we are funded by the is television companies and more including midco. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> midco supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> on the senate floor senate majority leader chuck schumer discussed the inflation reduction act and reproductive rights. >> mr. president, yesterday was truly a tale of two parties. while onese party, the democrat, gathered at the white house to celebrate the passage of ourcr b creating agenda, the other party, the nike republicans,

spent the day introducing a nationwide ban on abortions. if the american people want to know what the differences between the two parties are, look no further. one party is focus on jobs, that's us. the other is focus on a nationwide, a nationwide abortion bans. that's the extreme magaca republicans. one wants to lower inflation, one party wants to lower inflation and help families make ends meet. to tackle the generational challenges we face. and that's passed major legislation to that effect. now law. thehe other party apparently was to eliminate o women's autonomy over their own bodies. here's how you know republicans are dangerously out of touch. months after women hadho their freedom of choice taken away by the maga supreme court, a nationwide abortion ban was actually attempt to seem more mainstream, can you believe it, to see more mainstream?

heaven help us. heaven help us. shows just how extreme they are. the core problem is far from being mainstream, a large portion of the republican party harbors truly extreme views on a women's right to choose. in a few months since the dobbs decision, republican state legislatures and plays like indiana and south carolina and others have either introduce or enacted new abortion restrictions with alarmingly few exceptions of rape or incest. in this chamber senate republicansbl spent years confirming judges hostile to freedom of choice, including three sitting supreme court justices who joined with the majority and overturning roe, and then majority leader nonminority leader leader mcconnell has repeatedly said his greatest accomplishment is putting these judges on the court. his greatest accomplishments

putting judges on the court to overturn roe v. wade? to the american people want that? i don't think so. and for all the hemming and hawing we heard yesterday from republicans about where they really stand ons the issue, thy cannot run away from the record. setting aside yesterdays proposal the fact is that 45 senate republicans including leader mcconnell remain cosponsors of another nationwide abortion ban previously introduced by the senator from south carolina. leader mcconnell himself told "usa today" earlier this year that without roe, proposals for a nationwide ban on abortions were now possible, his words, possible if republicans controlled the senate. to the american people want that? did you want leader mitch mcconnell to be majority leader and work to overturn --

to impose a nationwide ban on abortions? i don't think so. now they're sort of running away from what the real beliefs are. they are like the dog that caught the bus. for years theyun push to make ts happen. of over 100 million american women,ne it happened and now thy don't know quite what to do. theys, are not backing off the horrible maga principles, but they want to hide from it at the same time because they know how unpopular it is. and to show you just where the party is at, almost immediately after the court overturned roe, mike pence, former republican vice vice president now running for president possibly and 124 said, quote, republicans must not rest until abortionea is illegal everywhere. that means a nationwide ban. that doesn't lead up to the state. in fact, he doubled down on just

this last night saying a national abortion ban is profoundly more important than republicanne short earns intere. that's one of the leaders of the republican party, which has moved so far to the right, even someone like mike pence who doesn't always go along with trump feels compelled to say that extreme, to take that extreme position. and lest we forget, folks, nearly every senate republican, nearly every senate republican already voted to push national abortion bans in 2020, in 2018, and 2015. during one of the salt the senator from south carolina who introduced a nationwide ban again yesterday said, , quote, these pieces of legislation will continue to be advanced until they pass. how do we know that republicans will put a national abortion ban

on the floor if they control the senate? that only has senator graham committed to doing it, they have done it before. three times, and they will do it again if they get the majority. america, beware. america, be aware. truth is not hard to grasp. is not hard to republicans do not care about leading abortion in the hands of the state, no way. they do not care that a majority of americans supported roe and support abortion rights. what maga republicans care about deep down is eliminating freedom of choice across america, , period. and they are already at work right now on legislation. as we heard yesterday, that will take us down that terrible, terrible path. well, it's my view the american people are notd going to be fooled i republicans desperate attempts to seem mainstream. you can't fake your way through an issue so personal and so important as ah woman's right o

make her own health care choices. you are not going to be able to and bob and weave and tied themselves and pretzel knots. everyone knows where they're at. lindsey graham made it clear again yesterday, and people will know the republican view, abolish abortion everywhere. that's not going to change no matter what some on the other side might think. now, on a positive and backs of the democratic agenda, a much happier note. as i said a moment ago, mr. president, while maga republicans spent yesterday touting their extreme agenda, democrats focus on the things that matter most right now to the american people, lowering costs, creating a good-paying jobs, protecting our planet. for future generations. inflation reduction act has not been law for even a month, not just a month, and already it is spring new investments that will

generate years if not decades of robust economic activity in industries that will stay here in america, here in america, not in china, not anywhere else, for a very long time. a remarkable number of companies in energy, automotive and cleantech sectors have announced that are either approving or accelerating new plans to grow their businesses. one of the most significant areas of activity is happening in ease and battery manufacturing. so crucial to meeting our countries growing demand for electric vehicles. china has dominated battery manufacturing for too long and we're bringing these jobs back to america. not just talking about it, doing it. honda and lg, for instance, have teamed up to invest $4 $4 bin for a new battery plant with an annual production of 40gwh.

hyundai meanwhile has announced that they might actually accelerate their timetable for building new state of the art ev and battery plants in savannah, georgia. plans call for getting started early next year and now they're saying it can happen sooner, and it's the votes the people and activity of people like raphael warnock and jon ossoff who have made that happen. of course the benefits of our bill will extend way beyond evs and batteries. solar p industry association projects by 2027 the u.s. solar market will grow 20% more than expected thanks to inflation, the inflation reduction act. and numerous companies focus on renewables, carbon capture, heat pumps are announcing a flurry of investments, very often citing our bill, now law, the ira. all of these examples share something important. these arees the jobs of tomorro.

these industries are going to stick around for decades as our country makes the transition away from fossil fuels and towards cleaner forms of energy. the impact will be felt everywhere. it's going to take millions of workers to build these vehicles can reshape our infrastructure, install these technology inog or homes and offices. because so muchuc of this will e done by union labor, these will be good-paying jobs at good wages with good benefits, lifting up the middle class, keeping those who are in the middle class there and allowing many t others who are climbing e ladder to get into the middle class and stay there. it's a wonderful and beautiful thing. in a certain sense, we did the right thing. making sure our planet doesn't burn up. that it had so many other effects like good-paying jobs and strengthening the middle class. and had we not taken action to encourage these investments it's like the many of these jobs

would end up going overseas to asia, to europe. america would've lost out. instead, we have a real chance to lead the way again. this, mr.t, president, is a rest of democrats leading the way here in congress. we are proud, everyone of us, is proud of the steps we have taken to lower energy costs, to create jobs that have real future in this country, to get working families a chance to climb up those ladders and to get into that middle class. it's all about restoring that sunny american optimism has been at f the core of our economic prosperity for so long. that's some felt have passed us by but no, we democrats said it hasn't passed us by. the best of our future is yet to come. on marriage equality, mr. president, over the past few months both sides have engaged in good faith conversations about how to pass marriage equality into law.

i truly hope for the sake of tens of millions of americans that there will be at least ten republicans who will voteta us o pass this important bill soon. democrats are ready to make it happen and willing to debate rgreasonable compromises on the specifics. so i urge my colleagues on the other side to join us around the country that feeling is sinking in this is a dark time for individual rights. so codifying marriage equality is one of the best things we can do to provide peace of mind to millions of americans. who are gay americans, lgbtq americans who are married, to the families, their friends. it extends way beyond the individual couple that is made. it's an issue that hits home for many of us in ms. jim including me. every ever find yourself in awful situation of having marriage equality overturned by the supreme court i daresay the vast majority of us will the

impacts and her own personalize or the personal lives of our close family and friends in one way or another. it will be risky and perhaps foolish to think that such a day could never come.e maybe if you must go people would think that. no more. justice thomas put is cards on the table. he said that he is very open that the supreme court's decision protecting same-sex marriage should in fact, be reconsidered, and often when justice thomas says it, , his other four maga republican supreme court colleague justices are thinking the same thing. to anyone who says that the high court would never be so reckless as to overturn a decision that is protected the fundamental right of millionst of people, l i say to this is wake up, look what they did, look what they did in the tops decision.

passing marriage equality in the senate is all about making sure such a danger never, never materializes. millions of americans, tens of millions of americans will breathe a huge sigh of relief if we do this. and it's the right thing to do. we know that america has trod on the long path towards a greater inequality. we know that when the constitution was written, millions of americans were enslaved. .. mr. president. they know that. and they know, and most americans are proud, that we've made progress. there are some dark forces encapsulated, embodied in maga republicans, so many of whom are in this chamber, who want to >> who want to take step to backwards, we're not going to let it happen.

we shouldn't let it happen. so i truly hope for the sake of tens of millions of americans that there will be at least 10 republicans who will vote with us to pass this very, very important bill. i yield the floor. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell spoke about the economy and russian war during his remarks in the senate session. >> the american people's number one priority is run away inflation that's smashing their family budgets and crushing our economy. yesterday, the latest inflation report showed that soaring prices are still completely out of control. inflation has totalled 13.2% since the day president biden took office. we just had the worst 12 months for both food