Floor Statements

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to discuss what I have seen happen now over the last 100 days of the Biden administration, and that is President Biden seems to be doubling down on some of the failures of the Obama administration.

Last week, as the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I released a report, and it is called ``Solyndra Syndrome and the Green Stimulus Delusion.'' Solyndra syndrome.

I tell you, I think it is an important thing to highlight because this 20-page report really is an in-depth look at the failed green energy policies under the Obama administration. Now what we are seeing is President Biden is determined, in my opinion, to repeat them, on a much larger scale.

In 2009, under the direction of President Obama, Democrats passed a partisan stimulus spending bill. The legislation included $90 billion for green job training, for green energy loans, and for high-speed rail. It also included about $3 billion for a program more commonly referred to now as ``Cash for Clunkers.''

The goal was to produce millions of green energy jobs. They wanted to do it by investing taxpayer dollars in emerging green energy companies and also subsidizing new vehicles.

So what did American taxpayers get for all of this money? What did they get as a return on this hefty investment? Well, they didn't get the promised jobs. They got boondoggles. Billions of taxpayer dollars wound up wasted on green tech companies through loans or grants. Several of the companies then failed.

The most famous of these was, of course, Solyndra. This was a solar panel company with many personal ties to the administration. It was located in California and received over $500 million in government- backed loans. Vice President Biden, at the time Vice President, was actually the one who announced that Solyndra would receive hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Well, not too long after that, headlines across the Nation told the story of what happened next. In September of 2011, the company failed miserably. More than 1,000 workers lost their jobs. Almost all of the 535 million taxpayer dollars were lost.

The leadership of Solyndra lied about the company's value and what they could produce. It also turns out they were big political donors to the Obama-Biden campaign and the Democrats.

While the Obama-Biden donors got millions of grant money, taxpayers back then were left holding the bag. It was a terrible green gamble, and it had gone terribly wrong.

It wasn't the only one of these projects. Other companies like A123 Systems, Beacon Power, Ener1, Fisker Automotive all received big government-backed loans, and they all went bankrupt.

The waste didn't stop at loans for private companies. No, the Obama administration gave a $3.5 billion grant to California for a high-speed rail project. This was California's planned bullet train, and it was supposed to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Let's fast forward 10 years and see where we are with that bullet train. After skyrocketing project costs, the Governor of California has recently thrown in the towel. Only a fraction of the original project is going to be completed, and delays continue to be announced.

So you might ask: Well, why are they completing a small fraction of this railroad, this high-speed bullet train that was supposed to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco? Well, by completing a small part of the original project, California can avoid having to pay back the taxpayers of the Nation--more wasted money.

Americans clearly remember Cash for Clunkers. What a program that was. It gave subsidies to folks for the purchase of a new greener vehicle as a way to stimulate auto sales and auto industry jobs. The big problem was it didn't work. One analysis found that the Cash for Clunkers Program created one job for every $1.4 million spent. That is quite a lot of money for a single job. The program itself was a clunker, and it spent way too much taxpayer cash.

The list goes on and on, as I have outlined in this report. The Obama administration frittered away billions of taxpayer dollars. They chose people close to the administration to receive the money. The economy remained sluggish, and the taxpayers got fleeced.

There actually was one bright economic spot during the great recession, and, of course, I will tell you that was the oil and gas sector in this country.

By the end of 2013, nonfarm employment was an anemic 1.9 percent higher than it had been at the end of the year in 2009. In contrast, the oil and gas sector's employment was 16 percent higher. While the rest of the economy was stuck in the mud, the oil and gas sector was growing and creating American jobs. That robust job growth helped make America energy independent and secure.

You would think that the lessons from the failed 2009 stimulus and the U.S. energy boom would be obvious and would be repeated today, but the Biden administration seems blinded by the Solyndra syndrome. President Biden wants to use the exact same playbook now and this time with a much heftier pricetag.

The President wants to spend trillions of dollars, not just billions. Included in that spending would be hundreds of billions of dollars in green job training programs, green energy financing, increased high- speed rail, new electric vehicles. It is the same plan that failed under President Obama.

At the same time the Biden administration is recycling the farfetched so-called jobs plan, the Biden administration is attacking oil and gas jobs--good jobs that people have today.

On his first day in office, President Biden signed an Executive order to kill the Keystone XL Pipeline. Now, this eliminated the prospect of 11,000 American jobs. Making matters worse, President Biden implemented a ban on new oil and gas production on public lands, a huge impact on my home State of Wyoming. A permanent ban on oil and gas leasing on Federal lands could destroy up to 1 million jobs across America.

My report finds the Biden administration is pushing expensive fantasy jobs and killing real ones at a time that America cannot afford to lose these jobs. It is a recipe for repeated disaster.

We all remember how President Obama promised shovel-ready jobs, and he then later admitted that the jobs weren't coming, as he said, because ``shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.''

We know we can expect the same thing this time. The expensive, wasteful job-killing Solyndra syndrome is back. It was a terrible idea in 2009. And here we are a dozen years later, once again, spending a lot more, and doing that on the same bad ideas is now even worse than before.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the distinguished career of Wendy Curran. Wendy will soon retire as vice president of care delivery and provider affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming. Her retirement marks the end of a remarkable career dedicated to improving the lives of people in my State.

Wendy Curran has been at the center of Wyoming health policy for over 30 years. She earned the trust of folks across the State with her broad knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for improving care in Wyoming. She forged alliances and friendships on both sides of the aisle, and both Republicans and Democrats respected Wendy's insights and relied on her unique knowledge.

As the daughter of a third-generation rancher, Wendy grew up on the Peryam Ranch in the Upper North Platte River Valley. During this time, spent riding horses and playing in the Encampment River, she learned lessons that would later contribute to her successful career. Daily chores taught her the value of hard work. She developed the ability to ``heal up and hair over,'' a cowboy's term for resiliency. In fact, her grit, humility, and determination represent several of the key tenets in our State ethics code, the Code of the West: be tough, but fair; take pride in your work; do what has to be done.

Throughout her career, Wendy held many distinguished jobs at all levels of government. She began by working for U.S. Senator Cliff Hansen. Other members of Wyoming's congressional delegation also benefited from her work. Wendy served U.S. Congressman Dick Cheney and U.S. Senator Malcom Wallop as well.

In 1991, Wendy joined the Wyoming Medical Society. Wendy was the passionate voice of Wyoming physicians and patients, serving as the assistant director of public affairs and later leading the organization as executive director. Wendy testified frequently before the Wyoming Legislature, advocating on behalf of Wyoming physicians and patients. She was known to introduce herself as a ``representative to the people who save Wyoming residents' lives,'' a job she took very seriously. She worked on many important provider issues. In particular, she was the leading voice supporting medical liability reform.

Wendy was instrumental in Wyoming joining the organization now known as WWAMI. This acronym stands for the States it represents: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. These States, working through the University of Washington Medical School, are part of a medical education consortium. This allows students in Wyoming to attend medical school at the University of Washington while participating in clerkships both in Wyoming and across the region. The program gives the students wide exposure to practicing medicine in rural communities. Wendy deserves credit for helping to bring this successful program to Wyoming, and she continues to serve on the University of Wyoming WWAMI curriculum review panel.

In 2005, Wendy left the Medical Society. Recognizing her skills, Governor Dave Freudenthal asked Wendy to serve in his administration. In this role, Wendy championed initiatives to improve childcare, substance abuse services, and an innovative Medicaid pilot program known as Healthy Frontiers. Her talents for creating health policy were so respected that she also helped incoming Governor Matt Mead during his administration's transition. That Freudenthal was a Democrat and Mead a Republican made no difference. Wendy proved yet again that partisan politics mattered far less than honoring her commitment to the people of Wyoming.

Wendy spent the last 10 years of her career working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming. In the midst of widespread reform and changes, Wendy remained committed to improving the State's health care system. Her excellent communication skills and well-established knowledge of the industry benefited her immensely. She embraced her role as a liaison between the insurance agency and providers, often bridging gaps and fostering connection. She ends her career as a trusted adviser to all in the health care industry.

In 2001, I was honored to join Wendy in the inaugural class of Leadership Wyoming, a program developed to inspire Wyoming's leaders through exploration and connection. Already an established leader in her own right, Wendy fully committed herself to the 8-month program and later became one of its most fervent supporters.

Wendy also lent her talents and expertise to the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations. These included Peak Wellness Center, the Wyoming

Health Resources Network, the Wyoming Small Business Development Center, and CLIMB Wyoming. Her work with CLIMB Wyoming is of special significance. CLIMB is a unique nonprofit empowering single mothers to develop life and career skills. This holistic program helps these women start new careers and ultimately become self-sufficient.

Wendy's accomplishments speak for themselves. She views herself as a humble public servant. Still, her impact on health care in Wyoming cannot be understated and will be recognized for years to come.

Finally, I must conclude my remarks by recognizing the most important people in Wendy's life, her family. Her late husband Denny was a good friend and an outstanding journalist. His passing in 2012 was a tremendous loss. I know he is looking down on Wendy, their three children, Katie, Laura, and Tim, and granddaughter Lillian, with pride today.

Wendy and I have been personal friends for nearly four decades. She represents the best of Wyoming in every sense of the word. One could not have a better friend than Wendy Curran.

The people of Wyoming are fortunate to have Wendy Curran serve our State for so many years. She is a leader, mentor, and advocate to many, especially women working in health care. Bobbi and I are proud to call her our friend. Wendy will be missed in retirement, but I know she will continue to find meaningful ways to serve and to make Wyoming a better place for everyone. Thank you, Wendy, for your committed and dedicated service.

Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Abigail for her hard work as an intern in my

Washington, DC, office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming.

Abigail is a native of Casper. She is a senior at the University of Wyoming, where she studies political science and gender and women's studies. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank Abigail for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.

Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Arianna for her hard work as an intern in the Senate Republican conference. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming.

Arianna is a native of Maryland. She is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studies government and politics. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank Arianna for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.

Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Nolan for his hard work as an intern in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I recognize his efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming.

Nolan is a native of Colorado Springs. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, where he studied English literature. He has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made him an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of his work is reflected in his great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank Nolan for the dedication he has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our team. I know he will have continued success with all of his future endeavors. I wish him all my best on his journey.

Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Sarahi for her hard work as an intern in my Casper office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming.

Sarahi is a native of Casper and a student at Casper College. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank Sarahi for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.

First, Madam President, I would like to associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from Iowa, who did a magnificent job of pointing out what we are facing as a nation. And I admire her fortitude, her hard work, and her dedication as the vice chairman of the Republican conference

Madam President, 99 days ago, Joe Biden took office. He took the oath of office. We were there. He gave an inaugural address. He said that ``with unity, we can do great things.'' He said that ``unity is the path forward.'' Well, that was the last example of unity and bipartisanship that we have seen from President Biden. He has lost all credibility when it comes to bipartisanship or unity.

In just 99 days, President Biden has already shown himself to be one of the most radical Presidents in American history.

When I am in Wyoming, as I am every weekend and have been over Easter, as well, traveling the State and talking to people, they ask about two specific issues; one is energy, and the second is the southern border. On these two specific issues, President Biden has already done tremendous damage--damage to our country, damage to our people, damage to our economy.

Right after his inaugural address about unity, President Biden drove to the White House, sat there, went in, and threw the unity speech out the window, and he drew a big target on the back of American energy, and he pulled the trigger. He shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline; he ended new fossil fuel projects on Federal lands; and he cut off traditional energy loans to developing nations that need our help and look to us for help.

Well, these steps aren't going to reduce carbon emission, but they will most certainly reduce jobs and wages for American energy workers.

Also, on his first day, President Biden flipped on the big green light switch on our southern border. He sent out the word, laid out the welcome mat, and people from around the world came illegally to the United States. He stopped construction on the border wall, and he ended a policy that was successful. The policy was that known as the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy.

Now, the result wasn't just one crisis; it was two. It was a humanitarian crisis, and it was also a national security crisis.

It is a national security crisis because two-thirds of the Border Patrol agents--and I went to the border and went with a number of Republican Senators and went on a midnight patrol with our border agents, and they told us that two-thirds of the Border Patrol agents are unable to do their jobs and keep us safe, unable to be there to enforce the law. And they said that, so far, people have come into the country illegally from 56 different nations.

The whole world knows the border is open. Our friends know it; our enemies know it; and this will make us less safe as a nation.

There is also a humanitarian crisis at the border caused by President Biden. Just a month ago, a 9-year-old from Mexico died trying to cross the Rio Grande River. It is heartbreaking. That is what happens, though. This is what happens when more and more people try to come illegally to cross our border.

Children who cross the border unaccompanied are sent to a facility that is prepared and appropriate for about 250 children. The day we were there, there were 7,000 crammed in like sardines. That is Joe Biden's plan for immigration.

Ten percent of these children are testing positive for coronavirus. And we saw the testing process. We know that every child there was exposed to coronavirus based on the high percentage of those who were testing positive.

Now, as these young people are released, those who have tested negative but who have just been exposed in the days before, they are being sent all across America, and they are spreading the virus and unknown variants of the virus to this country.

Joe Biden is the superspreader of coronavirus today. Democrats think this is just fine.

The Vice President of the United States is going to be up here tonight on Capitol Hill. She says: ``We're making progress.''

Nancy Pelosi says: ``We're on a good path on the border.''

Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas says: ``The border is secure and closed,'' even though he has also said this is the worst case in 20 years for young people and we are on a path for up to 2 million illegal immigrants coming across the border this year.

The White House refuses to use the word ``crisis.'' In fact, when the President and his Press Secretary have accidentally called it a crisis--and they both have done that--the White House issued a correction. They said: No, no, not a crisis; only a challenge.

Who do they think they are fooling? Two million illegal immigrants this year is not a challenge. It is a crisis. It is chaos at the border. It is catastrophic.

Ninety-nine days ago, none of this was happening. For 99 days, Republicans in the U.S. Senate have repeatedly looked for common ground with President Biden and the Democrats. We have stood for American energy. We worked to secure the border. Yet for 99 days those efforts have been blocked by President Biden and a Democratic majority--which is hardly a big majority when it is 50-50, which you would think would be a mandate to move to the middle.

Well, President Biden still has a thousand days or so left in his term. Tonight's speech might sound a lot like his inaugural address with lots of promises. The American people know talk is cheap. It is time for President

Biden to start to practice what he is preaching.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, first, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Boozman, Senator Marshall, and Senator Durbin all be permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes prior to the vote.

Madam President, I come to the floor today to associate myself with the remarks from the Senator from Oklahoma.

We are here as Republicans who believe in free markets, and so do the American people. The Democrats, on the other hand, are running a 100- yard dash towards socialism. They have decided to redistribute America's wealth. President Obama used to call this ``spreading the wealth around.'' Democrats are taking the wealth of our Nation and they are gathering it up in Washington, DC, and deciding then how they want to spend it.

In March, President Biden signed a big payoff to the people who run the Democratic Party--the union bosses, the DC bureaucrats, and bankrupt blue States. He said it was a coronavirus relief bill. Yet only 9 percent of the money actually went for healthcare.

Just weeks later, President Biden came back again, now requesting $2.7 trillion under the namesake of ``infrastructure.'' When you read through it, it looks like once again he is trying to spread the wealth around, gathering it not for what we consider traditional infrastructure--roads, bridges, ports, highways, airports, waterways, all of those things, dams, reservoirs, you name it--it seems that once again it is going for the Democratic elites. It looks to me to be a slush fund for liberal spending, going to union bosses, climate activists, and the Silicon Valley contributors to the party.

Where is the money coming from? The last bill went on the credit card. The next one is coming out of the wallets of the American people. President Biden is proposing the largest tax increase in a generation. Working families and small businesses are going to be on the hook. They will put the American worker at a disadvantage.

Look, there hasn't been a proposed tax increase of this size in this century. It is going to affect everyone in this country, and it is going to be a rude awakening for the many small businesses that are finally reopening after living the past year with the coronavirus pandemic. Now, in addition to the struggle they have been through, they are going to be hit with a big tax increase. Now, in addition to the struggles they have been through, they are going to be hit with a big tax increase.

Now, we know who is going to end up footing the bill for the President's tax hikes. He may say that it is just corporations. The American people are going to be hit with this tax increase. You can call it a tax hike on corporations, but that absolutely just ricochets back onto the people who work for those businesses and who buy the products of those businesses.

President Biden is going to try to spin it another way, but the highest costs of all of this is going to be borne by American families.

Higher taxes, of course, mean fewer jobs. One estimate says that the bill is going to kill a million jobs. These aren't CEO jobs. These are middle-class jobs. These are the jobs of hard-working families in my state of Wyoming and in States all around the country.

Prices across the country are already going up under President Biden. The cost of energy went up 9 percent just last month. Gasoline prices are up over 50-cents a gallon since President Biden took office and started his Executive orders attacking American energy.

If this bill that is being proposed now under the name of infrastructure becomes law, well, we will know that the price increases are just beginning. Because of President Biden, more wealth is about to be taken from places all across middle America and certainly in my home State of Wyoming. It will be sent to the Democrat elites in Manhattan and Silicon Valley and, of course, here in Washington, DC.

Democrats are focused on redistributing our wealth. They want to take it from working families and give it to their liberal donors. It is a bad law. It is bad economics. And I urge my colleagues to stand for jobs, for higher wages, and for the working men and women of our Nation, who know what infrastructure really means and the kind of infrastructure they need for their communities.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I come to join my colleague from Florida, former Governor and now U.S. Senator, and talk about the Save Democracy Act and the issues that are facing our Nation today, and I want to

do that because over the past several weeks, Democrats, the media, their corporate allies have been misleading the American people about our voting laws.

Democrats have been pushing a false narrative all around the country, trying to scare Americans into pushing and pressuring Congress into passing a Federal election takeover.

Federal election laws and State election laws, as guided by our Constitution, say that it is States that should be making the decisions about how we run our elections at home. But what you see coming out of the Democrats in their H.R. 1--that is called S. 1--is a law that changes things dramatically and takes decisions out of the folks at home in Wyoming and puts them in the hands of folks in Washington, DC. People in Wyoming, as I talked to them the last 2 weeks, don't want anything to do with that.

Now, Democrats have this listed as their No. 1 priority bill for the year; otherwise, why would they have listed it as No. 1? Not coronavirus, not pandemic, not infrastructure--no, taking elections away from the States, putting them in the hands of Washington.

The bill is over 800 pages long. Virtually every page would, I believe, make it easier to cheat. That is not what the American people want. They want to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.

The bill, H.R. 1, now S. 1, expands ballot harvesting, which is where paid political operatives, unsupervised, can go door to door, nursing home bed to nursing home bed, picking up people's ballots and deciding which ballots to turn in and which ballots to destroy.

The bill would register people automatically when they sign up for Medicaid or assistance in other forms from the government. It would force taxpayers to fund political campaigns and political operatives. Paying for campaign ads, your tax dollars would go for that and things that--a candidacy you are not for, and you would be paying for their ads and their computer time and their web pages and their yard signs. People in Wyoming don't want that.

When I describe each one of these to the people of Wyoming, they say: Don't let that happen to America.

I think many Democrats haven't read the 800 pages, and I know if the American people read the 800 pages, they would be just as upset as the people in Wyoming who have heard what is in the bill.

The American people want security in elections. We want integrity, accountability, transparency in how it all works, and that is why I am so proud to be here and supporting Senator Scott and cosponsoring, along with Senator Hyde-Smith and Senator Lummis, a bill that gives confidence to people in elections, because our bill--overall bill bans voter harvesting. It says no to automatic registration. It requires at least a Social Security number to register to vote. Under our bill, you could still vote by mail, as people have done year after year in Wyoming--done it very successfully. You just need to request a ballot, say your information is up-to-date, and then you get the ballot in the mail--basic commonsense measures to protect against fraud and against error.

So the differences between what we propose and what the Democrats propose could not be more clear. I believe the Democrat bill makes it easier to commit fraud; the Republican bill makes it harder to commit fraud.

If the Democrat bill were good, they wouldn't need to use scare tactics, which they have been using all across the country, and wouldn't need to spread false information.

So the people of Wyoming tell me they want elections to be fair. They want them to be free from voter fraud. They want it to be easier to vote, as I said, harder to cheat, and just basically using an identification card or a means to identify yourself when you go to vote would make common sense. That is what we do in Wyoming, and it should be continued to be allowed so when someone shows up to vote, they can just confirm that they are who they say they are.

And that is why I am proud to stand here today with Senator Scott and support him on the floor

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I come to the floor today to oppose the Democrats' latest liberal spending spree. Just over a month ago, Democrats put $2 trillion onto America's credit card. They said it was for coronavirus. That was false advertising, and that is because only $1 out of every $11 in the $2 trillion being spent was actually going to public health.

The bill turned out to be a big payoff to the people who run the Democratic Party: the union bosses, the DC bureaucrats, and the bankrupt blue States. Democrats crammed the bill through the Senate with just 50 votes. Democrats haven't even finished their victory lap.

Yet, at this time, they want another $2.3 trillion. They have already told us they are going to cram it through with just 50 votes, once again, and, once again, they are using more false advertising.

President Biden calls this an infrastructure bill. Well, that is a new definition of the word ``infrastructure.'' Only about $1 out of every $20 would go to roads and bridges.

Now, here are just a few other items that the Democrats call infrastructure: $100 billion for so-called workforce development and over $300 billion on housing and upgrading of Federal buildings-- Federal buildings--the ones we work in. It includes $100 billion for something called the greening of schools, which, when you go through and see what does that include, it includes making greener lunches. It includes eliminating paper products in the cafeterias and making the cafeteria trays that people use to carry their food, makes each one of those into trays that can be recycled.

Call it what you will, this is not infrastructure. The largest spending part of the bill is $400 billion to expand Medicaid. The list goes on and on. That is just the tip of the iceberg.

Now, some of the spending in the overall bill may have merit. That spending should go through regular order, going through committees and coming to the floor of the Senate for amendments and then votes.

But it is still not infrastructure. This isn't an infrastructure bill. Even the White House Press Secretary admitted it. She said this. She said it is partly infrastructure--partly infrastructure.

Now, the bill includes another big payoff to the union bosses because it forces long-term healthcare facilities to unionize if they want to receive the funding in the bill. There is Medicaid expansion. That would hurt States like Wyoming and others that protect and believe in the right to work.

The bill would also hurt Wyoming because of its attack on American energy. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has compared the bill to the Green New Deal. One Democratic Senator admitted it. He said it is a way of accomplishing many of the goals of the Green New Deal.

Out of all the payoffs in the bill, one of the biggest goes to the electric car industry. The bill would spend more money on electric cars than it does on roads, bridges, ports, airports, and waterways combined--an astonishing amount of money.

President Biden announced the bill in one of America's greatest energy-producing regions, which is Western Pennsylvania. Yet energy- producing States like Pennsylvania and Wyoming have a lot to lose from this bill.

The bill would spend $10 billion on something called the Civilian Climate Corps. These are taxpayer-funded activists who would advance environmental justice. That is what it says: $10 billion to Civilian Climate Corps to advance environmental justice.

And then there is another $35 billion on climate innovation and $27 billion in clean energy and sustainability accelerator. It just seems that they are throwing money and names onto things. These are slush funds. They are going to give government bureaucrats more power to pick winners and losers in our economy.

We all remember the disaster called Solyndra. It was a Silicon Valley startup. The last time Joe Biden was in the White House, his administration, along with Barack Obama, gave them $500 million-- taxpayer dollars--for so-called clean energy. We later found out that Solyndra lied on their loan application form, and, apparently, no one in

the administration caught it. The company went bankrupt--500 million taxpayer dollars gone forever.

President Biden is bringing back this kind of central planning. It is all in the name, he says, of green energy. If we pass this bill, I will tell you that we are going to see another Solyndra and another one after that and another one after that.

So how are Democrats going to pay for this piece of legislation? Well, they are going to cram through the largest tax increase of the century. They are going to use 15 years' worth of tax increases to pay for 8 years of spending. So the spending is temporary, but the tax increases will be permanent.

If the bill becomes law, it will be harder for American companies to compete with companies in other countries, and the concern is that means more companies are going to move overseas because taxes there will be lower. When they do, they are going to take good American jobs with them.

You know, with the Republican tax cuts that we did in 2017, we saw $1 trillion flow back into this country in just 2 years. President Biden is ready to send all of that money back overseas.

The official name of the bill is the American Jobs Plan. Yet it is not much of a jobs bill. The jobs this bill would allegedly create would cost $800,000 each job. It is a lot to pay for a single job when communities all across the country have outside of their businesses ``Help wanted'' signs.

I saw one in Afton, WY, last week. A small community in western Wyoming there is a convenience store, and the sign said:

Your father called. He said you need a job. We're hiring.

There are signs like that all over the country. Small businesses and small business owners I have talked to continue to say: We cannot find people to hire. And yet the administration has a jobs plan, they say, where it is going to cost taxpayers $800,000 for each job to create. At the same time, the bill is going to eliminate many good-paying energy jobs, and that is a real concern.

Democrats are cramming this through at a time when our economy is already recovering. The pandemic is coming to an end. The experts say we are going to create 11 million more jobs over the next 4 years even if we don't pass the bill. And there are jobs available today.

One analysis from the Wharton Business School said the bill would actually slow down the economy. That is because the bill would discourage businesses from investing. It is not an infrastructure bill, not much of a jobs bill. It is a slush fund for more liberal spending. That is what is on the minds of the Democrats who are pushing this bill forward.

It is not what the United States needs right now. We need real infrastructure improvements. We need a real infrastructure bill--one that will build road, bridges, our waterways, and allow us to do things faster and better and cheaper and smarter. If Democrats want to do that, Republicans are ready to support it.

Last Congress, I worked with Senator Tom Carper of Delaware on a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. I chaired it in the last Congress. Our bill was so bipartisan that Senator Bernie Sanders voted for it, and so did I. It passed the committee unanimously, 21 to 0. When we went to work with Democrats in the House on the legislation, they ignored it and replaced it with the Green New Deal.

That is what President Biden is doing right now as well. He is ignoring the bill we passed and trying to sneak the Green New Deal into law.

So I would urge my Democratic colleagues to reverse course, to throw out this liberal wish list, this slush fund of liberal spending, and start over working in a bipartisan way with Republicans.

We should start with a bipartisan bill that the Senate Committee on EPW passed last year. Instead of paying off the unions and the climate activists, let's rebuild our roads and our bridges and do it in a way that works for all Americans.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, first, I would like to associate myself with the refined remarks of the Senator from Alabama because I, too, have come to talk about the crisis on our southern border.

The Senator from Alabama and I traveled together, along with Senator Cruz and Senator Cornyn, just a few weeks ago. I think we had a total of 19 Senators who went to see the crisis firsthand.

And, in fact, it is not just one crisis, as the Senator from Alabama and I have both spoken about. It is a double crisis. It is a national security crisis as well as a humanitarian crisis.

We went on a midnight patrol. And what did we see at midnight? Well, we saw, and we heard. Not just did we see the lights on, on the other side of the Rio Grande; we heard the catcalls from traffickers who were taunting our U.S. Border Patrol agents, saying in Spanish: You cannot stop us now. That is what we are hearing from the criminals and the traffickers across the Rio Grande.

We saw signs on the ground directing migrants to the facilities where they will then turn themselves in, and we spoke to the Border Patrol agents. They told us that their jobs got an awful lot harder on January 20, which is the day Joe Biden became President of the United States.

President Biden flipped over the sign and sent a clear message around the world that said the U.S. border is now wide open. Because of that clear message, Border Patrol arrests and detentions have doubled since January.

In March, Border Patrol took 171,000 migrants into custody. Nearly 19,000 of those were unaccompanied minors. That is an alltime record in the United States. And the pace that we are on now is to get to 2 million illegal immigrants crossing our border this very year.

According to the Secretary of Homeland Security, nominated by President Biden, this is the most in 20 years--the most in 20 years, right now, this year, under President Biden. The Biden White House has essentially told the world anyone under 18 can cross our border, and we will let you in. So it is no surprise that today we are seeing a historic influx of children, of teenagers crossing our border.

The Border Patrol agents tell us two-thirds of them can't do their regular jobs because they are too busy babysitting these children or escorting adults to the areas where they will turn themselves in. More children today are in Border Patrol custody than ever before. And in a day of a global pandemic, I will tell you, as I was there with the Senators in a location designed for 250 during coronavirus, there were 7,000 crammed in like sardines, with foil blankets to huddle under, and no social distancing--none at all.

This is a Biden-created humanitarian crisis. Under the law, children can only be in Border Patrol custody for 72 hours. We wouldn't want our own children there for 72 minutes. Yet there are thousands and thousands in custody for over 10 days

And 10 percent of the young people being tested are testing positive for coronavirus. We watched the testing in the courtyard where I was. They were all together, and then they tested some, and they said: OK. You test negative. You go that way. You test positive. You go that way.

But absolutely every one of them was exposed to each other. So with the fact that 10 percent are testing positive, it is highly likely that the remainder will test positive as well. And what is the Biden administration doing about that? They are sending those young people-- either those people just exposed to coronavirus, just standing right next to somebody with coronavirus, sending them all across the country, exposed to whoever knows what strain of coronavirus it was.

So this is a humanitarian crisis, but, I will tell you, it is also a national security crisis. The Department of Homeland Security has now arrested two men from the country of Yemen who are on the terrorist watchlist. The Border Patrol says they were apprehending people not just from Central America and Mexico, they have apprehended people from 56 different countries there at the border since President Biden has taken the oath of office.

Last week, Border Patrol agents outside San Diego arrested a member of MS-13, one of the most vicious criminal gangs in the world.

Now, these are just a couple of examples that we know about. Imagine things we don't know about, the people who haven't been caught, people who are roaming among us today in the United States.

That is what I hear about in Wyoming. I have just been home for 2 weeks talking to people. This is the No. 1 topic that I heard about traveling the State of Wyoming.

So we have two crises at the southern border: the humanitarian crisis and the national security crisis. President Biden has caused them both, and President Biden can stop them. Yet the Biden administration is still in denial. It refuses to even admit that there is a crisis. President Biden still hasn't been to the border. Neither has the Vice President, and she is supposed to be in charge of finding a solution to the problem.

So, once again, today I call on President Biden and Vice President Harris to go to the border and face the truth. Today is the day. Go to the border. Face the truth. The President and Vice President should talk to the Border Patrol agents. They should hear the stories that we have heard from them. It is the stories that they want to tell. They need to hear these stories. They need to face the reality.

Border Patrol agents told me directly: Finish the wall and bring back the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy because those are things that will make a difference. Until we do those two things, the jobs of the Border Patrol agents will continue to get tougher and tougher every day.

Vast numbers, vast majorities of American people support the Border Patrol agents. I know there are people on the other side of the aisle who want to eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement, want to get rid of the border line and having people who are patrolling the borders, want to get rid of it all and have open borders fully and without the kind of national security that we need at our borders.

But according to the Associated Press, only one in four Americans approves of how President Biden is handling the border situation. President Biden should listen to the American people. We need change at the border. We need it today. We cannot wait. Our national security cannot wait. The humanitarian crisis must be met and dealt with.

Republicans are going to continue to offer commonsense solutions that will make a real difference at the border. We want to finish the wall. We want to bring back the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. We want to stem this crisis--the humanitarian crisis and the national security crisis-- that is facing our Nation today. We stand for enforcing the law, for closing loopholes that encourage illegal immigration. We want to secure the border.

So I would urge President Biden and all of my Democratic colleagues to please face the facts. Join us in our effort. It is time to bring this crisis to an end.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the service and bravery of Officer Jacob Carlson and Officer Randi Garrett of the Casper Police Department.

On May 6, 2018, Jake and Randi responded to a call of children driving a car around a dirt lot in Casper near Fairdale Avenue. When Officer Garrett arrived on scene, she found a 3-year-old driving the vehicle with an adult and another child in the vehicle. The adult was uncooperative in providing identification and attempted to flee after Officer Carlson arrived on the scene. While Jake attempted to stop the assailant from fleeing, he was shot multiple times with a concealed weapon. Despite being shot with heavy blood loss, Officer Carlson returned fire, and both officers found cover behind the car. Officer Carlson's firearm was hit by gunfire. His actions allowed Officer Garrett to find cover and eventually expose herself to fire a single shot, rendering the assailant no longer a threat. Jake and Randi's actions were selfless and ultimately saved the lives of two young children.

When officers in our community put on their uniforms, they know that at any time during their shift, they could walk into harm's way. Without hesitation, they still put on their uniform every day. This speaks louder than words can describe. It speaks to their bravery, professionalism, and commitment to the people of Wyoming.

In 2008, Congress passed the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act, CBOB, establishing an honor for exceptional acts of bravery in the line of duty by Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement officers.

On April 24, 2021, the Wyoming congressional delegation will present Officers Carlson and Garrett the Congressional Badge of Bravery for their heroic actions. It will be a high honor to participate in this ceremony.

I want to thank Officers Carlson and Garrett for their exceptional valor on this tragic day. The example and professionalism they have set will shape future generations of police officers throughout Wyoming and across our great country.

All of Wyoming and the law enforcement community are so thankful for Officer Carlson's recovery and Officer's Garrett's resolve.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Murray and I be permitted to complete our remarks prior to the vote for up to 5 minutes each.

Madam President, today the Senate is going to vote on the nomination of David Turk, who will be serving as Deputy Secretary of Energy. If confirmed, he is going to play a critical role in our Nation's energy agenda and in leading the Department.

His experience in energy policy is extensive. He served in leadership positions at the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of State, and the National Security Council. He is an expert in the field, and his qualifications are very clear.

It is also clear from his nomination hearing that he is dedicated to all types of American energy. This is critical if we are going to keep America an energy-dominant nation. I especially appreciated his commitment to advance nuclear and carbon capture utilization and sequestration technologies.

During his hearing, he said that there are huge opportunities on carbon capture utilization and sequestration if we can work together and really go to scale. He also emphasized the need to construct CO2 pipelines to move the captured carbon, and I agree. Carbon capture technologies hold the key to major emission reduction while enabling America to use the tremendous natural resources with which we are blessed.

This issue has broad bipartisan support. Last Congress, I worked with Democrats, including Sheldon Whitehouse and Tom Carper, as well as Republicans, including Shelley Moore Capito, to pass the USE IT Act into law. This bipartisan law will support the development of carbon capture and direct air capture techniques.

This kind of groundbreaking research is already happening in Wyoming. The Integrated Test Center located outside of Gillette, WY, is hosting carbon capture research teams today. These research teams are looking at how we can take captured carbon emissions and transform them into marketable products like building materials, clothing, and even hand sanitizer. So I would welcome Mr. Turk and Energy Secretary Granholm to come to Gillette to see the fantastic research taking place there.

Mr. Turk was also very responsive to the committee's questions for the record. That has not been the case with every one of President Biden's nominees so far.

If he is confirmed, Mr. Turk must prioritize policies that take advantage of the enormous economic and national security benefits generated by America's oil, natural gas, and coal resources.

The Biden administration has taken a sledgehammer to the economies of Wyoming and other Western States by declaring war on these natural resources. Let me be very clear: Coal, oil and natural gas are not going away. America is going to rely on these resources for decades to come. We need to use and promote every kind of American energy and the thousands of jobs that come with them

Coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and renewables are all essential to America's energy mix. Mr. Turk demonstrated that he understood that reality during his nomination hearing. He can be sure that I will hold him to the commitments he made during his nomination hearing to expand carbon capture as well as nuclear power. I am going to continue to hold the Biden administration accountable as well.

As I did in committee, I will support Mr. Turk's nomination on the floor today.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the crisis that is affecting our country right now, and it is the crisis at our southern border. Later this week, I will travel to Texas to inspect the situation firsthand.

My Republican colleagues and I will first say thank you to our law enforcement officers who are there on the frontlines. Their work is always important, and it is especially important at this time.

The President said on Sunday that he hopes to visit the border. He said he hopes to visit the border ``at some point.'' Well, with all due respect, the American people don't have time to wait. I invite the President to join us this Friday. Come with us. See the situation. Witness it firsthand.

Here are the facts. In the month of February, Federal agents apprehended more than 100,000 illegal immigrants crossing our southern border. That is more than double the number from last February. So in just 28 days--28 days of February--over 100,000 illegal immigrants crossed our border.

You know, illegal immigration numbers usually go down in the winter. It rises in the spring and peaks in the summer. We have every reason to expect that this is only going to get much worse in the months ahead. Even the Biden administration admits it. They admit that we are on pace this year to have more illegal immigrants than any year over the last 2 decades.

Why is this happening? Well, if you ask the migrants, they will tell you the answer. His name is Joe Biden. There are photographs of migrants near Tijuana wearing shirts that say: ``BIDEN PLEASE LET US

Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, the Democrats have just passed a $1.9 trillion spending package. They filled the bill with lots of partisan priorities. They refused to work with Members on this side of the aisle. Almost all of what we are doing here--have done there is going on a credit card. That is going to have to be paid for by our children and their children.

Democrats also ignored the Medicare sequester as part of that $1.9 trillion bill. As a doctor, I have cared for patients in Wyoming for more than two decades. I cannot ignore this decision.

There are more cuts to healthcare providers serving seniors. That is what these have done. They go into effect starting April 1. They are coming.

Congress must help those working on the frontlines fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. It should be our highest priority. Ignoring cuts to Medicare while spending $1.9 trillion on other things, to me, is irresponsible.

Instead, just a few days after their partisan spending bill was signed into law, here we have the chairman of the Budget Committee back asking for additional money.

Now, he knows the right thing to do is to help these Medicare providers on the frontlines, and I want to do exactly the same thing. Once again, instead of working on a bipartisan basis, Senate Democrats are rushing through another partisan spending package.

There is a better way. Senator Cotton and I have introduced the Protecting Seniors Access to Healthcare Act. Our legislation takes a small amount of the money from State and local governments as part of that $1.9 trillion bill. Instead of billions going to Gavin Newsom and instead of billions going to Andrew Cuomo, our legislation gives a small fraction of that money to help our healthcare providers around the country. Instead of a blank check, our bill gets the money to where it is needed the most: to healthcare providers on the frontlines of this pandemic.

Our bill also includes commonsense provisions to ensure that taxpayer money is not given to illegal immigrants or prisoners. Our bill simply says that if you are here illegally, you don't get the payments in the Democratic spending bill.

Senator Cotton and I know we can't hand out American taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants. That is why our border is being flooded right now--because President Biden offers benefits for illegal immigrants. We also shouldn't be cutting checks to people sitting in jail.

The question is whether Washington Democrats are interested in solving problems or just playing politics. I think we can provide much needed relief for Medicare providers, and we should. It is completely irresponsible for the Democrats and the administration to spend $1.9 trillion and fail to help the healthcare providers who are working to serve Medicare patients.

Therefore, Mr. President, I ask that the Senator modify his request to instead take up H.R. 1868 with my substitute amendment at the desk and ask unanimous consent that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I object.