Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 436, S. 4784.

Mr. President, over the weekend, I headed back to Jones County, South Dakota, for my high school reunion. It has been a few years since high school--just a few--but it is amazing how the years roll away when you head back and see some of the people who shaped your high school years.

Some of them are missing now, of course: teachers; coaches; my parents--my dad, who was a teacher at my high school, a coach at my high school, and the busdriver at my high school; and my mom, who served as the school librarian.

Needless to say, we Thune kids didn't get away with much in our high school years.

My high school reunion this year happened to coincide with the 120th anniversary of the town of Murdo, where I grew up--current population, roughly, 500.

And being back in Jones County and in Murdo really got me to reminisce about growing up in smalltown South Dakota, about how blessed I was to grow up in a small town in South Dakota.

People discuss the loss of community today that can result from the circumstances of modern life. That was never something we had to worry about in Murdo. In Murdo, you knew you were part of a community.

Rural South Dakotans are sturdy, independent people, but they also know from experience that you can't get by in a small town on the prairie without the support of your neighbors. And when someone was in need in Murdo, the whole town rallied around to help, whether it was an unexpected death in the family or the collapse of a barn roof.

We celebrated with each other, too, whether it was the harvest, the Fourth of July, or pheasant season. And the whole town swelled with pride at one of its kids' achievements.

I carry the sense of community and belonging I had growing up in Murdo with me to this day, and I carry those smalltown South Dakotans with me in a special way in my work here in Washington. When we look at a government regulation, I think about what impact it will have on smalltown South Dakota, on the people in our State, like the ones that I grew up with. Is it going to lighten their burden, or is it going to add new challenges on top of those they already face?

Agriculture is the life blood of our State. It was the life blood of Murdo as well. Farmers and ranchers have a tough job: backbreaking work in all weathers--work that can be destroyed in an instant by a storm or a flood.

I want to ensure that Washington isn't making their life even tougher than it is already. That is why I fought for things like the elimination of the death tax, so that the farmers and ranchers can hand down the family enterprise to their kids and don't have to spend time and money on costly estate planning. It is also why I fought to ensure that Federal farm programs are actually serving farmers, that they take into account the realities of farm life and keep pace with changes.

You can bet that I had smalltown South Dakota in mind when I fought to pass tax relief for hard-working Americans in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and then when we made that new tax relief permanent in the Working Families Tax Cut just last year.

I think a lot of my political beliefs have their roots in growing up in Murdo: from the belief that government ought to be limited--and if a matter can be handled at the State or local level, it should be--to my understanding of the importance of freedom, and the individual responsibility that comes with the freedoms we enjoy.

I am grateful every day, Mr. President, for the blessings of growing up in a small town, in smalltown South Dakota, and I am proud to be a son of Murdo.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I withdraw my motion to proceed to Calendar No. 436, S. 4784.

I move to proceed to Calendar No. 454, H.R. 5334.

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

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. 833.

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. 833, Walter Clayton, of New York, to be Director of National Intelligence.

John Thune, Tom Cotton, Jon Husted, Alan Armstrong, Jim

Banks, Bernie Moreno, Chuck Grassley, John Barrasso,

Marsha Blackburn, Joni Ernst, John R. Curtis, Roger F.

Wicker, Pete Ricketts, Katie Boyd Britt, Bill Hagerty,

Tim Scott of South Carolina, Mike Crapo.

Mr. President, the Senate is in the middle of a busy work period, and we have a lot to accomplish in the coming weeks and months. We have some great opportunities for bipartisan collaboration: market structure legislation; the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act; the National Defense Authorization Act; FISA.

But at the top of the list right now is funding the government. If there is any responsibility we have as Members of Congress, it is that. And our country cannot afford another shutdown like the two shutdowns we have experienced over the course of this fiscal year. Shutdowns take a toll on our economy, on our national security. They create havoc at airports. And, of course, they take an incredible toll on hard-working Americans inside and outside the government whose paychecks depend on the government being open.

I think a lot of Americans remember pretty clearly what things looked like during the Democrats' two recordbreaking shutdowns this past year: government workers lining up at food banks, charging essentials on credit cards, and taking up any work they could find in hopes of being able to make ends meet; government services reduced; national security Agencies strained.

I don't think any American who traveled will forget the effect those two shutdowns had on air travel: hourslong TSA lines snaking around airport concourses and out airport doors; canceled and delayed flights; a nationwide reduction in air traffic, when our air traffic control system could no longer safely maintain regular flight schedules.

The list goes on.

We cannot--cannot--have this again, and that is why I have asked Appropriations Chair Collins to draft a bipartisan and clean continuing resolution to fund the government until after the November election. I intend for the Senate to vote on that before we head to our States to work during August.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is hard at work reviewing anomalies from OMB to ensure we have a bipartisan product ready to move quickly. No one is served by our waiting until the last minute to take this up.

And after all that our country has been through with the past two shutdowns, the American people deserve to have confidence that the government will be open and running, not to mention the fact that government employees--like our own staffers and the Capitol Police officers standing guard around this building--deserve to know that their paychecks will be coming.

It was not a good year on the government funding front, with two recordbreaking government shutdowns, but we have an opportunity now to chart a new path.

I am encouraged that, so far, my Democrat colleagues have signaled that they do not want to force another government shutdown, and I appreciate Chair Collins' work to engage with Democrats and produce a bipartisan continuing resolution.

No one--no one--is served by a shutdown, not either political party, and most of all not the people that we represent.

So I look forward to bringing up a bipartisan CR in the coming days, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and give the American people the certainty that they deserve.

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, every parent wants to give their kids a better life than they had. So parents spend a lot of time making sure their kids are ready when opportunity comes their way. In many cases, that involves putting money aside for their future.

Opportunity is one of the pillars of Republicans' Working Families Tax Cut. That means both creating opportunity and helping more Americans to seize those opportunities to get ahead. And one of the ways this bill does that is by helping parents to save and invest in their children's futures. That starts with lower tax bills so parents can keep more of their hard-earned money.

And on top of that, we made it easier for parents to support their kids' dreams with things like the bill's new Trump Accounts. These new tax-advantaged investment accounts can be a powerful tool for parents and other family members to give the next generation a brighter future because Trump Accounts can be used for a broad array of expenses.

Money from a Trump account can go toward education expenses, buying a first home, starting a business, or buying the family farm or ranch when the time comes. Kids can even opt to use the accounts as retirement savings when they reach adulthood, a financial priority for every American. Trump Accounts will help bring big dreams closer within reach.

Parents of children born between 2025 and 2028 can opt in to receive an initial $1,000 balance in their Trump Account from the government. On top of that, numerous companies have already made pledges to contribute to the Trump Accounts for their employees' children, and some philanthropists have made similar commitments.

Plus, as I indicated earlier, any member of the family can contribute to a Trump Account. So an aunt or an uncle, grandma or grandpa can add money to a Trump Account as a birthday gift or Christmas gift, further boosting the amount a child will have available when he or she reaches young adulthood. Even $20 per month can build to a substantial sum of money by the time a baby born this year turns 18.

And the Trump Accounts app even includes modules and other resources for parents and children to learn about investing and grow their financial literacy, which will help them throughout their lives.

Trump Accounts are a significant tool for parents and their kids. But it is far from the only thing that we did in this bill to help the next generation get a headstart on their American dream.

The Working Families Tax Cut also made some significant improvements to the traditional 529 education savings plan, allowing those savings to be used for a greater variety of education expenses: tutoring, home- school materials, and vocational and continuing education. Plus, we doubled the withdrawal limit for 529s to $20,000 per year.

Mr. President, I am also proud of how the Working Families Tax Cut strengthens pathways to meaningful career options for the next generation.

On the higher education side, we implemented accountability and reforms to put downward pressure on the cost of college degrees. We also made permanent a policy I authored that allows employers to pay off a portion of their

employees' student loans without the employee having to pay taxes on the repayment amount.

For Americans who are interested in learning a skilled trade, this bill is transformative. As I mentioned, it allows 529 savings to go toward vocational education.

It also created the Workforce Pell Program, which will provide financial assistance to Americans in shorter term skills and career- training programs--whether they are just starting out or looking to switch careers or develop new skills in their current field.

States are just beginning the process of identifying programs that will qualify for Workforce Pell, and it is already generating excitement. One community college president in New York said of Workforce Pell: ``The potential is absolutely huge.''

Another community college administrator in Oregon hailed how Workforce Pell will provide assistance for the college's truckdriving certificate program, a popular program that leads to high-paying jobs but for which financial aid is hard to come by. Workforce Pell will change that.

And Workforce Pell will also be a game changer for midcareer professionals. As Colette Atkins, who works at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, said, ``we have students that are working already, and they can't step away for 2 years, but can they step away to do that 8 to 15 weeks to get that training? They sure can. And now there's financial support to help them do that.''

Suffice it to say, Workforce Pell will open new pathways and create a lot of opportunities for a lot of Americans, and it is getting started thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut.

Putting more money in Americans' pockets, helping them seize opportunities to get ahead, and creating new pathways to success--that is the Working Families Tax Cut at work.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 829.

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

I move to proceed to Calendar No. 436, S. 4784.