Floor Statements

Mr. President, I note, when I left the Chair and closed our session on Thursday, you were in the Chair. I open the session here on Monday, and you are in the Chair. I hope you weren't here, sitting in the Chair, all weekend.

You are a dedicated man, Mr. President.

Mr. President, as Democrats continue upholding our responsibility to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States, the position of the President, of Leader Jeffries, and myself has not changed: Default must be taken off the table.

Never in the history of our country have we failed to pay our bills on time. To default now would mean crossing a terrible point of no return, where the biggest losers will be America's seniors, America's small businesses, America's working and middle-class families, and everyone--everyone--who relies on Social Security, Medicare, pension payments, and 401(k)s.

Last Friday, I wrote a ``Dear Colleague'' to my Senate colleagues, explaining just how destructive a first-ever default would be. I warned, as many economists have warned, that a first-ever default would crash the economy, increase costs, and kill jobs--crash the economy, increase costs, kill jobs. Who would want that? But that is what awaits American families on the other side of the x date if no action is taken. According to experts, a default would almost certainly plunge the United States into another recession, shrinking GDP growth by an alarming 6 percent.

A first-ever default would also make life's most important expenses far more costly. Mortgages, car payments, student loans, and small business loans all would skyrocket. They wouldn't just go up a half a point; they would go up a lot. But the value of retirement accounts, which Americans spend their whole lives--every 2 weeks, every month, every 6 months--putting that money in so they would have a decent retirement, would nosedive--nosedive.

And, of course, if the United States defaults in a few weeks for the first time ever, experts warn as many as 8.3 million jobs would be lost. It would be a catastrophe.

No one should play with it. No one should flirt with it. No one should hold it hostage and say: ``Unless you do `this,' we are going to default'' because the consequences of default are just awful.

Americans have been to hell and back over the past couple of years as we have tried to recover from the record unemployment we saw during COVID. Americans are coming back. I spoke at a whole bunch of college graduations this weekend, and the students who had been through COVID had missed sometimes a year of school or a year and a half of school or 6 months of school, but they were bouncing back, raring to go. It gave me some faith in the future of the country, but if default were to hit them and the rest of the country, wow, that would be awful.

So, for all of these reasons and many more, I insisted last week, along with President Biden and along with Leader Jeffries, that default is off the table. Speaker McCarthy must commit to the same and not say: ``Unless you do `this' or do `that,' we will default.'' The consequences of default are too terrible. Defaulting would mean that we would force Americans, as we recuperate from the pain of COVID, to go through what might even be a greater pain in a few short years after COVID had reached its zenith. That alone should push leaders on both sides to agree that default is not an option under any scenario.

For decades, Democrats and Republicans have worked out our differences about spending and revenues through the annual budget process. That process began earlier this year when the President released his budget proposal. This week, both sides are continuing to hold parallel discussions about the budget--what we should do with revenues, what we should do with spending--as Congress does every year. These conversations are going on right now among the four leaders and the President's representatives as I speak, and I am glad these conversations are continuing in a very, very serious way.

The President, Leader Jeffries, myself--we welcome a bipartisan debate about our Nation's fiscal future, but we have made it plain to our Republican colleagues that default is not an option. Its consequences are too damaging, too severe. It must--must--be taken off the table.

Now, Mr. President, another topic I cannot believe I must address yet again here on the Senate floor is that of military holds.

Over the past few months, the senior Senator from Alabama has singlehandedly--singlehandedly--hindered our national security by blocking hundreds of critical military appointments. Those holds are hamstringing our military.

According to former Secretaries of Defense who served Presidents of both parties, this blanket hold is ``harming military readiness and risks damaging the U.S. national security.''

But last week, the Senator's conduct, as bad as it has been just by holding up these hundreds of general officers whose lives are in limbo even though they have given decades of service to our country and whom we depend on for our national defense--he is holding them up, but the Senator went even beyond that.

In an interview over the radio, Senator Tuberville was asked if White supremacists should be allowed in the military, to which he, a member of the Armed Services Committee, responded by saying:

Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.

It is hard to believe he really said it, but check the record. He did--revolting, revolting down to the last word. The Senator from Alabama's words were revolting to so many across this country.

A few days later, when asked to clarify his views on the matter, when he

was given a chance to make up for this awful mistake that will be a block on his record forever, Senator Tuberville then responded with ``What is a White nationalist?''--as if it is some great mystery.

``What is a White nationalist?'' Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me, Senator?

Let me give my colleague a hint on how to define a White nationalist. The man who, just over a year ago, murdered 10 people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, seeking to murder Black people, was a White nationalist. The insurrectionists who waved Confederate flags through the halls of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, many of them were White nationalists. And, sadly, some of those insurrectionists had military backgrounds.

Again, what is a White nationalist? How about the parade of belligerents who carried torches through the streets of Charlottesville while screaming ``Jews will not replace us''? Senator Tuberville, those were White nationalists.

And then he followed up by saying--I couldn't believe he said this: ``I look at a White nationalist as a Trump Republican.'' Really? What the heck is happening in America?

Leader McConnell cannot allow a Member of his conference to make a mockery of our military and of the Senate the way Senator Tuberville has done.

If any of my Republican colleagues care whatsoever about the well- being of our military, they will denounce the Senator's words and urge him to drop his holds.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 175.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 177.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 20.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, May 15, be waived.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 16; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.J. Res. 42, which was received from the House; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; further, that at 2:30 p.m., the joint resolution be considered read a third time and that the Senate vote on the passage of the joint resolution.