Floor Statements

I yield the floor.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman) and the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Hoeven).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) would have voted ``yea,'' the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) would have voted ``yea,'' and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt) would have voted ``yea.''

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

Mr. President, each year, I look forward to spending Thanksgiving with Wyoming men and women in uniform who are serving overseas. I had the privilege of doing it again this year. This Thanksgiving, I was with Wyoming airmen at Ramstein Air Base, which is in Germany.

These young men and women came from Casper, Cheyenne, and Riverton, serving our Nation. They are doing an outstanding job in their work and supporting missions in Europe, in Asia, and in the Middle East. They are a long way from home--eight time zones away from Wyoming--away from family, away from friends, away for the holidays.

And I go every year, wherever I can find Wyoming troops, to thank them for their service, to thank them for their commitment, to thank them for what they do to keep us safe and to keep us free, and for the sacrifices that they are making. And I also want them to know that the people at home are thinking about them and know that they are a long way from home and caring for all of us.

To me, they are heroes. They wear the uniform not for their safety but for ours. We see it abroad, and we also see it at home.

And what we have seen at home is, since August, National Guard troops have been deployed right here in Washington, DC. As a result, Washington, DC, is safer for residents and for visitors, for people who come from your State and from mine who want to come and see the Nation's Capital. What we have seen since this has begun is that

the numbers of murders, rapes, and robberies have fallen dramatically.

Tragically, just 1 day before Thanksgiving, two members of the National Guard were targeted. It was an ambush attack, and it happened just blocks away from the White House. It was an act of terrorism. The act was not only on our National Guardsmen; it was on our entire Nation.

One of the servicemembers was Sarah Beckstrom. She was an Army specialist from West Virginia. She died on Thanksgiving Day. She was only 20 years old.

The other is Andrew Wolfe. He is a staff sergeant in the Air Force, also from West Virginia, and is 24 years old. He remains hospitalized in critical condition, fighting for his life.

We join all Americans in praying for them and their families.

The terrorist who attacked them was an Afghan national. He is one of tens of thousands of Afghans who were flown into our country following Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. We now know for a fact that thousands of these individuals were not properly vetted.

I specifically questioned Joe Biden's Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, here in the Senate about this, and I questioned him under oath. Under oath, he testified--Joe Biden's Secretary of State--that ``most of them were not'' vetted.

It didn't matter to Joe Biden. He waved them all into our country.

Republicans warned repeatedly that bringing people without proper clearance from a war-torn country was a major national security risk. The negligent Biden administration ignored the warning.

In 2021, 13 American heroes were killed in the botched withdrawal from Kabul, Afghanistan. One of them was Wyoming's own Rylee McCollum. He embodied the best of Wyoming. He was a marine. He joined the Marines on his 18th birthday.

I spoke at his funeral. He was Wyoming's wrestling champion. He was about to become a father. He was just 20 years old when he died. He was the same age as Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia.

Mr. President, the fallout from Joe Biden's disastrous decision hurt Americans then, and it continues to hurt Americans today. President Trump and Republicans are working to reverse these failures. The President is strengthening law enforcement. He is deporting criminals who are here in our country illegally, and he is taking a hard look at anyone who has been improperly vetted. His actions will make America safer and more secure.

Joe Biden's disgraceful withdrawal was not an isolated failure. It was part of a pattern of dangerous, destructive, and deadly policies. More than 10 million illegal immigrants entered our country under Joe Biden and the Democrats. Millions more are known ``got-aways.'' They are individuals who were seen by the Border Patrol but never charged, never stopped, never questioned.

How many more terrorists slipped into our country because Democrats threw open the borders? Where are they now? What are they up to? We don't know.

Most Americans understand that national security begins with border security. That means we must stop people from entering our country illegally. It means we must ensure dangerous individuals do not enter our country, even through legal means, and it certainly means we must remove dangerous criminals that are in the country today.

As the Trump administration recently warned, ``mass migration poses an existential threat to Western civilization.''

So what do the Democrats think? Well, on Sunday, on ``Face the Nation,'' CBS asked the junior Senator from Virginia if the vetting process should be strengthened after the shooting. Now, that is exactly what President Trump is doing. The Senator refused to answer that question. Instead, he told a national television audience that having the National Guard in Washington, DC, was a ``political stunt.'' He blamed President Trump.

``Political stunt''? It is a matter of public safety.

President Trump is the one who is protecting American citizens from terrorist attacks--attacks like the one witnessed last week, just in front of the White House. President Trump and Republicans want every American to be safe, to be secure, and to be prosperous. This is our top priority.

After last week's brutal attack, securing our border and our communities is more urgent than ever, and Republicans are going to continue to remove criminals from the streets and get the terrorists out of the country.

I yield the floor.

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

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

Mr. President, I have five requests for committees to

meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin) and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).

Mr. President, I come to the floor today having just heard the minority leader talk about affordability. What I didn't hear him talk about are any of the things he would reverse from the 4 years of the Biden administration that brought us the high prices that we are facing today.

Republicans are attacking the affordability crisis. We are tackling it head-on. It was created by reckless spending and higher taxes during the Biden administration--an indisputable fact.

Those Democrat policies--and many Democrats in this body voted for them; we saw them--they led to the highest inflation in 40 years. In just 4 years, prices rose over 21 percent, and the cost of energy alone--and the Presiding Officer's State and mine are energy-producing States--the cost of energy for Americans went up 31 percent.

From the grocery store to the gas station, high prices stretched and strained and squeezed the budgets of working families all across America. That is why Joe Biden and the Democrats will go down in history as the party of high prices and open borders--indisputable.

Republicans are making our Nation safer and more prosperous. The economy is improving. Inflation has cooled. The economy is growing. Gas prices are now at the lowest they have been in 4 years. For the first time in years, wages are rising faster than prices. America is getting back on track.

Republicans are building on these results by ensuring that Americans get to keep more of the money they earn. That is why earlier this year we passed the Working Families Tax Cut Act.

In Wyoming alone, families can save $2,400 a year because of the tax cuts. I heard about it when I was working with coal miners last Friday in Gillette, WY.

Waiters, barbers, and bartenders are going to keep about $1,300 more each year in their pockets because of our policy of no tax on tips. Nurses and firefighters and police officers are going to keep about $1,400 more this year because of no tax on overtime.

New parents now get a thousand-dollar Trump account for every newborn child. Parents can use this money to invest in their child's future. All parents are going to get a bigger child tax credit--$2,200 per child this year.

Seniors are going to keep more of their hard-earned money as well in their Social Security. There is now a $6,000 deduction on Social Security income.

All of these things are designed to keep more money in people's pockets. That is where it belongs.

On the other hand, Democrats voted for the highest tax increase in the history of this country--$4 trillion. That is what they wanted to see.

Right now, today, Republicans are cutting, here in Congress, waste and reducing spending. We do this by restoring fiscal discipline and regular order, and we are doing it for the regular appropriations process.

Mr. President, you are part of that committee.

This is a far cry from where the Democrats were when they were in the majority. Remember last year--then, the majority leader was Chuck Schumer, and at that time, he blocked every bipartisan appropriations bill that came out of committee, blocked each and every one of them, didn't allow a single one of them to come here to the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Earlier this year, the Senate passed 3 appropriations bills of the 12 total. They each received overwhelming bipartisan support in committee, and some had unanimous support. They were signed into law last week when President Trump reopened the government. Those bills provide care for our veterans. They support food assistance through the SNAP program. Forty-two million Americans rely on that program.

The Senate is now prepared to move forward on another five appropriations bills. They eliminate billions of dollars in wasteful Washington spending. At the same time, they modernize our military, they support our servicemembers, and they invest in our long-term security. They also invest in urgent transportation needs, in keeping our highways safe.

Importantly, these bills all have proven bipartisan support. Here are the vote totals: In the committee--29 members of the committee--in the committee, Defense, 26 to 3; Commerce, Justice, and Science, 19 to 10; Interior, 26 to 2; Labor and Health, 26 to 3; Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, 27 to 1. We are talking about bills that earned overwhelmingly bipartisan support in the Appropriations Committee. They deserve to earn similarly strong bipartisan support on this floor when they reach the Senate floor.

The government shutdown is now behind us. Many Democrats--and I heard them all talking about it this past Sunday on television--they wish the government were still shut down. They didn't seem to care that they caused pain and hunger and anxiety all across the country. They want to ignore the fact that it cost the American economy tens of billions of dollars in lost productivity.

Now the government is open again. Republicans are back to investing in the priorities of the American people. We are investing in priorities to make America safer and more prosperous. We are getting America back on track with affordable prices and lower taxes. Republicans are going to continue to put more money in the pockets and purses and paychecks of America's hard-working families because that is where it belongs.

S.J. Res. 89

Mr. President, on another matter, today, the U.S. Senate will take the first steps to undo a very harmful piece of the previous administration's reckless and radical barrage of runaway regulations.

Astonishingly, last year, the Biden administration finalized a rule that prohibited new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin in my home State of Wyoming. The idea was to force Wyoming to say goodbye to producing energy that is actually affordable, available, reliable, and abundant right here in America.

The Powder River Basin supplies about 45 percent of our Nation's coal.

Wyoming is America's leading producer of coal. Cutting off access to one of our strongest resources not only kills Wyoming jobs, it attacks Wyoming's economic lifeblood. And, of course, as you know, Mr. President, it surrenders America's greatest economic advantage, which is American energy.

Now I am very, very grateful to my colleague Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. She has led the charge in the Senate to overturn this Joe Biden abuse of power, and she did it using the Congressional Review Act.

I also want to thank our Congresswoman Harriet Hageman. She led this effort in the House of Representatives, and last night, the CRA passed that Chamber, and we will address it today.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution right here today on the Senate floor.

I commend President Trump and the Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for their strong support for Wyoming coal. Both President Trump and Secretary Burgum understand that national security starts with energy security and that affordability starts with affordable American energy. That is why the Trump administration is investing in clean American coal, and that is Wyoming coal.

This week, the Senate must reverse another one of the many bad Joe Biden runaway regulations. The one we are repealing today targeted affordable, reliable, and abundant American energy. That is proof that Republicans are getting America back on track.

I yield the floor.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Crapo) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).