Jim Banks

Mr. President, before I begin my remarks today, I must say that with a heavy heart I am grieving today for town marshal Brad Fisher, a 25-year law enforcement veteran who was tragically killed today in the line of duty in Indiana.

Marshal Fisher was assisting other officers in stopping a fleeing suspect when the suspect hit Marshal Fisher and ultimately killed him.

I am praying for Marshal Fisher, for his family, everyone in the town of Lynn, IN, and Randolph County. What a devastating loss, a tragic loss. May he rest in peace.

And may we always remember the sacrifice that all of our men and women of law enforcement make when they keep us safe. I just want to take a minute and remember him.

Election Interference

Mr. President, President Trump recently confirmed what many of us already knew: that foreign adversaries like China are working daily to interfere in our elections and our democratic society.

China especially seeks America's decline in hopes that they can establish a world order that runs through the Chinese Communist Party, and we must do everything possible that we can to stop them from doing that.

Historically, when countries have held that kind of ambition, they have started big, catastrophic wars. It should come as no surprise that the People's Liberation Army is undertaking the largest peacetime military buildup in human history.

That is why it is incumbent upon this body to fully fund our military--including President Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget request that he has made of this body--so that we can deter exactly that kind of conflict.

It is outrageous that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle-- the Democrats--are holding up this bipartisan NDAA and budget request to fund our military when our military desperately needs our support.

Yet, even if we successfully deter a hot conflict, we could still lose in other ways. That is because every day the CCP is waging economic and political warfare against us. The CCP is trying to nurture dependency, exploit our divisions, cause us to question the justness of our cause, and erode our democracy.

This political warfare campaign is not confined to the shadows. In many cases, it operates out in the open.

Just take a look at Neville Roy Singham. Singham is a 72-year-old American tech mogul who sold his company and immediately fled to China. From his Shanghai office--which he shares with a CCP propaganda outlet--whose avowed mission, by the way, is ``to tell China's story well''--Singham began funding a complex network of leftwing NGOs and nonprofits that advance the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.

Take a look at some of the radical organizations on this chart that he supports through the billions of dollars that he made selling his tech company to a Chinese Communist Party business.

This is all a matter of public record. Even the New York Times has marveled at the hundreds of millions of dollars that Singham-linked groups have funneled to radical nonprofits that ``mix progressive advocacy with Chinese Government talking points.''

Take one example that you and I know well--CODEPINK--you know, the radical organization that chases many of us around the hallways--around this building and our office buildings. You see, CODEPINK used to condemn CCP human rights abuses.

But after Singham started lavishly funding the group--and then, by the way, he married its cofounder--CODEPINK stopped criticizing the Chinese Government and started defending it. In fact, in recent years, CODEPINK has even provided cover for the CCP's shocking genocide in Xinjiang.

Meanwhile, a newer Singham nonprofit called No Cold War is entirely dedicated to advocacy designed to ensure America is defenseless against the CCP's economic, military, and political warfare.

But the Singham network is not limited to China-specific advocacy. Singham groups advance a wide variety of causes that are united only by their hatred of America, our allies, and the rule of law.

From anti-ICE boycotts, violence against law enforcement, rioting, obstruction, and support for Hamas' attempted genocide of Jews in Israel, Singham groups and their members advance division, chaos, and hatred.

All of this advances CCP interests and poisons our society. Thankfully, under President Trump's leadership, the Department of Justice is now investigating this and whether Singham has been fueling this lawlessness in violation of U.S. law. It has been a long time coming.

At the same time, the State Department under Secretary Rubio is leading from the front in identifying leftwing violence and building an international coalition to confront it.

It should come as no surprise that, as the CCP seeks to interfere in our society, it also seeks to interfere in our elections. As President Trump disclosed before the American people in a prime-time address earlier this month, China perpetrated the largest known compromise of United States voter information in history: stealing the personal data of over 220 million Americans in the 2020 election.

The President also exposed ongoing vulnerabilities when it comes to America's elections, and thank God he did that. As one newly declassified intelligence assessment found:

We judge that U.S. adversaries, including at a minimum

Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, as well as non-state

groups, have the capability to compromise U.S. election

infrastructure.

Our adversaries are actively coming for our elections, and if that is not enough to sound the alarm--what you just heard from President Trump in his prime-time press conference and what I just shared with you--I don't know what else is.

All Americans--especially my colleagues in this body--should be outraged by this vulnerability. We know that our adversaries like the CCP seek to do us harm and yet we stand by and often do nothing about it. Our inaction has no excuse.

We need to safeguard our democracy, and we need to do it right now.

If this Chamber does anything at all this year, it must ensure that American elections are for Americans only--now and always. That is precisely why we have got to pass the SAVE America Act, and we have to pass it now, ASAP.

In the face of the CCP's coordinated campaign, we need more election integrity--not less. We need to ensure that all votes in American elections come from Americans--not illegal aliens or foreign manipulation.

And by the way, it is not only because of our international adversaries that we need to pass the SAVE America Act. Just last week, a huge story hardly got any notice in the mainstream media. But the new Democrat Governor of New Jersey--a former colleague of mine in the House--she announced that 6,600 noncitizens were ``accidentally added to the New Jersey voter rolls.'' That is a hell of an accident.

But not only that, she also told us that nearly 400 of those voters, who were accidentally placed on their voter rolls, actually voted in the last two elections in New Jersey.

Some of my colleagues keep saying that stories like this are a figment of our imagination. It doesn't really happen. Illegals don't vote in American elections.

The Democratic Governor of New Jersey just told us it did happen. They keep saying that these stories are just, I suppose, ``accidents'' or ``software glitches'' is what the Governor called it. The fact of the matter is that these stories keep happening, and we need to do everything that we can to put an end to it. It destroys trust in our elections when Americans read about stories like that.

If we have to cancel the August recess to pass the SAVE America Act, so be it. Let's do it. Protecting our elections from fraud and international interference is a lot more important to me than vacation time.

Our adversaries--like the Chinese Communist Party--will stop at nothing to distract, divide, disrupt, and destroy America. Their campaign is not confined to election day. Election day is our last line of defense.

Americans must always be free to reject the CCP and its values, while choosing a path that embraces the timeless truths that have always been at America's core. The day that the CCP chooses the outcome of our elections will be the day that it won. And by then, it will be way too late to correct course and pass a commonsense bill like the SAVE America Act. We cannot wait for that day.

I urge all of my colleagues to wake up. It is time to pass the SAVE America Act to save our elections, protect our country, save America. It is fundamentally important.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, it is pretty clear that this resolution is an attack on a red State by one of my colleagues from a blue State.

I respect my colleague, but this resolution doesn't pass muster. In fact, we know that the radical, Green New Deal agenda that was wrought on us in this country by the Biden administration raised gas prices in this country to astronomical rates, made life less affordable and more difficult for Americans all over this country. That is why they quickly turned the page on those policies and got rid of Biden and those radical Green New Deal policies and chose President Trump to come back to the White House.

We had really good news this week. Inflation rates came way down-- down as much as we have seen it in many years--because of President Trump's policies to uproot Green New Deal policies, passing the Working Families Tax Cut bill that we passed that makes life more affordable for working families all over this the country.

It is pretty clear that this resolution is just a veiled attack on Florida.

I am not from Florida. Florida is a good State. And I love the State of Rhode Island. I did all of my Navy training there. I respect my colleague. It is ironic with this resolution because 2 percent of Rhode Islanders over the last 5 years have moved to Florida, and they moved to Florida especially after the pandemic--all of the mandates and higher taxes, and they are choosing a State that works, that is attracting them, just like people from all over the coast are moving to Florida because they like Florida, they like lower taxes, and they like the quality of life that Florida offers.

This resolution is just an attack on Florida.

I do invite my colleague--again, whom I respect and enjoy working with--to come to the Banking Committee. Let's work on bipartisan solutions and ideas to bring down the cost of living for all Americans. We can do that together. We can find solutions to do that. This resolution doesn't do that.

Mr. President, that is why I object.

Mr. President, next week, the country will be celebrating an incredible milestone, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, which is the greatest country founded in the history of the world.

I just wanted to come to the floor today, before we leave for a 2- week recess over the holiday, to talk about what I love most about America.

Two hundred fifty years ago, a group of brave men and women risked life and limb in pursuit of the American experiment, and 13 small Colonies of farmers, merchants, tradesmen, and families of different religions and classes declared what was then a radical idea, that ``all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights.''

Together, this small group of people took on a mighty empire, and they won. In doing so, they changed the course of history.

I have always related to that idea of the American founding on a personal level. I grew up among farmers and tradesmen and factory workers. My dad was a union factory worker, and my mom was a nursing home cook. I came from a working-class family and grew up in a working- class town--a small town--in Northeast Indiana called Columbia City. It was a town that had about 5,000 people when I was born. It is around 10,000 people today. I am still proud to live in Columbia City and to call it my home--this small town, my home today. Even though Columbia City is a humble town, I love it intensely. I have so many great memories from my childhood in Columbia City, and I feel great pride in my hometown, but Columbia City's humble nature didn't stop people from doing great things.

Columbia City shaped Thomas Riley Marshall, who became the Vice President of the United States of America in 1913. It shaped me, too, into who I am today--in my serving here, with the Presiding Officer, as a U.S. Senator. That is the beauty of smalltown America. Small towns like my hometown are where the American dream is realized, and it was in the Thirteen Colonies 250 years ago that the dream of America came to life.

That is why, on this July 4, I will be celebrating Independence Day back in my hometown with my family. Growing up, I remember spending every Fourth of July in Columbia City, watching the community's celebration and the fireworks in the evening. That is exactly what I will be doing with my kids and my parents and my family this year as well.

I know that there will be a lot of incredible festivities happening right here in Washington, DC, and I am all for that. President Trump says it is going to be the biggest and best fireworks display in American history. I have no doubt that he is right about that, but I think it is also important for people to spend time celebrating with the local communities that shaped them. I encourage everyone here and those listening today, if you can, the America 250 celebrations happening in your hometowns are going to be great, and I hope you will be a part of them.

My upbringing instilled within me a profound love for this country. Sadly, not enough people share that same love today. Three years ago, the Wall Street Journal had a poll that showed that only 38 percent of Americans believed that patriotism was important to them, and that was down from 70 percent in 1998. For the last 3 years, I have wondered about and wanted an update on that poll--what does that look like today?--because it has really bothered me ever since I read that story in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago.

Last year, Gallup released new data about American pride and patriotism. Unfortunately, the numbers have hardly changed. Only about 41 percent of American adults said they were extremely proud to be American. Among America's young people, that picture was particularly damning. Only 41 percent of Gen Z said that they were extremely or very proud to be an American. These are record low numbers, but this is what happens when too many people, especially young people, feel detached from our Nation's story.

But here is the thing: As we celebrate America on this historic and monumental occasion, this decline is not irreversible. We can absolutely fix this trend. One way that we can fix this trend is to make our Nation beautiful again and do everything we can to make our Nation beautiful.

A few months ago, I came to the Senate floor to talk about one of my bills that is very important to me, the Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act. I spoke about how important it is to have and build beautiful buildings that reflect the beauty of this great country. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to build beautiful buildings that reflect who we really are as a nation.

And that is why I fully support and applaud President Trump and his efforts to make the Federal buildings and communities all across America even more beautiful than what they were before. When a nation sees beautiful and great buildings, it sees beauty and greatness in the nation.

And there is another way that we can reverse the downward trend of American patriotism as well, and that is by returning to our roots in our small communities. Our small communities are what made this country great and are what continue to make America great.

The original Thirteen Colonies succeeded in founding the Nation because ordinary people in ordinary places believed in something that was much bigger than themselves.

We can make America beautiful again, inside and out, by rediscovering the power of those small places and the ordinary Americans who call them home.

When we strengthen our communities, teach our full and honest history with pride, and recommit to the founding principles that turned 13 fragile Colonies into a global beacon of liberty and freedom, we will see national pride rise once again.

Let me end by saying this: Mighty empires that once ruled the world have vanished to the dustbin of history, but America, this great country, still stands, and she stands taller and mightier than the rest.

So as we gear up for the 250th birthday of this great country, let us recommit ourselves to the incredible American story that is still unfolding right before our eyes. And let us never forget that, from small and humble beginnings, rose the greatest country on Earth, the United States of America.

Happy America 250.

I yield the floor.