On the recordNovember 30, 2023
Mr. President, we are nearly halfway through the 118th Congress--you know, it is hard to believe. And despite the challenges that confront this Chamber, working with the House and the President to get legislation passed, the Senate has managed to advance some great bipartisan bills this year. All of this attention the media gives tends to focus on where we disagree. And there is no question there are a lot of disagreements. But there are areas where we have found the chance to work together to do important things. While some of the bills I have talked about actually passed this Chamber unanimously and will have a positive impact on our constituents in communities from Maine to Texas to Nebraska and while a number of these bills have been signed into law, many are still awaiting action in the House. And I would like to provide a few examples. Project Safe Childhood is a bill that I introduced with Senator Klobuchar, the Senator from Minnesota, to provide greater protection for our children online. The anonymity and accessibility afforded in the digital realm have allowed predators to infiltrate our homes and target our children. This, of course, is the dark side of the internet, and it has been a problem since the advent of the digital age. But it gets worse. Last year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 32 million reports--32 million reports--of suspected child sexual exploitation, an alltime record.…





