Floor Statements

Mr. President, first, I would like to commend my colleague, the senior Senator from Kansas, for his incredible ongoing leadership on the issue of the veterans of our Nation and his strong commitment to each and every one of those veterans and to the men and women who wear the uniform and go to battle to keep us safe and keep us free, and it is his long history of leadership for which I am most grateful.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about a different issue, and that is the need for more American energy.

Right now, the American people are facing the worst inflation in 40 years. In November, we saw the biggest price increases from an energy standpoint in 10 years. CNBC reports that one in five American families could not afford to pay an energy bill this past year. Roughly the same number of Americans have kept their homes at an unhealthy temperature because they can't afford the cost of energy to heat it.

Gas prices have gone up by roughly $1 a gallon since Joe Biden took office. This is the fastest increase in gas prices in 40 years. The price of gas affects the price of everything else. It is increasingly expensive in this country to transport goods from the farm and from the factory to the people who need the products. As a result, the American people aren't just paying more at the pump; they are also paying more at the grocery store.

So why are energy prices rising so quickly? Well, demand is up and supply is down. It is basic economics.

Under Joe Biden, American energy production still hasn't recovered in this country to the levels that we were producing energy prior to the pandemic. Why would that be? Because this is a direct result of the anti-American energy policies of this White House.

On his first day in office, Joe Biden killed the Keystone XL Pipeline. He blocked new oil and gas leases on public lands all across the country. He stopped the exploration for energy in the Arctic. He tried to ban exploration for energy off our coasts. He has threatened to raise taxes on American energy. So what happened? Well, as a result of this radical, anti-American, Biden energy agenda, we are failing to produce enough energy in this country, and people who have the capacity and ability to do it and have worked those jobs for a long time are having a hard time keeping a job.

America is now producing 1.4 million fewer barrels of oil each and every day than we were prior to the pandemic. We are now using more oil from Russia than we are from Alaska. This is specifically the result of the Biden policies.

Joe Biden is attacking American energy. He is turning into a great salesman for Russian energy. I mean, why is it that right now, we are importing twice as much--twice as much--crude oil from Russia as we did a year ago? It is because of Joe Biden. Joe Biden has even had his National Security Advisor plead with Russia to produce more oil to sell to the United States.

I know the Presiding Officer may find that very hard to believe, but all you have to do is go to the White House's website and read the sad fact.

Just months after he killed the Keystone Pipeline, Joe Biden gave a big stamp of approval to Vladimir Putin--to Putin--for his pipeline, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. He killed the American pipeline and approved the Russian pipeline. Joe Biden's energy policy is, pipelines for Putin and no pipeline for the American people, and the American people have been paying the price as a result. It seems that Joe Biden would rather have us buy energy from our enemies than have us produce the energy in our country and sell it to our friends.

So, as a result of the Biden policies, Vladimir Putin has hit the energy financial jackpot. For decades, Putin has used energy as a geopolitical weapon. How does he use it? He uses it to coerce and intimidate, and that includes our allies. We saw this in November when Putin shut off the flow of natural gas to Moldova. By giving Vladimir Putin Nord Stream 2, President Biden gave Putin a new geopolitical weapon, and now Putin is emboldened, and he is flush with cash.

Right now, today, Vladimir Putin is preparing to do something he has wanted to do for years. He has amassed over 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. With the Winter Olympics about to begin in China, Russia is expected to invade Ukraine. If Russia invades, this will only worsen the energy crisis in that part of the world but also here as well.

Vladimir Putin is cunning, he is opportunistic, and he is aggressive. When he sees an opportunity, he takes it. Putin can smell weakness, and he views our President, Joe Biden, as weak and ineffective.

The sledgehammer we have against Putin is to shut down the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline and to do it permanently. Last month, this body had an opportunity to do just that. Yet Senate Democrats filibustered the bill. The same Democrats who voted to get rid of the filibuster on the floor of the Senate used the filibuster to shut down a bill that many of them have supported for years. This is hypocrisy at its worst.

Democrats, last week, based on lobbying from the White House, refused to sanction Putin's pipeline. The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline is going to lead to an enormous transfer of wealth from our allies to our enemies. It is going to make our allies weaker, and it is going to make Vladimir Putin that much stronger. When Putin gets stronger and wealthier, what does he do? Well, he tends to become more aggressive. It is not just a threat to Europe; it is a threat to the whole world.

So I have introduced legislation called the ESCAPE Act. My bill imposes mandatory sanctions on Russian pipeline projects, and it expedites the sales of American natural gas to our NATO allies.

We have the ability to produce massive amounts of more energy in the United States than Joe Biden and the Democrats are allowing our country to produce, and, of course, the Democrats are killing jobs and hurting paychecks in the process.

It is incumbent upon us to give our allies an opportunity to have energy and not be beholden to Vladimir Putin's supply. We need to produce it here. We have it here. We should be producing it here.

Vladimir Putin knows how to turn off the lights, and he knows how to raise energy prices in foreign countries. We can't let Europe become more dependent on Vladimir Putin for anything, and neither should we become more dependent, although that seems to be the Biden policy. Buy more crude oil from Russia than we were a year ago--Joe Biden in action.

We need to expand our exports. We need to expand the production of American energy. We have it, and we have the capacity to do it. If we want to reduce inflation--and that is the No. 1 topic I heard about in Wyoming this past week as I traveled around and visited with high school groups, rotary clubs, people in diners, and folks all around the State in many, many communities--then why aren't we just producing more energy at home? That will help bring down the costs at the pump, the cost to heat, and the cost to get goods to market.

We need to be producing it in America, in this country, and not be beholden to the far-left extremists who want energy costs to go up when the American people are struggling to get by. Energy is called the master resource for a reason. It powers our Nation. It powers our military. It powers our economy. The same is true for our allies. We should not allow our allies to fall into the clutches of Vladimir Putin, even though that is what Joe Biden's policies are doing today.

We need more American energy, not less, and we need it now.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the Democrats' radical agenda.

For weeks now, America has been breaking records with cases of coronavirus. The scavenger hunt for tests has resulted in long lines and empty shelves. We have just had the worst jobs report of the year-- last year--with inflation at a 40-year high. Crime is out of control in big cities run by Democrats. The southern border is being overrun by hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants every single month. Our foreign policy is in shambles; our friends are endangered; and Vladimir Putin, China, North Korea, and Iran are emboldened.

The American people are deeply worried about all of these issues. Yet Democrats in Washington are offering no solutions on these pressing problems. Democrats created many of these crises in the first place, often through incompetence, mismanagement, and weakness. Now, under President Biden, they are making them worse.

Democrats just spent 5 months trying to pass the most expensive spending bill in American history. It was a bill nobody asked for except for the radical base of professional activists. The bill would have led to the largest tax increase in 50 years, trillions of dollars in new spending and new debt, and even higher inflation.

Democrats tried to pass this on the narrowest of margins. Democrats failed. As soon as the bill was pronounced dead, Democrats scrambled to change the subject. Democrats know they can't solve the inflation crisis, the supply chain crisis, the coronavirus crisis, or any of the other disasters created by the Biden administration. By ignoring these problems, they are practically admitting that, as Democrats, they have no solutions.

So what are they doing instead?

Well, they have tried to manufacture another crisis. They have invented a phony moral panic about election laws. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have repeatedly lied about our elections. They got Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game to a Democrat State. They got Hollywood stars and journalists and wealthy corporations to parrot their talking points. Now they have former Presidents Obama and Clinton getting involved. It has been a shameful effort to frighten the American people and further divide our Nation.

When Joe Biden was a Presidential candidate, he said he would ``heal the country.'' He said he would ``restore the soul of the nation.'' Just 1 year into his Presidency, we have found out that that was all for show. Joe Biden has been one of the most divisive and partisan Presidents in American history, and, today, he is on track to be the least popular President in modern times.

I understand why Democrats are desperate to change the subject. Yet Democrats are failing on the election issue as well. If Democrats think they can win on the idea of a Federal election takeover, they are wrong. Joe Biden is so unpopular in Georgia he couldn't even get Stacey Abrams to show up to his rally in Atlanta. She is running for Governor. She is a political celebrity. Election law is her main issue. Yet she wouldn't be seen in public with Joe Biden, and, frankly, I don't blame her.

Two days later, Joe Biden came to Capitol Hill to convince Democrats to change the rules of the Senate. He failed again. Brave Democratic Senators did the honorable and courageous thing. They kept their word. They said they would not destroy this institution for short-term partisan gain. They deserve the respect of every Member of this body. Joe Biden tried to push them around, and he failed.

The latest Quinnipiac poll has Joe Biden with a 33-percent approval rating just 1 year into his term in office. He has lower economic approval ratings than Jimmy Carter. Yet Senator Schumer asked Democrat Senators to follow Joe Biden over the cliff.

Yesterday, in his almost 2-hour press conference, President Biden talked about taking his message on the road and campaigning with Democrat candidates. I want to see which Democrat candidates actually want to stand with him as more and more Members of the House announce their retirements because they know, and they can see the writing on the wall.

Senator Schumer wanted a vote in this body on the Washington election takeover and on changing the rules of the Senate. The American people have utterly rejected both of these ideas. The vast majority of the American people support voter identification. If you want a ballot, show your ID. They support making voters show a photo ID in order to get a ballot. This includes a majority of Democrats, who think it is an important thing to do for ballot integrity and accountability and security.

If Democrats want to fix our election laws, they ought to do something about what is happening in the majority leader's hometown. Just last month, the New York City Council voted to let 900,000 noncitizens vote in New York City's elections--noncitizens. This is a larger group than the margin of victory in this last New York mayoral election. In other words, this new group of voters--not citizens of the United States--could swing and determine the outcome of the next election for the mayor of New York. This is the majority leader's hometown.

Where is the ballot integrity, accountability, and security there for American citizens?

Before Chuck Schumer lectures the American people about our elections, he ought to fix the problems in his own hometown.

Democrats are OK with vaccine passports, and they are OK with noncitizens voting, but they are not OK with voter ID, at least on the legislation that they brought to the floor. Democrats continue to fail to listen to and to fail the American people. Democrats are failing on inflation, on coronavirus, on immigration, on crime, and on national security. By voting on elections and on Senate rules, Democrats are admitting they have absolutely nothing to offer the American people on the key issues and concerns that are impacting the lives of people all across this country.

There is plenty of work to do right now. We have to stop unnecessary government spending to get inflation under control. We need to support law enforcement. We need affordable energy. That is what people want. We need to make sure that our schools stay open. We need to make sure that they teach our children skills, not ideology. We need to secure our border. So, yes, there is plenty of work for this Senate to do. Republicans have been more than willing to work with Democrats on all of these important issues.

The American people are looking for solutions. Yet the majority leader is giving them pointless exercises and show votes. It is time for the majority

leader to abandon this political wish list. Let's get to work on the issues facing the American people.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I often hear from people in Wyoming who are concerned about the changes being proposed in Washington, DC. When the Federal Government changes the rules, authorities, or standards, it can significantly impact critical Wyoming industries.

In the ``Wyoming Livestock Roundup,'' a weekly news source for Wyoming's ranchers, farmers, and Agribusiness community, Sarah L. Falen authored an opinion editorial titled ``The Government's Word: Should We Trust It.''

She raises concerns about the Biden administration's rule revoking the Trump administration policy prohibiting prosecution for accidentally harming migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. While there has been a lot of discussion about the impact on the energy industries, Sarah Falen points out how the new rule could affect the agriculture industry. It is important that Congress note these consequences and the uncertainty created by the Biden administration's rule.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the opinion editorial written by Sarah L. Falen.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the Democrats' Federal election takeover. The President just gave one of his rare press conferences. It was only the second one he actually gave on American soil.

The White House seems to think that the cure for Joe Biden's poll numbers is more communications from Joe Biden. And the press conference went on for 1 hour and 54 minutes.

The White House doesn't have a communications problem. It has an agenda problem. The American people understand exactly what President Biden and Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi are trying to sell. The American people aren't buying it.

Democrats don't need a message reset. They need a better agenda for the Nation. What we are about to vote on tonight has nothing to do with the priorities of the American people. It has nothing to do with coronavirus. It has nothing to do with 40-year high inflation numbers which are biting into the paychecks of the American people. It has nothing to do with the crisis at the southern border, where 2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border this year--criminals among them, drug smugglers among them, gang members among them. It has nothing to do with what has driven the President's approval numbers to an all-time low of 40 percent, which it is today in the Gallup poll.

The Democrats' No. 1 goal, which they stated at the beginning of the Congress, is to pass a Federal takeover of elections. An election takeover bill was the first bill they introduced.

Democrats are ignoring what the American people are demanding so that they can do what their radical fringe is demanding. Democrats want elections to be run by Washington, DC, instead of the 50 States.

The Constitution is very clear. It says the States run our elections. Well, why do they want to take over our elections?

Well, Democrats want to do things like banning voter ID laws. Now 80 percent of Americans believe people should have to show a photo ID in order to vote.

Senator Schumer has already twice tried to cram an election takeover bill down the throats of the American public. This is the third time. And, so far, he has failed.

So why? Why has this continued to fail? Not simply because Republicans oppose it. It has failed because the American people oppose it.

The American people aren't looking for a Federal Government takeover of elections. A recent Gallup poll asked people what they think is the most important issue facing our country. Voting laws didn't crack the top 20. In fact, voting laws received less than 1 percent of the vote. It was an asterisk in the results.

Democrats' scare tactics on voting laws have utterly failed. Now Democrats are so desperate to change our voting laws to their advantage that they are going to try to break the Senate. That is what they are doing now. The Senate is supposed to be ``the world's greatest deliberative body.'' Some Democrats want deliberations to end forever.

Democrats claim they will change our election laws and then they will stop; one time only; claim they will only rig the game just once. Well, we all know that is not true. If they can't resist the temptation to rig the U.S. Senate once, they won't resist the temptation to rig the rest of the government either.

Once Democrats change the rules, there will be no stopping them from doing everything they have ever dreamed: pack the Supreme Court, add new States to the Union, amnesty for illegal immigrants, try to take away rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment--you name it. If they can do it, sooner or later, they will.

There is a bill in the Senate right now to add four new Justices to the Supreme Court. Forty-six Democrats in the Senate have signed on to a bill for statehood for the District of Columbia. It is almost the entire Democrat caucus. Democrats have also introduced a bill to give statehood to Puerto Rico. If these bills become law, Democrats know they will get four more Democrat Senators permanently.

One change to the Senate rules, and America would have a permanent one-party rule. Don't take my word for it on amnesty either. Just months ago, Democrats tried to pass amnesty for 6.5 million illegal immigrants. That is greater than the population of 32 of our 50 States. Amnesty of this magnitude would permanently remake our electorate. New York City has already granted the right to vote to illegal immigrants. If Democrats break the rules of the Senate in order to change the rules, they will pass amnesty as fast as they can.

Over the past year, they have gone on record. They have sponsored the bills. Yet they know they have failed to persuade the American public to support this agenda. They know they will never have bipartisan support to pass the radical amnesty for illegal immigrants; never have bipartisan support to ban voter identification; never have bipartisan support for taxes and punishing regulations that continue to drive up the cost of energy; never persuade the American people to support their radical, extreme, dangerous, and scary agenda. Yet, rather than change the agenda to comply with what the American people want, the Democrats want to change the rules. So, desperate for this radical agenda, they are willing to destroy the Senate.

Democrats have a long list of partisan bills they would like to pass. All

of these bills have two things in common: They have nothing to do with improving the lives of the American people, as the American people see it today, and they give more power to the Democrat politicians in Washington, DC.

Let me remind my colleagues that there is an election in November. In the last election cycle, seven Democrats ran for President saying they would change the rules of the Senate. They all lost. Democrats who said they would change the rules lost key Senate races in swing States, including Montana, Maine, and Kentucky.

The American people have spoken loud and clear. They don't want to see this Democrat power grab. American people want us to focus on their priorities. It is up to them to tell us what is important to them, and what we are hearing loud and clear from the American public, it is coronavirus, it is inflation, it is national security, it is crime, and it is securing the border--not a bigger power grab for politicians.

The Democrats in this body seem to have forgotten the people they were elected to serve.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, first, I would like to ask unanimous consent that I be able to speak for up to 5 minutes, followed by Senator Sullivan, who is on the floor, for up to 15 minutes and then Senator Sasse for up to 7 minutes before the scheduled recess.

Mr. President, I would hope that everyone in this body has listened to Senator Sinema's important speech on the filibuster just now. I really appreciated her clear-eyed rationale--her rationale to preserve the minority voices in this body and to find common ground in this Chamber. I thank her.

Mr. President, I also come to the floor today to support the sanctions on Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. Now, I urge all of my colleagues to vote in support of S. 3436, the Protecting Europe's Energy Security Implementation Act.

You know, last week, the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of Ukraine endorsed this legislation. The Prime Minister said the following:

Nord Stream 2 is no less an existential threat to our

security and democracy than Russian troops on our border.

Senators shouldn't vote to protect Russia and Nord Stream 2.

This is a security matter not only for Ukraine, but for the

entire region.

I believe the Prime Minister of Ukraine is exactly right.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is being built by Gazprom. For people who aren't familiar with that, Gazprom is the Russian state-owned natural gas company. Now, the pipeline would double the amount of Russian gas going to Germany via the Baltic Sea.

This pipeline is an existential threat to our ally Ukraine. It is a threat to our allies in Europe as well.

Right now, Vladimir Putin has mobilized 100,000 troops on the border of Ukraine. He can afford to do this because he is flush with cash. Rising energy prices and reduced American production mean Vladimir Putin has hit the energy economic jackpot. The world is now more dependent on Russian oil and energy. If gas starts to flow through this pipeline, Vladimir Putin will get even richer, more powerful, and the world will become even more dependent on him, the dictator.

Vladimir Putin uses energy as a geopolitical weapon. He uses energy to coerce our allies and our partners in Europe.

Stopping this pipeline should be an area of bipartisan agreement. In fact, it was an area of bipartisan agreement in this very body until Joe Biden became President. Many Democrats in the body voted for sanctions the first time around. Even Joe Biden opposed the pipeline before he became President.

Congress has overwhelmingly passed several pieces of bipartisan legislation imposing sanctions on this Russian pipeline. Yet the Biden administration refuses to implement these laws.

The Biden administration has now been actively lobbying this body and actively lobbying Congress against this bill. Democrats must think it would give Putin what he wants. I don't get it. They think that if you give Putin what he wants, then he is going to play nice. That is not going to happen. Every American President must negotiate from a standpoint and a position of American strength. Vladimir Putin is cunning, opportunistic, and aggressive. He respects strength, not statements. When he sees an opportunity, he takes it. He can smell the weakness.

The pipeline will mean an enormous transfer of wealth--wealth from our allies to our enemy. It will make our allies weaker, and it will make Putin stronger. If Putin gets stronger, we know he will get even more aggressive.

It is time now for this body to stand up--stand up against Russia. It is time to sanction this pipeline.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to join my distinguished colleague from Arkansas. I agree with everything that he has said about this latest power grab by the Democrats in the U.S. Senate--of their effort to change the rules, to rig the rules, of course, through an agenda which I see, as do so many Americans, as radical and extreme and dangerous and scary. What the Democrats are proposing right here is to muzzle the voices of half of the country.

So why are they doing this? Well, it really has nothing to do with the priorities that are the priorities of the folks from my home State of Wyoming or from the previous speaker's home State of Arkansas or from the next speaker's home State of West Virginia. Oh, no, it has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with the priorities that the Gallup poll tells us are the concerns all around America: the coronavirus and the crisis we face there; the crisis at the southern border, where we are looking at almost 2 million illegal immigrants coming into the United States; crime in the cities, with murders up year after year and just amazingly up this year.

Then, of course, there are the raging fires of inflation, which are cutting into people's paychecks so that money doesn't go as far. When families in home States are looking at the fact that they are going to be paying about $3,500 more next year than the last and the year before that just to keep up, to maintain the quality of living, they have a lot of concerns. What the Democrats are trying to do isn't even one of them because the Democrats are trying to take a Federal takeover of elections. That is what they are trying to pass. They want to cram through a bill that they know otherwise would not pass.

So what is in the bill? Well, the Democrats want to do things like ban voter identification. You know, in my home State of Wyoming and I know in the previous speaker's State of Arkansas and the soon-to-be speaker's State of West Virginia, we know that people believe, if you want to get a ballot and if you want to vote, you should have to prove you are who you say you are.

In the home State of the Presiding Officer and the former Presiding Officer and in many States, if you want to go to a restaurant, you have to show your papers to prove you were vaccinated or to go into a building or to go to a sporting event. Yet the Democrats are proposing that you shouldn't have to show anything to prove you even are who you say you are in order to vote.

What about the incumbents who want to vote for this thing? Oh, did we mention there are taxpayer dollars going to incumbent Members of Congress to pay for their political campaigns? No wonder so many of the Democrats have voted for this. It is money into their own pockets.

The Democrats want Washington, DC, to micromanage elections across the country. They want to rig the rules of the Senate so they can enact this unpopular bill to take over elections in America.

The American people aren't asking for this. This recent Gallup poll that I alluded to asked people what they thought was the most important issue facing the country. Voting laws didn't even crack the top 20. In a list of 23, it came in as 23rd. It is the Democrats' No. 1 priority, and it is the last priority of the American public. It wasn't even an asterisk. It didn't even get 1 percent of the vote.

If the Democrats take over the Senate to take over elections and break the rules of the Senate, there will be no stopping them from passing the rest of this dangerous and extreme agenda.

Democrats know that there is an election coming in November. They can read the polls. They know it is not looking good for them. They know there is a very unpopular President in the White House. They know that their numbers are sinking, that their ship is sinking, and that they will soon be in the minority in both the House and the Senate.

Frankly, the election for the Democrats in the election after that doesn't look so good either because it only took 1 year for the people all across the country to recognize that the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, is both overwhelmed and ineffective as the President of the United States. There is no denying that.

Changing the rules, as the Democrats are proposing to do, really is their last chance to pass their leftwing, fringe ideas. It is the last chance to pack the Supreme Court. The Democrats in this body introduced legislation to pack the Supreme Court, to add four Democrats to the Court. It is the last chance to add new States to the Union. It is the last chance to give amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. It is the last chance before Democrats lose control of the Congress.

So why do they want to change the rules? It is because their agenda is so unpopular with the American people. They understand, as one Democrat said to another, that we have got to do it now because it is our last chance to force socialism on the American people whether they want it or not.

Instead of changing the rules, the Democrats should change their agenda. The Democrats should focus on what the American people say is important to them. It is our constituents who determine what is important to them. They are to communicate it to us. We are to represent them.

What is important to them? Well, it is getting ahead of the coronavirus, it is securing the border, and it is really to stop adding fuel to the fire of inflation when paychecks can't keep up with the costs of gas and groceries.

A Wall Street Journal story yesterday was about all of the Democrats who signed a letter saying: money from New England, Members of this body--they said energy costs are so high, the government should do something about it. This is after Joe Biden kills the Keystone XL Pipeline and stops oil and gas exploration, and their own home States are blocking pipelines which could carry inexpensive energy to the people who live there. Yet the Democrats want the government to do more. The government has done enough damage already.

There are lots of ideas that could pass the Senate and the House and be signed into law that would actually help the American people. Those are the things the American people are asking for. The American people are not asking for a blatant Democrat power grab to force through a very liberal agenda. People don't want to be muzzled. They don't want to have their voices silenced. They want real solutions. They don't want the Democrats' radical agenda.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I come to the floor to congratulate and commend the remarks by the senior Senator from Alaska. She certainly knows from whence she speaks.

I remember so well the discussion that she just mentioned with regard to the energy bill and HRCs and the effort for a cleaner environment, and it was through the process that we were able to come up with legislation that we believe--all believe--was a better result for the Nation and for the environment.

It took longer than any of us wish it would have taken, but it was through that process. And had we been in a situation without the ability to filibuster, we would have never gotten to such a good result because a 50-50 Senate is--basically it is a mandate to move to the middle.

So I commend the senior Senator from Alaska. She knows from whence she speaks. She is very high up in seniority in the institution. She has institutional memory, more than many, many Members of this body, and when she says what goes around comes around and the shoe is, at another time, on the opposite foot, she knows what the implications of those are and why what the Democrats are proposing now is in the wrong direction for the country.

So I believe it is misguided, and I concur with her comments.

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

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the Democrats' agenda for the new year.

The American people have just come back from the most expensive Christmas in our Nation's history, coronavirus cases are breaking records all around the country, and many Americans spent their Christmas with their travel plans canceled.

Joe Biden now enters his second year in office with record-high inflation, record-high coronavirus cases, and a record-low approval rating. Now, Joe Biden is breaking all kinds of records, and each of these records reflects an America that is heading in the wrong direction.

The American people have two major concerns right now: coronavirus and what it costs to live their daily lives. Yet these two issues are not even on the radar of Democrats in Washington, DC.

In fact, Democrats have only made these problems worse. First, Democrats have unquestionably driven up the cost of living on American families. Inflation shot up after Democrats put $2 trillion on America's credit card this spring.

Democrats told us inflation was transitory. They said it month after month after month. On the day after Christmas, Margaret Brennan of CBS News asked the Vice President a very basic question. She asked: Was it wrong to consider inflation transitory?

It is not a gotcha question. It is a question American families have asked themselves month after month after month, as they heard Democrats say it was transitory. Well, to the American people the answer is very clear. It is obvious. Of course, it was wrong by the administration, by the President, by the Vice President to try to mislead the American people by claiming that inflation was transitory.

So what did we hear from the Vice President in response to this question that has been of great concern to the American people?

What we heard was 118 words of incoherent rambling. She was like a deer in headlights on a basic question on the top issue of the day. Either the Vice President is out of touch with the needs of the American people or she just didn't want to admit that the Biden administration had been wrong month after month after month, until the inflation numbers hit a 4-year high.

It has gone on now for 9 months and, you know, it is only going to get worse. That is what the experts are telling us. In October, we saw the worst inflation in 30 years, and, in November, it became the worst inflation in 40 years.

Prices have gone up faster than wages. This means the average American family can purchase a lot less today than they could when Joe Biden took office.

And the biggest price increases, of course, have been in energy. In November, we saw the biggest energy price increase in 10 years. CNBC reports that one-fifth of American families couldn't afford to pay an energy bill this past year. Roughly the same percentage have kept their home at an unhealthy temperature because they can't afford the cost of providing heat.

People who travelled for Christmas faced some of the highest Christmas Day prices in history. Gas cost $1 more a gallon this Christmas than it did last Christmas--1 year, $1 a gallon more.

Many people couldn't travel because of coronavirus. Americans broke records for coronavirus cases twice last week. Ohio, Maryland, and here in the District of Columbia, all broke records for hospitalizations due to coronavirus.

Now, remember when Joe Biden ran for office? He said he was the cure for coronavirus. This guy ought to be sued for medical malpractice.

He came into office with two safe and effective vaccines. Millions of people have already been vaccinated. Yet more Americans have now died from coronavirus under President Joe Biden than under the previous President. From day one of this administration, this President has been inconsistent, incoherent, and incompetent.

The flip-flop on masks for the vaccinated has continued. The administration kowtowed to the teachers union on mask mandates for toddlers. They flip-flopped on booster shots. They flip-flopped again on testing.

For months now, countries like the United Kingdom have sent rapid tests to their citizens through the mail. On December 23, President Biden told ABC News: ``I wish I had thought about ordering . . . [at- home test kits] two months ago.''

Well, it turns out the White House did think about it. The media is now reporting that the White House turned down a plan to mail test kits in October.

In early December, the White House Press Secretary was asked why the Biden administration wasn't mailing out tests. After all, the Democrats, on a straight party-line vote in March, put $2 trillion on our Nation's credit card under the guise of COVID relief. Only 9 percent of the money went for healthcare. Where did that money go? Billions and tens of billions of dollars, so-called for testing, in the bill that the Democrats forced on a party-line vote, and yet there aren't tests in the country because people are lined up around the block waiting for tests that the President wished he had thought about.

That is what he told the world. That is what he said on ABC News.

In early December, the White House Press Secretary was asked why the Biden administration wasn't mailing out tests. She mocked the idea. Then, just a few weeks later, it became the policy of this same administration--too little, too late, another flip-flop, another example of the hypocrisy and the incompetence of this administration.

Someone in the press ought to ask Joe Biden if he still believes what he said as a candidate. So let's review what he said as a candidate.

In September of 2020, Joe Biden said: ``If the president had done his job from the beginning''--he was referring to President Trump--Biden said, ``all the people would still be alive.'' ``All the people,'' he said. ``I'm not making this up''--Joe Biden once again telling the world he is not making it up.

I don't know of a single doctor or public health official anywhere in the world who would agree with that statement by Joe Biden, then candidate for President. Yet Joe Biden said it repeatedly.

As a candidate, Joe Biden said: ``Any President who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President.''

And to that I say: Joe Biden, you are right now responsible for that many deaths. So, maybe, you shouldn't remain as President either.

Joe Biden attacked the previous administration for letting Governors manage the response to coronavirus. Yet just last month, Joe Biden admitted: ``There is no Federal solution'' to the coronavirus.

Does Joe Biden still believe what he said as a candidate?

Did he ever believe it?

What does he know? What does he think? What does he believe? Or was he just running for President on the Big Lie?

Now, even for Democrats in Washington, the hypocrisy and the incompetence are astonishing. Now the American people all across this country are suffering the consequences of the mismanagement by this administration.

Flights, train departures, public events are all being canceled due to the resurgence of coronavirus. Cancellations continue today because of coronavirus under the President who said he would solve the problem, to the point that even the majority party's conference, which should have been a lunch, today was moved to be virtual because of the virus that Joe Biden said he would eliminate.

Joe Biden's lies and flip-flops continue. Joe Biden said he wouldn't issue a vaccine mandate. He said it on several occasions and then he broke his word. In the process, he took a sledgehammer to the American workforce, forcing people out of their jobs.

The Biden administration has also issued a mask mandate for children as young as 2 years of age, in preschool.

Just before Christmas, Senator Lummis, also from Wyoming, and I introduced a bill to stop this mandate. There is no scientific basis for forcing toddlers to wear masks. This isn't about the science. It has been shown that the teachers union lobbied for mask mandates in schools.

On May 13, the Centers for Disease Control issued its mask guidance for vaccinated people--for people who had been fully vaccinated. The guidance from the Centers for Disease Control said that fully vaccinated people could stop wearing masks indoors.

What happened the very next day?

Well, the very next day, the head of the National Education Association, the teachers union, called the Director of the Centers for Disease Control. The day after that, the Centers for Disease Control released new guidance--new guidance--saying vaccinated people should wear masks in schools. Maybe it was a coincidence. It doesn't look like it or sound like it to me. This flip-flop looks like a kind of political pandering, the pandering to union bosses that this administration has engaged in since day one.

The American people have two big concerns right now: coronavirus and the cost of living. Democrats on Capitol Hill continue to ignore the two biggest concerns of the American people.

What are the Democrats in this body focused on instead? Well, for 5 months now, Democrats in this body have tried to pass the largest spending bill in history.

What is it focused on? Not inflation; not COVID; not crime in the cities, where murder rates are at an alltime high; not border security, where the number of people coming in illegally, carrying disease and drugs, is at an alltime high. No, the Democrats want to focus instead on climate change and new entitlements. Their bill included

trillions and trillions of dollars in new taxes and trillions and trillions of dollars in new debt.

President Biden and nearly every Democrat in Congress went on record in support of this socialist budget bill. Not a single Republican supports it, and not even every Democrat supports it. Now Democrats are fighting among themselves, and it is an absolute disgrace. Democrats ought to be thankful that bill didn't pass, because if it passed, inflation would get worse, just in time for elections.

This isn't what the American people want. The American people have many concerns right now about the direction of this country and the direction that the President is trying to lead the Nation. The two biggest concerns are the coronavirus in their communities and the cost of living that impacts on them, on the people every day. Democrats are failing on both.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about the rising crime in America and specifically in Democrat-run cities.

This year, 12 American cities have already broken records for murder, and the year isn't even over. Every one of those cities is run by Democrats.

Last summer, Democrat cities adopted a rallying cry, and that cry was ``defund the police.'' Joe Biden said America was ``systemically racist.'' He said police funding should be ``redirected.'' Nancy Pelosi talked about ``shuffling . . . money around.'' Kamala Harris, our Vice President, said America should ``reimagine public safety.''

Well, lots of Democrat cities put those slogans into practice. Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, cut the New York City Police Department by $1 billion. The Los Angeles City Council voted to cut police funding by $150 million. San Francisco cut $120 million from police over 2 years. Nearly two dozen cities across the country defunded the police. Again, these are all cities run by liberal mayors and administrations. As a result, last year, America experienced the largest surge in homicide ever recorded.

According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 63 of America's 66 biggest cities saw at least 1 category of violent crime go up last year. Minneapolis cut police funding, and homicide nearly

doubled. New York City police funding and homicide went in opposite directions: The funding for police went down, and homicide went up by half. Last year's historic increases in homicides was evident. This year, homicide has gone up even more. The number of police killed in the line of duty is also up.

Here in Washington, DC, President Biden has effectively endorsed the ``defund the police'' movement. He did that by stacking his administration with supporters of defunding the police.

The Secretary of Labor of the United States, confirmed by this Senate, cut funding for police when he was mayor of Boston.

The No. 3 official at the Department of Justice, confirmed by this Senate, the Democrats in this Senate, testified that she supports ``calls from Black Lives Matter . . . activists to decrease police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of police in our lives.''

Joe Biden's Secretary of the Treasury called for an economics professor to be fired because the professor said he opposed defunding the police. It had nothing to do with what he was teaching. It wasn't because of a problem with his work in the classroom. But Janet Yellen said his comments against defunding the police were ``extremely troubling.''

She went on to say:

It would be appropriate for the University of Chicago . . .

to review [that professor's] performance and suitability.

Well, Janet Yellen is not known for being a crime expert. She is a well-connected, well-known liberal. The university bowed to Janet Yellen and put the professor under investigation. This is Janet Yellen, who was confirmed to be Secretary of the Treasury under Joe Biden.

In October, Joe Biden was asked if police officers should be fired if they weren't vaccinated. He didn't hesitate. He immediately said: Yes, fire them. These are officers who have been putting their lives on the frontline every day since day one of the pandemic. Joe Biden's mantra for the police: Vaccinate or terminate.

This is happening all across America. For example, more than 150 Massachusetts State Police have resigned over the vaccine mandate. Joe Biden would rather see unvaccinated police sit at home than let them continue doing the job they have done all through the pandemic. The last thing we need to do right now is reduce the number of police officers on our streets.

Last week, Democrats in this body gave another promotion to an anti- police liberal. Every Democrat--every Democrat--in this Senate voted to confirm Rachael Rollins as the top prosecutor in the State of Massachusetts. Why does this matter to anybody outside of Massachusetts? Well, because Rachael Rollins is the face of the rogue prosecutor movement. This is the movement led by George Soros and other powerful liberals. They have invested millions of dollars in electing radical prosecutors. They have succeeded in major cities. We have seen it in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Once these prosecutors get into office, they impose radical leftwing policies. The result has been chaos and carnage from coast to coast.

As the district attorney in Boston, Rachael Rollins announced she would not prosecute 15 different crimes, laws on the books. She would not prosecute 15 different crimes, including shoplifting, trespassing, and resisting arrest. Rachael Rollins is supposed to be a prosecutor. Her job is to enforce the law. Instead, she has nullified the law.

Joe Biden saw this lawlessness, and he was so impressed that he gave her a big promotion. Every single Democrat in this Senate has given her their stamp of approval. So has Vice President Harris. Every Republican voted no on this radical nominee, so the Vice President was needed to come to the Senate to break the tie. There is already talk of Rachael Rollins' getting even more promotions in this very radical, extreme, dangerous, and scary Democratic Party.

Mark my words: Rachael Rollins is the first rogue prosecutor to be given a Federal job. She will not be the last. With Democrats in charge in Washington, Rachael Rollins' policies are coming to a neighborhood near you.

So it is worth asking, how are these policies working out in liberal big cities? Not well, no. San Francisco followed the Rachael Rollins model. They tried legalizing shoplifting; how about that? Now San Francisco looks like a city from the Dark Ages.

Here is how the Associated Press described it last week:

San Francisco residents and visitors scurry past scenes of

lawlessness and squalor.

In August, San Francisco broke city records with 3,700 reports of retail theft. Now there is a mass exodus of retail stores from San Francisco.

Last year, twice as many people in San Francisco died from drug overdoses than from coronavirus. The local news reported this week about people leaving their cars unlocked in San Francisco to prevent their windows from getting smashed out. Even the Democrat mayor spoke recently about the ``rein of criminals who are destroying our city.''

San Francisco is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. It is the hometown of the Speaker of the House and is now a homicide haven on the west coast. Yet, in just a few years, liberal policies have turned what had been a beautiful city into a war zone.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, admitted just yesterday that ``there is an attitude of lawlessness in our country'' today. Then she added, ``It springs from,'' as she said, ``I don't know where.''

Well, Nancy Pelosi should look at her own city. It is painfully obvious. The fact that roars out from liberal city to liberal city is this: The lawlessness comes from the policies of the Democratic Party. Criminals seek opportunity, and when criminals see that opportunity, they pounce.

Look at Los Angeles. This is another city with a rogue prosecutor. In just 10 days last month, looters stole $340,000 worth of goods from stores. In one case, police arrested 14 of the looters. And then what happened? They were all released. Now they are all walking free.

Austin, TX, made some of the largest police funding cuts last year. This year, Austin has seen a 70-percent increase in murder. It is one of the largest increases in homicide in America.

In Kamala Harris's hometown of Oakland, the city council voted to defund the police in June. Now murder in Oakland, the Vice President's hometown, is up by two-thirds since just 2019.

Last month, a toddler was shot and killed while he slept in the back of his mother's car on the Oakland freeway. Even leftwing Oakland has now had enough. The city is now planning to reverse the cuts to police. For the toddler, it is too late. The damage that took that innocent life from that family can't be undone, can't be repaired. The family will never be reunited.

It is time for the Democrats to wake up, to wake up before it is too late for so many others.

Democrats have controlled the Senate now for 10 months. Yet they have done nothing to improve law enforcement in America. They have done nothing to reduce crime. In fact, Senate Democrats have only tried to reward criminals. Forty-nine Senate Democrats sponsored a bill to give voting rights to felons as soon as they walk out of their jail cells.

The American people reject this bill and Democrats' entire agenda. Voters are speaking out. Just last month, voters rejected defunding police in the cities of Buffalo, New York, and even in Minneapolis.

New York City has just elected a former police officer as its mayor who used the issue of crime and law and order as a winning issue in the campaign. People are tired of what the Democrats are force-feeding the American people.

The lessons should be screamingly obvious. The American people don't want Democrats' soft-on-crime agenda. Americans want safe communities. They want Democrats and all Americans to stop coddling criminals, to stand for public safety, and to stop this reckless Democrats' war on police.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about our Nation's economy.

We have come to the end of another calendar year. The American people are asking themselves a simple question: Are we better off now, today, than we were 1 year ago?

For most Americans, the answer is no. In fact, a new survey from the New York Federal Reserve says just that. Most of the people surveyed say they are worse off now than they were 1 year ago.

Most also said, very concerning, that they expect to be worse off a year from now than they are today, and it is easy to see why. Shelves are empty, we have the worst labor shortage ever recorded, and prices are rising at the fastest rate in 40 years.

Joe Biden is breaking records, but not the good kind. Joe Biden is about to enter his second year in office with record-high inflation and record-low approval.

Since Joe Biden took office, prices have gone up much faster than wages. As a result, the typical American family can purchase less today than they could a year ago. People have had to change the way they drive, they shop, and they eat.

By one estimate, families are paying $175 more every month because of inflation since Joe Biden took office. This works out to be $2,000 a year--a bite out of the paychecks of the American people equivalent to a loss of $2,000.

Now, some estimates are even higher. Harvard Professor Jason Furman was a

top adviser to President Obama. His estimate is that it is double that number. He said there have been $4,000 more in expenses for the American families this year than there was last year.

Of course, the biggest increase that we see is in energy. Gas prices are up. They are up by more than a dollar a gallon. Now, this is just in the 10 months since Joe Biden took office. It costs $20 to $30 more to fill the tank. Today, they are at a 7-year high.

Natural gas prices are also at a 7-year high, while half the families in America heat their homes with natural gas. One in five American families has already been cutting expenses in other places to pay for their energy bill for the year.

Last month was the biggest jump in energy prices, amazingly, in an entire decade, and winter is almost here. Some people may have to choose between whether they can afford to eat or whether they can afford to heat their homes.

It is hard to believe that in just 10 full months in the White House, Joe Biden could have taken inflation to this very high level.

The supply chain crisis, the worker shortage, the inflation crisis are all the direct results of the policies of the Biden administration and the Democrats in Washington.

Why are the shelves empty? Well, because we don't have enough workers. More than 11 million jobs today are unfilled. We have broken new records for unfilled jobs in 5 of the first 10 months that Joe Biden has been in office. And no matter where you go, there are ``help wanted'' signs in the windows.

This is no coincidence. In March, President Biden extended a bonus payment to people who stayed home from work. Millions of people made more money by not going to work than they would by going to work. Well, in September, that bonus payment ran out.

Then Joe Biden announced a nationwide vaccine mandate on the American people. This mandate took a sledge hammer to our Nation's workforce. The President must have known that people would lose their jobs. It seems he didn't care because he imposed the mandate anyway.

These are people who worked every day during the pandemic, showing up no matter the weather, no matter the situation. They showed up to do the job to help the people in their communities and in their States and in this country.

Now, under Joe Biden, people are losing their jobs, shelves are empty, prices continue to rise.

In March, Democrats made things worse by putting $2 trillion on the Nation's credit card. That bill sent inflation into overdrive.

The San Francisco Federal Reserve says the Democrats' spending increased inflation.

Democrats made lavish promises about their last spending bill. They said the bill would create millions of jobs. Nancy Pelosi said 4 million jobs. Joe Biden upped the ante and said 7 million new jobs.

How did the predictions turn out? Not so well for the predictions of Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden. Joe Biden was off by the full 7 million jobs.

The most recent jobs report shows we created fewer jobs than were predicted even without the Democrats' spending bill. Those 7 million jobs Joe promised are nowhere to be found.

Last month, we created less than half the number of jobs the experts predicted.

Now Democrats want to do the same thing all over again. They want another multitrillion-dollar spending spree. This spending spree would cause the largest tax increase in half a century, trillions more in debt, and even higher prices.

Speaking of rising prices, the price of this spending bill keeps going up. For months, Democrats claimed that they wouldn't add to the debt. Then they said the total bill would cost less than $2 trillion.

Last Friday, we found out the real price tag. The Congressional Budget Office took all the accounting gimmicks, the budgets tricks-- took it all out of the bill--and they told us that the real cost of the bill is nearly triple the price that the Democrats said.

The real pricetag is close to $5 trillion. It would be the largest spending bill in history. The Democrats' spending spree would add $3 trillion to the national debt.

And, just yesterday, the Democrats voted--every Democrat voted--to raise the debt ceiling in the United States by $2.5 trillion. Every Republican voted against it.

If you think about how much money this is, it is almost the size of the entire economy of the United Kingdom.

You know, all of this spending would bring the Democrats' total to $5 trillion in new debt in just 10 months.

And what does all of this spending get you?

Well, the most expensive thing in the bill is something that some refer to as the Green New Deal, which is billions of dollars in new taxes on America's natural gas production. It includes an army of climate activists paid to protest American energy projects.

The second most expensive part of the bill is the blue State billionaire bailout. It is a tax break for people in high-tax States. I look at it as specifically California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. The vast majority of Americans would get no tax break at all. Almost all of that benefit would go to the wealthy.

Don't take my word for it. Here is what the Democrat chairman of the Budget Committee, the junior Senator from Vermont, had to say about it.

He said:

The last thing we should be doing is giving more tax breaks

to the very rich. It sends a terrible, terrible message.

But that is what the Democrats in the House under Nancy Pelosi passed and sent to the Senate for consideration and passage.

The junior Senator from Vermont, the chairman of the Budget Committee, also said: ``The hypocrisy is too strong.''

Well, the chairman is absolutely right. Even by the standards of Democrats in Washington, this hypocrisy is too strong.

If Democrats pass this bill, it will mean tax cuts for billionaires and tax audits for working families. It will mean higher taxes, more debt, higher prices, the highest inflation in 40 years, and it will go even higher.

When the American people ask themselves, ``Are we better off today than we were a year ago?'' we know what the answer is going to be: a resounding no. If Democrats pass this bill, it will be no for years and years to come.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to honor an extraordinary public servant. It is my longtime legislative director, Bryn Stewart.

He is going to be leaving the Senate after a 20-year career of working on behalf of the people of Wyoming.

He served in this great institution under two different U.S. Senators from Wyoming. He and his family have deep roots within our State, and he is a third-generation Wyomingite.

Bryn was born and raised in Sheridan, WY. His father Clyde was a high school business teacher who also coached basketball and the golf team. His mother Jerrie worked at the Sheridan Press, our local newspaper. Both of his parents encouraged him to work hard, to always be respectful, and, most importantly, to be himself, not to be what others expected him to be. Well, he has exceeded all expectations, I will tell you.

Family means everything to Bryn. He is the fifth oldest of seven children. And while it is Bryn's career that we are here to pay tribute to today, in terms of his work in the Senate, his older sister Kendall was the first Stewart sibling to work in the U.S. Senate. She worked for Wyoming Senator Malcolm Wallop. She then came to work in my own office in Sheridan, WY, in Bryn's hometown.

It is also important to point out that Bryn's brother Dow also worked in the U.S. Senate. What a testament to Bryn's parents that so many of their children were committed to public service.

Bryn took a very different route to the U.S. Senate than his siblings. After graduating from the University of Wyoming with a finance degree, Bryn went on to earn his law degree from the College of Law at the university in 1985.

It turns out that Bryn wasn't the only standout from his class that year at the University of Wyoming School of Law. My fellow U.S. Senator from Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis, was Bryn's classmate in the law school, and the two of them remain great friends to today.

After passing the Wyoming State Bar, Bryn has maintained his membership in the Wyoming Bar for 36 years.

He moved to Gillette, WY, and he started his career there as legal advisor to the Campbell County sheriff and deputy county attorney. Now, I would point out that Campbell County, in Gillette, is the town where Mike Enzi, my former colleague, had been a representative in the legislature as well as the mayor. And Mike Enzi also had graduated, as has Bryn, from Sheridan High School.

Ten years later, Bryn became the director of administrative services for the Campbell County Board of Commissioners. In that role, Bryn was able to balance the budget during a major economic downturn without laying off any employees. This was not an easy achievement.

Now, after more than 16 years of serving the people of Campbell County,

Bryn made the move to Washington, DC. He came to DC to work for my predecessor, Senator Craig Thomas, as his tax and trade counsel. The person who gets full credit for convincing Bryn to come work for the U.S. Senate wasn't Senator Thomas; it wasn't me; it was my incredible wife Bobbi Brown Barrasso who encouraged Bryn to take the job and move across the country.

Bryn fondly tells the story of how my wife Bobbi, who was then the State director for Senator Thomas at the time in 2001, reached out to Bryn about the opportunity that really did change the course of his life and his career.

Now, she knew that he would be a perfect fit for the job. We are all very grateful to Bobbi in so many ways but most certainly for recognizing Bryn's talent and talking him into taking a leap of faith.

Although it turns out a cross-country move wouldn't be the biggest shock of the journey for Bryn--it is a long way from Wyoming to Washington--but he was officially offered the job the Friday before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Many people would have reconsidered moving to Washington, DC, after the largest terrorist attack in our country's history, but Bryn didn't think twice. In fact, it only strengthened his resolve and his commitment to serve the Nation and the people of Wyoming.

It turns out he would need that resolve because during his first week in the DC office, the anthrax attacks occurred against our Nation, against our Capitol, and against a Senate office building. Anonymous letters laced with deadly anthrax arrived in congressional offices, and Bryn, like so many staffers on the Hill, was displaced for months into temporary quarters.

Despite the chaos and the rocky start, Bryn was not deterred, and he immediately jumped into his legislative role at full speed.

For his first 2\1/2\ years, Bryn served as counsel for Senator Thomas. He worked on numerous tax and trade bills. Most notably, he helped draft and pass legislation providing critical relief to drought- stricken livestock producers in Wyoming and across the country. Senator Thomas was so impressed with Bryn's work that he promoted him to be his legislative director in 2004.

As you know, legislative directors have a very big job and lots of responsibility. They guide the entire policy staff in developing and implementing the Senator's legislative agenda. As a result, legislative directors must be up to speed on all of the issues.

Bryn recalls one story in particular from his early days as legislative director directly on this point. During the 2005 energy bill debate, Senator Thomas was selected to serve on the conference committee. A week into the committee meetings, Senator Thomas's then- energy legislative assistant was diagnosed with cancer. Never one to back down from a challenge, Bryn immediately stepped in.

He quickly took over the reins, and he helped Senator Thomas successfully lead the fight for Wyoming coal and other important energy resources.

Bryn recounts this experience as one of the highlights of his legislative career--always ready to help, always ready to act.

In 2007, when Wyoming and the Senate tragically lost Senator Craig Thomas to cancer, Bryn was central in supporting our entire staff, many of whom are on the floor today, through an extremely difficult and emotional time. And when I was selected to fill Senator Thomas's seat, I asked Bryn to stay on as my legislative director. It is a decision that I have never regretted.

For more than 14 years, I have been incredibly fortunate to have his advice and his counsel. We worked together on critical issues that will have a lasting and positive impact on Wyoming for decades to come. This includes his great work in helping to pass the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act, which was signed into law in 2009.

Bryn was also instrumental in securing the return of Wyoming's abandoned mine land funds to our State, which is why I have always referred to him as our hundred-million-dollar man.

Now, these are just a few examples of the work Bryn is most proud of in his 20-year Senate career.

Bryn's dependability and knowledge made him an indispensable member of my team. His work ethic and his dedication are legendary. He stays late; he works weekends; and he does whatever it takes to get the job done. We often joke in the office that Bryn is the first one in the ``leg shop'' and the last one to leave. It doesn't matter if it is a blizzard outside or a global pandemic, Bryn is infamous for not letting anything keep him from doing the work in the Senate for the benefit of the people of Wyoming.

While I have talked a lot about Bryn's professional accomplishments, I also want to highlight the ways that he continues to give back to the community and give back to others. He makes it his mission to live his life with a purpose. It is one of the reasons he prioritizes giving back to the community as much as he can.

One of his biggest passions is supporting organizations focused on providing food and shelter to those in need. He serves as a member of the Salvation Army board in his local community. He served in organizations that build homeless shelters, operate food pantries, and run low-income energy assistance programs. He is also a member of the Northern Wyoming Community College Advisory Board in Gillette that focuses on providing high-quality, postsecondary education to the people in Campbell County and around Wyoming.

Bryn's departure from the Senate leaves very big shoes to fill. And while we are all sad to see him go, we are happy to know he is moving back to where it all started for him, his hometown, Sheridan, WY.

He will be closer to family, also be able to spend time camping, hiking, and biking through his beloved Bighorn Mountains.

Bryn, Bobbi joins me, along with our entire staff, many of whom are here on the floor--the current staff, but it is also the past staff, the present staff--in commending you on a remarkable career of service.

We are grateful that you chose to dedicate your life to helping make Wyoming and our country a better place to live and a better place to work.

It is with admiration, appreciation, and respect that I wish you every success as you embark on this new adventure. And we are not just saying that because today is your birthday. You will be truly missed.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the threat that is posed by communist China.

China's economy has grown sevenfold in just the last two decades. China already has a million members in terms of active-duty soldiers. China also has the largest navy in the world. That is right--it is now larger than ours, and the Chinese military is not stopping. China plans to build more than 100 new ships in the next 8 years, and in those same 8 years, China is also building about 300 missile silos and plans to have 1,000 nuclear missiles. Several times this year, China has tested hypersonic weapons capable of use around the world. At the same time, the world has witnessed increasing Chinese aggression. China's goal is unmistakable: It truly wants to become the world's one dominant power.

Since day 1, the Biden administration has been caught flatfooted as President Joe Biden has been soft on China. This is no surprise given the fact that Joe Biden has been soft on China for 50 years. When he was Vice President, he said:

A rising China is a positive . . . development, not only

for China but for America and the world writ large.

During his run for President, Candidate Joe Biden said China was not a threat to the United States. During his announcement speech when he was announcing he was going to be a candidate for President, he said:

They're not bad folks. They're not competition for us.

Joe Biden should tell that to the working families in factory towns who have been put out of business by communist China. He should tell that to the families who lost loved ones to fentanyl and other opioids made in China. He should tell that to the Uighurs and ethnic minorities persecuted and used as slave labor by the Communist Party.

I have to tell you, leaders on both sides of the aisle here have been shocked by those comments by then-candidate for President Joe Biden. Many Democrats recognize the danger posed by communist China. Regrettably, our President, Joe Biden, is not one of them.

On issue after issue, the Biden administration's policies are only making China stronger, and at the same time, that makes America weaker. I want to just mention a few.

President Biden's first budget proposed to basically supersize the Government of the United States--huge budget increases in every government Agency you can think of except for two. The two were Defense and Homeland Security.

His political appointees at the Pentagon seem more focused on climate change and ``dissident ideologies'' and vaccine mandates than on security threats to our Nation.

While China's military is growing, ours is going broke and ours is going woke. That is the difference fundamentally today.

Joe Biden has stopped America's policy of helping developing countries use fossil fuels to eliminate poverty and grow their economies. Who are these other countries turning to for help now? Well, they are turning to communist China.

Joe Biden seems to be doing everything he can to shut down coal production here in America. Wyoming is proud to be America's leading coal producer, and we have been for 35 years straight. Coal is the most affordable and reliable energy source known to man. Yet Joe Biden is determined to drive down coal production and drive energy jobs overseas.

China is not making this same mistake. China is acting in its own self-interest. China is producing and using more coal than ever before. China is also funding the construction of coal-fired powerplants as part of their Belt and Road Initiative.

The Biden administration and the Democrats have also put a big Christmas present to China in their reckless tax-and-spending spree because the bill includes trillions of dollars in new taxes on American businesses. As a result, some of our tax rates are going to be higher than those in China. It is going to make it cheaper to do business overseas, and that is exactly what many companies will do.

According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, the taxes in this bill that the Senate is trying to push on the Democrats' side of the aisle and Republicans are trying to stop--the taxes in the bill will eliminate 125,000 American jobs.

Democratic giveaways for electric vehicles will also send additional money directly to China. Electric vehicles use lithium batteries. A critical mineral necessary for those batteries relies on child labor in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and slave labor in China. At the same time, Democrats' spending bill would virtually end mining on Federal lands here at home. Instead of getting the minerals we need at home in Wyoming, we are going to get them from China.

More than a million Muslims in the western part of China have been put into slave labor camps. In many cases, those people are forced to make solar panels.

Last week, Senator Rubio offered an amendment to the Defense bill to ban imports from Chinese companies using slave labor. This is the same legislation that this Senate passed unanimously in July.

Yet now Democrats are kowtowing to an administration weak on China, and are blocking Senator Rubio's proposal.

Why have the House Democrats failed to move forward on this critical issue?

According to the Washington Post, it is because the Biden administration asked them to.

The Washington Post reports: ``While the administration supports the legislation in public, they are asking Democrats to essentially water it down in private''--that from the Washington Post.

On issue after issue, Democrat policies are only making America weaker and making China stronger. It is no wonder only a quarter of Americans approve of how President Biden is handling China.

On Monday, the President announced the United States will boycott next year's Olympics in Beijing. This is a good first step, but it is not enough. Symbolism is not enough. It is time for Democrats to wake up from this threat from communist China before it is way too late.

I yield the floor.