Floor Statements

Mr. President, I want to begin my remarks this morning by first expressing my profound gratitude to the people of South Dakota for once again trusting me to serve as their Senator. I am deeply grateful to live in South Dakota and to represent the Rushmore State.

There are a lot of things that make our State special, like its incredible natural beauty, a legacy of military service, or the fact that our State is a great place to raise a family. But what really makes our State tick, what really makes it special, is our people. And it is the honor of my life to represent South Dakotans in the U.S. Senate.

Growing up in Murdo, SD--population 456--I learned the character of South Dakotans, the work ethic, the love of country and commitment to freedom, coupled with a belief in personal responsibility and the sense of responsibility to the broader community.

Life in rural South Dakota can be tough, but growing up we knew that we were not on our own. In Murdo, we knew that if a roof collapsed under the weight of snow or a windstorm came through and wiped out a barn or we lost a friend or a family member, the whole community would rally around to help.

The values I learned growing up in South Dakota helped shape my political philosophy and are values that I strive to reflect every day here in the Senate. And as I continue my work here in Washington, my top priority will always be doing everything that I can to make life better for South Dakota families.

Our country is facing some big challenges: a security crisis at our southern border, a growing energy problem, a serious crime problem, and the worst inflation prices in decades.

I talked to a lot of South Dakotans as I traveled around the State this fall, and over and over I heard about the toll inflation is taking on family budgets and on the livelihood of farmers and ranchers in our State.

Since President Biden took office, the price of groceries has increased 18 percent. Electricity bills have increased by 22 percent. Utility gas bills have increased by 46 percent. Rent prices are up. Car prices are up. The price of car maintenance is up. Farmers and ranchers are facing higher feed costs, higher fertilizer costs, higher fuel costs. Gas prices have increased by $1.37 per gallon since President Biden took office. And the price increase for diesel, which powers so much farm and ranch equipment, has been even worse.

All told, inflation is currently costing the average household a staggering $753 a month--$753 each month. Americans can't afford that. It is no wonder that inflation topped the list of issues that Americans were concerned about when they went to the polls or that 76 percent of voters rated the economy negatively.

Regardless of who is in charge over the next 2 years, Congress needs to spend its time focused on real solutions to our inflation crisis and the other challenges facing our country.

I want to congratulate our new Republican Senators, and I look forward to the ideas that they will bring to the table and working with them to implement solutions to make life better for American workers and American families.

It has been a challenging few years for the American people. And there are some very serious issues facing our Nation. But I have faith in the future. Every Congress represents a new start, a chance to chart a fresh vision for our country. And I believe that with the right policies, we can get America thriving again. I am ready to get to work.

I yield the floor

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse).-

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski) and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse).

Madam President, yesterday I came down to the floor to talk about where we are after nearly 2 years of Democrat control of Congress and the White House.

We are, as I noted, in the midst of an inflation crisis with no end in sight. Our economy is weakening. Our energy security is diminished. Violent crime has increased, and we are dealing with record waves of illegal immigration and a serious security situation at our southern border. That is where we are.

The question is, How did we get here? The answer lies with Democrats' priorities.

The Democratic Party has moved sharply leftward over the past few years. Democrats, of course, have always been on the left side of the political spectrum. But over the past few years, what was once far-left ideology has become the Democrat mainstream. And Democrats swept into office determined to enact a far-left, Big Government agenda. It didn't matter to them that their majorities in the House and Senate were extremely narrow or that President Biden had been elected largely because he was considered to be a moderate.

Democrats had a grip on power, however tenuous, and they were determined to use it to enact their most cherished, far-left fantasies.

They started off with their $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, filled with unnecessary spending and payoffs to Democrat interest groups. They were warned their legislation ran the risk of overheating the economy and setting off inflation. But they ignored the warnings and dumped a lot of unnecessary government money into the economy, and the economy overheated as a result. Inflation quickly began climbing and then climbing some more.

Now, at this point, it might have seemed prudent to pull back on all those spending plans. After all, if one massive spending bill had kicked off inflation, how much worse would another, even more massive spending bill make the situation?

But Democrats were just getting started. The ink was barely dry on the so-called American Rescue Plan before Democrats were outlining plans for a new spending spree, one that would dwarf their initial spending spree and install some of the Democrats' most cherished Big Government priorities.

And even as inflation climbed and climbed again, Democrats kept pushing ahead. Even as Democrat economists warned that the American Rescue Plan had kick-started inflation, they kept pushing forward with plans for a $5 trillion spending spree, their so-called Build Back Better plan--$5 trillion.

To put that number in perspective, the entire Federal budget in 2019 was $4.4 trillion, the entire Federal budget. Yet Democrats were pushing forward with a $5 trillion spending plan on top of a $1.9 trillion spending bill earlier in the year.

Fortunately, for the American people, the Democrats' $5 trillion spending plan was foiled last December, but that didn't stop them for long.

Even as inflation reached 40-year highs, Democrats kept pushing for more spending, and they managed to jam through another partisan tax- and-spending spree in August.

We have now had 6 straight months--6 straight months--with inflation above 8 percent. The last time inflation was this bad, I wasn't even married yet. Now I have grandkids. But Democrats just don't seem to care. They are committed to their tax-and-spending agenda, regardless of the consequences for the American economy.

Their August tax-and-spending spree will hurt both wages and economic growth at a time when economic growth is weakening and Americans are experiencing a de facto pay cut due to inflation.

And just days after signing this tax-and-spending legislation into law, President Biden announced--if you can believe this--a massive student loan giveaway, which would cost more than $1 trillion and will, to quote the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, ``meaningfully boost inflation''--meaningfully boost inflation.

Yet again, Democrats' Big Government, big-spending agenda trumps the economic reality facing the American people.

No matter how bad the economy gets, Democrats are determined to enact their Big Government vision. And I suspect the reason the Democrats and the President have spent nearly 2 years ignoring the raging crisis at our southern border is similar. After all, if Democrats and the President acknowledge that there is a crisis, people might think that they should actually start solving the crisis.

They might, in fact, think that a raging security crisis deserves to be a priority--more of a priority than, say, Democrats' plans for electric postal vehicles or monitoring gaps in tree canopy coverage. In addition, of course,

acknowledging that there is a border crisis might offend some Democrat interest groups, and that might imperil Democrats' fierce determination to stay in power and enact their Big Government agenda.

Madam President, I mentioned Democrats' fierce determination to stay in power, and it is fierce, so fierce that the Democrats manufactured a voting crisis and almost succeeded in gutting the Senate's rules in an attempt to force through Federal legislation that would give their party an advantage in future elections. And it clearly doesn't matter to them that their claims of voter suppression were pretty clearly refuted by excellent election turnout mere months later. Democrats are still talking about forcing through a Federal takeover of elections to address a nonexistent crisis and give their party a leg up in future elections.

Madam President, I guess it is not necessarily surprising that Democrats' growing commitment to the biggest kind of Big Government has been matched by a growing determination to secure their party's grip on power with government action, if necessary. As government power grows, I suppose the governing party starts to think its power should grow with it. It would explain Democrats' commitment to abolishing protections for the rights of the minority party in the Senate and the Americans that it represents and the commitment expressed by a number of Democrats to packing the Supreme Court, expanding it--expanding the Supreme Court with Democrat Justices until they can be sure they will get the outcomes that they want.

Leading Democrats have been openly crowing about their plans to abolish the filibuster if they manage to gain a sufficient majority in the Senate and then force through a variety of far-left, Big Government legislation--from a government takeover of childcare to that voting bill that they think will give them a leg up in elections to some of the most extreme abortion legislation, literally, in the world.

Clearly, a raging border crisis, an inflation crisis, a weakening economy, and growing energy insecurity mean little to Democrats. Their focus, if they keep their majority, is not on solving these very real problems facing Americans; it is on growing and expanding government and implementing their far-left, Big Government, big-spending visions.

(Mr. SCHATZ assumed the Chair.)

Mr. President, Democrats' Big Government vision is clearly not a vision I share, and despite Democrats' clear belief that their narrow majority gave them a mandate for a far-left remake of our government, I suspect the American people are not looking for that. Democrats may think months and months and months of high inflation are a small price to pay for implementing their Big Government visions, but I suspect the American people disagree.

I also think the American people would like to see the party in power focused on solving problems like violent crime and the crisis at our southern border, not spending their time considering how to consolidate their hold on power or force through extreme or partisan policies. And despite Democrats' clear belief that Washington should be making decisions about most aspects of Americans' lives, I suspect most Americans are not interested in having Washington dictate their choices, whether that is the choices they make about their childcare or about their children's education.

Democrats' devotion to their Big Government, big-spending agenda has left the American people worse off economically, and it has left our country in a more dangerous position, from violent crime in our communities to the security crisis that we see on a daily basis unfolding at our southern border.

I think the American people know with painful certainty that we can't afford another 2 years like the last 2, and for the sake of our country, I hope we won't have to see what 2 more years of Democrat power would bring.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee), the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio).

Further, if present and voting the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee) would have voted ``nay.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee), the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee) would have voted ``nay.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Scott), the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. President, earlier this week, more than 71 years after he was killed in the Korean war, U.S. Army Private First Class Melvin J. Little Bear was returned home to McLaughlin, SD.

In 1951, Private First Class Little Bear, a native of Standing Rock, was a member of A Battery, 15th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On February 13, 1951, he was reported missing in action after his unit was attacked by Chinese communist forces, at which point his unit conducted a 2-day fighting withdrawal from Changbong-ni, South Korea, to Wonju. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war at POW Camp Number 1 in North Korea, where POW reports show he died in captivity later that summer.

In 1954, Private First Class Little Bear's unidentified remains were returned to U.N. command under Operation GLORY. However, because investigators were unable to identify to whom they belonged, his remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, HI, in 1956.

Through the dedication and preservation of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of Private First Class Little Bear were finally identified on July 13, 2022, through DNA matching. Seventy-one years after being captured and killed, his remains have finally been returned to his family in McLaughlin, SD, where he will be laid to rest in eternal peace at All Nations Veteran's Cemetery on September 30, 2022.

I consider it an honor to pay tribute to Private First Class Melvin J. Little Bear. May his family and his Oyate find comfort in knowing that his remains will soon be laid to rest and the legacy of his service and sacrifice to our Nation will live on.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, we are coming up now on 2 years of Democratic governance here in Washington, 2 years in which Democrats have controlled Congress and the White House, and the result of their 2 years in power is not encouraging. Economic insecurity is rampant; our energy security situation has worsened; and on the national security front, we are facing a raging crisis at our southern border, plus a disturbing increase in violent crime across the country.

If there has been one defining feature of Democrat governance over the past 20 months, it is inflation. When President Biden took office, inflation was at 1.4 percent--well within the target inflation rate of 2 percent--but then Democrats decided to pass a massive $1.9 trillion spending spree, the so-called American Rescue Plan Act. The legislation flooded the economy with unnecessary government money, and the economy overheated as a result. Inflation quickly began climbing and then climbing some more and then some more after that.

We have now spent 6 straight months with inflation above 8 percent--6 straight months. The last time inflation was this bad, ``E.T.'' was about to

hit theaters, and we still had more than a year to wait for ``Return of the Jedi.'' For those who weren't around then, that was 40 years ago, in 1982.

Inflation, of course, has meant tremendous economic pain for the American people: huge grocery store bills, big utility bills, high prices at the pump. Americans are dipping into their savings to make ends meet. They are cutting back on essentials or putting basic living expenses on their credit cards.

In the month of August alone, inflation cost the average American household a staggering $715--$715, 1 month. Even if prices stopped increasing tomorrow, the inflation that we have already experienced will cost the average American household more than $8,500 over the next year--$8,500. That is a lot of money--a lot. That is a kid's braces, essential car repairs, essential home repairs. It is the difference between putting something away for the kids' college or leaving the education savings account empty. It is the difference between putting money away for retirement or spending every penny on necessities. And for too many families, that is the difference between breaking even or finding themselves in debt or worse.

Americans' economic security has taken a serious hit under Democrat control in Washington, and there is little evidence to suggest that things are going to get any better anytime soon. Our economy is weakening. We have posted negative economic growth for each of the past two quarters, and estimates for third-quarter growth are not promising. Major companies have announced job cuts, and the nonpartisan Conference Board is projecting a recession in the coming months.

Unfortunately, the bad news is not confined to inflation or slowdowns in economic growth, neither of which, I should note, will be helped by Democrats' misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act or by President Biden's massive student loan giveaway, which the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes will ``meaningfully boost inflation.''

One major driver of inflation is high energy prices, and we are facing a concerning situation on the energy front. As every American who has paid an electricity bill or filled up his or her car is well aware, energy has gotten much more expensive in Joe Biden's America. Gas prices are up 57 percent since President Biden took office, and, after a temporary decline, they are on the rise again. Electricity prices were up 15.8 percent in August--the biggest year-over-year increase since August of 1981. Utility gas service is up 33 percent. And Americans are facing high prices to heat their homes this winter.

While there are multiple reasons for high oil and gas prices, Democrats' hostility to conventional energy production is contributing to this energy price crisis. I am a big supporter of alternative energy, and I have been working for years in Congress to advance renewable energy technology, but the fact of the matter is that we are still a long way from being able to rely exclusively on alternative energy technologies.

But that isn't something that Democrats seem able to accept. They want their Green New Deal future, and they want it now. So despite our continued need for oil and gas resources, President Biden has adopted an energy agenda that is hostile to conventional energy production: canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline--an environmentally responsible pipeline project that would have reinforced our energy infrastructure; discouraging investment in conventional energy; limiting oil and gas leasing. The list goes on. And I haven't even mentioned Democrats' latest measure: a round of tax hikes on oil and gas companies that will drive up Americans' energy bills and continue to discourage conventional energy production here at home.

The result of all this, the result of Democrats' attempt to force an alternative energy future before that future is fully ready, will be reducing our energy security and prolonging the high energy prices that are hitting families and businesses.

Our Nation's energy security has declined under the Biden administration, and so has our national security. I came to the floor last week to talk yet again about another raging crisis at our southern border--a crisis the President and Democrats are apparently content to continue to ignore. The flow of illegal immigration across our southern border has reached record levels. The Border Patrol and border facilities are overwhelmed, and border communities are struggling. The President and the Democrats, it would appear, could not care less.

Border security is an essential part of national security. It is not just individuals hoping for a better life who are attempting to make their way illegally across our southern border; all sorts of dangerous individuals are attempting to make their way across as well, from gang members, to human smugglers, to possible terrorists. So far this fiscal year, the Border Patrol has encountered 78 individuals on the terror watchlist attempting to cross our southern border illegally--78. And that is the number of individuals the Border Patrol has managed to apprehend. Given the incredible strain that Customs and Border Protection is under, it is entirely possible that other individuals on the watchlist have entered the country without our knowledge.

One thing we do know is that illegal drugs are flowing across our southern border and contributing to violent crime. My State is almost as far from the southern border as it is possible to get, but the flow of illegal drugs across the southern border has a direct impact on crime in our communities in South Dakota. The sheriff in my home county in South Dakota recently stated that there is a ``direct connection between the high percentage of our violent crimes [in Minnehaha County] to the use and distribution of illegal drugs, in particular the drugs that are poisoning our community.'' A substantial part of those drugs, he went on to note, are coming from Mexican cartels across the southern border.

Mr. President, there is a lot more to say about the way our Nation's security has declined over the past 2 years. There is the increase in violent crime--an increase undoubtedly driven in part by woke Democrat prosecutors' lax attitude toward serious crimes and Democrats' willingness to accommodate the ``defund the police'' movement. There is our botched withdrawal from Afghanistan--a national security debacle that weakened our standing internationally and emboldened terrorists and the Taliban. And there are the President's ill-conceived plans for a nuclear deal with Iran.

But I will stop here. Suffice it to say that it has been a rough couple of years under Democrat governance on both the economic and the security fronts, and if Democrats get a chance to continue with their policies, I expect the situation will continue to get worse.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio).