Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today because the time to protect our kids from these online platforms is now, after decades of delay, thanks to our colleagues, Senators Blumenthal, Blackburn, Markey, and Cassidy, as well as Chair Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz, Judiciary Committee Chair Durbin and Leader Schumer, as well as Ranking Member Graham. I serve on both committees. I have been a strong proponent of these bills as well as others.

For too long, social media companies have turned a blind eye when children join their platforms and build algorithms that push harmful content out to kids.

What have we seen? A recent study from the Mayo Clinic showed us--the study found kids have difficulty sleeping, unrealistic expectations about their bodies or their lives, exposure to online predators, subject to cyber bullying. The result of this is tragic results for teens.

I am thinking of Devin Norring from Hastings, MN. I have gotten to know his mom Bridgette. Struggling with migraines, he bought what he thought was Percocet online on Snapchat, but it wasn't really Percocet. It was laced with fentanyl. Right off Snapchat, he got that pill. He died.

Alexander Neville, like Devin, purchased a pill online that turned out to be counterfeit made with fentanyl. It killed him. He was only 14.

Carson Bride ended his life 4 years ago after he was viciously cyber bullied by his high school classmates who were using Snapchat's anonymous app. Not so anonymous for Carson Bride.

I met with their moms. They have come to the Capitol. They are here today. It is time to get this done with no delay. Why do they even need to be here? Because there weren't safeguards and rules already in place.

Why didn't these companies act when they learned of the danger? Let's be clear. They knew of the danger. This is about profits over safety.

When that Boeing plane door fell out, what happened? We grounded the fleet. We made sure it was safe. Why haven't we been doing this here?

It is time to act. It has been 26 years since Congress passed any meaningful kids' online privacy legislation. I am so honored that the chair of the Judiciary Committee is here, Senator Durbin, who helped me and Senator Cornyn to get the SHIELD Act through this Chamber, which would prohibit the online distribution of explicit and intimate images, also known as revenge porn.

We just passed Senator Durbin's DEFIANCE Act, with Senator Hawley and Senator Graham and myself, to allow victims of explicit deepfakes to seek the justice that they deserve.

The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act before us will expand existing laws to protect children online. It also goes further to ensure a safe online environment for children by creating a legal duty for social media companies to take all necessary steps to protect kids from harmful features and algorithms on their platforms.

I will never forget the parent who once told me that she was relying on her older kids because she couldn't figure out how to stop her younger kid from putting up more and more apps, and she couldn't get around it. She said it was like water overflowing a sink, and she was out there by herself with a mop trying to mop it up. I thought that kind of said it all for how parents feel. We need to stand by their side.

In addition to the bills that are so important before us today, we need to pass the Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act, which requires social media companies to report illegal drug sales on their platforms. To law enforcement, that bill is heading this way to the floor.

We need to finally take this on; not put our heads in the sand, not expect those parents to be out there with a mop while these big companies are profiting off of their kids. This is a moment, but this is only a beginning. There is so much more work to do.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise in support of S.1723, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act. I thank Senator Warren for her leadership on

this issue and her efforts, along with those of Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman Murkowski, and the Indian Affairs Committee, to pass this bill. I also want to thank the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition based in Minnesota for its work to raise awareness of Indian boarding school policies and the experiences of those harmed by them.

We know that between 1819 and 1969, Native American youth were forced against their will to attend Indian boarding schools across the country, including 21 in Minnesota. We know that these schools, of which there were hundreds, sought to strip these children of their Native identities, beliefs, and languages. And we know these schools subjected Native children to abuse and neglect. What we do not know is how many children were taken from their homes and families. And far too many families do not know what came of their children. For 150 years, countless voices have been silenced; countless stories have gone untold.

This bipartisan legislation is about telling those stories. It is about addressing and investigating the lasting harms these boarding schools caused for generation after generation of Native Americans. And it is about beginning the healing process for the descendants of the victims of the Indian boarding school policies.

Our Nation's strength comes from the diversity of our people, including our more than 10 million American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians in our country. Their cultures and traditions should be celebrated, not suppressed as the Indian boarding school policies sought to do.

The United States has a unique and sacred government-to-government relationship with Tribal nations that is deeply rooted in treaties, the law, and the Constitution. This relationship demands an unwavering Federal commitment to supporting the well-being of Native Americans. This legislation and the commission it would establish are critical steps toward fulfilling that commitment.

One of the Native philosophies that has always resonated with me is the belief that decisions are not made just for today, but for seven generations from now.

That is what this bill is: an investment in future generations. By putting us on a path to healing today, this legislation paves the way to a better tomorrow for Native families.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Congressional Record updated U.S. Senate fellowship regulations.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from and the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3448.

I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions: S. Res. 755, S. Res. 756, and S. Res. 757.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 10; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Willoughby nomination, postcloture; that all time be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and that if cloture is invoked on the Wagner nomination, all time be considered expired at 2:15 p.m.; that upon disposition of the Wagner nomination, notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate resume legislative session and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 420, S. 4554; further, that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed occur at 4:15 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the following statement on the appointment of the Architect of the Capitol be printed in the Congressional Record:

In accordance with the Architect of the Capitol Appointment

Act of 2023, the Architect of the Capitol Congressional

Commission, consisting of Representative Mike Johnson,

Speaker of the House; Senator Charles E. Schumer, Senate

Majority Leader; Representative Hakeem S. Jeffries, House

Democratic Leader; Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican

Leader; Representatives Tom Cole and Rosa L. DeLauro,

Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on

Appropriations; Senators Patty Murray and Susan Collins,

Chair and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee;

Representatives Bryan Steil and Joseph D. Morelle, Chair and

Ranking Member of the House Committee on Administration; and

Senators Amy Klobuchar and Deb Fischer, Chair and Ranking

Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration;

appoints Thomas E. Austin to be the thirteenth Architect of

the Capitol for a term of ten years, effective June 24, 2024.

Mr. President, I rise because now is the time to pass Senator Whitehouse's legislation to require the Supreme Court of the United States to adopt a binding and enforceable code of ethics, create a process for investigating misconduct, and improve the disclosure and transparency requirements for the Justices on our Nation's highest Court. I thank my colleagues Senators Whitehouse and Durbin for their leadership on this issue.

I have long believed that rule of law is central to our democracy and that preserving public trust in our institutions is vital to the health of our Republic. It is important that the American people have confidence that the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are making decisions based on the facts and the law, not private interests.

The Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States know this, too. In fact, the very first canon that the Supreme Court set out in its code of conduct last November states that ``a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States should maintain and observe high standards of conduct in order to preserve the integrity and independence of the federal judiciary.''

This isn't the first time that Congress has had to address the need for transparency and ethical requirements for government officials. In 1978, in the wake of Watergate, Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act, which requires certain public officials, including Supreme Court Justices and members of the executive branch, to make disclosures about their financial interests, including income they receive from a source outside the Federal Government, gifts, debts they owe, and sales of certain real estate and stocks.

Unfortunately, in recent years, we have seen an alarming rise in reports of ethically questionable behavior by the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States in regard to accepting and not disclosing gifts as required under the law. For example, we learned that in 2014, Justice Thomas allowed a billionaire to buy his mom's house and fix it up for her--and pay for the Justice and his wife to take lavish vacations. We also know that same billionaire paid for Justice Thomas to attend a trip to Malaysia on a private jet and a superyacht. That trip was valued at over $500,000 and was not disclosed by Justice Thomas. Justice Thomas was required to report these gifts, but he didn't. Instead, we only found out about it through the work of investigative journalists.

There needs to be an enforceable code of ethics and mechanisms to investigate, and if necessary, take corrective action when the Justices don't take their reporting obligations seriously. That is how we preserve the American people's confidence in the institutions of government, including the Supreme Court.

Just like transparency, judges are supposed to be above politics and avoid even the appearance of bias. In 1974, Congress passed a law requiring the Supreme Court's Justices, as well as other Federal judges, ``to recuse themselves when their impartiality might be reasonably questioned.''

This was reiterated by the Supreme Court's own code of conduct adopted in November which states that a Justice should disqualify himself or herself where they have ``a personal bias or prejudice concerning a case.''

In fact, the Justices are no strangers to the practice of recusing themselves when there is an appearance of impropriety. For 50 years, the Justices have followed the recusal law. For example, in 1995, Justice Thomas recused himself from United States v. Virginia because of his son's enrollment at Virginia Military Institute.

If the Justices of the Supreme Court sat on any other Federal court, the clear and enforceable code of ethics would ensure that they recuse when their impartiality might be reasonably questioned. But at the Supreme Court, the decision to recuse is up to each Justice, and there is no explanation required.

These examples demonstrate why Senator Whitehouse's bill--the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act--is so important. It would require the Court to adopt an enforceable code of ethics. It requires that Justices disqualify themselves from cases in certain situations where their impartiality could be reasonably questioned such as if they have received gifts from parties appearing before the Court. It requires that Justices disclose the same information concerning gifts, income, and reimbursements as required by Members of Congress. And it provides for a process by which individuals may file complaints that a Justice has violated the code.

This is hardly a radical proposal and this isn't about attacking one Justice or another. The majority of Americans--75 percent according to a recent report--support a binding ethics code for the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

I call on all my colleagues--Democratic, Republican, and Independent--to come together, pass this bill, and help bring the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States in line with the ethical requirements and accountability procedures that every other Federal judge in this country already abides by.

Mr. President, I rise in support of the Right to IVF Act, and I want to thank Senator Murray, who is here, and Senators Duckworth, Booker, and Schumer for their leadership on this bill. I am proud to be a cosponsor.

We all know why we are here. We are all here in part because the Supreme Court made a wildly unprecedented decision in the Dobbs case. They threw out decades of precedence, making it the case that my daughter has less rights today than her mom or her grandma did. The ruling goes against the wishes of between 70 and 80 percent of Americans.

In the wake of the disastrous ruling, extremist judges have attempted to undermine IVF and even criminalize doctors for simply doing their jobs. Twenty-one States have fully or partially banned abortion. The number of U.S. patients traveling to other States for care has skyrocketed to one in five. I know because they are coming to Minnesota from North Dakota and South Dakota.

But it wasn't enough for them to just mess with a women's right to decide her own healthcare, no. Now they are trying to control when you choose to start a family. We saw this happen earlier this year in Alabama, where the State supreme court brought IVF procedures in the State to a screeching halt. This is merely the latest instance of the chaos and cruelty that have been unleashed since the Dobbs decision.

We know what a miracle IVF is. You just saw Senator Hickenlooper's adorable little boy. IVF is a miracle for millions of families who can't otherwise have children, and no politician and no court should interfere.

Since 1978, over 8 million children have been born due to fertility treatments like IVF. In 2022 alone, more than 1,800 babies were born in Minnesota, in my home State, thanks to IVF. That is why we are fighting to protect these rights.

I am thinking of Miraya and Meta, whom I met this morning, two Minnesota moms. They are with us. They both became parents through the miracle of IVF.

Meta said: I am the proud mother of twin girls, but without IVF and my ability to access treatment, they would not be here today. Our twins are now almost 8 years old, and I cannot imagine my life without them. They are incredible humans who are already bringing so much love, joy, and hope into the world.

That is why, along with Senators Duckworth, Murray, Booker, and Schumer, I am calling on our colleagues to pass the Right to IVF Act. This legislation is hardly a radical proposal. It simply ensures that families can be in the driver's seat when it comes to family planning, not people who want to strip away the rights of those who have them.

This bill safeguards a patient's ability to seek IVF and a healthcare provider's ability to provide these critical services. It ensures that our veterans can choose if, when, and how to start their families. Because the kind of healthcare insurance you have shouldn't determine whether your family can access the miracle of IVF, the bill requires health insurance carriers to cover fertility treatments.

For these last years, we have seen complete chaos, a patchwork of laws across the country. What this bill does is protect freedom, protect the right to start a family.

We all have an opportunity today to make clear where we stand, and I call on our colleagues to join us. The American people overwhelmingly support this bill. Let's get it done.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise to pay tribute to Stella Whitney-West, a mother, grandmother, public health champion, mentor, and leader in Minneapolis. Ms. Whitney-West is retiring from her role as chief executive officer of NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center which, under her leadership, has become a strong and financially stable primary care institution that has improved the lives of thousands of Minneapolis families.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in biology and earning her MBA at the University of Saint Thomas, Ms. Whitney-West began her career as a public health specialist serving organizations in the Twin Cities before becoming director at the Minneapolis Urban League.

In 2004, Ms. Whitney-West joined NorthPoint as chief operating officer of Human Services and was named CEO three years later. With her at the helm, NorthPoint transformed from a struggling health center losing $2 million a year to North Minneapolis' foremost provider of health and wellness services for underserved families. Her leadership has been honored with several awards, including a Bush Leadership Fellowship, the International Black Women's Congress Community Service Award, and the 2021 Minneapolis Saint Paul Business Journal Women in Business Award.

NorthPoint has been a pillar of North Minneapolis since 1968 and today serves over 30,000 residents, guided by its mission of ``Partnering to Create a Healthier Community.'' The Center improves the whole health of North Minneapolis residents. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, NorthPoint is also a certified Health Care Home and Ryan White HIV/AIDS clinic. NorthPoint is administered through a partnership between Hennepin County and a community board of directors composed of patients and professionals who live and work in the community NorthPoint serves. The center provides comprehensive medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, laboratory, lactation consultant, and radiology care as well as numerous human service programs. These programs include a community food shelf with culturally-relevant food, the African-American Men's Project, and a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health to reduce Black maternal health disparities. The Northpoint Whole Family Systems Initiative focuses on providing culturally responsive perinatal care.

Under Ms. Whitney-West's leadership over the last two decades, NorthPoint has made lasting strides in public health. During her tenure, vaccination and cancer screening rates for Black, Latino, and Asian Americans in North Minneapolis have more than doubled to nearly 80 percent. Today, all patients--regardless of what brings them into the clinic--receive complimentary depression and dental screenings. And Ms. Whitney-West's work has touched lives beyond those the clinic treats; thanks to her advocacy, lead paint was safely removed from neighborhood homes.

Recently, I was able to attend the grand opening ceremony for NorthPoint's new 135,000-square-foot facility. With this expansion, NorthPoint will add new space for patients and clients while employing over 400 people and providing new economic opportunities through public-private partnerships. The expansion will include a new child wellness center, an exercise studio for city residents, an expanded food shelf, and access to new dental specialty services. The success of this project is a testament to Ms. Whitney-West's leadership.

Ms. Whitney-West exemplifies servant leadership, both through her work at NorthPoint and for organizations across Minneapolis. She is an active volunteer with Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, where she is devoted to mentoring the next generation of Black women leaders. In addition, she serves on the boards of organizations including the Twin Cities LISC advisory board, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Ninth District Advisory Council, Penn-Plymouth Partnership, Love Minneapolis board, Community Resiliency and Recovery Advisors, and the Minneapolis Inclusive Economic Recovery Work Group. She has previously held positions for the MNsure Advisory Task Force, Minnesota Tobacco Control Advisory Committee, One Minnesota Transition Advisory Board, and Stratis Health Board of Advisors.

I thank Ms. Whitney-West for her decades of leadership and service to Minnesota and wish her all the best in her much-deserved retirement.

Madam President, I rise in support of the Right to Contraception Act.

I would like to thank Senators Markey, Hirono, Murray, and Duckworth for their leadership on this bill. Senator Hirono is here. Senator Cantwell is also with us, who has been such a strong supporter of this bill.

We are at a pivotal moment for women's rights in this country. This month marks 2 years since the Supreme Court issued the ruling shredding half a century of precedent protecting a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. This ruling was against the wishes of somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of Americans, who believe that a woman's most personal decisions about her healthcare should be made not by politicians but by a woman, her doctor, her family.

In the wake of this disastrous ruling, women have been at the mercy of a patchwork of State laws that are creating chaos when it comes to accessing reproductive health care. Since the Dobbs decision came out, extremist judges have attempted to ban mifepristone, undermine IVF, and even criminalize doctors. Legislatures have introduced bills to criminalize doctors for simply doing their jobs. Twenty-one States have fully or partially banned abortion, and the number of U.S. patients traveling to other States for abortion care has skyrocketed to one in five.

This is unacceptable. My daughter should not have fewer rights than her mother or her grandmother.

So what is next? Well, what we must do is to codify Roe v. Wade into law, but as we work to do that, we have something else we have to watch out for, and that is that some Republican political leaders have called for restrictions even on contraception.

In his concurring opinion in the Dobbs case, Justice Thomas actually laid out a roadmap for how the Court could overturn the right to contraception. He said that the Supreme Court ``should reconsider'' whether the Constitution protects the right to access contraception.

This Friday marks 59 years--59 years--since the Supreme Court recognized the right to access contraception, but the current Court has made it clear that it won't hesitate to overturn decades of precedent in other contexts.

This threat is not hypothetical. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, nearly 20 million American women live in what we call contraceptive deserts, where they struggle to access birth control. I am thinking about Delilah, who lives in northern Texas. There are no health centers in her county and the dozen surrounding counties. To talk to a doctor about birth control, she has to travel more than 400 miles, nearly 7 hours. There is Maya, who lives in Arizona. The wait times at her nearby health centers are so long that she needs to request an appointment at least 3 weeks in advance. Then there is Leah, who lives in Ohio. She has access to a clinic but has to take time off work to go to appointments--something she can't always afford to do.

State-level efforts, including recent Governor vetoes of right-to- contraception bills, are making the problem worse. We saw this in Nevada and just 2 weeks ago in Virginia. In Wisconsin, we saw the Republican-controlled State legislature refuse to hold a vote on the Right to Contraception Act. We have seen Missouri and other State legislatures attempt to cut off public funding for widely used contraceptives like IUDs and Plan B.

While 14 States, including my home State of Minnesota, protect the right to contraception, that is simply not enough. We cannot settle for a situation where women in Minnesota have more rights than women in Missouri.

With so many extremists racing to the State capitols to see who can be the first to take women's rights away, it is clear that we must explicitly protect the right to contraception. The American people agree. Recent data shows that more than 90 percent of Americans support access to contraception. That is why we are calling on our colleagues to pass the Right to Contraception Act.

This legislation is hardly radical. It simply ensures that women will be in the driver's seat when it comes to their health by codifying the right to contraception outlined by the Supreme Court nearly six decades ago--the same right Justice Thomas and others want to strip away. Specifically, this bill safeguards a patient's ability to seek contraception and a healthcare provider's ability to provide these critical services. Because the right to contraception cannot be an empty promise, it gives the Justice Department, patients, and doctors the power to make clear that no one can infringe upon the right to contraception.

I will note that 2 years ago, the House passed this legislation on a bipartisan basis. It is time for this body to do the same.

For the last 2 years, women in this country have faced an unacceptably uncertain future. These attacks on reproductive freedoms-- on freedom for healthcare--have no place in America. Women are not second-class citizens.

The bill we are considering today represents a better path forward, a better future. The question that we must all answer is, Will we take that path or are we going to turn this over to this Supreme Court which has created a patchwork of laws that have allowed some States to try to criminalize doctors; that have allowed some States, through their courts, to ban mifepristone, a drug that has been found safe in dozens and dozens and dozens of countries? We have to decide.

So we have an opportunity today to make clear where we stand as a nation. I call on my colleagues to do what the American people overwhelmingly support and pass this bill into law.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Senators be permitted to speak prior to the scheduled vote: Myself for up to 5 minutes, Senator Schumer for up to 2 minutes, Senator Murphy for up to 10 minutes, Senator Butler for up to 5 minutes.

Madam President, I rise today along with Senators Murphy and Blumenthal and so many others in support of bipartisan legislation to improve our immigration system.

As we face global and domestic threats, securing our borders and points of entry must be a top priority. As we have discussed, we had an opportunity in February to move forward in a bipartisan manner on broad and important reforms and security measures that Senators Murphy, Lankford, and Sinema spent months negotiating.

I will note that this legislation, as Senator Blumenthal noted, included my bipartisan bill to keep our covenant with the thousands of Afghans living in the United States who fought shoulder to shoulder with our troops. It is a top priority of the VFW and top priority of the American Legion, a top priority of those who have served in Afghanistan. These were their interpreters. These were the ones that gathered their intelligence. And now 80,000 of them are in our country, living with a trapdoor under them, not knowing if they will be sent back to the Taliban. They are working, yes, but what they need is permanent status.

And that is what this bill that I have with Senator Graham, with support, on the Afghan Adjustment Act. As cosponsors, there are Senators like Senator Mullin and Senator Wicker, the ranking member of Armed Services, and Senator Risch, the ranking on Foreign Relations. They are all on this bill.

When it comes to our borders, though, as we are talking about today, this comprehensive legislation would have invested in hiring more Border Patrol agents and immigration judges while giving law enforcement the tools and technologies they need to make a safe border--order at the border. It would have fixed our broken asylum system, providing 250,000 new employment and family visas.

Yes, Madam President, we have another opportunity to actually right this wrong and get this bipartisan bill done. Border security demands that we invest in both our southern and northern borders, which is something I like about this legislation, having lived in a State that borders Canada--the longest border in the world, America and Canada. A strong, secure northern border is critical for maintaining our trade relations, for maintaining the terror screening database.

And we have witnessed terrible instances of drug smuggling and human trafficking. Last year, Border Patrol agents and sheriff deputies in Kittson County, MN, stopped a human smuggling attempt. That is why this legislation is so important.

And of key importance to me and I know you, Madam President, and the State of Wisconsin is fentanyl and the work that can be done if this bill passes. It not only gives the President emergency powers to shut down the border but also ensures that we take on fentanyl trafficking.

These pills are getting in the hands of schoolchildren. These pills are getting in the hands of people who have no idea that the pills they have are laced with fentanyl.

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl kill more than 150 people a day, and a dose of just 2 milligrams--small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil-- can be lethal.

These aren't just numbers. It is 22-year-old Alex Davis of West St. Paul, who died of a fentanyl overdose while he was a student at the University of North Dakota; 32-year-old Katie Flick from Erskine, MN, who was killed by a fake pill laced with fentanyl; Devin Norring from Hastings, who bought a Percocet over Snapchat that wasn't really a Percocet, laced with fentanyl. It killed him. He was only 19.

That is why we call on our colleagues to join us in support of the Border Act. This legislation, supported by Border Patrol agents, gives law enforcement officers significant funding and support to hire more officers and intercept fentanyl coming into our country.

I thank Senators Lankford, Murphy, and Sinema for their work on this bill. I thank Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell for their leadership.

There is not controversy about this bill except on the political side. If you look at this from the viewpoint of Americans and what makes people safer and what will stop kids from dying because they take one pill and they don't know there is fentanyl in it, the answer is simple: Vote for this bill.

I yield the floor.