Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to move for unanimous consent on the American Shores Protection Act, and this would codify President Trump's 2020 moratorium on drilling off Florida's Gulf of America and Atlantic coasts.

Florida has worked with President Trump for years to keep these operations off our pristine coast and not just for a sunny day to enjoy the gulf but because our coasts are a vital component of our State's economic success. In fact, Florida's beaches alone generate more than $127.7 billion a year in tourism spending and support more than 2.1 million related jobs.

However, these great resources are vulnerable to risks posed by new offshore drilling.

We all saw the devastating harm caused by the Deepwater Horizon oilspill in 2010. That disaster wiped billions of dollars from Florida's industries and caused horrific damage to our environment and coastal communities. Places like Panama City Beach, Pensacola, and Destin all saw dramatic drops in tourist revenues that summer, following the catastrophe. Even places like Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Miami Beach suffered a decline in visitors after the oilspill.

Our coasts also play an important role in securing our Nation. The Gulf Test Range, a big part of the Department of War's training to ensure mission readiness, is supported by multiple military bases in Florida's Panhandle. More than 50,000 jobs in the Panhandle depend directly on operations at military facilities in this area. Eglin Air Force Base, in Okaloosa County, alone employs 20,000 people and provides the country with $11 billion in economic impact every year.

If there were new offshore drilling in the Gulf Test Range, these activities that support national security would have to be reduced, meaning job cuts in an area that depends heavily on military activities.

As a fifth generation Floridian, preserving our State's natural beauty is deeply important to me and all Floridians and the millions that call the Sunshine State home, as well as those who come to visit and vacation. It is my mission to protect our State's coastline, from Pensacola Beach, where the Blue Angels fly, to Duval Street in Key West; from the iconic South Beach in Miami to Fernandina in the very tip of Northeast Florida, all for our next generation.

I appreciate my colleague's support as we work together to ensure oil drilling stays off our beaches and we pass the American Shores Protection Act.

And if I may defer to my fellow Senator from Florida, Senator Rick Scott.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of S. 3082 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, 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.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague for taking the time to come down here today. I will note that he spent a lot of time talking about the long bureaucratic process; that this must go through every single step; and that we must get the policy right and going through the things that might take years, as we have seen happen in the Senate. It is what the American people are tired of, and I did not come here as the newest U.S. Senator to do business as usual. In fact, do you see where my desk is? It is on the very last row, almost to the edge of the Senate, because I am one of the newest Senators. We need to do things different. We need to get things done.

In respect to the pristine beaches of Florida, we have to act with a sense of urgency. As far as getting policy right, this simply codifies President Trump's 2020 moratorium on drilling off Florida's Gulf of America and Atlantic coasts. This policy has been negotiated and talked about, and it is already in a moratorium. This would simply codify that.

I so appreciate my colleague offering to set this on the agenda, and I appreciate that. I hope my other Senate colleagues recognize the urgency to get this done. I can't think of anything more top of mind for Floridians right now.

I am proud to be here, along with my colleague Senator Scott, to fight for Floridians and fight for Florida's livelihood, our pristine natural resources.

Thank you. I appreciate my colleague's willingness to work in the next week or few months. Thank you so much.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, last week, across America we were shocked, astonished, gutted. The night before our Nation paused to give thanks for the blessings in our lives--the night before Thanksgiving--two of our country's finest were shot down mere blocks away from the White House. Two young National Guardsmen, who had served their country like the Presiding Officer, who were doing their jobs of keeping us safe, were ambushed by a gunman here on asylum.

It was 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom who tragically perished from her injuries and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe who remains in critical, yet stable condition.

We all in the Senate and across America continue to pray for these guardsmen, for Andrew's recovery, and for their families and loved ones.

After the suspect started firing--and many missed the news on this--a National Guard major who was just doing his rounds was nearby, checking on other troops. He started running toward the gunfire, and all he had was a pocketknife. I would like to think everyone in this room would have the immediate response to do the same, but I think we would all pause and question: Would you, with a pocketknife, run toward gunfire to protect others?

There are heroes in this Nation who sign up to do that, like the Presiding Officer, who say that they will put their safety behind others. They will stand as a guardsman of their fellow countrymen, and that is what this man did. He rushed toward danger to protect other people. I am so grateful that there are heroes like him in our country.

Last week--just a few days ago--in my home State of Florida, Sergeant Erik LeVasseur, from Port St. Lucie, while doing his job as a law enforcement officer, was shot in the face when he responded to a call for help. These attacks, threats, and harassment cannot begin to feel commonplace in our country--not in our States, not in our cities. We cannot get used to this, and we should always be outraged when they occur.

Unfortunately, a tragedy like this is happening time and time again in a growing stream of incidents across our country, wherein our Nation's guardians, with whatever badge they wear and whatever oath they have taken--from our guardsmen to our Federal law enforcement, to our State law enforcement heroes--are being targeted.

Then I hear dire language from the speaker before me--using the term ``death warrant'' as it related to an issue--but they won't fully engage and stand up against those who are supporting groups that are targeting our heroes.

An attack on those who enforce our Nation's laws is an attack on what this country was built on. It is an attack on the people's law. Indeed, it is an attack on the rule of law.

Over the last 10 months, our Federal officers and agents have faced a dangerously escalating pattern of violence, ranging from hitting, spitting, kicking, and biting during arrests to vehicle-ramming, open gunfire, and throwing Molotov cocktails--all because they are doing their jobs that they took an oath to do to protect other human beings. From January 21, 2024, through November 21, 2024, there were only 19 recorded assaults against ICE law enforcement. At the same time this year, ICE law enforcement has faced 238 reported assaults. It is a 1,153-percent increase in assaults on those law enforcement officers.

These nationwide incidents show how officers are being targeted because of the badge they wear, because of the oath they take. And you know in many, many instances, they are going after people who have repeatedly harmed American citizens. The attacks are not just on the enforcement operations; they are an attack on the officers themselves.

Incredibly, incredibly radical, Democrat-led cities and States in this country are using taxpayer money to encourage the harassment and obstruction of our law enforcement officers in the United States of America.

I just introduced the Halo Act to protect Federal officers while they conduct their official duties, and I am proud to say that this week, more of my colleagues have signed up to cosponsor this important legislation. They have said: No more. Our heroes have to be able to do their jobs to protect us without feeling threatened in the execution of their duties.

The legislation would make it illegal for anyone, after being told to stay back, to knowingly come within 25 feet of a Federal officer that is trying to do their job if the intent is to interfere with the officer's work or threaten physical harm.

You know, personally, I am the wife of a law enforcement officer. It is incredibly dangerous, as they are trying to execute official duties, to have people interfere with them. The distraction of not being totally focused on what they are doing endangers not only them but those around them, and we have seen that happen in this country.

I expect every one of the colleagues in this U.S. Senate to speak out against that, to stand up for the people we ask to take an oath to stand in harm's way to protect us. It is the very least they could do-- to use words of support for them. My guess is you will hear utter silence on that side of the Chamber.

This act is modeled after something we have done in my great home State of Florida, where we are the most pro-law enforcement State in the Nation. I was proud to say that, and I worked towards that in my time as attorney general in the great State of Florida. That is why not only are we leading in the Nation in people wanting to move to our State for protection, the people who are doing that protection, our law enforcement officers, are coming from all over this Nation, uprooting their families, to be Florida heroes because they know we have their back. We need to do that for all of our heroes across this Nation, and it needs to start right here in the Senate.

It takes a truly special person to answer that call, whether that is in our military or in our law enforcement professions--and I am proud to be the wife of a law enforcement officer--to be the one that runs towards danger to help others like that courageous National Guard major last week.

They shouldn't be worried while they are doing their jobs unnecessarily by people wanting to target them or attack them. Indeed, if it weren't for our Nation's heroes, our society would fail, our rule of law could not exist.

I came here to DC to fight for these heroes like you, and it is a battle. There are those that will stand up and fight for our heroes, and there are those that will not even remain just silent, they will actively work against them and support groups that are targeting them. It is battle, and it is one we must win. There is not an option.

For our heroes' sake, for our country's sake, for the success of this great American experiment, living as a free man under the rule of law, I urge my colleagues to have our officers' backs while they cover ours.

I hope they will join me in supporting my Halo Act.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise on the floor today to recognize one of the Sunshine State's best. On a Sunday morning in October, Officer Andrew Hinds was on regular patrol duty with the Riviera Police Department--Riviera Beach Police Department, they would correct me-- when he spotted smoke coming from a neighborhood.

He didn't think twice. He immediately rushed toward the smoke, where he found a truck fully engulfed in flames, just feet from a family's house, threatening to spread and consume that house.

Neighbors flagged him down and told him that people were still inside, including small children. Officer Hinds didn't hesitate. With fire consuming the truck and while suspecting the vehicle could explode at any moment, he quickly called dispatch, banged on the door to wake up the family, and quickly moved everyone out of the home to get them out of harm's way.

The family of four inside was asleep and unaware of the fire, and it is no doubt that Officer Hinds' quick reaction and calm under pressure saved their lives and their home.

I am so proud to honor this heroic act today on the U.S. Senate floor as one of the Nation's newest U.S. Senators with our ``Florida's Finest'' award.

Ever since I was Florida's attorney general, and now as our State's newest U.S. Senator, it has been important to me to continue to honor the extraordinary work of our selfless law enforcement officers that protect Floridians every day.

Our ``Florida's Finest'' award honors those Floridians and law enforcement officers who demonstrate selfless courage and go above and beyond in service to their fellow man.

Because of this officer's quick response and his own willingness to put others' safety ahead of his own safety, a tragedy was averted.

I am so grateful for Officer Hinds and all of Florida's amazing law enforcement officers who, on a daily basis, put service above self. They are all making our State--the great State of Florida--stronger and safer.

Thank you for allowing me this moment, Mr. President, to recognize this incredible law enforcement officer with our ``Florida's Finest'' award.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today is day 37 of the longest ever government shutdown, and American families and American workers are paying the price for Democrats to put on a show; from poetry being read at night, to protests, to press conferences, it is a high price to pay.

And that means our troops, Federal law enforcement officers, air traffic controllers, other essential personnel, families in need that go paycheck to paycheck aren't getting a paycheck.

For 6 weeks, Americans, many of whom our lives depend on, have wondered how they are going to pay their bills or keep food on the table for their families. It is ridiculous that because of this ongoing lapse of funding, heroes who protect and defend us are suffering.

In fact, I found it incredible and embarrassing that the U.S. Army has published guidance on their website directing soldiers in Germany to emergency service benefits, loans, food banks, and food-sharing organizations where volunteers provide leftover food through public fridges.

These are our soldiers, working day in day out, far away from home, away from their loved ones--indeed, the oldest boy in our family serves in the Army. He says he is not worried about himself, but he is worried about his friends that have kids and wonder if they are going to get paid.

We have Federal law enforcement officers working tirelessly to get deadly drugs out of our communities and take down dangerous gangs like Tren de Aragua, doing it for free without being paid, because my colleagues are using the American people as political leverage.

My Democratic colleagues have voted 14 times to keep our government closed, all while collecting their paychecks.

Let me say that again. Our troops, our law enforcement officers, so many essential government employees are still working because the-- without pay--because the Democrats will not vote to open this government, and my Democratic colleagues are still getting their paychecks.

It is far past time to end this.

Maybe if my Democratic colleagues weren't getting paid or maybe if we posted on the Senate website that they could go to food banks and food- sharing organizations and public institutions to get food, they might think twice about voting no on reopening this government; voting no 14 times just to continue the funding that we spent last year.

I have committed to donating my own paycheck during this shutdown to

a crisis center back in Florida, and I am glad to know there are others that have committed to donating their pay during this time to help others.

The American people did not send us here to let the government shut down and stop working, and our colleagues that are forcing this upon the American people and on our workers do so against the will of the people, against those that put them in office, against the wishes of even workers groups that have historically supported Democratic candidates.

We were sent here to do important work and govern in good faith on behalf of the people. Americans should be furious at the display of recklessness with their country. I understand the President's frustration. I understand our leaders' frustration.

I am livid. I have been here 10 months. It is no wonder people across America hate DC.

We have much work to do to make this country stronger and safer. So I urge my colleagues to end this shutdown. Stay here until we get it done. Stay here until we pass the clean continuing resolution so we can continue the people's work.

And while we are at it, let's pass legislation to make sure this cannot happen again. We could start with the No Budget, No Pay Act, meaning none of us here in Congress get paid unless we pass a budget and fund the government. That is common sense. Senators and Representatives shouldn't be paid until Congress does its base level job.

We should also pass legislation to make sure that those in Congress don't leave DC until we deliver, and we keep government functioning. That is why I am cosponsoring the Eliminate Shutdowns Act and other legislation that would make sure this does not happen again and ensures that our government remains open and those heroes that put their lives on the line for us get paid.

We owe it to the American people to ensure the government remains open, and we should not have another shutdown. Period. Thirty-seven days of chaos, uncertainty, and dysfunction is a disservice to the Americans we are here to represent, and this must end.

Government must work for the people. If showboating politicians begin sabotaging the very operation of our government, corrupting rules, warping those rules' intended use to satisfy a subversive agenda, all options need to be on the table. Those options can take many forms, but this cannot continue.

Maybe I should put this in terms that even my Democratic colleagues can understand: Maybe the Senate needs to reimagine the filibuster. Let's make Congress work again, and until we can do that, maybe we need to lock Congress in the Capitol until that happens--no bail, no revolving Capitol door.

Let's get it done.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, an institution at the forefront of agricultural innovation and scientific research located in Wimauma, FL.

The Gulf Coast Research and Education Center was started in 1925 as a laboratory focused on solutions for Florida's threatened tomato production. Throughout its 100-year history, the center adapted, grew, and became a leader in advancement for farmers in the Sunshine State.

Research efforts at the center have spanned a wide range of cutting- edge agricultural initiatives. Importantly, the center's efforts have not been a mere academic exercise. Scientists at the center have improved the quality and yield of the crops Florida's farmers grow and sell around the world.

At 100 years old, the center is breaking ground on its next big venture: the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture. This new chapter in the center's story will revolutionize the way the men and women who get up before the sun provide the food we eat.

Long before the tourist attractions and bustling neighborhoods, there was the Florida farmer, raising cattle and growing winter vegetables. With 100 more years of the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, the Florida farmer will still be there. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring their century-long track record of excellence.

Mr. President, I rise to the podium today to address my colleagues as we are headed into one of the darkest times of the year, when daylight saving time ends and our clocks fall back 1 hour. This weekend, we will perform the outdated and unnecessary ritual of changing our clocks.

Most countries don't even observe daylight saving time. The practice was first adopted in Germany in 1916, and the United States followed 2 years later. The United States did that to save fuel during World War I. Although most people think it was adopted to give farmers more daylight, the agriculture industry at the time actually opposed it.

So flash-forward to now. We are still practicing shifting our clocks twice a year.

In 2018, the great State of Florida, which leads the way on so many issues--the State where I am proud to say I am the newest U.S. Senator--Florida became the first State to call for year-round daylight saving time, but we need Congress to affirm this change through legislation.

After Florida took that step and led the way, 20 States followed and have already passed laws or resolutions that would end the practice if Federal law permitted, and we almost accomplished this.

In 2022, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to end it, though it went nowhere in the House.

When we choose not to end this absurd practice, we do so to the detriment of Americans' health, and it is not just about our health. It is about parental sanity.

I am a mom with a young kid in school, and that is somewhat of a rarity here in the U.S. Senate. Yes, I am a rookie here, and I am also balancing having a kid in school.

And there is nothing more frustrating than changing your clock twice

a year and forcing your family to adjust to a whole new schedule. In my experience as a parent dealing with a kid that wanted to be outside playing sports, who anxiously awaited his law enforcement father to come home and throw the baseball, not having that extra hour of daylight was really difficult, especially when all kids want to do, at the end of their day of school and chores, is to be outside.

Making daylight saving time permanent makes time together as a family outside with activities possible. We can lock the clock, once and for all, by passing the Sunshine Protection Act that I have cosponsored with my fellow Florida Senator Rick Scott.

We don't have to continue to fall back. We can spring forward once and for all--no more changes, no more anxiety about waking up at the wrong time or worrying about getting to church on time.

Florida is the Sunshine State. We are proud to lead this mission to give families more sunshine in their day. And as Florida's newest Senator, I am renewing the fight and urging my colleagues to put an end to this archaic practice.

The Sunshine Protection Act has previously passed in the Senate unanimously. I am hopeful we can come together on this bipartisan issue once again, especially now that President Trump has said it is time to lock the clock.

As a Senator but, more importantly, as someone who promotes common sense in Washington, and as a mother of a young child, I am fully supportive of ending this onerous twice yearly time change.

With that said, I hope we can count on the Presiding Officer.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, we are in day 23 of this shutdown--a shutdown that is sowing more uncertainty across our country by the day. It is one that is leaving our Nation vulnerable to adversaries abroad and seeing our servicemembers left wondering if their next paycheck will go through, as they seek not only to protect us but to support their families--a shutdown that my colleagues and I on the Republican side of the aisle voted against over a dozen times.

We are trying to end the shutdown. Yet we are blocked at every point. Along with a few--very few--courageous Democrats, we voted for a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government. The opposing Democrats do so while knowing they are voting against paying our troops for our security, against paying law enforcement for safety, and against paying so many other people that are necessary for critical functions. They vote no.

Republicans have voted to eliminate future shutdowns, to pay our servicemembers and other essential Federal workers, and for a full year of funding for our military. And yet, each time, these same colleagues blocked the efforts. They have now resorted to outright obstruction.

I am the newest U.S. Senator from Florida, one of the newest U.S. Senators for our country. I have been here 9 months, and I am disgusted that we have colleagues coming in here, voting against continuing funding, reciting poetry. They are putting poetry over paying our troops.

Since my arrival in Washington, I have watched every single effort by the Democrats to oppose the will of the American people, to undo the outcome of the election, attempting to paralyze not only the administration but our policy goals to get this country back on the right track.

Now, these tactics have evolved into obstructing government itself, to hold the pay of Federal law enforcement and our military hostage-- let alone the thousands of other Federal employees who continue to show up and fulfill their duties without pay. Shockingly, even Senators with States that have large Federal workforces have set aside the interests of those families, beholden to some radical agenda.

I implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to remember that the effects of this shutdown go well past the boundaries of DC. In my home state of Florida, we are seeing crisis centers which serve veterans, law enforcement officers, first responders, some of our most vulnerable that encounter hardships, all because colleagues have refused to open the government. In fact, I have committed to donating my salary every day the government is shut down to a crisis center in Florida because they are suffering as this continues to go on.

The choice is simple for my colleagues at this point: Either you stand for this country, for our servicemembers, and for actually governing this Nation, or you stand against that.

And, finally, I want to take a moment to thank every single Federal employee continuing to work without pay: our servicemembers, Federal law enforcement officers, Coast Guard members, air traffic controllers, so many others--including our own staff, including the staff on the Senate floor that show up and stay up all night as the Democrats recite poetry. Thank you for showing up without pay. Thank you for your patriotism, your work ethic, your embrace of duty and commitment to this Nation.

Throughout history, it is the selfless work of patriots that helped build and sustain this incredible country of ours, and I look forward to the day when our colleagues on the other side of the aisle cease with their partisan games and that they put governing for the people back as their No. 1 priority, that they remember it is an incredible responsibility they undertook when they took the oath to become a Senator. I hope they remember that they were trusted to do this in good faith, on behalf of the people, and I hope that they join us in reopening the government and they join us in our bipartisan, clean continuing resolution to reopen the government. That is the only way forward, and it is the sole path available to continue our work on behalf of the American people.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am one of the newest Senators in this esteemed body. In fact, I just marked my sixth month here in the U.S. Senate.

Over and over and over again, you could just plug and play the same speech because, apparently, everyone nominated by President Trump to every position that we have to confirm as a body is wholly unqualified. That is what the Democrats would have you believe. In fact, I don't think we heard much else about any of the nominations.

If you look at the statistics going back administration after administration, Democrat and Republican, at this point in time, you saw 90 percent of nonmilitary civilian nominees confirmed. And how many of President Trump's administration have we confirmed? Zero. It is almost as though they are trying to thwart the will of the American people.

I stand here to reflect on a situation that I am astounded by as the newest U.S. Senator. In November 2024, the American people elected President Trump to be the 47th President of this Nation. And with that election, the people expressed their willingness to see this country move down a new path, a better path, a stronger and safer path, a path where leaders actually looked at the well-being of this country and the security of this country and the interests of our people and made commonsense policy decisions based on that and not some radical wish list that filled some Marxist governing philosophy. How about we get back to the founding ideals of this Nation?

How did the colleagues on the other side of the aisle respond to that election? What have we seen since January of this year when the 119th Congress set out to do the people's work? We have seen obstruction. It was the same response they have always had, a blend of histrionics and performance theater.

Instead of committing to the calls for reflection from within their own party in the aftermath of an electoral loss, they resorted to obstruction in the name of democracy--in the name of democracy. I find it strange that in protecting democracy, it requires ignoring the will of the people.

Here in the Senate, both on the floor and in our committees, we have found that carrying out the people's will is being stymied every step of the way. We have seen Presidential nominees and legislation as opportunities for a performance. And every day this goes on, important positions critical to the national security and the well-being of this country and improving the lives of our citizens, those positions go left unfilled.

So while China continues to staff their diplomatic postings abroad and undercut the prosperity of our country, our Embassies go without Ambassadors. As our domestic Departments seek to unleash the American economy for the benefit of the working-class Americans, they are left without leadership. Our colleagues have sought to protect this country by obstructing the very exercise of the people's will, ensuring it is incapable of meeting the challenges of the moment.

So here we are, on a Saturday in August, voting on the President's nominees because our colleagues continue to hold out. This ultimately places this body and our Nation at a crossroads.

If we continue down this path, if we continue to allow obstruction at every turn or continue to allow people on the other side of the aisle to gain personal points or even political points, we weaken this body created by the Framers to carry out the responsibilities the American people have asked of us, protecting our liberty and protecting this Union.

I hope that our colleagues will avoid this path and join us in moving forward with putting Americans and America first.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, today I rise to announce a resolution commending and congratulating the Florida Panthers on winning the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.

Last month, our State--the great State of Florida--along with loyal fans nationwide, came together to cheer on the Florida Panthers as they fought hard to secure a victory and bring home the cup to Florida.

And they cemented their place as back-to-back champions. This incredible effort marks the second cup won

by the Panthers in franchise history, and our Sunshine State is so very proud.

The whole Panthers' roster obviously contributed to this win, but we wanted to thank the staff and the coaches and all of those who supported the team on and off the ice. This success could not have been achieved without everybody who contributed.

We watched that team compete with resilience and grit to keep the Stanley Cup where it belongs, which is, of course, in the great free State of Florida. Our entire South Florida community celebrates with the entire State, who all kept faith in this team. Everyone's encouragement throughout the season ensured our Panthers were ready to bring home the championship when the time came. The win was well deserved, and it was a great end to an amazing year.

So with that, I thank the Presiding Officer for accommodating my request to pass a resolution on behalf of the Florida Panthers.

Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 333, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions 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 legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, the Senator from Oklahoma certainly said some powerful things. I want to thank him, as the son of a cop, for making those statements and for leading this floor event today and allowing me to assist him with that. As the wife of a cop, it was very meaningful to me, and I know it was meaningful to many in this Gallery.

Thank you.

I rise today in celebration of officers but with solemn reflection during National Police Week. It is a time when our Nation pauses to honor the men and women of law enforcement and to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Certainly, as the newest Senator of the U.S. Senate, it is an honor for me to be here on the Senate floor to lead this floor event and these speeches that show united support for the men and women who serve.

I want to thank Sheriff Bill Prummell from Charlotte County, who is here with us. He is also the president of the Florida Sheriffs Association. We have 67 sheriffs within our State, and he leads the herd of them. We are grateful that he is here, along with other men and women of law enforcement from Florida.

He is certainly a hero whom I have become friends with and respect, not just for the person he is but for the person he was when he chose to take the oath and wear a badge. I think that takes a really selfless, special, brave person.

I know we have students with us and visitors here today in the Gallery, and I would like him to stand so that they can recognize and see a true Florida hero.

Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff Prummell.

Police Week is more than a yearly tradition. It is a promise that we will never forget, that we will never take for granted the courage it takes to wear that badge, and that we will never stop saying the names or praying for the families of those whom we have lost.

Every day, officers across the country put on their uniforms, they put on the badge, and they put on a bulletproof vest not knowing what that day will hold, and they do so out of a deep commitment and love for the communities they serve. They stand in the gap so that others may live in safety and peace, but that comes with risk.

In Florida, I say time and time again--and we pride ourselves--we may have a bit of a debate and a friendly competition here, but I believe we will win--that we are the most pro-law enforcement State in the Nation. Our leaders back the blue, tan, and green, and we do whatever it takes to help those brave officers do their jobs. Today, we gather to honor those who gave everything in service to that oath.

In honor of National Police Week, I was proud to join a bipartisan resolution designating May 11 through 17 as National Police Week. This Police Week resolution reiterates our unwavering support for law enforcement officers across this Nation.

As Florida's former attorney general and the wife of a law enforcement officer, I have had the opportunity to work closely with so many brave men and women in law enforcement across Florida and indeed our Nation. They stand on that thin line between good and evil, between order and chaos. They do so, so that we may sleep safely and soundly at night.

This week, we remember not only the uniforms and titles but the lives, the people behind them. I would like to recognize and ask for a moment to honor the following Florida heroes who gave their lives over the past year while protecting our communities: Deputy Sheriff William May from Walton County Sheriff's Office; Sergeant Elio Diaz from Charlotte County Sheriff's Office; Deputy Sheriff Ignacio ``Dan'' Diaz from Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office; Deputy Sheriff Ralph ``Butch'' Waller, Jr., from Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office; Corporal Luis Paez from Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office; Corrections Officer Bradford McNew from Jacksonville Sheriff's Office; Police Officer Jeremy Boykins from West Palm Beach Police Department; Master Deputy Sheriff Bradley Michael Link from Lake County Sheriff's Office; and Trooper Zachary Fink from Florida Highway Patrol. Each of those names represents not only a terrible loss to our State, but they leave a legacy of bravery, selflessness, and unwavering service.

To the families, friends, and fellow officers of those we lost, we see you, we stand with you, we grieve with you, and we continue to pray for you.

As the wife of a career law enforcement officer, I cannot imagine this loss or express words to ease the pain, but we offer our deepest gratitude and our support, and we are here for you in every way possible and thank you that you stood by them while they stood for us in ensuring our communities could live in peace and safety.

Your loved ones were the heroes, the Florida heroes, and their memories live on in the communities they protected and the lives they touched.

To every active-duty officer here in Washington, DC, here this week for National Police Week and those back at home protecting our communities right now as I am speaking on the Senate floor, thank you for your courage. Thank you for answering this important call to stand strong and brave on that line. Thank you for serving even when it is difficult, even when it is dangerous, and even when it comes at great personal cost.

On a personal note, please let me thank those families that stand behind you. They stand behind you even when there is an unpredictable schedule, even when there are unique stressors that you bring home.

Thank you to those families for loving and supporting our brave Florida heroes.

Let us carry forward the legacy of the following: duty, honor, and service. Those indeed were the mission and the dedication and service of those that we have lost. That is how they lived their lives every day. They stood for something greater than themselves.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today on the 100th day as a U.S. Senator--in fact, Florida's newest U.S. Senator--to urge my colleagues to support H.J. Res. 75, a Congressional Review Act resolution to rescind burdensome energy efficiency requirements on commercial refrigerators and freezers that were imposed by the Biden-Harris administration at the 11th hour just before President Trump's inauguration.

The Biden-Harris administration, as we all know, in many of these agenda-driven regulations pushed out of Agencies, was a disaster for American families, businesses, and industries across our Nation. Their reckless regulatory agenda prioritized Green New Deal virtue signaling over good fiscal stewardship and the interests of the American people by exposing manufacturers and other stakeholders in our industries to regulatory uncertainty and forcing American families to shoulder the burden.

As Florida's attorney general, I was proud many times to lead the fight against regulations that made no sense and were driven by partisan, unelected bureaucrats by filing challenges against these regulations in court.

While it is regrettable that the Biden-Harris administration ignored our concerns and the complaints by Floridians and, instead, forced these harmful regulations into our States and into our industries in the waning hours of their administration, I am proud to now be here in the Senate to help continue the fight against these sprawling, harmful, nonsensical policies that were pushed by these Agencies at the very, very last minute of the Biden administration.

If this regulation were allowed to remain on the books, Biden's shortsighted harmful energy standard would force commercial fridge and freezer manufacturers to discontinue product lines and close factories in the U.S. The results would be layoffs and open the door for other foreign competitors to step in instead of those here in our own country.

Food producers, distributors, wholesalers, grocery stores, consumers would be severely impacted by a sudden unavailability of these commercial-scale appliances at the center of America's food supply chains. That would expose yet another critical supply chain risk associated with foreign dependence and this would be a disaster.

We need to focus right now on prioritizing American businesses, reducing costs for American people, and we need to be focused on opening factories in America, not closing them, especially for such critical products as these that allow for large-scale food distribution and storage.

The government should be making it easier to plan and establish food distribution chains rather than undermining them with harmful regulatory uncertainty.

We saw time and time again in the last administration the attempt to force costly and burdensome regulations onto the American people and businesses in an effort to advance a partisan ``green new scam'' agenda. The effects of prices on American families and businesses were devastating.

I firmly believe Biden bureaucrats gave no thought to the effects, jumped right in. And the motto became, frankly: Above everything else, politics first, Americans last. I am proud to take this fight head-on to ensure that Americans are not shouldering the cost of the last administration's regulatory state.

I would like to thank Congressman Craig Goldman of Texas for leading this effort in the House, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to vote for this resolution. I look forward to the legislation heading to the President's desk to become law.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, good afternoon. I rise today in the Senate Chamber for the very first time as a U.S. Senator to address a topic that unfortunately has become important to so many States, so many communities, so many families across this great Nation.

Before I became a U.S. Senator and one of your colleagues, I was the Florida attorney general. For the past 6 years in that position, I made it my mission every day to fight against the opioid crisis and put poison peddlers that sought to do harm to our families behind bars.

As many of you know, fentanyl now kills more Americans than any other drug by far, and it is the leading cause of death for working-age and fighting-age men and women. It is also a cause of death of infants and children that are exposed to the substance, and that number is increasing exponentially.

Florida is no stranger to the opioid epidemic. We suffered from a pill mill crisis, and we had to address that by tightening our laws and making sure people had access to help. Following that, we saw a surge of fentanyl pouring into our country and people overdosing from that drug.

Fentanyl now claims 70,000 lives a year. It is the deadliest drug our Nation has ever encountered. That is why it is vital that we continue to not lose focus that this is the deadliest thing facing our men and women right now. This is our challenge. We cannot be distracted, and we have to stop this drug from coming across our borders and into our communities.

That is why we have to continue to provide law enforcement the tools they need to get this drug off our streets and make sure we are providing lifesaving medications like Naloxone to first responders and that people who are struggling with addiction know where to get help.

After 4 years of a wide-open border and free range given to drug cartels to smuggle illicit substances into our country, it is no surprise that our Nation was flooded with fentanyl.

In Florida, we fought back despite the surge. Our law enforcement officers were up for the task. Our leaders gave us additional resources. Florida led the Nation in fentanyl seizures.

I, back in 2023, called for the cartels to be labeled ``foreign terrorist organizations.'' President Biden ignored our call. I called for the border to be closed and the then-head of DHS to be fired for allowing drug smugglers and countless amounts of fentanyl to flood our country. Those calls were also ignored.

So Florida took Biden to court. First, when he stopped deporting those here illegally, committing serious felonies against our citizens, we took him to court. Then, when he started welcoming in and paroling everyone into the Nation that was barely vetted, we took him to court, and we won.

We also sent Florida law enforcement to the border to slow down the flow of drugs. We ramped up interdiction efforts with Florida Highway Patrol and Florida Department of Law Enforcement. We fought back with everything that we had.

The death and destruction caused by illicit fentanyl started to decline. We started to see hope. Before I left the Attorney General's Office, Florida reported 2 straight years of reductions in the number of drug-related deaths. According to a recent FDLE Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons by Medical Examiners annual report, fentanyl deaths in our State of Florida dropped 10 percent. This rate of decline is well ahead of the national average, which declined by about 2 percent during the same time.

Still, thousands across our Nation are dying--tens of thousands--and we cannot take our eyes off the ball. While we have had success in Florida, we must push forward across the rest of the Nation to deliver accountability and protection for the American people.

Florida has always been a leader in law and order, and we have understood the danger presented by fentanyl. We understand that many Americans take this deadly drug not even knowing that it is in something else they are ingesting within counterfeit pills.

We classified fentanyl as a schedule I controlled substance back in 2017. This allows easier prosecutions for these types of cases.

It is time that the Federal Government follow the request and the pleas of national law enforcement organizations, including the DEA, which is calling for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances to be scheduled permanently as a schedule I controlled substance.

When I got to Washington, one of my first actions was to join the HALT Fentanyl Act as a cosponsor. As attorney general, I led other States in calling on Congress to pass this bill. Now as Florida's newest U.S. Senator, I will work tirelessly to make sure this gets done.

I am so proud of my Senate colleagues. Last month, we passed the HALT Fentanyl Act through the Senate, and now it is in the hands of the U.S. House. This bill will ensure Federal agents and prosecutors have the tools they need to send a strong message to drug traffickers: If they continue to bring poison into our country, they will be held accountable. That has always been the case in Florida, and I am so proud of my friend and predecessor, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is taking this fight directly to the cartels.

The American people gave our great President, President Trump, a mandate last November. That was to restore law and order, make sure people were held accountable for their crimes. We believe that as a Floridian--the first Floridian President in our Nation's history--he is going to take that approach we have had in Florida to the rest of the Nation.

While my calls for a closed border and a declaration of drug cartels as ``foreign terrorist organizations'' fell on Biden's deaf ears, it is no surprise that President Trump immediately got to work on this. On day one, he closed the border. We have seen a 93-percent drop in illegal crossings since then. Turns out we didn't need a new law; we needed a new President. As one of his first acts, he declared cartels as ``foreign terrorist organizations.''

I am incredibly excited to work alongside my new U.S. Senate colleagues and President Trump as we begin to make America safe again, and this includes voting based on priorities that will make our communities and families safe.

We have a great opportunity in Washington right now to fight this crisis instead of fueling it through unlawful immigration policies. Now we need to do our part. We need to urge the U.S. House to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act and get it to the President's desk as soon as possible.

I yield the floor.