mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 3115, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3115, a bill to remove the four-year sun set from the pro bono work to empower and represent act of 2018. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged. and the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate proceed to s. res. 675. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 675, resolution commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent to speak for five minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i hope that my remarks are even less. i stand in solid support of the succession of finland and sweden into nato. i visited lithuania, it means a lot to me and my family personally. i met with the former president. he was a lithuanian immigrant to the united states had a distinguished record in our government service here and then returned to lithuania after his retirement from the u.s. federal government and ran successfully for president. he had the vision to realize that the future of lithuania and the baltic states was in the european union and nato and worked strenuously to meet those goals and i was happy to join him in that effort. now this moment in history complements his leadership, the succession of sweden and finland to nato is a confirmation that the baltic sea is safer than ever when it comes to the west. if vladimir putin th

mr. durbin: i ask for the sns. the presiding officer: is there a sufficientsufficien t -- is there a sufficient second 1234 there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: have all senators voted? does any senator wish to changes his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 51, the nays are 39, and the motion is agreed to. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, constance j. milstein, of new york, to be ambassador to the republic of malta. the presiding officer: without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: the yeas are 56, the nays are 35, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be imm

thank you, mr. chairman. sen. durbin: thank you, senator kennedy. senator also? sen. ossoff: director wray, nice to see you again. i want to commend your staff for their professionalism and ongoing work. i know you have a new sac there. we wish her the best in her new role. senator grassley and i recently introduced legislation to strengthen federal protections of children subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation online. in fact, the atlanta field office recently issued a warning to georgia parents and children about an increase in sextortion cases, where adults manipulate minors into engaging in sexual activity or ask licit photos, and then extort those children or their families for money. will you commit to continue to prioritize the protection of children from online abuse at the fbi and tell us about what you were doing to that end? dir. wray: i think you are right. it is an important priority and has only increased in importance. sextortion, in particular, we have been mounting a public awareness campaign about what we are seeing. not that long ago i filmed a

thank you, mr. chairman. sen. durbin: thank you, senator kennedy. senator also? sen. ossoff: director wray, nice to see you again. i want to commend your staff for their professionalism and ongoing work. i know you have a new sac there. we wish her the best in her new role. senator grassley and i recently introduced legislation to strengthen federal protections of children subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation online. in fact, the atlanta field office recently issued a warning to georgia parents and children about an increase in sextortion cases, where adults manipulate minors into engaging in sexual activity or ask licit photos, and then extort those children or their families for money. will you commit to continue to prioritize the protection of children from online abuse at the fbi and tell us about what you were doing to that end? dir. wray: i think you are right. it is an important priority and has only increased in importance. sextortion, in particular, we have been mounting a public awareness campaign about what we are seeing. not that long ago i filmed a

. >> -- mr. polite. >> gemara, chairman durbin -- [inaudible] >> make sure your mic is on. >> good morning chairman durbin, ranking member grassley, and members of the committee. thank you for inviting me tonight the trend united states justice to appear before you today to discuss election threats. again my name is kenneth polite and i'm the assistant attorney general of the department's middle division testified today on behalf of the department. the department of justice is committed to addressing threats to the state and local election community. the courageous and dedicated men and women who are responsible for administering the most fundamental aspect of our democracy, our elections, should not face threats for merely doing their jobs. these victims often volunteers are people from across our country and across the political spectrum. these are people we have sworn to protect. through direct engagement with the election community, training of our federal, state and local law enforcement age

mr. chairman, ranking member grassley and members of the committee for the opportunity to discuss the inner workings of this department. i will be pleased to respond to your questions. >> kim wyman, senior election security advisor. >> chairman durbin, ranking number grassley and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency's. free and fair elections are the cornerstone, oh gosh, i got six words in before the emotion of the video got me. i am sorry. >> are the cornerstone of american democracy. over the course of three decades, and had the opportunity to work at the state and local level and i strive to make sure the principal is of health. prior to joining my organization, i spent 30 years in washington state elections. i began in the early 1990's. my biggest fear was crying in front of the senate judiciary committee. when i was appointed thurston county election director, and learned elections from t

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the following amendments appeared motions be the next amendments and motions the senate will come to order. 5265 cruz, 5281 sanders, 5385 kennedy, motion to waive the budget with respect to insulin. cruz motion to commit on vaccines. cruz motion to commit targeting parents. and that all provisions under the previous order remain in effect. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. cruz: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, i call up my amendment number 5265 and ask in a it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from from texas, mr. cruz, proposes amendment numbered 5265 to amendment number 5194. mr. cruz: madam president, this bill represents the most significant assault on u.s. energy production the sena

mr. durbin: will the senator from montana hold for just a moment, please. thank you. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that following disposition of the crapo amendment number 5404, the following amendments be the next in order, 53589 collins, motion to commit. senator scott 5389 marshal, 5383 capito. and 5431 grassley. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from montana. mr. tester: madam president, i call up amendment number 5480 and i ask no it be reported by number. the clerk: mr. tester proposes amendment numbered 5480 to amendment number 5194. mr. tester: madam president, this amendment is actually quite simple. it is to make sure that we have a comprehensive plan in place before title 42 is lifted. very frat forward. this is not whether title 42 should ever be lifted or not. rather, it is about making sure we are doing the right thing at the right time, which i believe is when the covid-19 national emergency is lifted. and when we have a plan in place. and i woul

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that all remaining time on the bill be yielded back, that there be two minutes for debate equally divided prior to each vote with respect to the reconciliation bill and following disposition of sanders amendment number 5210, the following amendments be the first republican amendments in order. number 1, amendment 5301, senator graham. number two, amendment number 5409, senator barrasso. number three, amendment number 5382, senator capito. amendment number four, amendment number 5384, lankford. amendment number 5404, crapo. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. there's two minutes of debate equally divided. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from vermont. mr. sanders: the american people are sick and tired of being ripped off by the greed of the pharmaceutical industry which makes tens of billions of dollars a year in profit charging us by far the highest prices in the world for our m

mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i call up my amendment 5387 and ask that it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, mr. kennedy, proposeses an amendment 5387 to amendment 5194. mr. kennedy: mr. president, on march 31 of this year, my two friends, senator joe manchin and senator mark kelly wrote to joe biden to request, we are writing to urge you to develop and implement a five-year oil and gas production in the gulf of mexico. my amendment would fulfill that request and make it a congressional directive. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: this would be in addition to the leasing required in this bill with 75% of offshore acres not used. the main thing is that passage of this amendment would jeopardize the whole package, therefore, i urge a no vote. the presiding officer: the question is on the amen

mr. cruz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i have a motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from texas, mr. cruz, moves to commit the bill h.r. 5376 to the committee on the judiciary of the senate with instructions to report the same back to the senate in three days not counting any day in which the senate is not in session with changes that, one, are within the jurisdiction of such committee and, two, would ensure that the department of justice does not use resources to inappropriately target parents or classify them as domestic terrorists based on their engagement with public school officials as it relates to their child's education unless such engagement with officials is already otherwise illegal. the presiding officer: if we could have order in the chamber. please take conversations out of the well. the senator from texas. mr. cruz: mr. president, one of the worst aspects of the biden a

mr. durbin: mr. president, members, the senator from tennessee just provided with us this copy of his new amendment, and i hope you'll take a look at it because it is recommitting this measure for three days. end of conversation, end of debate, end of any possibility of passing what we consider to be a major piece of legislation for prescription drugs, for dealing with environmental issues, the list goes on. we've faced this so many times already in the last 12 or 14 hours. but the second thing i'd like to note is we understand the seriousness of this challenge, so much so that we've already decided it's a crime. it's a crime that can be prosecuted and it is a crime that is investigated and enforced by an agency of the federal government which we funded just four months ago. four months ago we gave $8 billion to ice for this purpose. $31 republicans voted against -- 31 republicans voted against funding this purpose. one of them was the senator from tennessee. now we're told we need the money. four mo

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, this is my first day back in the senate since contracting covid last week. it's good to be back, particularly for an historic week. i'm grateful to the health care professionals and brilliant scientists who developed the covid vaccines and therapies so quickly. and the federal funding that made their work possible. luckily, i'm double-vaccine and double-boosted and i encourage everyone. get your shots. madam president, at 6:18 this past sunday morning in a wealthy neighborhood in kabul, afghanistan, two u.s. hellfire missiles delivered justice at last to an al qaeda leader, ayman al-zawahiri. zawahiri is dead, and the world is better for it. he was a terrible man who brought horrific suffering to countless numbers of people, innocent people throughout the world. he was second in command to osama bin laden during 9/11. it claimed nearly 3,000 innocent american lives. he was the mastermind behind the bombings of the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania in 1998 a