Floor Statements

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to Calendar No. 66, S. 1582, be waived.

Mr. President, I change my vote to no.

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, let me just say that the Democrats have just used the filibuster for the fourth time this year. Why? Well, in this case, no one really knows.

This is a bipartisan issue. It is a bipartisan bill, and it had a bipartisan process from the very beginning. And if Democrats were interested in further changes, as they claim, they would have had the chance to make those changes on the floor. All they had to do was vote for cloture.

Not every bill that comes to the floor is a final bill. Now, that may be how it

worked when they were in control, but Republicans are doing it differently. We are determined to restore the Senate to what it was meant to be.

The floor is where every Senator gets a chance to give his or her input on legislation. That is what would have happened today if cloture had been invoked, the motion the Democrats just voted against. It would have meant open debate, further deliberations, further modifications. But the Democrats refused to even begin that debate.

I don't know what Democrats would change about the process this bill has gone through. It had a 3-hour markup in the Banking Committee that considered 40 amendments. That is what we used to call regular order around here.

It was reported out of the Banking Committee by a vote of 18 to 6, with 5 Democrats supporting the bill. And since the markup, Senators have been meeting nonstop to modify the bill on both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans--countless meetings.

In fact, there have been fully six versions of this bill and numerous modifications made, many of them to satisfy the Democrats' demands--six versions of this bill based on feedback and input from Members on both sides and, in many cases, modifications made that were done in response to demands made by Democrats in the bill--six versions.

I don't know how you can have any more process than that. Democrats have been accommodated every step of the way, up to and including long sessions yesterday and late into the night last night.

Mr. President, I just have to say, frankly, I just don't get it. I don't know what more they want. I don't know why you vote against proceeding to a bill on the floor after you voted to refer that same bill to the floor, as a number of Democrats, as I just said, did coming out of the Banking Committee, which, of course, makes you wonder if this is about the bill at all or if it is simply Democrats obstructing because they want to deny Republicans or President Trump a bipartisan win. Given the fact that the Democrats keep moving the goalposts, it is hard not to suspect that is the case, and I have to say that is deeply disappointing.

I strongly support this bill, but I have now changed my vote to no today so that we can bring this legislation up again if and when Democrats are ready to get serious. Clearly, today, they are not.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 83.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 84.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 42.

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

We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Executive Calendar No. 42, Michael Rigas, of Virginia, to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

John Thune, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Mike Crapo,

Lindsey Graham, Tim Sheehy, John Kennedy, John

Barrasso, Markwayne Mullin, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott

of Florida, Mike Rounds, Tommy Tuberville, Steve

Daines, Bernie Moreno, Eric Schmitt, Jon A. Husted,

Roger F. Wicker.

Mr. President, one of Republicans' biggest priorities this year is extending the tax relief we passed in 2017 and preventing a massive tax hike on hard-working Americans.

We took a big step forward before Easter with the passage of a budget resolution necessary for a final bill, and we are rapidly moving toward final bill text. Senate Republicans held hours of great discussions today to hammer out a number of details.

The issue before us is simple: If we don't act, Americans making less than $400,000 will face a $2.6 trillion tax hike next year--$2.6 trillion. Small businesses will face a $600 billion tax hike. Republicans do not intend to let that happen.

We are going to extend the tax relief we passed during President Trump's first administration, starting with the lower individual rates that put more money in Americans' pockets and eased the burden on small businesses. I say ``extend,'' but in fact, we intend to make that tax relief permanent. Hard-working Americans should not have to worry about tax hikes every few years, and small businesses need tax certainty for long-term planning. So we

are committed to not only extending the lower individual rates we passed in 2017 but to making them permanent.

We are also committed to making other small business tax relief from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, like bonus depreciation and the section No. 199A deduction. The National Federation of Independent Business reports that making the small business section No. 199A deduction permanent would result in the creation of an additional 1.2 million jobs annually, with that number climbing as the law goes on.

And the Tax Foundation reports that long-run GDP would increase by a substantial 1.1 percent. That means more jobs and more opportunities for American workers. It also means an increase in Federal revenues-- but an increase in Federal revenues the right way, by growing and expanding the economy, not raising taxes.

Ensuring permanent tax relief for hard-working Americans and small businesses would be a substantial part of the final bill, but that is not all that would be included. We will also be focusing on some of the other challenges our country has faced over the past 4 years: a dangerous border crisis, deficiencies in our military readiness, and Biden administration policies that threat to weaken our already shaky electric grid and jeopardize our Nation's energy supply.

President Trump has already made tremendous progress on securing the border and deporting criminals here illegally, but we need to dedicate additional resources to border security to secure those gains for the long term. So the final bill that we pass will include a transformational investment in securing our borders, including things like additional detention space, more Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and additional barriers and technology.

We will also make a transformational investment in our military readiness to address deficiencies and ensure that we are equipped to detour and defeat any threat.

And we will implement policies to unleash American energy production to ensure a secure, stable, and affordable energy supply for the long term.

Finally, we will take a hard look at how we spend taxpayer dollars and implement savings measures to put our country on a more fiscally sustainable path.

It is going to be a great bill, and it is going to help produce a stronger and a more secure America.

I yield the floor.