Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Crapo), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Moreno), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``yea.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) would have voted ``yea.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) would have voted ``yea.''

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the Working Families Tax Cut law has put more money in people's pockets and pocketbooks. It made a real difference when people filed their taxes this year. Refunds went up; taxes went down. Working families kept more of the money that they had earned.

Over 60 million American families have benefited from at least one of the new tax cuts that the Republicans passed this past year. Over a million Americans benefited from no tax on car loan interest--average deduction $1,800. Over 7 million Americans benefited from no tax on tips--average deduction $7,000.

Twenty-nine million Americans benefited from no tax on overtime-- average deduction there $3,100.

Thirty-five million Americans benefited from the senior deduction on Social Security--average deduction there $7,500.

And that is not all, 40 million American families benefited from the child tax credit. They were able to deduct $2,200 for each of their children. The Department of Treasury confirmed that about 97 percent of Americans received a tax cut this year.

People who benefited the most were Americans earning less than $200,000 a year. Every single Democrat in this

Chamber, every single one of them, voted against every one of these popular tax cuts. The Democrats, what did they vote for? They voted for raising taxes by $4 trillion. It would have been the largest tax increase in American history. That is what the Democrats stand for. Higher taxes, less money in people's pockets, more money in the coffers of the government.

Now, this is the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats want to raise your taxes; Republicans want you to keep more of your hard-earned money.

Some of the biggest benefits of the Working Families Tax Cut law are still ahead. I know many people worry about the future, especially if they have children. They want their children to get ahead, not just get by. That is why we have created Trump accounts as part of the Working Families Tax Cut law.

They are brand new, and they are investment accounts. And on July 4, Trump accounts go live. Accounts for newborn children, children born this year, start with a thousand dollars already in the account. Children own the account. Parents or trusted guardians are the custodians.

Accounts work like a traditional individual retirement account. They are built to kick-start the American dream for that next generation coming behind us.

Beginning the 4th of July, every child's Trump account will be able to accept additional contributions on top of the thousand dollars that they start with, and that can be up to $5,000 each year. Parents, family members, grandparents, churches, community groups, and even employers can contribute--and many are committed to do so. Announcements have already been made. Michael Dell the CEO of Dell Technologies, he has pledged to contribute $6 billion to Trump accounts for all American children.

In Wyoming, I am grateful that the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has committed to make a contribution to the Trump account for every child born in Wyoming this year.

Other companies are talking about following suit around the country. Other businesses are following their lead, so are community groups; so are churches. So imagine this, years from now your son or daughter walks into the bank and they use their Trump account to put the downpayment on their first home or your son or daughter starts that small business they have been dreaming about using the Trump account or they simply let the investment continue to grow until they retire.

This is the future that Trump accounts are built to deliver to the American people. The best part is these accounts are easy to set up, easy to track, easy to use. Signing up for a Trump account is free and it is simple. Six million children have already been signed up for Trump accounts.

I have spoken with several people who have gone through the signup process; they say it took less than 5 minutes. Trump accounts put children's financial future where it should be: directly into the hands of the American people. They give that next generation something we all would like, a headstart on the future that no one can take away.

This is the essence of the Trump accounts. It is one of the important prospects for the future that we foresaw and put into the Working Families Tax Cut law that every Democrat voted against.

So independence for all these Americans begins on the 4th of July.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``yea''.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) would have voted ``yea,'' the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``yea.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``nay.''

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst).

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments or motions be next in order: Baldwin No. 5485, then Booker No. 5803, Lee No. 5804, Durbin No. 5806.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the following amendments and motions be the next in order: Wyden motion to commit, Hirono 5506.

Mr. President, this proposal has nothing to do with what we are discussing here this evening. For months, the Democrats have refused to fund law enforcement activities in this Nation, things we need to keep our borders secure and to keep our communities safe.

They have blocked it month after month after month after month, and in the face of this unprecedented obstruction, Republicans are here tonight past the hour of midnight doing the responsible thing: providing the funding on our own because the Democrats are not able or willing to help in any way.

This amendment is a political ploy that is going to jeopardize the privilege, kill this bill, and leave the brave men and women who protect us without pay, without resources.

I am, therefore, going to vote against and urge my colleagues to vote no on this proposal.

Mr. President, now here we are. Month after month after month, Democrats have refused to fund law enforcement activities that keep our borders secure and that keep our communities safe. In the face of unbelievable and unprecedented obstruction, Republicans are doing the responsible thing tonight. We are providing the funding on our own.

This amendment that we have just heard introduced is another political ploy, and it is designed to kill the bill. It will leave the brave men and women who protect us without pay and without the resources they need to do their jobs. I am, therefore, going to vote no, and I urge each of my colleagues to do the same.

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

Mr. President, Republicans are ready to move forward on funding critical components of our government--Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

I heard the minority leader here on the floor of the Senate a few minutes ago, and it sounds like he is continuing, as the Democrats have been doing, standing with illegal immigrant criminals, protecting illegal immigrant criminals rather than protecting American citizens.

What we are proposing and the bill that we will be discussing today is a bill that is targeted and focused, and it is a vote for safe communities, not for criminals--specifically, criminal illegal aliens. It is a vote for secure borders.

Safe communities and secure borders are the top priorities of American citizens. People want to live in safe communities. They want secure borders. The top priority of the Democrats doesn't seem to be that at all. It seems it is to defund border security, defund law enforcement in this country. That is what they have been for years-- protesting in the streets: Defund the police. Get rid of ICE.

We need safety and security for the American people.

What we have seen after month and month and month of Democratic obstruction is very clear: Democrats want to go back to the days of the chaos of open borders, people streaming across the southern border into our Nation. Republicans are not prepared to allow them to do it.

The American people deserve to feel safe at home, safe in their communities. We deserve to have a homeland that is secure. That is why I am saying it is time to pass the Secure America Act.

Earlier this month, U.S. Border Patrol secured a historic record. The record is that for a full year--now that we have a Republican majority in the House and the Senate and Donald Trump in the White House--for a full year, not a single illegal immigrant was released into this country now that we have ended catch-and-release. Catch-and-release no longer exists. Our border is more secure than ever.

But security, of course, is not ever guaranteed. The border is secure because enforcement today is strong and there is a commitment by this administration to enforce the law. But the danger hasn't disappeared. The danger still exists, because just a week ago, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas Highway Patrol, working together, arrested 12 illegal immigrants in this country in Southwest Texas. The arrest occurred late at night on a private ranch near our southern border. Among those arrested are six Chinese nationals. All of them were military age, and all of them were captured wearing military-style camouflage--in our country, six Chinese nationals illegally here wearing military-style camouflage. We are not talking about kind of ordinary illegal immigrants here. They are what law enforcement classifies as ``special interest aliens.'' Now, a special interest alien is a noncitizen whose country of origin or travel history raises concerns of serious national security, a threat.

Special-interest aliens are subject to enhanced security scrutiny, as they should be. These six Chinese nationals wanted to avoid getting caught. We still don't know who they are. We don't know where they came from. We don't know how they got here. We don't know who they planned to meet or where they planned to go next from this remote-site ranch in Texas.

This situation reminds us of a core security principle: National security starts with border security.

Congress cannot allow Democrats to strangle the resources that the Border Patrol needs to keep our Nation safe. The U.S. Border Patrol stands on the frontlines of America's safety. Those are the men and women--the people in Border Patrol--who patrol areas that are rugged and remote, and they put their lives on the line for the rest of us.

They continue to secure our borders. They keep illegal immigrant criminals out of our country. And they do dangerous and diligent work because they know it is what makes the American people safer.

Joe Biden and the Democrats shamelessly failed to secure the border. Joe Biden and the Democrats undermined the men and women of our Border Patrol.

They turned our southern border into a turnstile. Over 10 million illegal immigrants entered our country in those 4 years of the Biden administration. There was no enforcement of the law at the border. It was only abandonment of our border.

President Trump and Republicans have the common sense and the commitment to secure the border. Through the Working Families Tax Cut law, we invested $170 billion in border security. That is the largest border security investment in American history. Republicans funded the border wall, and we ended Joe Biden's ridiculous catch-and-release plan. We restored the program of ``Remain in Mexico'' and cracked down on the cartels. We gave Border Patrol the tools and the resources they need to do the job to keep our Nation safe, and Republicans remain resolutely committed to keeping our Nation safe.

By contrast, we heard it here again from the minority leader today: Democrats continue their commitment to open borders and to defunding the police.

Democrats in the Senate right now, this very moment, are obstructing the funding of Border Patrol. They have been doing it for months, month after month after month. This has gone on here since January.

Democrats are choosing protecting illegal immigrants over protecting the American people. They want to defund the police. They want to defund American security. And they are choosing open borders over a secure nation.

That is what their party has become. Listen to their candidates running around the country, running in primary elections. It is a run to the far left--the radical, extreme, dangerous, scary left--who want open borders and want to get rid of immigration control enforcement.

They want to stand with the criminals and the cartels and the foreign adversaries, who right now are watching what we are doing in Washington, DC.

Defunding the Border Patrol is a dream to every criminal in the world who wishes to take advantage of innocent Americans. Why in the world are Democrats standing with them?

If we are serious about safe and secure communities, we must fully fund border security. Democrats will continue to vote against it.

Republicans are standing with the Secure America Act, and we are going to vote on that. It is going to fully fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and do it for the next 3 years. This is going to give law enforcement the tools that they need to keep illegal immigrant criminals and the cartels and the terrorist suspects out of our country. Republicans support the United States Border Patrol. We will deliver the resources that they need to give the brave men and women of our Nation who are committed to the safety and security of the American people what they need to do their job and to keep us safe.

That is what this is all about. It is, Who are you going to stand with? Who are you going to protect? The Democrats wanting to stand with and protect illegal immigrant criminals? Republicans standing with the safety and security of the American people?

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Kuhlman nomination.

Mr. President, last Monday was Memorial Day. It is a day that all around the country we honor those who gave their lives so that we can be free.

Some say Memorial Day is the saddest day of the year.

Our colleague Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas is a combat veteran, and he served as part of the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. He has written a book. It is a bestselling book on the New York Times Best Sellers list. It is called ``Sacred Duty.'' In that book, he points out that Memorial Day is not the saddest; it is the most noble day of the year. They are powerful words, and they were on my mind last Monday in different cemeteries around the State of Wyoming.

I started in Douglas, WY, as I always do, at 7 a.m. They do a flag- raising ceremony. They take it all the way up to the top and then bring it down to hold its final position at half-staff. Then I went to Lander, WY, to the Mount Hope Cemetery, and then joined the ceremonies in Ten Sleep, WY. These are sacred places, and each year--Memorial Day--as I travel the State, I try to talk about something I have seen happen since the last year, because in each of these cemeteries, people gather in respect and in reverence.

We do this all around the country. You know, in Wyoming, I try to add a special touch to what has happened in the last year because we have tens of thousands of servicemembers and veterans and military families who serve our country, and they know what it means to serve and sacrifice on behalf of the American people.

This year, I talked about SSG Tyler Pickett from Saratoga, WY. I spoke about him earlier this year on the floor. In the year 2000, 26 years ago, he enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from Saratoga High School. It was something he had looked forward to doing all of his life. He became part of the legendary 10th Mountain Division.

He was deployed to Iraq. On June 8, 2008, he was killed by a suicide bomber in Kirkuk, Iraq, and the bomb, of course, was supplied by Iran. Sergeant Pickett was 28 years old.

I spoke at his services in Saratoga in 2008. He was a brave and beloved son of Wyoming. It is almost 18 years to the day since Sergeant Pickett gave his life for our Nation.

Earlier this year, I spoke with his mother Sheri Peterson. She is a Gold Star mother. She told me that after 18 years, she finally feels some relief in the loss of her son and the weight that her son's death has put upon the family. She said it was because now the Ayatollah Khamenei is dead, the person who is responsible for supplying the weapon that killed her son. She said: When you speak with President Trump, please tell him ``thank you'' from our family.

This is a Gold Star mother speaking. She knows that we have a President who remembers our fallen members not only with words but by actions on behalf of our Nation.

Stories like Sergeant Pickett's remind us of the cost of freedom and the debt we owe to these fallen heroes.

This year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of our Nation. We are about to celebrate that 250th birthday. Exactly 1 month from today, July 2, is the anniversary of when the Continental Congress officially voted to declare our independence. The Declaration of Independence was adopted 2 days later. That is why we celebrate the Fourth of July. That is the day our Nation was born.

America's central idea, the Declaration of Independence, is the root of every American idea. This is the document. This is instantly recognizable all around the world. You put it up, and people are like: Oh, there it is.

In many ways, it is a work of art, it is a masterpiece, and it beautifully expresses what we as America stand for. It has set us as a nation on a course of freedom, liberty, and greatness.

We don't read it enough. We really should. The central sentence is that we are ``endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.''

``Unalienable.'' That single world sums up the heart of this great American experiment. It means that we the people are the source of the power, and the power is on loan from us, the people, to the government, not the other way around.

Our Founding Fathers also deeply believed in a Creator. God is mentioned four separate times in this Declaration of Independence. You can't explain the majesty of this great country without the Supreme Being.

The Declaration of Independence is an inspiration to every generation of American. It belongs to us--to all of us.

You know, when we think about the Declaration of Independence, we think about freedom, and we think about liberty. A lot of people use those words interchangeably. They say: Oh, it is the same thing.

But it is not. Freedom and liberty are not interchangeable. Their meanings are different. Freedom is the ability to think and to speak and do what we want. Liberty refers to the rights and the privileges granted and protected by our laws. Thus, the difference.

I would say today, let us be worthy of our history and of our heroes and of our heritage. Let us live out the spirit of 1776. Let us carry on that spirit for the next generation. As we prepare to celebrate the 250th birthday of our Nation, I remain optimistic that our Nation's best days are ahead.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).