Mr. President, I would like to welcome you and all of my colleagues back from the August work period. I hope everyone had the chance to travel across their States, meet with their constituents, listen to their concerns, and share all the…
Mr. President, I would like to welcome you and all of my colleagues back from the August work period. I hope everyone had the chance to travel across their States, meet with their constituents, listen to their concerns, and share all the major accomplishments the Senate secured over the last few months.
Indeed, the Senate gavels back into session after a season of immense productivity. When Democrats assumed the majority in 2021, I promised we would leave no stone unturned in tackling the biggest challenges facing our country. Twenty months later, Democrats have delivered on our promises.
We promised to lower costs for the American people in the wake of crippling inflation; so we passed the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce energy costs, reduce healthcare costs, and expand tax breaks for working and middle Americans.
We also promised to take on Big Pharma and lower prescription drug costs, so we passed historic legislation to lower insulin costs for seniors on Medicare, cap out-of-pocket expenses, and empowered Medicare to finally be able to negotiate drug prices--this for the first time ever; long sought after by many Congresses; accomplished by this one.
We promised to take on entrenched oil interests and get tough on climate change, and so we passed the largest clean energy package ever--by a long margin, by the way.
Thanks to our work, Americans will see their energy bills go down, their savings go up, all while we create millions of new, good-paying jobs and finally dealt with climate change in a very significant and real way.
We also promised to bring manufacturing jobs back to America and get tough on adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, so we passed the CHIPS and Science Act, the largest investment in manufacturing jobs and science research since the aftermath of World War II.
Of course, we promised to take on the NRA, as the Presiding Officer well knows, and protect our kids from gun violence, so we passed the first gun safety bill since the Brady law 30 years ago, which I was proud to author when I was a Member of Congress.
Now, none of these accomplishments were easy. They demanded immense patience and persistence above all. But for anyone who thought Washington
was broken and couldn't do big things, this Democratic majority has shown that real change is possible. The results speak for themselves. Jobs across the country remain up. Americans are going back to work. Our supply chains are healing. In fact, freight rates on ocean trade channels have dropped by 60 percent since January. As gas prices continue their 2-month drop, we are seeing evidence that inflation might be starting to ease up.
Of course, the work isn't done. As we begin this short work period, we have several high-priority items that demand our immediate attention. Before this work period concludes, the Senate must come together to pass a continuing resolution to extend government funding beyond the September 30 deadline.
Last week, the administration sent us a request for a number of funding items they would like us to work on--aid to Ukraine, pandemic relief, and other items.
This process, of course, needs to be bipartisan. Democrats are going to work in good faith to avoid even a hint of a shutdown, and it is my expectation that our Republican colleagues will do the same.
We will also work this month to confirm even more of President Biden's judicial nominees. Later today, the Senate is scheduled to vote to advance the nomination of Judge John Lee to serve as a circuit court judge for the Seventh Circuit. If confirmed, Judge Lee would make history as the first Asian-American judge to sit on the Seventh Circuit, joining the proud company of other Biden nominees who are making our courts fairer and more representative of our great country.
A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, Judge Lee was unanimously confirmed by this Chamber a decade ago to serve as a district judge. In his time on the bench, he has proven himself to be impartial, fairminded, and committed to the rule of law.
Judge Lee will be the first of many judicial nominees whom we will advance this month and beyond because now more than ever, the Senate must make judicial confirmations a top priority.
We have a lot of work to do in the Senate to keep improving the lives of the American people, so in the coming weeks, let us continue with the same vigor, the same determination, the same persistence that has made this one of the most productive Senate sessions the Senate has seen in a long, long time.