Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the postcloture time on the Shogan and Gupta nominations be considered expired and the confirmation votes be at a time to be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the Republican leader.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 71.

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. 55.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls

for the cloture motions filed today, May 4, be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations: all nominations placed on the Secretary's desk in the Foreign Service; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar No. 74 and Calendar No. 153; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 181 and that the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions: S. Res. 181, S. Res. 198, and S. Res. 199.

I know of no further debate on the resolutions en bloc.

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

Mr. President, I hope you had a good birthday yesterday.

Mr. President, decades ago, President Reagan warned that debt ceiling brinksmanship ``threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on social security and veterans benefit . . . [and] the United States,'' he said, ``has a special responsibility to itself and to the world to meet its obligations.

If President Reagan were around today, he might well be exiled by a modern Republican Party that in many ways seems dead set--dead set--on abandoning that special responsibility never to default.

We have less than a month to go until we hit June 1. Every day wasted is another day closer to catastrophe. At stake is the well-being of families, retirees, veterans, kids, and the very stability of our economy.

But by ramming the ``Default on America Act'' through the House-- totally partisan, knowing full well this bill can never become law-- Speaker McCarthy and the hard right have made the odds of default go up. By handing his gavel over to the hard right, the Speaker is giving the American people two terrible options: either default on the debt or default

on the country, with steep cuts to law enforcement, first responders, veterans, seniors, and even cancer research. Just think how radical such an ultimatum truly is. It is a dramatic break from how both parties have approached default in the past.

On one hand, a Republican default would crash the economy, increase costs, and kill American jobs. Unemployment would rise to at least 8 percent. Mortgage and car payments would all go up by a lot, while the value of pensions and 401(k)s would come crashing down. That is the future that Speaker McCarthy and the House Freedom Caucus have made more likely by passing the ``Default on America Act.''

But the alternative is also a nightmare scenario. If the Republicans' ``Default on America Act'' became law, 1 million seniors--1 million seniors--would lose access to Meals on Wheels. These are seniors who literally can't get food on their own much of the time and rely on others bringing it to them. They would be on the chopping block if the GOP has its way. Deprive seniors who can't leave their homes of food-- what is that all about?--so that some very wealthy, wealthy multibillionaires don't have to pay any taxes? It is outrageous.

Here is another one. The Republican ``Default on America Act'' would eliminate 30,000 law enforcement jobs across the country. Do you know what that means? Gun violence will get even worse. Our neighborhoods will become less safe. Border security would be deprived of billions in crucial resources. The war on opioids would decline, and more addictions, crimes, and others from opioid use would go up. What is that all about?

Once again, the hard right--totally enthralled by the very wealthy, wealthy few who are so greedy, they don't want to pay any taxes--say cut things like this. Cut law enforcement. Cut Meals on Wheels.

The ``Default on America Act'' would shamefully attack our Nation's veterans, purging 80,000 VA jobs, leaving our Nation's heroes without the care they have earned throughout a lifetime of service.

These are just three of many. Eliminate Meals on Wheels; greatly hurt our efforts at law enforcement and safety by dramatically cutting, defunding police; greatly--greatly--tying the hands of the VA so that veterans would get worse healthcare and they would have to wait even longer--this is what the Republicans' ``Default on America'' bill does. That is why it is dead on arrival--not for some political ideological reason, but it would do such harm.

When you wonder about the motivation of the Republicans, it ultimately is this, these rightwing Republicans. Listen to the greedy few, the powerful greedy few who don't want to pay any taxes and want to have taxes reduced. Some of them even called for even eliminating the income tax.

Finally, the ``Default on America Act'' is chock-full of totally irrelevant, hard-right goodies that would deregulate fossil fuel, reward corporate greed, shower the ultrarich with tax giveaways, and impose cruel and unpopular work requirements on vulnerable families.

Whether it is kicking seniors to the curb, cutting law enforcement jobs, or abandoning our veterans, everything about the ``Default on America Act'' wreaks of MAGA extremism. So it is no wonder the Republicans did it in secret. It is no wonder that they didn't want to do what they promised to do: have hearings, have witnesses, have bipartisan discussions and amendments.

But if Republicans won't level with the American people about their terrible bill, Senate Democrats are going to do it for them. Tomorrow, the Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing on how the ``Default on America Act'' would weaken the economy and slash hundreds of thousands of jobs. I want to thank Chairman Whitehouse and all the members of the committee for doing the important work of bringing this bill to the public eye because the American people deserve better.

Incredibly--incredibly--tomorrow's hearing will be the very first hearing in either House that actually looks at what the ``Default on America Act'' does. Amazing. This huge bill that affects almost every aspect of American life--they haven't had one hearing on the issues they are doing. But we are going to start doing it, and that hearing will be the first, but there will be many others.

As Democrats shine a light on how unserious and extreme the Republican ``Default on American Act'' is, our view about the path forward remains the same: can't choose the ``Default on America Act''; must avoid the horrors of default; pass a clean bipartisan bill to avert default.

Mr. President, later today, I will join my colleagues and committee chairs at a press conference to talk about the next steps in the Senate's effort to outcompete the Chinese Government and preserve America's global leadership in the 21st century.

The Democratic-led Senate has done some important bipartisan work to outcompete the Chinese Communist Party in the last few years. The infrastructure, CHIPS and Science, and the omnibus bill all did some in that regard. But we all know we can't stop there. We have to build on this progress. This work is critical to our national security. It won't be enough to outcompete the Xi regime in any single area. We must be ready to compete with all of them on all these fronts, and that will require comprehensive and bipartisan legislation.

We must not aid and abet the Chinese Government's development of advanced technologies--like microchips, 5G, AI, quantum computing, and more--that will shape the course of this century. We must limit investment capital from flowing to the Xi regime--the Chinese Government--and prevent them from taking advantage of America's critical assets. We must continue in investing in our workforce and other key technology areas that drive American innovation. We must strengthen our economic and military alliances and partnerships around the world to constrain Chinese potential aggression.

The Chinese Government is not constraining itself in its pursuit to dominate the 21st century, and if we in America were to rest on our laurels, if we let the CCP beat us, it would have certain consequences for the world's democratic nations.

The United States cannot afford to cede its leadership to governments opposed to democracy and individual liberty. We cannot let authoritarianism call the shots in the 21st century. So that is why this bipartisan effort in the Senate will be so important.

The Senate has already shown that both sides are capable of working together on this most important issue, and I thank my colleagues who will join me at our press conference later this afternoon.