 SPACE FORCE nomination of Travis Richard Prater, which was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of November 15, 2021.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 402, 587, 606; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc with no intervening action or debate; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 479, submitted earlier today.

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

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Wednesday, December 15; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the House message to accompany S. 1605; further, that at 11:30 a.m., the motion to concur with amendment No. 4880 be withdrawn and the Senate vote on the motion to concur; and that following disposition of the House message, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Sung nomination and vote on confirmation of the nomination; further, that at 2:15 p.m., the Senate vote on confirmation of the Elliott nomination; and finally, that if any of the nominations are confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Ms. CANTWELL

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

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I know that we are expecting a vote shortly. I know the majority leader may come out and make some motions, and my colleague wants to speak so we are going to try to just move forward. I have sent my condolences to the Dole family and thank our colleague for his heartfelt comments this afternoon.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I thank the majority leader for moving forward on the Rosenworcel nomination and encourage my colleagues to vote yes. I was mentioning the issues of disparity across our country for those who don't have access to broadband. The Makah Tribe, located on the northwest point of the Olympic Peninsula, 90 percent of those households don't have broadband. I know Ms. Rosenworcel committed to both Senator Wicker and myself she would work with us on the issue of broadband mapping. I know in one county in Mississippi, the home of my colleague, that it is estimated the FCC broadband mapping overestimates internet coverage by a whopping 80 percent. This is unacceptable. We need accurate mapping, and we need the broadband funding to move forward. I know the Biden administration understands the importance of affordability of broadband. I know they want to deploy broadband and make it more affordable, and we want to work with them to make that happen. Chairwoman Rosenworcel also looked at the issue of healthcare and the fact that the internet is now access to doctors, to medical information, to monitoring patients, to delivering healthcare, and keeping the lights on. This is also why I think her nomination is so important. She took time to firsthand visit telehealth in Washington--the State of Washington--and Seattle and saw how we were pushing forward. Yet the FCC is going to do more in this particular area. Her leadership, I believe, will help ensure that our spectrum policies continue to spur innovation and economic prosperity. I know that she will be able to look forward to these developing technologies and how best to include innovation, including the next 5G wireless technology communications. All of this, I believe, means that we in the United States have a desire to keep pushing the envelope and to have an FCC that understands how to resolve these problems. I ask my colleague to support her nomination and to move forward on these important policies so we all can work on them together. I yield the floor.

Ms. CANTWELL

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

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor and join my colleague from Washington to support a woman's right to choose and to make sure that we are making our voices heard loud and clear about the discussion that is happening before the Supreme Court and why it is so important to have the full reproductive health care choices for women in the United States of America. In 1973, the Supreme Court decided the Constitution protects a woman's right to privacy and, thus, the choice to have a safe and legal abortion without excessive government restrictions. And so now that these cases are before the Court, it is important for our colleagues to know that the majority of Americans support Roe v. Wade. In my State in 1970, the people voted to legalize early abortions and in 1991, by a vote of the people in an initiative process, we supported that ``Every individual possesses a fundamental right to privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions,'' codifying Roe v. Wade into State law. That was in 1991. So it is concerning to people of the State of Washington to hear now that these other States, once coming here to talk about just certain restrictions, are now coming to talk about overturning Roe v. Wade. Women should be allowed to have these fundamental rights dependent not where they live, but to make sure that they have access. And my colleague from Washington just expressed why it is so important for women and families to have access to those full reproductive rights. Women across the country for 50 years have come to rely on these constitutional protections to make decisions for themselves, about their reproduction, their families, and their bodies. That is why it is important to realize that Roe is based on our privacy protections in the Constitution. The Justices wisely understood that, that a woman's right to choose was about privacy, a personal issue, a medical choice, one in which the State had very limited roles subject to the highest standards and scrutiny of the Court. But some of my colleagues believe that it is their choice to make. They believe they should decide for all women; they believe that they should not make the decision for just themselves, but for other people and for other people's family when to have a child. I know that in Mississippi legislators have decided that rather than viability after 15 weeks, the State should take the choice away from women. In Texas, the legislature decided that the choice should be taken away at 6 weeks, typically long before a woman might know she is pregnant. Why are these people who claim that they should be making decisions for women across the country now supporting efforts to take away these important rights. The Court in Casey said, ``The proper focus of constitutional inquiry is the group for whom the law is a restriction, not the group for whom the law is irrelevant.'' But let's look at what happened in Mississippi. In 2018, Mississippi enacted a State law which banned abortion after 15 weeks. Notably, there is no exception for rape or incest, and no exception for the health of the mother. They say that is their government's choice. Well, I asked them, where is the right of the mother and the individual? Where is the right for that family to ask about the life of the mother. To quote an amicus brief to the Court on behalf of over 500 public health professionals, ``Any ban on pre-viability abortion such as Mississippi, carries major public health implications, because it forces a woman to carry pregnancies to term under adverse circumstances marked by substantially greater increases to their health and that of their families.'' Any ban, continuing to read from the quote, ``any ban will disproportionately affect young women, women of color, low-income women, and communities who are already vulnerable to elevated health and social risks and reduce access to necessary health care.'' This is what we are talking about. A woman's right to choose. Her family's right to choose. And people want to see these rights eroded. I think that these are public health concerns that we all should be concerned about. I think we should be concerned that a legislature wanted to change these laws. In 2018, some in the State legislature may have just had had the objective of narrowly undermining Roe. But now, they recently are changing their position and are asking that Roe v Wade be overturned. So all of these are important decisions. As the Casey Court held, overruling precedent would come ``at a cost of profound and unnecessary damage.'' I couldn't agree more. Because of Roe and Casey, abortions are safe and are available. Women are in control of their bodies. Families can plan. These are important issues for every woman in America. These are their choices. This decision, a very difficult decision can be theirs and theirs alone. And that is why it is a matter of choice. So I hope our colleagues will be paying close attention to what is happening at the Supreme Court. I guarantee you, the people of the State of Washington are who as I said, codified Roe v. Wade into statute by a vote of the people. The majority of Americans support Roe v. Wade. And this is now a law that people are trying to overturn and overturn our privacy constitutional rights. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.