Sheldon Whitehouse

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, well, first of all, congratulations to Chairman Cardin for his fifth COP delegation that he led. I have been on all five of them, and I am really grateful that he has organized them and organized them well. A couple of topics on this one: Going in, we had acquired from the UNFCCC the requirement that people showing up would have to disclose their fossil fuel affiliations--like who are you really working for, if you have come to the COP--and we have worked since then with the environmental community to put some real teeth into that disclosure so that you actually know what the questions are and you have to answer them, and you can't just send it to the PR department and get a bit of fluff to file. We have sent that in to Professor Raskin, who is the intermediary on the subject of transparency with the UNFCCC. So we didn't get it done for this one, and this one was swarming with lobbyists and undisclosed mischief makers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for instance, was present. We know, particularly in this building, that they are constantly up to no good. But we are hoping that, by the next COP, there will be far better transparency and people who are actively working to defeat climate legislation, to defeat climate progress have to disclose that they are up to that. They can still come, but everybody needs to know what jersey they are wearing. The other thing that happened was that the nations of the world agreed that we are going to transition away from fossil fuels. For many of us, that seemed pretty obvious going in. So I am not too excited about that. But what is good about it is that every country signed off on it, like Saudi Arabia. Countries that have long been part of the fossil fuel kleptocracy apparatus had to go along with this. So while the standard may not be all that exciting--everybody knew going in we are transitioning away from fossil fuel, for Pete's sake-- the unanimity is new, and I give John Kerry a lot of credit for being extremely patient and determined to hold through all that and at least move the worst performers, the worst nations, to catch up with everybody else who already knew that transitioning away from fossil fuels is necessary. There was some good work done on methane. There were international efforts to focus on methane and, particularly, methane leaks, and that is going to be good because working with what we are doing in the United States on methane--the methane regulation that just passed out of EPA; the methane fee that was brought into the IRA with the good work of Chairman Carper; the methane task force that the Biden administration has stood up to spot methane leaks from satellites and go right at them the way a fire department would and make sure they are put out, they are snuffed out, they are stopped, and moved quickly--you put that together with an international package, and you can begin to make a real dent in methane emissions. And methane emissions are less dangerous than carbon dioxide because they don't last as long, but they are immensely powerful while they are in the atmosphere. So they are really dangerous in the short run, and knocking them out in the short run will be a good outcome. The last thing I will say is that we talked a lot about the CBAM, or the carbon border adjustment mechanism, while we were there. The European Union has passed a CBAM that will tariff goods that are imported into the EU from more carbon-intensive countries, including us and including China and including Russia and including everybody in the world. And, to my mind, that EU CBAM is the most promising emissions reduction strategy anywhere--arguably, even more than these COPs. It is a big, big deal. And one of the things we heard from our EU folks is that they are not budging. No matter what pressure is put on them, they are not budging. They are not going to give exceptions. They are not going to give waivers. They are not going to let people weasel out. They are going to stick to their guns and make sure that their proposal goes forward. And I encourage that because I think, as soon as they are really locked down and everybody knows it, others will begin to join. And guess what today's news is? The UK is officially joining the EU CBAM. Now, those two big economies are joined, and they will not have to pay internal tariffs to each other. And, as my friend Philip Dunne, the conservative MP who leads the Environmental Audit Committee of Parliament, said, their version of the UK CBAM will ``keep the U.K. at the forefront of the group of leading economies . . . introducing comprehensive and effective measures to tackle global emissions while promoting growth.'' The EU is in, rock solid, not budging. The UK is joining. Now it is time for the United States to step up and join the carbon border tariff policies that are probably our very best step to avert the horrors of uncontrolled climate chaos. With that, let me yield the floor back and, again, thank Chairman Cardin for his leadership of this very busy and hard-working delegation.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I submit to the Senate a budget scorekeeping report. The report, which covers fiscal year 2024, was prepared by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. This information enables the Senate Budget Committee to determine if budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation. CBO's report shows the effect on spending and revenues of congressional action through December 10, 2023, as compared to the levels that I filed on June 21 as authorized by section 121 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, or FRA. Since then, Congress has passed six pieces of legislation with small effects on direct spending. These include two continuing resolutions that were eligible for adjustments to enforceable levels as permitted under the FRA. Tables 1 and 2 show that current budgetary levels are above allowable amounts for budget authority and within allowable amounts for outlays. The government is currently operating under a bipartisan short-term continuing resolution that extends the previous year's discretionary funding levels through early 2024. The budget authority level shown in the tables is artificially high because it reflects CBO's estimate of the continuing resolution, which for technical reasons is higher than the statutory limits. Enactment of full-year appropriations for fiscal year 2024 consistent with budget agreement surrounding the FRA would bring total budget authority in line with the allowable limits. These tables also reflect that there has been no change to Social Security. Table 3 shows the Senate's pay-as-you-go-scorecard, which reflects $44 million of net deficit reduction over 10 years. The Democratic staff of the Budget Committee prepared an addendum table to supplement CBO's report, which compares the mandatory spending of each authorizing committee against the enforceable allocations under section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act. It shows that 15 of the 16 authorizing committees are complying with their allocations, either because no legislation with significant budgetary costs was enacted, the legislation was deficit-neutral and qualified for an allocation adjustment that was subsequently filed, or the legislation reduced spending. I ask unanimous consent that CBO's letter, accompanying tables, and the addendum be printed in the Record.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I am happy and proud to join my senior Senator in congratulating our friend Mark Hayward, the District Director of the Small Business Administration in Rhode Island, on his very well-deserved retirement after serving at SBA for more than 40 years. It is a really remarkable career. In that time, as Jack said, Mark strengthened small businesses all across the Ocean State and created economic opportunity for Rhode Islanders from every community and background. He was so well regarded within the SBA that he was actually called down to Washington for a detail to help break in a new Small Business Administrator who needed to learn the ropes. The person that the organization trusted to get her going and working in a good way was Mark Hayward. Of course, he came back to New England and back to Rhode Island. Jack mentioned Mark's role in the pandemic. He had actually told us he was planning to retire before the pandemic, but he couldn't walk away from what was happening. So he went to work to make sure that Rhode Island did a good job in the pandemic. It was not easy. These were big new programs that we had created, and implementing them and getting the money to flow smoothly through the banks and undoing the clogs that emerged and the different errors that were experienced was a big project. Mark made Rhode Island a model of good implementation of our pandemic response. Other SBA offices around the country looked to what he was doing and modeled on that. It was just a pretty gallant and wonderful thing that he was willing to remain at the helm through that difficult period, to work through these big programs and make them succeed and to help small businesses across our State through a period of real financial uncertainty and peril. Mark and his team delivered much needed Federal funding to businesses in every community, often providing a lifeline that allowed small business owners to keep their doors open and to keep their people on the payroll. That pandemic reinforced what we already knew about Mark. He knows Rhode Island's small businesses better than anybody, he is determined to be helpful, and he will stand up and rise to the occasion when the demand is there for his skills. So I join Jack in congratulating our friend Mark on an incredible run. We thank you, sir, for your dedication to lifting up small businesses across Rhode Island and for your commitment to public service. We have loved working with you. I yield the floor.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I am delighted to have the chance to follow my senior Senator to add a few words about Bill Middendorf and celebrate the fact that the newest Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer of the U.S. Navy will be named the USS J. William Middendorf. Bill was Secretary of the Navy and U.S. Ambassador--a very distinguished career. If you go back to the time that he was Secretary of the Navy, the sequence was Paul Ignatius, who went on to become President of the Washington Post and an Assistant and Under Secretary of the Army; followed by John Chafee of Rhode Island, who went on to serve with great distinction in the U.S. Senate; followed by, if I recall correctly, John Warner, who became a very distinguished Senator representing Virginia; and then in that line came Ambassador Middendorf. So, clearly, the name selection follows an impressive tradition of service by some impressive Navy Secretaries. Ambassador Middendorf was born in Baltimore, actually, and served in World War II as a naval engineer officer and navigator, and, after a successful business career, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands in 1969 and then served as Under Secretary of the Navy. In 1974, Ambassador Middendorf was appointed by President Nixon to serve as the 62nd Secretary of the Navy, and, in that capacity, he did something very important for Rhode Island, which was to champion the Navy's submarine program, including overseeing the creation of General Dynamics Electric Boat's Quonset Point location, a facility which Senator Reed has done so much to make a powerful economic engine in Rhode Island and a powerful shipbuilding facility to make sure that America's power overseas is at its apex. This Quonset Point facility is a very important legacy, and I am delighted to join my senior Senator in wishing Ambassador Middendorf-- Secretary Middendorf--congratulations on the keel laying and, very soon, a happy 100th birthday. I yield the floor.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I am delighted to join my colleagues today from the Finance Committee. Our chairman is here. We did, I think, remarkable work to expand the child tax credit during the COVID epidemic, and it made a truly remarkable difference in children's lives--nearly 50 percent reduction in child poverty. Why would you not want more of that? Yet we let it expire in 2021, and, sure enough, child poverty climbed back up again. There was a lot of fearmongering, when we did it, that this was going to discourage people from working, that they would sit at home and sop up the tax credit. But the fact of the matter is, if you can't get childcare, you can't get to work. And if you can't get reliable, quality childcare, you can't move up into the kind of job where you don't have to worry about being called away because your childcare just fell apart. So in Rhode Island at least, we saw families do more work as a result of this, and 174,000 Rhode Island children benefited. Families got $264 million--low-income families--to pay for childcare, get to work, or step up to a better job. At the same time, we also provided additional funding for childcare providers in that same American rescue plan, and that was another win. And you put the two together, and it really lifted families. Right now, without Congressional action, 3 million children are projected to lose access to childcare, and 70,000 childcare programs could close. Bring that to Rhode Island, and it is 21,000 kids in my State who could lose access to childcare, 680 childcare workers could lose their jobs, and 419 different childcare providers could close. We simply cannot let that happen. It is wrong. It is dumb. It is penny-wise and pound-foolish. We need to do three simple things: Make childcare a priority, encourage work and earning, and reduce child poverty. We can do those three things by reestablishing the child tax credit and continuing to support childcare providers.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, H.R. 6363, a continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown, was enacted into law this month. Division B of the bill contains several authorizing provisions, such as a 1-year extension of the farm bill and a 2-month extension of Federal funding for community health centers that are paid for over 10 years. Section 121(c) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 contains a reserve fund that authorizes the Budget Committee chairman to revise budget aggregates, committee allocations, and the pay-as-you-go ledger for legislation that would not increase the deficit over the period of fiscal years 2024 to 2033. Division B of H.R. 6363 meets the conditions of that reserve fund. However, the legislation directs that these budgetary effects are not to be entered on the PAYGO scorecard. As such, I am revising only the budget aggregates and committee allocations to accommodate H.R. 6363. I previously revised the pay-as-you-go ledger for H.R. 5860, the September continuing resolution. As the legislation has now been signed into law and directs that its budgetary effects are not to be entered on the PAYGO scorecard, I am reversing the PAYGO adjustment I made in October. I ask unanimous consent that the accompanying tables, which provide details about the adjustment, be printed in the Record.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President I rise today to honor my constituent, Jonathan Stone. Save The Bay is a nonprofit organization in Rhode Island that has, for 50 years, been dedicated to protecting and improving Narragansett Bay and all the waters that flow into it. Jonathan served as executive director of Save The Bay for 15 of those years, from 2008 to June of 2023. During this time, Jonathan challenged everyone at Save The Bay to think creatively and tackle the most challenging issues facing Rhode Island's beautiful Narragansett Bay. His leadership strengthened the legal, advocacy, restoration, and education capacity of the organization, and built a strong foundation for its next 50 years. The Narragansett Bay watershed includes 400 miles of coastline and stretches 1,705 square miles inland, covering most of Rhode Island and much of Massachusetts. Its 3,500 miles of streams and rivers carry water into the bay from over a hundred towns and cities. This extraordinary natural resource needs constant care and stewardship. Under Jonathan's leadership, Save The Bay successfully challenged proposals that threatened the bay, like the construction of an LNG terminal in Mount Hope Bay and a proposal to fill 33 acres of the Providence River. Save The Bay also championed several environmental legislative victories in Rhode Island, including landmark legislation to phase out cesspools, provide new wetlands protections, and create and fund a large-scale climate and resilience effort. With Jonathan at the helm, the organization expanded its reach by establishing a statewide coordinator for the International Coastal Cleanup and creating the Narragansett Bay Riverkeeper Program. Jonathan led Save The Bay through the development and successful implementation of two strategic plans and created a third that set ambitious goals for water quality and habitat restoration, marine science education programs, diversity/equity/inclusion, and climate change advocacy. During his tenure, Save The Bay launched two new vessels, MV Elizabeth Morris and MV Rosemary Quinn to grow its marine science education programs, along with its public education programs: nature, seal watch, and lighthouse tours. Jonathan also led the organization's vision for building a new, state-of-the-art aquarium in downtown Newport, which is set to open in early 2024. Through this all, he has been a kind and honorable friend. I applaud Jonathan for his steadfast leadership in protecting and working towards a fully swimmable, fishable, healthy Narragansett Bay, accessible to all. I wish him joy and success in his next endeavors.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

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

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 45, S. 670.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. 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.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 749 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

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

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration Calendar No. 217, S. 311.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time on the Almadani nomination be considered expired and that a confirmation vote be at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, November 9.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I finally ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 9; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Almadani nomination postcloture; further, that following the disposition of the Almadani nomination, the Senate vote on confirmation of the McMillion nomination, and that at 1:45 p.m., the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the de Alba nomination; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Thursday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I have seven 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. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. 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. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 456, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 457, submitted earlier today.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. 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. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 267 and 276; 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; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent, on behalf of Senator Durbin, that the following law clerks of the Senate Judiciary Committee be granted floor privileges until November 16, 2023: Evan Zepeda, Durva Trivedi, Christopher Daffin, Timothy Laderach, and James Starke.