Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration and the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 315.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, July 14; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; further, at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, the Senate proceed to executive session and execute the order of July 9 with respect to the Hermandorfer nomination; finally, notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture motions filed on July 10 ripen following disposition of the Hermandorfer nomination and if any nominations are confirmed during Monday's session of the Senate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, we are now at the 6-month mark of the 119th Congress, and it has been an incredibly productive 6 months here in the Senate.

We had the longest continuous work period in 15 years. We have taken more rollcall votes so far this year than at the same point in any year since at least 1989.

We confirmed the 21 members of the President's Cabinet at the fastest pace in more than 20 years. We passed 18 measures to overturn the burdensome Biden administration regulations. We confirmed 10 Ambassadors in the President's first 100 days--the most since at least the Reagan administration.

We passed two budget resolutions to advance President Trump's tax relief agenda. We passed multiple pieces of bipartisan legislation. That includes the Laken Riley Act, which requires detention for illegal immigrants who steal, assault a law enforcement officer, or seriously injure or kill a person; the HALT Fentanyl Act, which permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances as the most deadly type of drug and gives law enforcement a critical tool to prosecute those who bring those deadly substances into our country; and the GENIUS Act, which will help ensure that the United States can continue to be a leader in financial innovation and will allow Americans to exercise financial freedom with confidence.

And then, of course, we passed our reconciliation bill, which the President signed into law on July 4. This major piece of legislation permanently extends the 2017 tax relief to prevent a $4 trillion tax hike on the American people.

It permanently extends the lower rates. It permanently extends the increased standard deduction, and it permanently extends the doubled child tax credit. It also makes the 2017 small business tax relief permanent to set us up for a future of economic growth.

And that is not all. It implements additional tax relief for parents, seniors, and other hard-working Americans. It includes new pro-growth policy to help grow our economy and complement the 2017 pro-growth tax policies that we made permanent.

It implements a program to create savings accounts for newborns, with an initial deposit of $1,000 to help parents save and invest for their children's future needs--and so much more.

That is just on the tax front. The bill also makes a generational investment in securing our borders. It takes a significant step forward on addressing our readiness deficiencies and ensuring that our military will be prepared to deter and defeat any threat.

It unleashes American energy, and it achieves significant savings-- $1.5 trillion in Byrd-compliant savings, to be exact--and that is including the first real entitlement reform literally in decades.

So it has been a great 6 months. But as good as it has been, we still have a lot of work to do, and we are getting on it right away. That starts with funding the government, and that will start, as it should, in committee.

This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee is marking up 3 of the 12 fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills. And the Senate Armed Services Committee is marking up the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes funding that will later be appropriated in Defense appropriations legislation.

I am hopeful for a robust regular-order process, with full committee consideration and debate and amendment on the Senate floor. That will, of course, require bipartisan work.

I was disappointed to see the Democrat leader in his recent ``Dear Colleague'' letter implicitly threaten to shut down the government, but I am hopeful that that is not the position of the Democrat Party, the Democratic conference here in the Senate, and that we can work together in the coming weeks to pass bipartisan appropriations bills.

Funding the government is our chief priority before October, but that won't stop us from considering additional measures. We will continue to confirm the President's nominees, including his judicial nominees. I intend to bring the President's rescissions package to the floor this month for debate and amendment to ratify some of the good work the administration has done in identifying wasteful and inappropriate uses of taxpayer dollars.

We have also made substantial progress on Senator Graham's overwhelmingly bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation to enhance President Trump's leverage at the negotiating table and help end the bloodshed in Ukraine. I fully expect that that could be ready for floor consideration as early as this work period.

Senate Republicans are committed to working with the House and the White House to get this legislation through Congress and onto the President's desk.

It has been a great 6 months of work here in the Senate, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to deliver on our commitment to the American people and make our country safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, before I begin, I just want to say that I join Americans around the country in praying for the victims of the torrential flooding in Texas this weekend. More than 100 have been reported dead--among them, at least 28 children. It is a moment of unfathomable pain for so many, and my prayers are with the grieving parents and the grieving families.

I am grateful for the efforts of the rescue workers, military members, and volunteers who put themselves in harm's way to rescue flood victims. And it would be wrong to acknowledge rescuers without also mentioning the everyday Americans who died in the floods trying to save others, like the camp director who died trying to get his campers to safety.

The Scriptures say:

A greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down

his life for his friends.

These are the people we would all hope to be at the moment of our testing.

Again, my thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of these deadly floods and with those who continue to work to rescue them.

Mr. President, in the runup to last year's elections, Republicans made some promises to the American people. We promised to turn the page on the failures of the last 4 years, to help working families and to get our economy moving, to make our country stronger and more secure. Last week, we delivered legislation that will help fulfill those promises. That starts with permanent tax relief for hard- working Americans.

Back in 2017, during the first Trump administration, Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, legislation that cut Americans' tax rates, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction. But without action from Congress, a substantial part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would have expired this year, and that would have meant a huge tax hike for hard-working Americans--some $2,500 for people in my State of South Dakota.

We were determined not to let that happen--not next year, not ever-- and I am proud that our bill permanently extends all of the individual tax relief from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That means lower tax rates for every income level, permanently, an enhanced $2,200 child tax credit that is now linked to inflation, and the higher standard deduction.

And we did more than that. We included no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, an even bigger standard deduction for seniors, and new investment accounts that will help the next generation get a running start on their American dream. In a word, the American people will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money instead of sending it to the Federal Government in Washington, and they will have the freedom to spend, invest, and save more of their own money how they see fit.

In addition to providing permanent relief for American families, our bill is about getting our economy moving again. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had our economy firing on all cylinders: more jobs, higher wages, companies large and small investing in America. The 2017 tax cuts transformed the Tax Code so that it would encourage growth, and it worked, but not all of that reform was permanent until now.

Now, with the bill we passed last week, all of the 2017 pro-growth reforms are a permanent fixture of our Tax Code. That includes lower rates for small- and medium-sized businesses, the job-creating 199A small business deduction, and investment incentives that free up cash for small businesses, farmers, and ranchers to invest in their operations and in their employees. And, once again, we went even further than the 2017 reforms. We included full expensing for new factories and factory improvements to fuel economic growth and made-in- America goods and jobs.

And we included an even higher death tax threshold that will spare more family farms, ranches, and businesses from a potentially devastating tax, not to mention the expense of planning for it.

Any bill that is about a stronger, more prosperous America would be incomplete if it didn't make America's farmers and ranchers stronger. Agriculture is the lifeblood of this country, but the last few years have been incredibly challenging for our agricultural producers. Our bill tackles those challenges head-on by bolstering programs that farmers and ranchers depend upon. It raises reference prices for every covered commodity; it expands crop insurance coverage and affordability; and it supports risk management, disaster assistance, conservation programs, and critical research and disease prevention programs that are essential to a robust agriculture sector.

With this bill, Republicans are also making America more secure. We are ending the era of open borders by making a generational investment in border security. We are finally finishing the border wall. We are hiring more border agents and giving them the tools they need to keep illegal immigrants and illegal drugs out of our country. And we are hiring more ICE officers and enhancing our capacity to detain and deport criminal illegal immigrants who have taken up residence in our country.

We are also making a major investment to bolster our national defense and build a military that can defeat the threats of today and tomorrow. We are boosting shipbuilding, expanding our Air Force fleet, and investing in drones and counterdrone technology. We are restoring our defense production capacity so that we can make more munitions here in America. We are protecting the homeland with missile defense and nuclear modernization--and more. Our bill is no substitute for robust yearly defense funding, but it gives us a head start on the long-term investments necessary to turn our readiness deficiencies around and ensure that America's military is the strongest in the world for years to come.

One often overlooked part of our national security is our energy security, and our legislation will help ensure that America has a reliable and affordable energy supply for the long term. Our bill also helps deliver on Republicans' promise of a smaller and smarter government. Our bill achieves $1\1/2\ trillion in Byrd-compliant savings, including the first real entitlement reform in decades--reform that will put the programs in question on a more sustainable path for today's recipients and for tomorrow's.

I am proud that Republicans are delivering on our promises to the American people, and I can't wait to see our policies begin working to help build a safer, a stronger, and a more prosperous country. It is going to be great.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 64.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 261.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to resume Calendar No. 106.