Floor Statements

Mr. President, much of the news media today is focused on Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine--and rightfully so--but not enough attention is being paid to negotiations that are happening today and have been happening in Vienna.

The Biden administration seems dead set on reviving, at any cost, the Iran nuclear deal. Worse, President Biden's chief negotiator Rob Malley--who, I observe, is not a Senate-confirmed official--outsourced our negotiations for reviving this flawed Iran deal to the Russians. This is outrageous.

Let me get this straight. We are working hand in glove with Vladimir Putin to reach a deal that will help Russia evade sanctions being imposed for its aggression in Ukraine and work with its ally Iran.

This is not the way to protect the safety and the interest of the American people.

This is what Russia's chief negotiator to the Iran talks had to say about what he has accomplished for the Biden administration:

I am absolutely sincere in this regard when I say that Iran

got much more than it could expect, much more.

He recently told reporters, adding:

Realistically speaking, Iran got more than, frankly, I

expected or others expected. This is a matter of fact.

Again, this is Russia's chief negotiator making this statement.

Most alarmingly, this revived deal would pave Iran's path to a nuclear weapon. News reports also suggest that the revived deal would quickly unleash $90 billion in frozen funds to Iran--again, the world's biggest state-sponsor of terrorism. Moreover, Iran can expect to earn roughly $50 billion annually in renewed oil exports.

It is unconscionable that the Biden administration appears more eager to unleash the energy production in Venezuela and Iran than right here in America. The Biden administration is so stubborn and blinded by its ideological green energy fantasies that it would rather work with terrorists and dictators--folks with some of the worst human rights records in history--than admit it was a mistake to abandon America's energy independence. This administration would rather work with killers than with American drillers.

As before, the Iranian regime will use this massive windfall of sanctions relief to fund terrorism and aggression against our ally Israel, against our Arab partners, and against Americans serving in the Middle East.

Let me be clear. The Trump administration was right to withdraw us from the Iran nuclear deal in May of 2018. But I am not here today to debate the pros and cons of resurrecting the Iran deal. We will likely have that debate in the days to come, probably sooner than most people think.

Rather, I am here today to argue for preserving the role that Congress--amid concerns that the Biden administration will not submit their new Iran nuclear deal for review and for an up-or-down vote--that Congress must maintain its role as required by U.S. law.

If news reports are to be believed, the Biden administration may be nearing the end of negotiations for an agreement to resuscitate the Iran deal. As Reuters reported recently:

The draft text of the agreement, which is more than 20

pages long, stipulates a sequence of steps to be implemented

. . .

In 2014 and 2015, many lawmakers passionately argued that the original Iran deal should have been submitted to the Senate as a treaty, requiring our advice and consent under the U.S. Constitution. But because the Obama administration refused to follow the Constitution, Congress was compelled to enact the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, or INARA. INARA passed the Senate in a 99-to-1 vote--99 to 1. This is nearly unanimous, a bipartisan vote that reflects how frustrated the Senate is that the executive branch was trying to circumvent Congress on such an important matter. INARA clearly requires that any agreement--I repeat, any agreement--related to the nuclear program of Iran should be submitted to the Senate and to the House for congressional review, including for an up-or-down vote.

It is beyond debate that the Biden administration is required by law to submit any new agreement for reviving the Iran deal to Congress for congressional review, but the Biden administration has not clearly committed that it will submit whatever agreement it is negotiating in Vienna for our review and an up-or-down vote by Congress.

If the Biden administration refuses to submit its new Iran agreement to Congress, it will be ignoring the law and undermining the role of this body in foreign policy.

Last year, I was concerned this might happen. That is why I introduced the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act of 2020. My bill borrows a provision from the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, an act that overwhelmingly passed Congress in 2017.

The CAATSA provision allows for congressional review and an up-or- down vote on any Presidential waiver of Russia's sanctions. My bill takes word-for-word that same provision and applies it to any Presidential waiver of Iran sanctions. This is important because any new agreement to revive the Iran deal will require once again the executive branch to waive Iran sanctions. In other words, my bill protects the role of Congress if the executive branch ignores INARA and refuses to submit the new agreement to the Senate and to the House.

So far, 37 Senators have cosponsored the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act with me. This number is significant because 37 Senators would be more than enough to deny the Senate's advice and consent if the executive branch actually followed the Constitution and presented a new Iran agreement to the Senate as a treaty.

I urge my colleagues who have not yet cosponsored the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act to join me and to do so. We must protect the first branch of government from an executive branch that seeks to encroach upon it or even to ignore it.

I also remind the Biden administration, the Iranian regime, and the world of a fact that should be patently obvious by now: Any agreement to revive the Iran nuclear deal that lacks the Senate's advice and consent under the

Constitution--that is, that lacks the support of 67 Senators--will not survive multiple Presidential administrations. It will be ripped up just like it was the last time. And I have zero doubt that, as before, the next Presidential administration will end this deal again and will snap back sanctions--with a vengeance--against the Iranian regime and those countries that were foolish enough to trade with it.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I rose in this Chamber 2 weeks ago to again urge the Senate to reopen the U.S. Capitol and to reopen the Senate office buildings. At that time, Democrats objected to my resolution in support of reopening. Two weeks later, it has become even more clear that the American public is tired of government mandates and of COVID shutdowns.

Democrats have exploited the pandemic to execute a power grab over American life--a power grab that allows Democrats to dictate whether children can attend schools, whether Americans can keep their jobs and operate their businesses, and how elections are conducted. These Big Government lockdowns and mandates have caused irreparable damage that will be felt for generations to come. As we move ahead, we mustn't lose sight of this lesson.

On the bright side, even the Biden administration is seeing the poll numbers, and they are adjusting the science accordingly. On Friday, the CDC changed its guidance once again. Now indoor masks are not recommended for most Americans. Masks are no longer required on either side of the Capitol Building. Why, even Washington, DC, has opened up and lifted its mask mandate. Amazingly, all of this happened just in time for the State of the Union Address.

The only science that is being followed here is the political science, but, thankfully, America is returning to normal. Americans everywhere are safely living their lives--going to work and school, visiting stores, attending events, and gathering with their families and their friends. They shouldn't have to know somebody in order to visit their Representatives, to take a tour of the Capitol, to get into this building.

It is time for the lockdown on democracy to come to an end. Today, I am once again asking my colleagues to rejoin reality and reopen the Capitol to those to whom it belongs--the American people.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 512.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I am glad that the Senate has agreed to my resolution to reopen the Capitol, and I urge the House of Representatives to pass a very similar resolution that was introduced in that body so that all parts of the Capitol Complex are open to the American people.

I also stand ready to work with my colleagues and with the Capitol Police to implement this resolution so that we can welcome the American people back into their Capitol as soon as possible.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, for nearly 2 years, the U.S. Capitol Building and Senate offices have been largely closed to the American people whom we serve. Our constituents have been unable to enter the Senate buildings to meet with their representatives, and Americans of all ages, from schoolchildren to seniors, have been deprived of the patriotic sense of wonderment that comes from visiting the hallowed halls of the Capitol Building. The openness of the Halls of Congress and public participation in the legislative process have always been hallmarks of American democracy.

It is long past time for the Senate to reopen its doors to the American people. Thanks to Operation Warp Speed, vaccines have been available for more than a year for those who want them. Americans have learned how to safely gather and enter public places despite the pandemic. Over 70,000 people attended the Super Bowl in Los Angeles on Sunday, in fact. Yet there are reports that some of the leadership in this building want to significantly limit the number of lawmakers who are allowed to attend President Biden's State of the Union Address in just a couple of weeks.

From stores to venues and most workplaces and schools, the rest of the United States has reopened to gatherings and regular business. Shouldn't the Senate, whose buildings belong to the public, do the same? That is why I have introduced a resolution providing that the Senate, first, recognizes the importance of reopening the Capitol and Senate office buildings to the public and, second, supports returning to the pre-COVID visitor policies for areas within Senate jurisdiction. I am pleased that 26 of my colleagues have joined me as cosponsors of this resolution.

Importantly, if there are operational matters that need to be worked out as part of reopening, this resolution provides no obstacle to doing so. It simply states that the Senate supports reopening and recognizes the importance of doing so.

I am asking my colleagues to join me today in support of the access to American democracy and a return to normal life and in opposition to endless pandemic lockdown, and I am pleased to be joined here today by my colleague from Indiana.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed

to the consideration of S. Res. 512, submitted earlier today. Further, 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.

Madam President, I greatly respect my colleague from Minnesota, and I have enjoyed working with her on the Rules Committee, but her objection to this resolution provides an unfortunate but clear answer: No, Democrats don't support reopening the Senate.

Hopefully sometime soon, my Democratic colleagues will wake up to the fact that Americans are sick of endless lockdowns and the condescending message that it sends to the American people that they need government to tell them what to do.

With regard to the objection that we need a more measured process in consultation with various officials, I talked to the Capitol Police Chief last week, and we can work with his team and the Sergeant at Arms to address any specific operational issues. We can also work with the Attending Physician. All of that is downstream of the basic question here, which is whether the Senate supports reopening. If the Senate supports reopening, then we can figure out the rest.

Senate leadership sets the policy for the Capitol Building and the office buildings that are under Senate jurisdiction. That is why we have different COVID policies than the House. If it was up to the Attending Physician or the Capitol Police, the policy probably wouldn't change at the midpoint of the Capitol Building, as it does today.

We are the elected officials in the building. We are the ones who were elected to make decisions. We shouldn't dodge that responsibility, and we need to lead by making a clear statement that it is time to reopen the Senate to our constituents. It is unfortunate that many of my Democratic colleagues don't feel the same way. We need to reopen the Senate now.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am here today to address Democrat leadership's effort to demolish the Senate rules and structure, and thereby destroy the world's greatest deliberative body. Their ploy would silence millions of Americans, and it would substantially harm our Nation.

Abolishing the filibuster would end the Senate's unique role in American Government, which has kept us on the steady course of becoming a more perfect union for the past 230 years. This unique role is to ensure that Federal legislation, covering all 50 States, requires careful debate and broad support, often reflecting compromise, so that American policy is durable and lasting.

That way, as the senior Senator from Arizona put it in her courageous and patriotic remarks last week, we avoid ``wild reversals in Federal policy'' every few years on the basis of bare majorities, which would make our government far less effective and our economy far less stable.

Democrats know how integral the filibuster is to American Government. Democrats have said it themselves. Eliminating the filibuster would ``be the end of the Senate.'' That is a direct quote from the senior Senator from Illinois in 2018.

The Democratic leader, before assuming his current position, said that eliminating the filibuster would ``be a doomsday for democracy.''

And President Biden, when he was Senator Biden, said that to eliminate the filibuster would be ``the arrogance of power.'' Apparently, he is now suffering from such arrogance.

Until they took control of the Senate last year, most Democrats passionately advocated for preserving this critical Senate rule. That is because it enables our representative government to function and reflect the will of the people.

Indeed, in 2017, when there was a Republican in the Oval Office and a Republican majority in the Senate, 32 Democrats, including then-Senator Kamala Harris, signed a letter supporting the filibuster.

During the Trump administration, Democrats routinely used the filibuster to block Republican legislation, including bills on police reform, border security, and late-term abortions; important bills that impacted life, sovereignty, and community safety--certainly, bills that Republicans wanted to enact.

Yet, when met with the filibuster, Republicans didn't change the rules on a completely partisan basis. Republicans didn't tear down this institution in order to score short-term partisan political points, and Republicans certainly didn't use cheap demagoguery to create a fake hysteria to justify doing so.

Yet now that Democrats are in the majority, nearly every one of those 32 Democrats has completely reversed himself or herself, with a few notable exceptions. Why? Because this is about one thing: Power. Doing the exact same thing is a doomsday for democracy when it is a bill they oppose, but it is essential to save democracy when it is a bill they support. It is about power.

There doesn't seem to be a power grab that is too extreme for the modern left, whether it is abolishing the filibuster, packing the Supreme Court, or making the District of Columbia a State. There is no institution that they aren't willing to destroy.

This is shameful because Democrat leaders' past statements show that they know that destroying the Senate would be disastrous for our Nation.

Let's call this what it is. It is worse than a solution in search of a problem. It is a power grab in search of a crisis. In this case, they had to manufacture a crisis to justify the power grab.

They have been trying to pass this bill for years. Democrat operatives first introduced a version of this bill on January 24, 2017, 4 days after President Trump was elected to office. It was part of their scorched-earth policy to challenge the 2016 election results, clinging to the false claims of Russian collusion. Since then, they have continued to maniacally, and on a wholly partisan basis, push this electioneering fantasy.

Even though this bill is about keeping power, they use whatever justification is most convenient at the moment. In 2017, it was President Trump and Russia. In 2020, it was the pandemic. And now, it is the preposterous claim that returning to prepandemic voting practices is the end of democracy.

This election takeover would impose taxpayer-funded campaigns. It prohibits overwhelmingly popular, commonsense State voter ID laws. What does nullifying voter ID laws and handing out taxpayer-funded campaign dollars have to do with voting rights?

Last night, the senior Senator from Virginia pointed out that Republicans have always led the way on voting rights. So why not now? Because this bill isn't about protecting voting rights. It is about protecting politicians. This isn't the 14th Amendment. It is Washington Democrats' 14th attempt to take over elections in all 50 States for the third different reason in the last several years.

Americans want laws that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Such laws currently exist throughout the country. That is why we had recordbreaking voter participation in 2020, including in my home State of Tennessee.

So ask yourself: With more Americans voting in the last election than ever before, why is this Democrats' top priority? Why are they willing to destroy the Senate to do it? What is the real reason they are focusing on this made-up crisis, while ignoring actual crises of inflation, falling real wages, soaring energy prices, supply chain crises, a collapsed southern border, the collapse of Afghanistan, and increased authoritarian aggression around the world--real problems that actually affect the American people?

Democrat leaders have tuned out those concerns. They are taking no action to address them. Think about it. Our country has the highest inflation rate in 40 years, and the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over our Nation's monetary policy, has not held a single hearing examining this topic since it began in 2021.

To avoid those issues, they have created a fake crisis to take over elections--a desperate attempt at self-preservation because Americans are rejecting their agenda. That is the real reason Democrats are pushing this. It is about protecting the power of politicians here in Washington.

Elections should be determined by the voters, not by the politicians.

Last week, President Biden traveled to Georgia to demonize all Americans who don't submit to this hyperpartisan political agenda. He ranted that Americans who support the constitutional system of free, fair, and locally run elections are somehow bigots.

In support of this scheme, the Democrat leader offers the talking point that State legislatures don't have filibuster rules so why should the U.S. Senate?

The answer to this is obvious: because Federal legislation governs all 50 States, as opposed to State legislation that just affects one State. It requires broader support, more than a bare majority in a 50- 50 Senate.

This is the greatest Nation on Earth, and the Senate is its compass. This isn't the Democrat leaders' political play thing.

Ensuring broad support for Federal laws, which ensures American stability, is the very purpose of the U.S. Senate. Sadly, this election power grab is just the start. With the filibuster gone, Democrats would be free to enact mass amnesty, pack the Supreme Court, pack the Senate, punish law enforcement officers, and much, much more.

It was my hope, coming into this new year, that the Senate would refocus on what we were elected to do: Listen to the American people and address their concerns. Yet the recent rhetoric of Democrat leadership has dispelled any such optimism.

The American people deserve a government that acknowledges their concerns and works tirelessly and constructively to address them. The serious problems we face as a nation demand it.

Americans want us to do our jobs. Abolishing the Senate's rules that guarantee debate and compromise would be ``the end of the Senate,'' as the senior Senator from Illinois put it. It would do irreparable harm to the fabric of our government and to the cohesion of our Nation.

I hope my colleagues find the strength and the courage to maintain their previous, longstanding support for preserving the Senate's role. I hope they reject this cynical move to steamroll half of its Members and the voters they represent.

Mr. President, Robert J. O'Brien, Sr., age 103, passed away on January 4, 2022. A native of Chicago, O'Brien returned home after serving in the Navy during the Second World War and graduated from DePaul University.

Soon after, Mr. O'Brien joined John V. McCarthy & Co., the predecessor of R.J. O'Brien & Associates, where he focused on client and business research. By 1959, Mr. O'Brien was named President of John V. McCarthy & Co. and, in

1964, was elected to the Board of Governors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a position he held continuously until 1977. He served as Chairman of the Exchange from 1967 to 1968 and was inducted into the FIA Futures Hall of Fame in 2007.

During his tenure on the Board of Governors, contracts on live animals were successfully introduced to the market, representing the first in a wave of innovation in contract design. He was also involved in changing the structure of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to make it more democratic and in revitalizing the audits and investigations department to attract new exchange members.

Mr. O'Brien's entrepreneurial spirit is best illustrated in his countless contributions to the futures industry as he built the largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States. He pioneered new industry practices and created opportunity for others, including taking delivery of the first live cattle contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, broadcasting the first live commodity report from the trading floor, and sponsoring the first woman to work on the trading floor in 1966.

The longevity of Mr. O'Brien's career and the lasting success of his company are a testament to the focus placed on the relationships that have been built with more than 80,000 clients, his employees, and his family. Mr. O'Brien is survived by five children, 22 grandchildren, and 33 great grandchildren.

Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Senator Blackburn, I ask unanimous consent that the following remarks be printed in the Congressional Record to further honor the life of Andrew Franklin Alexander, the late son of former Tennessee U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander.

Mr. President, I wish to recognize the 60th anniversary and the opening of a new location of the legendary Pancake Pantry in Nashville.

On December 13, the Pancake Pantry, a Nashville staple and landmark restaurant, will open a second location to offer its famous varieties of pancakes as well as begin a partnership with the Nashville Predators Foundation to support local communities.

Since 1961, this iconic restaurant has brightened the mornings of both tourists and residents of the Music City and will now partner with the Nashville Predators Foundation to give back to the community.

Through grants and partnerships directed towards the educational, health, and social needs of Middle Tennesseans, the Pancake Pantry is committed to supporting the local community.

To show their support, special ``Nashville Predator'' pancakes will be available between January 1 and February 28, 2022, and for each order sold, the Pancake Pantry will make a monetary donation to the Nashville Predators Foundation.

Established on August 18, 2009, the Nashville Predators Foundation strives to meet the needs of the local community by offering resources and financial support to youth-oriented organizations, awarding nearly $7.0 million to the greater Nashville community. Let us celebrate this announcement and commitment to helping those in need.

Mr. President, on September 9, President Biden announced that his Department of Labor, through OSHA, would issue a vaccine mandate covering more than 80 million privately employed Americans. Violators would be subject to significant financial penalties.

This mandate makes medical decisions for much of the American people with the stroke of a pen, and it immediately struck me as severe Federal overreach. Therefore, the next day, I wrote to the Secretary of Labor to confirm that he would submit this mandate to Congress for review under the Congressional Review Act. In that letter, I noted that Americans' elected representatives should review an order that threatens the livelihoods of many of their constituents.

I am pleased to join Senator Braun and a majority of my Senate colleagues in supporting this resolution to disapprove President Biden's vaccine mandate.

Regarding the mandate itself, I want to first say that I support the vaccine, which is a product of President Trump's Operation Warp Speed. I visited my doctor, and I made the personal choice to take the vaccine. I have spoken to many Tennesseans and have urged them to do the same. But the decision to take the vaccine is a personal one. It is a decision that each American should be allowed to make in consultation with his or her doctor, not under Federal threat of job loss and financial penalty. This mandate improperly puts the Federal Government between Americans and their doctors and between Americans and their jobs.

Tens of millions of essential workers were asked to risk their health for the good of the country during the pandemic. They courageously responded to this call. Many of them--many of them--contracted the virus. Yet now we are telling these heroes, from frontline healthcare workers to the employees who made sure we had access to groceries and essential goods, that they will be fired unless they comply

with the vaccine mandate. They deserve better.

Not only is this vaccine mandate wrong, but it was promptly declared unlawful by the U.S. Court of Appeals. Other Biden administration vaccine mandates are meeting similar fates in the courts. Yet the Biden administration refuses to relent or reevaluate the damage that it is doing.

Sadly, the Biden administration's use of Federal Government power to control the American people's lives is not limited to vaccine mandates; it is a basic element of their strategy to remake America. Don't believe me? Just look at the Democrats' so-called Build Back Better proposal. The Biden administration is marketing this legislation to transform America by using a cartoon depicting a mom and her son and the government programs on which they would depend under this plan from the very beginning of their lives to the very end. That is the definition of cradle-to-grave, Big Government dependency, and that is the stated goal of the Democrats' legislation.

This legislation federalizes preschool and childcare, which will crowd out community- and faith-based providers and put the Federal Government in charge of what your children are taught during their most formative years.

If this was about children, then parents would be allowed to choose the preschool or childcare provider that is best for their children, but, instead, it is about control. So the government would ultimately decide which preschools and which childcare providers would survive.

The Build Back Better legislation increases by 10 times the penalties on private employers for violating the vaccine mandate. Now, a willful violation can result in a $700,000 fine and must result in a minimum fine of $50,000. In other words, small businesses that fail to comply will face financial ruin.

When it comes to employment, if you are one of the millions of Americans who work in the oil and gas industry, the Build Back Better plan delivers $550 billion worth of crushing Green New Deal mandates and tax increases. It replaces these good-paying jobs with $8 billion to the Civilian Climate Corps, a taxpayer-funded climate police.

Once your job is gone or your business is closed, the Build Back Better proposal offers government welfare programs with no work requirements. This attacks the dignity of work and right of self- determination that underscores what it means to be American--again, more government control.

By providing $80 billion in increased IRS funding--a staggering six times the current IRS budget--the Biden administration is planning to wring an extra $400 billion out of the American people to pay for all of this Big Government. With everyone from small business owners to grandparents now facing regular audits and IRS spying on their bank accounts, the government will have much greater control over how Americans earn and how they spend their money.

In sharp contrast, Republicans want to put Americans, not the Federal Government, in control of their lives. We want to strengthen the American dream so that Americans can free themselves from government dependency. We oppose Big Government socialism that imposes greater Federal control over Americans' lives.

In the coming weeks, Members of this body will be asked a very simple question, whether on the vaccine mandate or the Build Back Better legislation: Do you believe the Federal Government should have more control over American lives? Their answers are crucial for the future of our country. Is cradle-to-grave government dependency something to help Americans avoid or is it something to strive for? Should personal healthcare decisions be made by Americans or by government agencies? Do parents know what is best for their children or should bureaucrats and teachers unions decide? Are you willing to eliminate good-paying energy jobs? Should the IRS have more power to spy on the American people?

Over the next weeks, all of us must decide what kind of country we will have. My hope is that we will preserve and strengthen the American dream by empowering Americans to determine their own futures, to climb the ladder of success, and to free themselves from government dependency--not treat them with a lack of dignity that suggests that the very best they can hope for is a life managed by the Federal Government.

The first opportunity to provide an answer is the upcoming vote on this resolution disapproving President Biden's vaccine mandate. I have been pleased to work with Senator Braun to bring this resolution to the floor, and I urge all of my colleagues to support its adoption.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, on August 7, I came to the Senate floor to oppose the expedited passage of what is known as the bipartisan infrastructure bill. I did that for several reasons, including because it was obviously going to be taken hostage and used by Democrats to impose Big Government socialism on America.

In those August 7 remarks, I said:

I am frustrated with this legislation . . . because it is

tied to . . . the Democrats' real ambition, which is their

multitrillion-dollar march to socialism that they will unveil

right after this infrastructure legislation is passed.

Democrats have admitted this . . . is [their] plan.

They previewed phase 1 of this scheme in March, when they

spent $1.9 trillion in the name of COVID relief. Of course,

90 percent of it had nothing to do with COVID. It was really

just a payoff to their most loyal political supporters.

Sadly, it is now causing the highest inflation . . . in

decades . . . [which] is a daily tax on every American who

[is buying] goods and services.

I went on to lay out phase 2, the step-by-step plan some Democrats are using to launch their Big Government socialism fantasy.

Step 1, I said, was to change the conversation to trillions. Make billions look small. Condition the Congress. Condition the media. Condition people.

That has happened.

Step 2, I said, was to tell everyone that the United States needs infrastructure.

That has happened too.

Step 3, I said, was to redefine the term ``infrastructure'' to include Big Government socialism programs. Really muddy it up so that no one could understand what they were actually talking about.

That has happened.

Step 4, I said, was that when more reasonable Democrats in the Senate balk at some of the more extensive or egregious items, promise them a two-track process: one for hard infrastructure and one for social programs. Confuse the situation even further.

That has happened.

Step 5, I said, was to negotiate as much of the Democrats' socialist wish list as possible into the infrastructure track. Then, put the rest of the wish list into the Big Government socialism wish list bill.

That also has happened.

Step 6, I said, was to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill through the Senate as quickly as possible. The Trojan horse would then be through the gates.

Unfortunately, that has also happened.

Step 7, I said, was to hold that infrastructure bill hostage in the House of Representatives until everything they couldn't get into the infrastructure bill--meaning the trillions of dollars in Big Government spending programs--also passes the Senate.

That is what we are seeing happening right now, just as I predicted in early August.

Step 8, I said, was for the President to say that he wouldn't sign the infrastructure bill into law if it is not accompanied by trillions of dollars in Big Government socialism programs.

This has also happened.

Step 9, I said, was to get the Big Government socialism part passed by circumventing the filibuster in the Senate. This would require abusing an arcane loophole called reconciliation to pass trillions of dollars in Big Government socialism with only 50 Democrat votes.

Step 10, I said, was to give more moderate Democrats political cover to support the parliamentary trick and Big Government socialism spending. To accomplish this, radical Democrats in the House are threatening to shoot the hostage--the hostage is the infrastructure bill that passed the Senate--a bill that more moderate Democrats more strongly support.

These final two steps have not yet been executed because some Democrats see the peril in following the dangerous instincts of the most extreme elements of their party.

On September 27, the most radical House Democrats, backed by Speaker Pelosi, stated that they were ``committed to voting for the infrastructure bill only after [their Big Government socialism bill] is passed.''

On September 29, one of the most outspoken of that group made it even clearer, saying:

[S]everal months ago, we had an agreement with . . .

everybody else throughout the entire party . . . we will move

forward on this $3.5 trillion. And we will link the [two

bills, meaning the bipartisan infrastructure bill] and the

[big government socialism bill].

In revealing this, she confirmed that the far left has been manipulating everyone involved in this process.

When I laid out Democrats' plans on the Senate floor back in August, I used the word ``abracadabra'' to illustrate the sleight of hand Democrats were attempting to pull off, saying that the American people might not even notice--until it is too late--that their wallet has been stolen and their country has been fundamentally changed.

Fortunately, it seems the American people are wising up to the trick. The question I asked at the time--and the question the American people should be thinking about--is this: If all of these policies and all of the spending is so good, why does getting it done require a parliamentary house of mirrors?

The answer to this question is that many Democrats know that the Big Government socialism bill is unpopular; it is bad for the country. Otherwise, the hostage-taking wouldn't be necessary.

This radical dream of Big Government socialism is stalled out at the moment. So, at Speaker Pelosi's direction, President Biden drove up to Capitol Hill on October 1 and, according to one Representative, told House Democrats that in order to get the infrastructure bill done, we have to get this agreement on the Big Government socialism bill through the reconciliation.

According to a House Democrat, the President said that he wanted ``both bills to go at the same time'' and specifically praised the far- left House Members who were ``exuberant,'' according to a progressive congressional caucus member.

In other words, the far left is in charge, and President Biden embraces that fact. His actions made clear that the infrastructure bill is merely a tool to pass this Big Government socialism legislation. Both must pass or neither will pass. Rather than use his platform to defuse the hostage situation, President Biden is egging on the hostage- taking, and he is demanding Big Government socialism as the ransom.

Following President Biden's meeting with House Democrats, POLITICO quoted a Democratic observer who said:

The fact that the president came to the Hill and whipped

against his own bill is the strangest thing I've ever seen.

It is very strange indeed, but it underscores the sad reality that the far left is in charge of the Democratic Party.

What we have witnessed these past 9 months is the biggest bait-and- switch in American political history. The American people didn't vote for Big Government socialism in 2020. Yet the Biden administration proudly proclaims that it is the most radically leftwing administration in American history.

According to POLITICO this morning, President Biden held a call with progressive House Members yesterday in which he told them that he was ``getting more and more frustrated with moderate Democrats.'' For what? For refusing to be steamrolled by an agenda that most Americans don't want?

Democrats' extreme politics are eclipsed only by their incompetence, from Afghanistan to inflation, from our energy dependence to a border collapse. Why? Because far-left radicals are dictating the agenda, and they are calling all the shots.

With respect to this infrastructure hostage situation, the only question now is, Will every Democrat pay the ransom of Big Government socialism? And what is included in this ransom?

First, Democrats are currently haggling over the top-line cost. Will it be $3.5 trillion, $2.5 trillion, $1.5 trillion, or something in between? Again, this is trillions of dollars--with a ``t''--that we are talking about.

The number that they use is actually irrelevant because the bill will actually cost far more when you peel away the budget gimmicks. The overall cost of the bill is only labeled at $3.5 trillion because Democrats are pretending--again, for budget projection purposes--that many of these costly programs are simply temporary and they will terminate in a few years.

Ask any Democrat whether this bill just includes some temporary spending--spending that will soon phase out. Ask them this: How will they vote when it comes time to prevent the program from expiring? You know this. Once you turn this sort of spending on, it will be next to impossible to turn it off.

This is like valuing the cost of your home at the initial downpayment price and ignoring the 30-year mortgage that follows.

Current estimates are that $3.5 trillion really will be more like $5.5 trillion, and that is just in the first decade alone. Yet all of Washington is currently obsessed with negotiations over where this phony number is going to land. This is another distraction. It is a tactic to divert your eyes from what is in the bill. No matter what number is used, the total cost of this bill is vastly higher than they claim, tens of trillions of dollars over my children's and your children's lifetime. That is before even accounting for inevitable cost overruns, waste, and program expansions. Of course, this means most of the Big Government socialism bill will be debt-financed because the bill will cost far more than projected even in the short run.

Given our current debt of nearly $30 trillion, allowing the fuse to continue to burn on this new, inflation-fueling, economy-crushing level of debt borders on insanity. It is the kind of thing that toppled world powers in the past.

Now is the time to get our fiscal house in order or at least avoid making it worse. Democrats want to solve the problem of a burning house not by throwing water on it but by throwing on gasoline and arguing that 50 gallons of gasoline is, well, better than throwing 100 gallons of gasoline on it.

As obscene as Democrats' spending has become, focusing on cost obscures the more insidious, destructive nature of Big Government socialism.

Without careful oversight from the American people and their elected Representatives here in Congress, government bureaucracy can't help but serve its own interests. Over time, the bureaucracy has fed itself, becoming ever more powerful, ever more hungry, and ever more present in the lives of the American people.

Many Democrats believe in feeding the bureaucratic beast. They want the government to grow, and they want Americans to be ever more dependent upon government from cradle to grave. They want permanent government control over childcare, over preschool, raising your children, over healthcare, over energy, jobs, employers, and the list goes on. This will mean that Americans must turn to Big Government for more and more of life's necessities.

Big Government will increasingly control the lives of Americans beginning in their formative years. Once the Federal Government is in charge of funding preschool and daycare that has crowded out all the private competition, you better believe the Federal Government will be providing the lesson plans for your children as well.

This legislation will dramatically expand the welfare entitlement state, meaning they will provide even more incentives for American workers not to work. At a time when small businesses are desperately searching for workers, this is the wrong thing to do. It will fuel inflation; it will pile on more debt for our children and grandchildren; and it will drastically increase taxes and regulations on all Americans. More fundamentally and more sadly, it will move America closer to a European socialist model where government dependency replaces opportunity and where the dignity of work is lost.

The strength of America is our unique system--our spirit, our work ethic, and our compassion for one another. The foundation for all this has been the freedom to pursue our dreams thanks to the system of free market capitalism--a system that has spread the American dream across the globe. That dream spread because our country offered something different.

This plan to spend tens of trillions of dollars fundamentally threatens the American system and the American dream, not only by jeopardizing our fiscal stability but by ushering in Big Government socialism, which, if history is any guide, tends to crowd out everything else and, perhaps, especially opportunity.

The American people have proven that they will flourish if permitted to do so. In this sense, the only thing that can stop the American people is the size and the reach of the American Government. For the Senate to participate in imposing such self-inflicted wounds on our country would be profoundly sad. History will not look kindly upon it.

However, one point from my remarks this summer remains just as true today:

It only takes one Democrat to end this insanity, to stand

up and say he or she won't participate in this scheme.

The American people and their children and grandchildren will no doubt be grateful if one of them chooses to do so.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I have come to the floor of the Senate today on behalf of myself and the senior Senator from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, to honor the life and legacy of a heroic Tennessean, U.S. Army SSG Ryan Knauss, who was killed in a terrorist attack while serving the country that he loves so in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.

Staff Sergeant Knauss served with the Army's 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, 8th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg. He was from Corryton, TN--a small, rural community where love of country and volunteerism runs deep.

Corryton is known for being the hometown of country music star Kenny Chesney, and now it will be known forever as the home of our hero, SSG Ryan Knauss.

Ryan was 23 years old when he laid his life down for his Nation. I have spoken with Staff Sergeant Knauss's widow Alena and his father Greg. Through our conversations, I got to know a little bit more about Staff Sergeant Knauss. And I am here today to share with you all and with the American people just who Staff Sergeant Knauss was.

He was a devoted husband. Ryan met Alena when they were in high school working at a local pizza parlor. I sensed her deep love for Ryan when we spoke, and I am certain that Alena feels blessed to have had the opportunity to be loved by someone like Ryan.

He was a loyal son. After speaking with Ryan's father Greg, it was clear the love and the commitment that SSG Ryan Knauss had for his family and his fellow soldiers was unwavering.

I can only tell you that after hearing of Ryan's dedication to his family and his country, it is the hope and prayer of every parent to have a son as honorable and principled as Ryan. As a father, I told Greg I couldn't fathom his grief.

Ryan had hoped to soon become a father himself. He and Alena had plans to try for their first child when he came back from overseas. And building a nursery was at the top of their to-do list when he was to arrive home.

Staff Sergeant Knauss was a steadfast friend. His own friend spoke of his charm and intelligence at a memorial service at his former high school in Corryton. He was a charismatic person to whom people were instantly drawn.

SSG Ryan Knauss was a proud and honorable soldier. And when his country needed him at such a dire time, he fiercely answered the call.

Even as a child, Ryan knew his calling was to serve. In a friend's elementary school yearbook, Ryan wrote that he wanted to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. And as a freshman in high school, he signed up for the ROTC program. As one of his fellow soldiers explained, ``This was his dream job, and he . . . ran with it.''

Ryan's unit, Detachment 10, described it as follows:

Ryan knew the dangerous situation he was going to, but

protecting innocent civilians is one of the values that drove

him. It has been said that life is not important except in

the impact it has on other lives, and Ryan had an incredible

impact on his family and friends. And thanks to his actions,

thousands of children will have the joy of knowing a

childhood free from danger and oppression.

The Bible teaches us that no one has ``greater love than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friends.'' Staff Sergeant Knauss did just that. He died a hero's death. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his Nation, for all of us.

Ryan will be remembered as a selfless and heroic man--a Tennessee volunteer--who, with a servant's heart, gave everything of himself at just 23 years old for the country that he loved so dearly.

I ask that each of you here today join me in continuing to pray for the Knauss family and uplift them in the coming days and months as they lay their soldier to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Madam President, from the moment that President Biden announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in April, the people of the United States--after two decades of war--had hoped to mark the end of our presence in Afghanistan with a secure and orderly exit and with our honor intact.

As we know, what ensued proved to be the opposite. Hubris fueled the administration to proceed with a flawed exit plan from Afghanistan. They allowed a calendar to dictate our withdrawal rather than the conditions on the ground. Loss of life and humiliation have been the result, with our allies and our partners openly questioning the resolve and the competency of the United States.

Those harrowing images of Afghan teenagers falling from the sky after clinging to a U.S. military plane as it took off from the Kabul airport, the utter chaos at the gates of the Kabul airport, and the loss of 13 U.S. servicemembers, including Staff Sergeant Knauss, would compel any reasonable person to ask why events had to unfold in this manner.

Against the operational failure in Afghanistan and this loss of credibility abroad, we are fortunate in knowing that the people of the United States still retain their unique spirit--that American desire to come to the aid of others in need.

Those Americans stranded in Afghanistan, the former Afghan interpreters who stood with our military, Afghan women and children who worked with our aid organizations--these people needed our help, and our servicemembers, our diplomats, our aid workers, and journalists all deserve recognition and credit for their sacrifice as they attempted to help.

Madam President, I call up my amendment No. 3742 and ask that it be reported by number.

Madam President, my amendment provides for ensuring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is charged by Congress with enforcing immigration laws in the United States, has sufficient resources to deport illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes in the United States.

According to ICE's website, 92 percent of the illegal aliens that ICE deports have been convicted or charged with crimes. Yet despite the border crisis and record border crossings, the Biden administration has drastically reduced deportations to roughly one-quarter of what they were last fiscal year, reaching the lowest levels on record this spring, from over 28,000 in October of 2019 to less than 3,000 in April of 2021.

That means the administration is allowing thousands of criminal illegal aliens per month to remain in American communities and potentially commit more crimes.

I ask for your support for enforcing our immigration laws and deterring illegal immigration and criminal activity by providing the resources necessary to remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets.

Thank you, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, as I said earlier in this debate, I agree that working to shore up our hard infrastructure is a worthy cause. Investing in infrastructure the right way is a wise investment in America's future and in our long-term competitiveness.

But that is not what we are being asked to vote on here. Rather, we have a package with some infrastructure that is good for our economy. Yet it is riddled with Big Government and massive deficit spending, over a quarter of a trillion dollars in the hole.

And we want to rush through this as quickly as possible?

There is a right way and a wrong way to pursue noble goals. And let's be clear. The Democrat leadership has tied this infrastructure bill to their effort to use their 50-vote reconciliation process to fundamentally move America toward Western Europe-style socialism, which as anyone can see today, brings with it limited opportunity, less innovation, crushing taxes, a bloated government bureaucracy, and cradle-to-grave government dependency.

Right on cue, Democrats have introduced a $3.5 trillion part of the plan this morning, and the Democrat leader promised that the Senate will turn to it just as soon as this bill is passed.

I wish this wasn't the case. And all it would take for it not to be the case is for just one of my Democrat colleagues to say that they won't support the $3.5 billion part of this plan.

I am still hopeful, but I remain concerned, given the statements by Democrats just like my colleague, who just spoke a minute ago, from Oregon.

President Biden and Speaker Pelosi have been clear that this bipartisan deal on infrastructure won't become law unless all of the socialist Big Government items that got excluded from the so-called track 1 of the first deal are later tacked on to it in track 2 of their plan. The Democrat leader is saying this quite clearly, using the consistent refrain of a two-track plan.

They are doing this because the far left has pushed the Democrats over the edge. Whether the subject is court packing, election takeovers, or government dependency, it is clear that the far left is calling the shots in the Democratic Party today.

Sadly, Democrats view this infrastructure bill as an important tool to advance the far left's agenda. Democrat leaders have promised to link it to trillions of dollars more in government taxing, spending, and dependency programs that this body will take up later this week. This smoke-and-mirrors charade is the kind of thing that makes Americans shake their heads.

I have negotiated deals my whole career, and often what is negotiated out of a deal is just as important as what is in it. There is not a deal if, at the last minute, the other side uses a side deal or a different program to put everything in it that you never wanted. That is why, when we consider this infrastructure bill, we must also look to the multitrillion-dollar, tax-and-spend path to socialism that the Democrat leaders have promised will be part of the total package. So Members of this body and the American people need to listen carefully to what is expected to be in this second part of the plan and try not to let your jaw hit the floor in the process.

Just listen to what Democrats are promising to stuff into this reconciliation bill. It will enable the Green New Deal. It will crush the American fossil fuel industry--never mind the fact that the industry is continuing to become ever more industry clean on its own.

This will cost millions of American jobs. It will sacrifice the energy independence we have already achieved, and it will make us more dependent on foreign adversaries. Ultimately, Democrats would rather placate the far left's near-religious fervor for government-subsidized electric cars and windmills, even if it means hollowing out American communities that provide our energy independence today.

And they will jeopardize our national security in the process. It is a great deal for the green energy lobby which supports Democrat politicians, but it is a terrible deal for our Nation and for our national security.

It will drastically increase taxes on job creators, which will cost untold number of jobs and reduce wages. Get ready to see more jobs shipped out of the United States and into the welcoming arms of China. Don't worry, though, Democrats are proposing to create a Civilian Climate Corps that will hire some of the people who lose their jobs. To do what? Proselytize on the virtues of clean energy?

It will impose one of the largest ever tax increases on American capital, resulting in America having one of the highest tax rates on investment and capital in the industrialized world. Capital investment creates new jobs and innovation, and this will crush that process in America.

It will expand the death tax that Americans must pay on savings and property of their loved ones that pass away. It will make it much harder for small businesses and farms to be passed on to the next generation.

It will move America closer to a European socialist model for healthcare, with less choice, longer wait times, and less quality. If we have learned anything during the coronavirus pandemic, it is that we have the greatest healthcare system and healthcare workers in the world. The last thing we need to do is try to make our healthcare system weaker.

It will nullify the State right-to-work laws and ensure American workers don't have a choice but to submit to union bosses. It is impossible to say how many good-paying jobs this will cost States like Tennessee, States that have experienced enormous growth and prosperity in recent decades by passing laws that put workers first by allowing them to choose whether or not they want to join a union. But union dues are used to fund Democrat political campaigns. So rather than make unions earn the support of workers, Democrats want to mandate it.

At a time when American small businesses are desperately looking for employees, this legislation will provide even more incentives for American workers not to work. Small businesses and American consumers will suffer as a result.

It will provide more handouts to teachers unions who have refused to open schools in much of the country for the last year and a half. Teachers unions provide a great windfall benefit to Democrat political campaigns.

It will provide more handouts to green unions and green energy interests, which conveniently fund the campaigns of Democrat politicians.

Are you noticing a trend yet?

In addition to taking more American taxpayers' hard-earned dollars, it will be debt-financed and not paid for, at least not by our generation. It may be convenient for today's politicians, but our children and grandchildren will be left footing the bill. It will be so large that it will likely be beyond the capacity of Congress to even oversee it to prevent the waste, fraud, and abuse that are sure to come.

We should all be deeply concerned.

Ultimately, this package is designed to create a permanent state of government dependency and reliance for everything from jobs to your choice of doctors, to fueling your car. That way, you will have to turn to the institution Democrats have captured most: government and the unelected bureaucracy that controls virtually everything.

In the short term, this is a reckless, multitrillion-dollar step toward socialism--again, several trillion dollars. That is 13 digits, a number that many calculators don't even have room for. This step will likely add further fuel to already rampant inflation.

As we know, inflation is a hidden tax on all Americans, cutting into our savings, decreasing real earnings, and hurting our retirees most of all.

Over the longer term, this path to socialism will slow job creation and productivity. It will reduce wages. It will ship jobs overseas. It will harm small businesses and workers and freeze investment right here in America. It will drastically increase taxes, and it will hobble innovative industries and technologies in which America was poised to lead. And Green New Deal mandates and regulations will crush industries where we currently do lead, such as the energy industry.

With this massive expansion of inefficient government, bureaucratic government in our day-to-day lives will increase. It is as if Democrats' goal is to emulate the totalitarian central planners of the Chinese Communist Party. Rather than competing against China by creating a free market-driven environment for innovation and job creation, which, by the way, is how we won the Cold War, Democrats seem to want to copy China's model.

This tax-and-spend spree by Democrats will also burden our children and grandchildren with even more debt. Sadly, this isn't a pig-in-a- python moment, and the harmful effects of this spending spree will last for generations.

America is nearly $30 trillion in debt--$30 trillion. Thirty trillion is significantly more than the total value of what our economy produces annually. As Democrats impose policies that will limit economic growth and productivity, our ability to pay our debts will become much more difficult. As the debt payments we owe continue to increase and become a larger and larger share of the Federal revenue pie, we are going to leave our children with some really tough choices.

So while I support hard infrastructure and working to find a right way to invest in it, joining it at the hip with a vision for America as a socialist utopia isn't it. The stakes are too high, and it is time to get serious about the path we are heading down. We must think beyond today and our short-term interests. We need to stop endangering our children's and our grandchildren's future while we still can, by getting our spending under control and developing a plan for paying down our debt, not by making it far worse.

This multitrillion-dollar path to socialism threatens the future of our country. It not only threatens to leave our children with an unpayable debt, but it also limits their ability to pay it off by smothering our economy with massive government bureaucracy that stifles the private-sector innovation that has until now led the world.

America has always been a beacon of hope for the world because we are exceptional. We have provided more freedom, opportunity, and prosperity than any other nation. We have been proud of this exceptionalism and have carefully safeguarded it through generations.

The strength of America is our unique system--our spirit, our work ethic, our compassion, and the communities we create. This multitrillion-dollar plan, which increases government control and decreases freedom and opportunity, threatens the system at our core.

Our government exists to preserve the freedoms that allow the American people and our communities to flourish, not to control the American people. And the American people will flourish, if permitted to do so. In this sense, the only thing that can stop America is America's government by limiting our own people's opportunity and our prosperity.

I am asking my colleagues to fight to ensure that the America that we know endures for our children. The ``greatest generation'' gave us the most just and prosperous country in the history of the world, the country that won World War II and then the Cold War, and we must fight to preserve it, not throw it away.

Because the President and Democratic leaders have bound this infrastructure bill to a plan that will dramatically weaken America and reduce opportunity and prosperity for our people, I will be casting a ``no'' vote and urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number and that they be the only remaining amendments in order: First, Ernst, No. 2639; Cornyn-Padilla, No. 2602; Wicker-Stabenow, No. 2206; Cruz, No. 2389; Lee, No. 2517; Grassley-Klobuchar, No. 2500; Crapo- Wyden, No. 2507; Blackburn, No. 2328; Warner-Portman, No. 2617; Wyden- Lummis-Toomey, No. 2619; Cantwell, No. 2588; Wyden-Murkowski, No. 2603, Cantwell-Braun, No. 2621; Van Hollen, No. 2613, as modified; Cruz-Lun, No. 2490; Daines, No. 2599; Sullivan, No. 2586; Shelby, No. 2535; Rounds, No. 2636; Sinema-Portman, No. 2620; further, that the Senate vote in relation to all pending amendments, with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendment; and that if a rollcall is ordered, then 60 affirmative votes be required for adoption for the amendments listed in this agreement, except for Lee, No. 2517; Warner, No. 2617; Wyden, No. 2498; Ernst, No. 2639; and Grassley, No. 2500; and that there be 2 minutes for debate, equally divided, prior to each vote.

Madam President, the Senator's objection exposes the Democrats' true intention. I have never objected to considering amendments on this bill--not once. Democrats say they want amendments, but they can't take yes for an answer. The Democrats' true intention is to rush this bill through so that they can hurry up and light the fuse on their $3.5 trillion spending spree--a socialist debt bomb--and then leave town for vacation.

If they want to vote on amendments, why would the Senator object to my reasonable request? The only way the Democrats will agree to the amendments is if they can rush this bill through.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I support hard infrastructure. It is in my DNA. As a kid, I grew up shoveling asphalt. My father and my grandfather were in the road construction business.

I served as the economic development commissioner in my home State of Tennessee. I understand firsthand the importance of quality infrastructure. It was essential to attracting good jobs to my State. So I am in complete agreement that shoring up our hard infrastructure is a worthy cause.

This bill does some of that, and that is good. But there are both good ways and bad ways to achieve noble ends. And the question is, What is the best way to achieve this goal? And my frustration is with the methods and with the vehicle that is being used here.

The first problem is that the bill sponsors repeatedly said it would be paid for. In fact, it is not. And it is more than a little bit off. It is over a quarter of a trillion dollars short. That is almost seven times the budget of my home State of Tennessee.

We waited weeks for the text of this legislation. And before the text even existed, the Democrat leader forced the Senate to vote on proceeding to it. There is absolutely no reason for rushing this process and attempting to limit scrutiny of this bill other than the Democrats' completely artificial, self-imposed, and politically driven timeline. There will be more on that later.

The text, all 2,700-plus pages of it, was finally made available to us 6 days ago. The Senate has been able to consider that this week, but the Senate continued to wait all week for the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of what it would cost.

The CBO is the entity that Congress has agreed is responsible for scorekeeping on what legislation will cost the American people.

Let's keep in mind that meeting the definition of ``paid for'' in the CBO's eyes doesn't always make sense to the average American. For instance, CBO allows spending now to be offset by projected savings that won't happen for 10 years. CBO can allow savings that are already occurring naturally to count, effectively, as new savings for purposes of scoring a bill.

The point is, this kind of scoring is designed to make it easier for a bill to be scored as paid for, at least on paper.

As an example, the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that this legislation would actually add $351 billion in deficit spending, an even higher total than the CBO estimate.

The point is, even using these scorekeeping advantages, the CBO has made it clear this bill isn't paid for.

I understand why the Democratic leadership kept the CBO score under wraps until Thursday. It showed that the bill fell far short of ambitions. The CBO said that it misses the mark of being paid for by a cool quarter of a trillion dollars.

As an aside, I found it incredible that despite--or perhaps because of--getting this news on Thursday afternoon, Democrats tried to accelerate the passage of this bill later that same day. Instead of going through the normal multiday process for debating and enacting a bill, they tried to rush it through in the middle of the night. I objected to accelerating this process on Thursday because the Senate must carefully consider what it is doing.

Now, the proponents of this bill claim that the CBO's analysis is wrong. No matter how much explaining they do, the Senate agreed on the umpire before the game started.

To this end, if this bill is paid for, why will we have to waive Budget Act requirements later on in this process?

The Senate is going to have to pass this bill by waiving the Budget Act or the pay-go requirements. That is not ``paid for.''

Most of us probably won't be around when the bill comes due for this never-ending deficit spending here in Washington, but, sadly, our children and our grandchildren will be. The politicians in Washington spend now to buy votes but, conveniently, won't be around to deal with the consequences.

We can do hard infrastructure--again, that is a worthy goal--but we can do it without shoveling more debt onto the backs of our children and our grandchildren. Indeed, if we just limited this bill to hard infrastructure, it would be paid for. As I said, there are good and bad ways to achieve noble ends.

The second reason that I am opposed to this legislation is because of its Big Government, top-down approach. It includes many half-baked components that deserve far more scrutiny.

Rather than compete against China using our unparalleled innovation, our ingenuity, our technology, we are substituting massive government control to dictate, to fund, and to decide winners and losers. That is not the American way.

We are using the cryptocurrency market as a pay-for.

Have we fully vetted how this new regulation and taxation will affect this rapidly developing industry?

Will we wind up ceding this industry to others because of this regulation?

What is the point of even having committees in the Senate with expertise in certain matters if the most significant legislation that passes this body doesn't even go through?

The whole point of committees is to use them--use these committees to carefully scrutinize and refine important legislation, use committees to prevent unintended consequences that result from rushed legislation. Yet this is a 2,700-page bill that is going through no committees. Once again, we have to pass it to find out what is in it and then learn what kind of unintended consequences we can expect.

The third reason I am frustrated with this legislation is because it is tied to what I believe is the Democrats' real ambition, which is their multitrillion-dollar march to socialism that they will unveil right after this infrastructure legislation is passed. Democrats have admitted this. This is their plan.

The far-left wing of the Democratic Party, which is effectively calling the shots these days, is demanding that Democrats here in Congress spend trillions of dollars to reshape American society, to make American citizens more dependent on their government. Their aim seems to be to turn the United States into a sclerotic, government- controlled state, just like Western Europe.

The upcoming legislation that we are talking about now is the third leg of the stool of the Democrats' overall plan. The first leg is to pack the Supreme Court so the Constitution no longer gets in the way of their plan. The second is to Federalize and take over voting laws and procedures, ensuring Democrats will never lose another election, propelling themselves into perpetual power over both the legislative branch and the executive branch.

And, third, they want to remake the U.S. economy and America's relationship with government into one where Americans begin to look to government for everything, from Green New Deal programs to daycare. In this world, American citizens will be less free, less prosperous but more captive and hooked on government programs. That means they will be more dependent on Democrats and the institutions that they control.

So far, Democrats have been unable to build legs one and two of the stool, but they are actively trying. President Biden has a court- packing commission ongoing, and the Democratic leader is, today, working on scheduling more votes on the election takeover. They are desperate to appease leftwing extremists that have all of the energy in their party because they need these extremists' support to win elections.

Yet they have stalled out on their first two goals, so they have come up with a scheme to build the third leg of their stool. They previewed phase 1 of the scheme in March, when they spent $1.9 trillion in the name of COVID relief. Of course, 90 percent of it had nothing to do with COVID. It was really just a payoff to their most loyal political supporters.

Sadly, it is now causing the highest inflation that we have seen in decades. This inflation is a daily tax on every American who has to buy goods and services here in America.

But phase 2 of the scheme is even more devious. Step 1: Change the conversation to trillions with a ``t.'' Make billions sound small. Condition the Congress, condition the media, condition the American public to these big numbers.

Remember, a trillion dollars is an astronomical number, and our children are going to have to pay for it.

Step 2: Tell the United States that America needs infrastructure; but then, Step 3, redefine the term ``infrastructure'' to include government-dependency programs. Really muddy it up.

Step 4: When more reasonable Democrats in the Senate balk at some of these more expensive or egregious items, promise them a two-track process--one for hard infrastructure and one for social programs.

Step 5: Negotiate as much of your socialist wish list into the infrastructure track as you can. They got some of it into this bill, but not all of it. They will just put the rest of it into the wish list and put that wish list into the government-dependency bill that is yet to come.

Step 6: Pass the infrastructure bill through the Senate as quickly as possible. Drop a nearly 3,000-page bill and demand that it be passed immediately before we can even understand or scrutinize what is in it. The Trojan horse, my friends, is through the gate.

Step 7: Hold that infrastructure bill hostage in the House of Representatives until everything you couldn't get into the infrastructure bill--particularly meaning the trillions of dollars in government-dependency programs--are passed through the Senate. Therefore, Nancy Pelosi has promised that this bill will never become law until it is joined at the hip with the multitrillion-dollar socialist bill.

More on that in a minute.

Step 8: Say that the President won't sign the infrastructure bill into law if it is not accompanied by trillions of dollars in government-dependency programs. President Biden already did this before he clumsily walked it back, but we saw and we heard what he was thinking.

Step 9: To get the government-dependency programs part passed, circumvent the filibuster in the Senate by abusing an arcane loophole called reconciliation. Reconciliation was intended to save taxpayer dollars and to assure passage of an annual budget for the Federal Government. But now they are using this process--they are abusing this procedure to pass trillions of dollars of government-dependency programs with only 50 Democrat votes.

Step 10: Give reasonable Democrats political cover to support the parliamentary trick and the government-dependency spending by saying it unlocks the ability for their hard-fought infrastructure bill that passed the Senate--and, by the way, is now being held hostage in the House--to finally get through the House and to the President's desk.

Wait a minute. What just happened? Abracadabra. The American people are so confused by the Democrats' sleight of hand that they don't even notice that their wallet has been stolen and that their country has been fundamentally changed.

My question is simple: If these policies and this spending is so good, why does getting it done take a parliamentary house of mirrors?

There can't be a bipartisan deal on infrastructure if its enactment into law requires later tacking on all of the socialist wish list items that got excluded from the deal.

Democrats have telegraphed these plans. You just have to pay attention. The President of the United States, right after announcing the infrastructure deal, said it would be held hostage on his desk without the trillions of dollars of government-dependency spending alongside it.

President Biden specifically said this:

I expect that in the coming months this summer, before the

fiscal year is over, that we will have voted on this bill--

the infrastructure bill--as well as voted on the budget

resolution. But if only one comes to me . . . this is the

only thing that comes to me, I'm not signing it. It's in

tandem.

Later, in response to a question, President Biden revealed: ``Look, the bipartisan bill, from the very beginning, was understood there was going to have to be the second part of it,'' he said. ``I'm not just signing the bipartisan bill and forgetting about the rest.''

Now, he has later tried to muddy up the waters on this because he said too much. But if you read his cleanup statement carefully, he never took back his vow. He never said he would sign the bipartisan bill without having alongside it the partisan multitrillion-dollar bill.

The Speaker of the House has said the same thing repeatedly. On June 24, she said: There ain't going to be a bipartisan bill without a reconciliation bill.

She added again:

Let me be really clear on this: We will not take up a bill

in the House until the Senate passes the bipartisan bill and

a reconciliation bill.

A month later, on July 22, Speaker Pelosi again said:

We will not take up the infrastructure bill until the

Senate passes the reconciliation measure.

It only takes one Democrat to end this insanity, to stand up and say he or she won't participate in this scheme. That would change the entire tenor of this debate and this process.

So while I believe in hard infrastructure, I cannot participate in doing it this way: first, by including in this bill a bunch of things that aren't hard infrastructure, and the result of that is throwing a quarter of a trillion dollars more debt at our children and our grandchildren; and, secondly, and most importantly for the future of this country, enabling this quadruple bank-shot attempt by Democrats to thread their government dependency fantasy through a House and a Senate that are divided by the narrowest of margins by holding this bill, once it passes, hostage in the House.

The stakes here are too high. America is an exceptional nation. We are distinct from all others throughout history. We are exceptional because we provided more freedom and opportunity than any other. President Lincoln called it the ``last best hope of Earth.'' Ever since, it has fulfilled that promise for countless generations.

We must fight to preserve our American system and the American dream, not in a tornado of hurried legislative activity that will seal its decline.

I am asking my colleagues to fight for this country's future. Our children and grandchildren deserve to have the same sort of wonderful opportunity that our parents and grandparents gave us. We need to make certain that they have a future for them that is better than today, and we are duty-bound to make certain that it happens. That is why I ran for office.

Let's work together on infrastructure, out from under the rapidly approaching cloud of socialism. Let's make this happen a different way.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.