Thursday, July 27th, 2023

7:00am: It’s the one week of the year when the kids are both gone (one at camp; one traveling with a friend’s family), and so it’s nice for Cathy and I to have a quiet house for once. But the phone rings early. It’s Brian Schatz, Senator from Hawaii and one of my closest friends and allies in the Senate. But I’m barely awake and I decide to call Brian back. I know what he’s calling about – the Commerce Committee is meeting on social media legislation, during which he’s planning on discussing our bill to protect kids on social media. He wants to talk about our plan.

8:45am: I arrive in the office and my staff filters in to talk about the herculean task before us this morning – passing the Homeland Security appropriations bill out of committee. I’m the chairman of the subcommittee that writes the bill – the most controversial of all 12 appropriations bills (since it funds immigration policy and border operations) – and its passage is hanging on a knife’s edge. But this year’s bill is very important to me. The bill funds some of the most important operations of the federal government – the Border Patrol, TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA. It’s always an important bill to get right, and I’m privileged to have been put in charge of this effort.

But this year, I have a pet project that I’ve included in this budget – a massive increase in efforts to stop fentanyl from crossing our southern border into the United States. Earlier this year, I unveiled a $1 billion plan (all new money) to interdict more fentanyl and break up more of the drug trafficking operations. I had to fight tooth and nail for my plan, and the final product before the committee this morning includes $824 million of my original $1 billion plan. In Connecticut, our state has been devastated by the fentanyl epidemic, and stopping more fentanyl from reaching our state is a very big deal.

8:55am: I call Brian back. He’s secured a promise from the Commerce Committee chairwoman that the committee will consider our bill later in the year. I tell him it’s a victory and we list off a few to-do’s for August to build more support for our bill.

9:00am: After getting a quick briefing on the state of play on the appropriations bill, I conduct a quick second interview with an applicant for a high level position we’re filling in the office.

9:30am: My Legislative Director comes into the office to tell me that we have another major fight on our hands today. The national defense bill is on the Senate floor and due to get wrapped up today. But overnight, a package of amendments was proposed for quick passage, and it includes a bill to begin co-production of armed drones with several Middle Eastern countries that I have opposed in the past. I’m deeply worried about two things; 1) the proliferation of weaponized drones in the Middle East; and 2) the potential for China to get access to our most sensitive technology. We plot out a quick strategy to try to get it taken out of the package.

9:45am: A delegation from the Council of Foreign Relations comes to the office to brief me on their new report on U.S. policy to Taiwan. I could keep this meeting going for an hour, but I cut it off after 30 minutes because I know I’ve got bigger fish to fry.

10:15am: I sit down at my desk to finish my remarks I’m about to give in the Appropriations Committee introducing and explaining our Homeland Security funding bill. I write most all of my own speeches – it takes a lot of time but I’m convinced it’s better if most everything I say is in my own, authentic voice.

10:30am: I head over to the Appropriations Committee. My team and I were working late into Wednesday night trying to settle the remaining issues other Senators had with our bill. It’s very hard to get bipartisan agreement on border funding, and as of 10:30am, we have one last issue to solve – an amendment proposed by Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee to gut funding for the social service agencies that help manage the flow of immigrants at the border. I huddle with Hagerty and assure him that I’m willing to work with him on the concerns he’s raised about their operations, but we can’t just cut the agencies off at the knees. At the last minute, Hagerty agrees to take my offer, and the bill moves forward.

12:00pm: I’m late for the first vote of the day on the Senate floor, so I rush over to the Capitol to cast one of what will be many amendment votes on the Senate defense bill. As I’m coming back to the committee meeting, I start getting panicked texts from my staff that our bill is ready for consideration and the committee is just waiting for me to get back. I quicken my pace.

12:30pm: For about 45 minutes I manage the bill through the committee, fend off a couple more potential amendments, and end up securing a 20-4 bipartisan vote for the most controversial of all appropriations bills. Now our bill is on to the full Senate.

1:00pm: Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, is the speaker at our Thursday Democratic Senate lunch, and I need to be there because he is going to talk about our joint work to tackle the loneliness epidemic in America. He talks about the importance of the bill I just introduced to set up a federal office overseeing the work to build more social connection, and I’m glad all of my Democratic colleagues are getting a chance to hear about the importance of this effort.

1:30pm: Senator Ron Wyden taps me on the shoulder in the middle of lunch and tells me the Republican Senator who is sponsoring the amendment I’m opposing on the defense bill is outside and wants to talk to me. He wants to make an offer. It sounds reasonable. We shake hands.

2:00pm: I head down to my small, basement “hideaway” office in the Capitol to do a zoom press briefing with the Roosevelt Institute on the impact of President’s Biden’s economic policy, or ‘Bidenomics.’ I’m in and out of the briefing because we are still voting on amendments on the Senate floor.

2:50pm: I do another quick zoom, this one with a group of college students who have been working with my staff on a project to reform U.S. sanctions policy. I’m deeply interested in this issue (and supporting college students who show an interest in U.S. foreign policy). But I have to cut it off after ten minutes because the handshake deal I cut 50 minutes ago is falling apart. I head back up to the Senate floor.

3:30pm: Things are heating up on the defense bill. I’ve threatened to hold up passage of the entire package of amendments if my concerns about the drone amendment aren’t solved. I call my foreign policy team over to the Capitol and tell them to post up in my hideaway office as we continue negotiations.

4:30pm: I have a 6pm flight scheduled for Cathy and I to get back to Connecticut, but that’s not going to happen. I huddle with my scheduler to pick a new flight for later that night.

5:30pm: The latest offer is for the problematic amendment to be stripped from the package and be voted on separately. But it’s a rather complicated issue that few Senators besides me have studied, and now I’m faced with educating the entire Senate on the proposal in a matter of an hour.

6:30pm: But it all works out. I finally reach an agreement with the Republican Senator – with whom I have a very good working relationship – that he will withdraw his amendment today and he and I will work on addressing my concerns when we return from break in the fall. It’s a welcomed, good result.

7:00pm: I head back to my hideaway because over the course of the day, the emails have piled up. I have about a half dozen proposed press releases from my communications team I need to approve. Probably another dozen emails from staff asking for direction on different policy initiatives. I speed through the emails, getting to as many as I can.

7:30pm: The new flight I’ve picked is out of Baltimore, so the clock is ticking. We have only a few amendments left to vote on, but it’s going to be close. If I don’t drive away by 8:15, I might not make the flight.

8:00pm: But lots of Senators are in my position, and so a few amendments that were scheduled for long roll call votes go by quick voice vote. We vote on final passage of the defense bill. It’s not a perfect bill, but I am supporting it. I vote yes and head back to the office to gather my things.

8:30pm: I’m running late now, but I stop to write a condolence note for the family of a Stamford pastor who was tragically killed earlier in the week. He was a friend, and the news of his sudden death was a gut punch. I count my blessings.

8:35pm: As I’m heading out the door, my Communications Director tells me that I haven’t yet posted my weekly Substack. She tells me the day is not done and I can write it on the plane (a 10:15pm flight).

10:15pm: We board the flight. Since we booked so late, we are C22 and C23 on Southwest. But luckily, Cathy and I find seats together in the very back row. She pulls out her laptop – her workday isn’t done either. I pull out mine, and decide to write a short summary of this busy day, so that my constituents have a better, behind-the-scenes view into a typical day in the Senate.

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