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CLOTURE MOTION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The bill clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Executive Calendar No. 808, Lael Brainard, of the District of Columbia, to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of four years.
Charles E. Schumer, Mazie K. Hirono, Martin Heinrich, Tim
Kaine, Jack Reed, Jacky Rosen, Ben Ray Lujan,
Christopher A. Coons, Alex Padilla, Sheldon Whitehouse,
Sherrod Brown, Debbie Stabenow, Christopher Murphy,
Patrick J. Leahy, John W. Hickenlooper, Tammy Baldwin,
Angus S. King, Jr.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the nomination of Lael Brainard, of the District of Columbia, to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of four years, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey), the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), and the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Peters), are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) and the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 54, nays 40, as follows:
YEAS--54
Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Booker Brown Cantwell Cardin Carper Collins Cortez Masto Crapo Duckworth Durbin Feinstein Gillibrand Graham Hagerty Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly King Klobuchar Leahy Lujan Lummis Manchin Markey Menendez Merkley Murphy Ossoff Padilla Reed Rosen Rounds Sanders Schatz Schumer Shaheen Sinema Smith Stabenow Sullivan Tester Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Whitehouse Wyden Young
NAYS--40
Barrasso Blackburn Blunt Boozman Braun Burr Capito Cassidy Cornyn Cotton Cramer Cruz Daines Ernst Fischer Grassley Hawley Hoeven Hyde-Smith Inhofe Johnson Kennedy Lankford Lee Marshall McConnell Paul Portman Risch Romney Rubio Sasse Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shelby Thune Tillis Toomey Tuberville Wicker
NOT VOTING--6
Casey Coons Moran Murkowski Murray Peters
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Heinrich). On this vote, the yeas are 54, and the nays are 40.
The motion is agreed to.
The Senator from Ohio.
Ukraine
Mr. PORTMAN. I am coming to the floor again this evening to talk about the tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine. This is the ninth week in a row during sessions that I have come to the floor to talk about the brutal and unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine--Ukraine, an ally of ours, a democratic country, and a sovereign country.
It has now been more than 2 months since Russia's assault began, and Ukrainians continue to fight with heart, toughness, and conviction. The Russians have been defeated in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. And the Russian Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, was sunk by Ukrainian Neptune missiles. So there have been some successes. But while Ukraine and its people have impressed the free world with their fierce defense of their homeland, the senseless and indiscriminate killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russia continues.
In this new stage of the war, Russia has begun an intensified offensive in the Donbas region in the eastern part of Ukraine. A few days ago, a Russian commander affirmed that their goal is to gain full control of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts--meaning control of all of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, rather than the roughly 50 percent they took in 2014, and control of southern Ukraine, cutting Ukraine off from its Black Sea ports, leaving one of the world's most important exporters landlocked.
The commander also threatened the territorial integrity of the small country of Moldova that borders southern Ukraine by saying this would connect Russia to the breakaway province of Transnistria, where Russian troops are already stationed.
It may not be coincidental that today we heard reports of bombs hitting the Ministry of State building in Transnistria, when no one was there, by the way. Some say this could be a false flag attack, giving Russia an excuse to invade all of Moldova. All of the countries in the region are nervous about their status. They are worried for a good reason. They could be next. I can see why they are concerned.
We have all seen with our own eyes what is going on, on television or online, the videos we have seen, but let's not forget, Russia continues to commit war crimes and display an utter disregard for innocent human lives. They continue to prevent evacuation of civilians from Mariupol. They have executed noncombatants, and now there are reports of systemic rape and torture by Russian soldiers. This is on top of previous confirmed reports of the use of cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons on civilians.
As of February 28, the International Criminal Court announced allegations would be investigated. That is good. That must happen. But if they wait and have the proceedings once the war is over, in my view, that is too late. The perpetrators must be brought to justice. These horrific Russian assaults on innocent Ukrainian families in Bucha, Mariupol, and elsewhere, the bombing of civilian targets, the rapes, the tortures, all of these are crimes against humanity, and Russia must be held accountable for war crimes, not later but now.
If there is not accountability, more senseless killings in Ukraine will occur, and these atrocities are likely to be repeated by others in the future.
Many of my colleagues and I were on a video call today with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. He expressed his appreciation for the lethal support we have provided here in the U.S. Senate and in the House and through the administration.
But he stressed the need for more help, for more heavy weapons to defend and push Russia back in the Donbas region. He also detailed how the country's economy has been severely damaged and what they will need just to stay afloat.
Regarding military assistance, I am pleased that this past week the White House heeded calls from a bipartisan group of us to appoint a Ukraine security assistance coordinator to cut through the redtape and get the right military assistance to Ukraine more quickly.
It is important, with so many agencies and individuals involved, that one person be solely focused on this critical mission and be held accountable. That person the White House has appointed is a three-star general, Terry Wolff, who has extensive experience as the former Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and has commanded every level from platoon to armored division.
From the very start of this conflict, I have said we need to do more, and we need to do it more quickly. We cannot do that if our assistance gets bogged down by the bureaucracy. Every delay in lethal aid costs Ukrainians lives, so I am pleased we now have a coordinator, and I hope that this will streamline the process.
I am encouraged that the administration also recently announced further assistance of $800 million in artillery pieces, ammunition, armored vehicles, and a new loitering munition called the Phoenix Ghost. This is a suicidal drone that is now in the hands of the Ukrainians. That is promising.
I understand that the $3.4 billion in security assistance Congress passed in March will soon be exhausted and that there will be a need for additional supplemental funding for Ukraine. I encourage the administration to go ahead and look at that package, send it to us, get us to start thinking about it because when it comes here for a vote, I think we need to act quickly on it, review what the administration has sent, and be sure we do it on a stand-alone basis, rather than having it get bogged down in unrelated legislative matters.
I am also pleased that some State National Guards are sending armored vehicles to assist Ukraine in their efforts. The Ohio National Guard will provide some M-113 Armored Personnel Carriers as part of a drawdown of DOD inventories to support Ukraine. This sends a strong message of support to our allies from the Buckeye State.
I also appreciate the number of police departments across Ohio, including the Cleveland Police Department--where I was last week--for providing over 200 protective vests to Ukrainians. Thank you.
Last week, I had the chance to visit an incredibly effective nonprofit in Ohio called MedWish that collects donated medical supplies from hospitals and provides these medical supplies to countries that are in need--sometimes because of a natural disaster, in this case, because of war.
Today, their major focus is on Ukraine, where they have delivered over 7 tons of badly needed medical supplies, and this effort continues. Again, I thank them for what they are doing. I thank all the hospitals and all the private practices that have donated equipment to be able to be sent to Ukraine to save lives.
As we all know, this war continues to produce a staggering number of refugees. Last week, the White House announced the program Uniting for Ukraine to streamline the process for bringing 100,000 refugees, with strong ties to the United States, into our country. Uniting for Ukraine will allow Americans and organizations here to sponsor Ukrainians who have been forced to leave their country. The American sponsors will be required to declare their financial support for the applicants, and the Ukrainians applying for this program must meet vaccinations and other public health requirements, as well as biographic and biometric screening, vetting, and security checks.
That is all good. These individuals will then be allowed to work and remain in the United States legally for up to 2 years. I have heard personally from so many generous Ohioans who want to open up homes to these refugees, who want to be helpful. More than 500 people have now called or emailed my office, and a number of businesses have expressed interest in offering jobs to these refugees. I urge the administration to quickly staff up this program so that we can bring some of these desperate refugees to the United States as planned.
Unfortunately, I am finding out that there is no online portal yet, no way for people to be able to know how they can participate in this process. So my hope is that we will launch this online portal with applications soon so that folks who want to sponsor Ukrainians fleeing the war are able to do so. I wish this had been done sooner, but this is a step in the right direction.
Our partners in Europe are doing more than their fair share here. More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since the war began, and they are crossing borders into their neighboring countries in Europe.
As I saw when I was in Poland last month meeting with refugees, Poland has taken in almost 3 million refugees alone. I think Poland is to be commended with the way they have responded to this Ukrainian crisis in so many respects, including taking these refugees.
We saw cars lined up at the refugee processing center, down at the border, of everyday Poles who were there to pick up Ukrainian refugees and to take them into their home.
Hungary and Slovakia have taken in hundreds of thousands, too. Surely, the United States can get our act together with regard to the 100,000.
I am pleased that Secretaries Blinken and Austin met with President Zelenskyy yesterday in Kyiv. This is the first time since the war began 2 months ago that we have had American diplomats in Kyiv. I think it is important that we are there. The Europeans are there, other countries are there; we need to be there too.
I am glad to hear that we are finally reestablishing our diplomatic presence in Kyiv, and I am also pleased that the administration is finally nominating an ambassador to Ukraine. We have had no ambassador to Ukraine during this administration. They have indicated they are going to nominate Bridget Brink, who is a career foreign service officer and is the current U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia; so she has some critical experience in the area.
While both of these moves were long overdue, I commend the administration for finally acting--sending a strong signal to our allies and adversaries alike that the United States is serious about standing with Ukraine.
Let's get our diplomats back to the capital, back to Kyiv. Let's get an ambassador in place as soon as possible.
On the sanctions front, I believe we should be seizing, not just freezing, assets of Kremlin supporters and provide the funds from the sale of these assets to meet the needs of Ukraine. To do this, I introduced with Senator Bennet of Colorado the Repurposing Elite Luxuries into Emergency Funds--RELIEF--for Ukraine Act to require the Department of Justice to direct any funds resulting from the disposal of seized Russian assets to support Ukrainian refugees and support reconstruction. So like other countries have done, including France and Germany, let's seize these assets, like yachts owned by the Kremlin supporters or by President Putin himself, and then take those funds on the sale of those assets and use them immediately to help with the humanitarian effort.
I urge the Senate and the House to act this week on this legislation so that we can give Ukrainians the help they need.
I continue to believe our top priority on sanctions should be cutting off Russia's No. 1 source of income that fuels the war machine. Forty to 50 percent of their budget is from one place--energy. Those receipts from energy are fueling the Putin war machine. Energy is Russia's largest export and accounts, again, for a significant part--or of roughly half of their budget.
Over the past year, the average oil revenues going back to Russia from their exports to the United States alone was $50 million a day. Under pressure from Congress, the administration reversed course and supported blocking Russian oil, natural gas, and coal imports into the United States. I am glad we did that. It made no sense for us to help fund the Russian war effort, especially when we have our own resources here, in terms of energy, that we can access.
I welcomed the President's announcement in Brussels of the creation of a joint U.S.-EU task force to help reduce Europe's dependency on Russian energy and strengthen Europe's energy security. Europe has become much more dependent on Russia for energy than the United States. Germany now gets almost 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia.
This means that Europe, by the way, is now sending an estimated $870 million a day to Russia--$870 million a day in payments for its natural gas, oil, and coal from Russia. Ending that European reliance on Russian energy is the right policy, and it will save lives.
Fortunately, again, some progress has been made. The EU has agreed to phase out imports of Russian coal over time. They say over the next several months. They have said that they are willing to work with the United States to have some of our liquefied natural gas, LNG, replace some of the Russian gas. This is a good idea. We should allow more production here in the United States so we have that LNG to be able to export to Germany and to other European countries to replace some of that Russian gas to make them less dependent on Russia and to stop sending this revenue to fund the war machine.
Lithuania needs to be held up as the first European Union country to completely cut itself off from Russian natural gas.
But the reality, again, is that Europe continues to fund the war machine right now with this $870 million every day in energy receipts going to Russia.
Part of the answer, again, lies with us. We must support our domestic energy producers as a means of supporting our national and economic security but also as a way to support our allies. This means America having a robust, all-of-the-above approach to power our Nation, which includes hydrogen, renewables, fossil fuels, carbon capture technologies, nuclear power, hydropower. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Energy is national security.
As a practical matter, to stop the revenues going from Europe to fund the Russian war machine, the administration must change policies to get more American LNG to Europe to substitute for Russian gas. This requires more pipelines, more infrastructure, more export facilities, of course.
Unfortunately, we aren't off to a very good start on that front. The President's tax proposals released with his recent budget submission to Congress eliminates important tax provisions used by our domestic producers, like the deduction for intangible drilling costs, or IDCs, which allows natural gas and oil producers to deduct costs that are necessary for the drilling in preparation of wells.
Let's take an approach here where we are encouraging, again, all of the above in order to ensure our national security and to help our allies in Europe.
The ruble has just about fully recovered to its preinvasion value because Russia is still bringing in these revenues from the sale of its energy. Shares on Russia's stock market are trading again, and Russia's VTB bank remains open for business in Europe, where it has gathered billions of euros in deposits, mainly from German savers.
Our sanctions have left Russia's biggest economic lifeline largely untouched--again, energy sales, specifically to Europe.
In fact, in addition to cutting off the natural gas and the revenue that fuels the Russian war machine, we need to tighten up bank sanctions as they relate to energy. Sanctions for energy transactions don't go into effect against Russian banks, including the VTB bank, until June 24. Those sanctions ought to go into place right now. They should have gone into place weeks ago.
President Biden must lead the alliance to do what it takes to help Ukraine win, and the administration needs to make clear that their objective is for Ukraine to actually be victorious, to push the forces of Russia out of the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
We must remember that the Ukrainians are not asking us to fight for them, but they are asking for the tools to defend themselves so they have a chance to win.
I have said before that both Ukraine and Georgia should be given what is called a membership action plan as a next step toward NATO membership. Based on the actions of the Russians and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainians, I now feel more strongly than ever that Ukraine should be part of NATO. They deserve it.
I am encouraged that both Finland and Sweden are considering NATO membership. They should both be immediately welcomed into the NATO family.
Vladimir Putin sought to weaken the NATO alliance. This is yet another strategic failure on his part, as we are coming closer together and will potentially add even more members.
I will close with this thought: Some might ask--even a few of my colleagues have asked me--why a Senator from Ohio cares about what goes on in Ukraine.
Well, the first answer is, we should all care. This is about the fight for freedom in our time, in our generation. This is where it is being engaged right now.
I also happen to have tens of thousands of Ukrainians who call Ohio home. These Ukrainian-Americans are good friends of mine. They are constituents. They keep me informed and have over the years. They have helped me to get more engaged on this issue.
I have been to Ukraine six or seven times. When I was at the border of Ukraine and Poland last month, some of my Ohio friends were there too as volunteers, providing food and medical supplies to the refugees.
When Ukraine made a decision to turn to us, to turn to democracy and freedom and free enterprise back in 2014, I was there with my colleague Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland. We were there as election observers, but what we really observed was a country that had made a decision to turn to us, to turn to the West, to be like us, to join us in the fight for freedom.
Even if I had no constituents of Ukrainian descent, I would be standing here because this is the fight for freedom. This is our test. Are we going to be stand against tyranny and for freedom at a time when these terrible atrocities are being committed?
I have been to the border of Ukraine and Poland and talked to these refugees. Through their tears, they spoke of their apartments or homes being destroyed and damaged. They talked of friends and family members being injured or killed. They talked of the pain of being separated from their husbands or fathers, not knowing their fate, since they had stayed behind to fight.
They also begged us to put in place a no-fly zone to help them even more.
The popular Ukrainian national rallying cry ``Slava Ukraini'' when translated into English is ``Glory to Ukraine.'' And then the response to that is ``Glory to the heroes.'' ``Heroyam Slava.''
In the midst of all this, there are so many heroes to glorify in Ukraine--heroes like the people I saw in Ohio last week who work at MedWish and are providing medical supplies urgently needed in Ukraine; the staff that collect and send these much-needed supplies, going mostly to the women and children of Ukraine who continue to seek safe passage in their homeland.
Not only are there heroes here, but there are so many heroes at home in Ukraine. Those are the firefighters. Those are the soldiers. Those are the citizen soldiers.
With our help, the Ukrainians can win this war.
One of the members of Parliament from Ukraine, from the Rada, who came to see us a few weeks ago here in Congress, perhaps said it best. We met with the Ukrainian Caucus that I co-chair, and we had four members of the Rada come, all women; and the Ambassador from Ukraine was there as well.
She said she hears all the time that, ``We are all Ukrainians now,'' and I have heard that back home, and that is how I feel.
She said that if that is true, since we are all Ukrainians now, we must be like Ukrainians. She said, ``We must be brave, creative, and fast.'' And that is what they are.
They are very resourceful. They have figured out a way to take on one of the biggest armies in the world and be successful, brave, creative, and fast.
I urge my colleagues, the administration, and the world: Let us help Ukraine win this war by being brave, creative, and fast. By doing that, we will show the world America stands with Ukraine, which is in our national security interest.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank the other Senator from Ohio, Senator Portman, for his work in Ukraine. I was with the Ukrainian group over the last week or so and talked about the work Senator Portman has done. And we also talked about how Putin has just been shocked by the passion and the effectiveness and the strength and the courage of the Ukrainian opposition, surely, and also Putin has been shocked by President Biden's skill at putting together this coalition in opposition to the Russians.
Germany, who hadn't really played in an exercise like this, in an action like this in decades, and Sweden and Finland and Switzerland--
countries that simply were neutral. And I appreciate Senator Portman's work on that and the President of the United States, and it is why we are doing a reasonably good job as a world, as a world community, in helping with refugees who have gone to Poland and Moldova and other areas while we are getting arms to them, while we are doing damage to the Russian economy and will continue to do that. So I thank my friend from Cincinnati.
Nominations of Lael Brainard and Lisa DeNell Cook
Mr. President, I urge my colleagues in joining me in voting to confirm the nominations of Lael Brainard to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Lisa Cook to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
Dr. Brainard and Dr. Cook are highly qualified economists with decades of experience, having provided exemplary service to their profession and to this country.
Since 2014, Dr. Brainard has served as a Member of the Board of Governors to the Federal Reserve. She has helped oversee the Fed's important financial stability work. She has worked to create a better payment system that works for consumers and for small banks.
Prior to serving on the Fed, Dr. Brainard was Under Secretary for International Affairs at Treasury, where she played a critical role in helping support our country's recovery from the Wall Street-induced financial crisis in 2008.
She has a long history of bipartisan support and bipartisan work. She served in administrations of both parties. She was Deputy National Economic Adviser in the Clinton administration. She was a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers during the first George Bush administration.
And in between her public service to our country, she served as a professor of applied economics at one of the nation's great institutions, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Throughout this distinguished career, Dr. Brainard has been not just a good economist, but she has been a persistent advocate for working families and for communities who have been left on their own for too long.
She understands the role of government and the role of the Federal Reserve should be--it is not always successful in getting them there; I think these new nominees will do that--putting workers at the center of our economy and putting the workers at the center of our financial regulatory system, and putting workers at the center of what we do here.
She led the way at modernizing and strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act, a landmark civil rights law passed to begin undoing the legacy of redlining and lending discrimination, spurring investments in neighborhoods and communities. The CRA has fallen short many times, partly because of the last administration and the damage it did, but we are breathing new life into the CRA. Dr. Lael Brainard has done a good job in keeping it alive and setting the stage.
She led decisive, bipartisan action to use the Fed's emergency lending and monetary policy tools to support families through the COVID-19 crisis.
Like Dr. Brainard, Dr. Cook is a leading economist with years of research and international experience in monetary policy, banking, and financial crises. She knows that workers drive our economic growth. She knows how important their local communities are.
Dr. Cook spent her formative years in the South, growing up in Milledgeville, GA. She spent a significant portion of her career in the industrial Midwest. She has seen how economic policy set here and economic policy set at the Federal Reserve affect all kinds of different people in different parts of the country.
She graduated from Spelman College, one of the great institutions in this country. She was a Marshall scholar and a Truman scholar. Whom do we know that are both of those things? And she chose both, very exclusive honors and academic disciplines. She studied at Oxford University. She earned a Ph.D. in economics, again, from one of our great institutions in this country, the University of California Berkeley.
She is a tenured professor of economics and international relations at one of the great institutions in my part of the country, Michigan State University. She taught at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She served on the Council of Economic Advisers during the eurozone crisis and at the Department of Treasury.
Yet--yet--Mr. President, despite her extensive experience, despite her broad support, a small but really, really loud minority, far outside the mainstream, have engaged in a smear campaign against Dr. Cook. It is emblematic of the sorts of attacks that Black and Brown Americans, particularly women, have encountered for far too long here.
I won't go through what has happened in my committee. I chair the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. I won't lay out--for one thing, the Senators on my side of the aisle know it, and the Senators on their side of the aisle don't want to think about it--what has happened with very, very qualified, accomplished Black women coming out of my committee and how few Republicans have voted for them. Counting one after another, they get zero votes or 1 vote or 2 votes out of 12.
Women, and certainly Black women, know all too well what it is like to be called ``inexperienced'' when you are anything but. They know what it is like to be told that your qualifications are never enough, no matter how extensive they are, no matter how impressive they are.
These naysayers wrongly claim that Lisa Cook doesn't meet the standards for this position--standards that only seem to apply for certain nominees. Like the game of Whac-A-Mole, each time these assertions and allegations are rebutted--and each time they are effectively rebutted--a new, more untethered one arises.
She is unquestionably qualified. Dr. Lisa Cook is unquestionably qualified. If confirmed, she would be the first Black woman ever in the 100-plus year history of the Fed to serve on the Board. Think of that. In 1913, the Fed started, and 109 years later, seven people--not one person on the Fed, not one Chair; seven people on the Fed, most times--
but with seven spots on the Fed, she will be the first Black woman ever in 109 years. Think about that.
Dr. Cook and Dr. Brainard will be excellent additions to the Fed. We need them on the job now. As Americans face rising prices caused by corporate greed and the global pandemic and Putin's war, having a full Board has never been more vital than now. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting Dr. Lael Brainard and Dr. Lisa Cook--their nominations--so they can get to work for the American people.
I yield the floor.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 67
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