Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 772.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 799.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions, which are at the desk: S. Res. 804 and S. Res. 805.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 16; 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, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Westercamp nomination; further, notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture motion with respect to the Westercamp nomination ripen at 11:45 a.m.; that if cloture is invoked, the Senate immediately resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; that if cloture is invoked on the nomination, all postcloture time be expired and the confirmation vote be set at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader no earlier than Monday, July 20; further, if Senator Wyden or his designee makes a motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 198, the Senate vote on the motion to proceed at 1:30 p.m.

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 to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to Executive Calendar No. 728, Kevin Warsh.

Mr. President, I come today to the floor for a moment of reflection and remembrance of four courageous law enforcement officers in Ohio that we lost in 2025.

As those in this Chamber and across our Nation may know, it is National Police Week, a dedicated time to honor the service and sacrifice of these heroes who protect us every day.

The four officers I am highlighting today lost their lives in the line of duty in 2025. Each of them will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial wall to honor their lives and dedication to protecting and serving.

Honoring Deputy Larry Henderson

I want to start with Deputy Larry Henderson. I remember this incident vividly. Deputy Henderson of Hamilton County was 57 years old. He and his wife have five grown children, and he was also a foster father of two infants.

After 4 years in the Marine Corps, he spent 33 years with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, holding many of the most dangerous jobs in both endeavors.

Deputy Henderson died on May 2, 2025, after being run down by a motorist while working a special detail for the University of Cincinnati's graduation.

Deputy Henderson served his country and his community until his final day, and we remain forever grateful.

Honoring Officer Phillip Wagner

Officer Phillip Wagner. Officer Wagner had served with the Lorain Police Department for 4 years and previously with the Sheffield Village Police Department, also for 4 years. He was a 35-year old combat veteran of the Marine Corps and served two tours of duty--including one in Afghanistan.

Officer Wagner was described as a fierce protector--of his family first and foremost but also of his country and his community.

Officer Wagner loved God. He was a faith-filled man and was increasingly finding ``peace and rest through his relationship with Jesus,'' according to his pastor.

He died on July 24, 2025, the day after he and another patrolman were ambushed--they were ambushed--by a gunman as they ate their lunch in their cruisers. It is a truly tragic event for that community and for his family. His wife, three children, and entire family remain in our prayers.

We are forever grateful for the service of Officer Wagner.

Honoring Deputy D. ``Weston'' Sherrer

Deputy D. ``Weston'' Sherrer was 31 years old and had marked his fourth year with the Morrow County Sheriff's Office.

As early as the first grade, Deputy Sherrer declared in a class assignment that his dream was to become a policeman. He said ``I want to catch villains, and I'm willing to risk my life for the people of the United States'' as a first grader, and that is exactly what he did.

Deputy Sherrer had not only the desire to work in law enforcement but also the courage and temperament. His ability to connect with people fueled his successful career in law enforcement.

Deputy Sherrer was fatally shot on Memorial Day last year during a domestic violence call in Morrow County.

He will be remembered. He will be remembered, and we thank him for his service and his sacrifice to his country now and forever.

Honoring Trooper Nicholas Cayton

Trooper Nicholas Cayton was 40 years old, married to his high school sweetheart, and father of two children. Trooper Cayton was described as a devoted family man and true public servant.

He was a 13-year veteran of the Ohio State Highway Patrol team--a team that I know well--and he served for 7 years in the Ohio Army National Guard.

Trooper Cayton was killed on October 16, 2025, when his cruiser was struck by a truck while he was helping a driver of a disabled tractor- trailer.

His childhood friend stated that ``he had such a knack for making people feel welcome.'' This quality, as well as his charisma, intelligence, and quick wit, served him well throughout his life and his career.

We will continue to mourn his loss and pray for all of those who loved him.

What you see in the lives of all of these officers whom we lost was their love for their family, for their community, and for their country. These heroes gave their lives for their communities and neighbors.

I thank my colleagues for hearing these stories of these Ohioans, these Ohio stories of those who served us, and I thank you all for honoring their service and celebrating their lives.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, today I would like to honor the life of Mrs. Nancy Esther Plank Kelley of Columbus, OH. Mrs. Kelley was born on April 14, 1934, on Oakwood Avenue in the South End of Columbus. She lived a life rooted in faith, family, and service to others. Mrs. Kelley is survived by her loving and devoted husband of 72 years, Donald W. Kelley, and their many children, grandchildren, and great- grandchildren. Mrs. Kelley was a devout woman of faith whose lifelong mission was helping those in need, fighting for justice, and supporting those with limited opportunity. She especially loved planning family holidays, including the annual live Christmas nativity play with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She also volunteered and supported many schools in her area, helping serve and develop the next generation. Mrs. Kelley's legacy will continue through the many lives she touched. My prayers are with her family and loved ones during this time of loss.

Mr. President, on rollcall 99, I voted nay. My intention was to vote yea. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent to change my vote since it will not affect the outcome.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum calls with respect to Husted amendment No. 4732 and the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 311, H.R. 7147.

Mr. President, before I became a U.S. Senator, I spent two terms as the Ohio secretary of state and oversaw Presidential elections, gubernatorial elections, and senate elections, and I know what it takes to run an election where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat.

I listened carefully to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They said that they don't object to photo ID--only the other provisions of the SAVE America Act. I listened. That is what they said.

To quote minority leader Chuck Schumer:

You know what our objection is--our objection, as

Democrats, is not to a photo ID. You'd have to define it

clearly and properly and easily, but not to a photo ID when

you show up to vote.

So that is exactly what I am doing today. We are going to take them at their word and offer an opportunity to turn those words into action. In just a few minutes, the Senate will take a rollcall vote on a clean, simple, straightforward amendment of mine to require a photo ID to vote in American elections--nothing more. Straightforward. That is it. You can use a driver's license, State ID, passport, military-veteran ID, or a Tribal ID--something that everyone has access to. No additional restrictions. No tricks. No games. No prohibition on absentee voting.

The SAVE America Act restrictions you have been opposed to are not in there, and don't say that they are. They are not in there. It is simply, straightforward, photo ID.

Thirty-six States already have some form of voter ID law in place. This proposal isn't theoretical. This photo ID legislation has proven the test of elections across the Nation. It works. States across our country have shown that you can simultaneously make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Georgia, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire, along with my home State of Ohio, have photo ID requirements, just to name a few.

That standard is in this amendment. That is the standard this amendment achieves to adopt.

So the question before this body is very simple: Should you have to show who you are when you vote?

The American people have answered that question as ``yes'' by an overwhelming margin. Roughly 80-20 Americans support requiring a photo ID to vote.

Americans are required to show a photo ID when they rent a car, when they start a job, when they board a plane. This is something that people do every single day. It is common sense, and it is a commonsense requirement for Americans to show a photo ID when they vote.

This is a clean vote. If you oppose this amendment, then let's be honest--it is not the other provisions in the SAVE America Act that you oppose; you object to photo ID itself, because that is what this vote is: simply, straightforward, photo ID.

Americans deserve confidence in elections, supported by integrity measures like photo ID. It is time to set a nationwide standard for election integrity, and a ``yes'' vote on this amendment will do that.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I would like to suggest that I go through this again about what is actually in this amendment because it was just misrepresented.

This isn't the SAVE America Act. This is, frankly, me listening to the minority leader, what he said, and how he supports--he doesn't object to photo ID. So all that is in this amendment is five forms of photo ID that people can list to vote, which people have.

I ask the American people: Do you have a driver's license? Do you have a State ID? Do you have a passport? Do you have a military or veterans ID? Do you have a Tribal ID? Because every American has one of those things or has access to it. In Ohio, we will pay for you to have a free State ID. That is all this asks. Show one of those five forms of identification.

And then the misrepresentation about what this does on mail-in ballots, clearly some people don't know how it works. I can explain to you how it works.

When you have a mail-in ballot process, you have the ballot. You have the mail-in envelope. You have two envelopes. You have the mail-in envelope. Then you have a security envelope inside, in which your ballot is contained.

You put the information, whether that is a photo of your passport or the last four digits of your Social Security, on the outside of that envelope where no one can see your ballot. It validates that the ballot inside is legit, that it is from a qualified registered voter.

They remove that information and put the ballots on the other side in the presence of both a Democrat and a Republican, and then the ballots are counted. That is how it works, not that misrepresentation.

The problem is this is too simple. It is simple photo ID. You either believe that we need to know who is voting or you don't. And this simple amendment accomplishes that. The misrepresentation of how it works needed to be corrected.

I ask unanimous consent that the previous scheduled roll call votes begin immediately.

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

Madam President, I have been here for a little while this afternoon, this evening, and have listened to a lot of the concerns of my colleagues, and I believe I have something tonight that will provide some common ground that, hopefully, we can all support.

I come to this conversation having been twice elected and entrusted as the chief elections officer of the State of Ohio, as being elected their secretary of state. I oversaw elections: presidential elections in 2012 and 2016, as well as midterm elections in 2014 and 2018, and many primaries, local elections, special elections, ballot initiatives, on and on and on.

I know my election law. I know my election administration, and I believe Ohio is the gold standard for how to run an election. I made my mission clear in that role to make Ohio a place where it was easy to vote and hard to cheat.

And many other States do it right; many other States do it right. They have voter ID laws. They properly maintain the voter rolls. However, other States do not do that.

I enforced voter roll maintenance, the voter roll maintenance standards in all 88 counties, to make sure that no one could nefariously or accidentally cast a ballot, and this standard was upheld in the case before the U.S. Supreme Court of Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute.

And I can tell you, it is a chore to make sure that only legally registered citizens are on the voter rolls because there are millions of people in this country who can get driver's licenses, who get Social Security numbers, who are not citizens of the United States of America. They may be here on a visa, a green card, a refugee, someone here on a TPS--temporary protected status. They all get the things that you need to register to vote in many States.

And when you are in a swing State, you have lots of outside groups that just want to register everybody because they get paid more and more and more the more people they register, even if those people are not legally allowed to be on the voter rolls. It is an important responsibility.

I also launched an annual voter fraud and suppression report, which was a postmortem on each election cycle, and we found cases every election of fraud and attempted fraud, even with all those safeguards in place. It was rare, but it was real. It was out there.

And you may say: Well, what is the big deal? It is a few hundred here, a few hundred there. We had 200 elections during my tenure. When you add up the local elections that were decided by 1 vote or tied-- local elections, township trustees, political officials--every vote counts; every vote matters.

Ohio then implemented a required photo ID law at the polls, and with these reforms, there has been no evidence of voter suppression. In fact, with all of these measures in place, in the 2024 Presidential election, it produced the second highest turnout that we have had in the past four Presidential elections.

And it is not surprising that people don't find it hard to produce an ID when they come to vote because it happens in their lives every single day. I know, for me, in the last week, I have had to provide an ID to enter a government building, an ID to rent a car, an ID to stay at a hotel. But many other things we commonly do in life, whether that is someone going to the local store to buy alcohol or tobacco, you name it, lots of reasons that people have to supply IDs. They are very accustomed to doing it. They do it all the time.

So when they show up at the polls and ask for an ID, they already had it with them because they probably were already asked for it once that day.

And in Ohio--and I know other States do this and are perfectly capable of doing it--if you don't have an ID, the State of Ohio will get you one free of charge at the DMV.

So when we talk about the SAVE America Act, it is trying to solve a simple problem--at least the provision I am here to talk about tonight--that we need to make sure that we know who is coming to the polls to cast their vote because election integrity matters. But there are 14 States that do not have voter ID laws, even though 80 percent of Americans think it is a good idea. This is one of those issues that, whether you talk to Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, they say: Yes, photo ID makes sense. It is just kind of common sense that we would want to know who is voting when we cast a ballot to elect Presidents and Senators and Governors.

And, like I said, I have tried to listen. I heard my Democrat colleagues say that they don't oppose photo ID laws. I heard Senator Schumer say our objection as Democrats is not to a photo ID. I heard Senator Fetterman say he supports a photo ID law. And I guess if I can quote him:

If GOP wants real reform over a show vote--put out a clean,

standalone bill, and I'm AYE.

Well, that is what I am doing tonight. The voter, under this legislation, could present a photo ID of any of the following: a State- issued driver's license that includes a photo and an expiration date, State ID that has a photo of the individual and an expiration date, a valid U.S. passport, a valid military ID, or a valid ID issued by a Tribal government that includes a photo of the individual and an expiration date.

Pretty simple. Not complicated. Easy to do. It is proven effective because many States already do it. We certainly do it in Ohio.

I will add that it is also easier to administer when you have a photo ID and you are an election official because we have our neighbors show up every 2 or 4 years to work at the polls. They might be young children, young adults. We know we let high school students participate in that in Ohio. It might be a senior citizen. It could be anybody that decides they are going to give of their day to go sit at the polls and check in voters.

When you have a photo ID, it is simple. You just look at it or you slide it through the card reader and the voter's information pops up and you know which precinct they are from, which ballot they have, and whether they are legally allowed to vote. Rather than trying to do it the old way, the bureaucratic way of having to look through poll books and making every poll worker who works there once every 2 or 4 years become a signature-reading expert to try to determine whether or not somebody is truly allowed to vote in that precinct and they are who they say they are.

So I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle realize or really do support a photo ID law because this legislation is the simple, easy, proven way to do it.

So showing a photo ID is common sense. The American people support it by an 80-20 margin. And as I have been saying for more than a decade and a half, it is possible to make it both easy to vote and hard to cheat, and we should make that a national standard with the photo ID law that is easy to implement and is proven effective.

Passing voter ID requirements is common sense and passing this provision that I offer tonight as part of the SAVE America Act is right for election integrity and it is the right thing to do for voter confidence and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

So now, Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4155, which is at the desk; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

And I recognize, Madam President, that I have some colleagues here that may want to offer something.

Madam President, let me withdraw that request and allow my colleagues to speak.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4155, which is at the desk; further, that the bill be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.

Reserving the right to object, I want to address some of the points that were made by the Senator from Oregon.

There were a lot of points made about citizenship. The amendment that I am proposing has nothing to do with citizenship; it has to do with photo ID--five simple ways that have been proven successful in many States to determine if the person showing up to vote is, indeed, the person who is registered to vote. It is that simple. Five. Five forms of identification that everyone has access to. This particular amendment is not about citizenship; it is about photo ID.

Secondly, I want to address the issue about protecting the secrecy of the ballot.

Let me also say that there are no birth certificate requirements in this particular amendment I have.

Then I want to talk about the secrecy of the ballot. Let me explain the administration of how elections officials make sure the ballot that is being mailed in is, indeed, a legitimate vote.

There are two envelopes. The first envelope is the security envelope. That envelope determines if the individual is eligible, in which they could put their--inside that envelope put their copy of their photo ID or their Social Security number on the form you would have them fill out.

The second envelope contains the actual ballot. What happens once that ballot is received is that two elections officials in the State of Ohio--one Republican and one Democrat--look at it, they validate the integrity of the envelope that was received with the ballot, and then remove that, separate all the identification over here, and put the secure ballot that has been validated as legal into another box, which is then loaded in the machines and later counted on election night.

The secrecy of the vote is in no way jeopardized by that process. How do I know? We have been using it for years. It has never been a problem, and we have a Democrat and a Republican right there with their eyes on it making sure that happens.

Now, to the substance of the gentleman's amendment, there are many reasons that I could object to this, but I will take one, because this is the Freedom to Vote by Mail Act. It is a very large amendment in which it authorizes unsolicited mail-in ballots--let me repeat: unsolicited mail-in ballots--meaning I didn't ask for it; you just sent me a ballot.

Why is this wrong? I will give you a couple of examples.

In Wood County, where Bowling Green State University is in Ohio, at one point in time, we had more registered voters than there were people in the county.

You say: How could that happen?

Because Bowling Green State University is there, and every 4 years when you are a swing State, people really, really try to get every single student to register to vote on that campus. So over years, according to the National Voting Rights Act, you cannot remove somebody for being an inactive voter, meaning just because I didn't show up and vote, I am on the voter rolls; you can't remove me.

Well, I want to just give you a reason why they might still be on the rolls--because when they graduate from college, they don't think to call the Wood County Board of Elections and remove themselves from the rolls; they just stay on there.

According to Federal law, you just can't remove them for being inactive for at least 6 years, and you have to go through a series of verifications, which is what I did in Ohio and was part and parcel to the Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, a process that was approved.

So in States that don't do that, which there are many that don't, what you have are people that may attend the University of Oregon; they may be from Columbus, OH; they may graduate from college and live in an apartment on campus; and when they move back to Ohio, you wouldn't know the difference. They are still on the rolls, and you are sending them a ballot--and they are not even legally allowed to vote in that State-- because you can't remove them from the rolls without going through a 6- year process. That is the Federal law.

That is why we have so many people--so many ballots in States that do

unsolicited absentee balloting with ballots floating around out there, and they are not supposed to be sent. The person they are being sent to is not legally allowed to vote because they may very well be registered in another State, and you wouldn't even know it.

So on that basis, Madam President, I object.

Mr. President, I come today to request a pause in the political discourse of this Chamber for a moment of reflection.

As those both in this Chamber and across the Nation know, last Thursday, March 12, 2026, an American KC-135 refueling aircraft went down in western Iraq.

The crash claimed the lives of the aircraft's six crew members. I would like to take a moment of the Senate's time this evening to honor three of

Ohio's favorite sons, the airmen who were serving in the Ohio National Guard with the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus.

And listening to my colleague Senator Lankford, I will say this, quote a passage from John 15:13:

Greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life

for his friends.

Let me first speak of one of Ohio's favorite sons, Capt. Curtis J. Angst. He was 30 years old from Wilmington, OH. He was a KC-135 pilot with 10 years of military service.

He graduated from Wilmington High School in 2014 and enlisted in Ohio's Air National Guard a year later. He earned a degree in aerospace engineering in 2020 from the University of Cincinnati. His family states that his commitment to his country was matched only by his devotion to his wife Mary and his passion for music, traveling, and the outdoors.

His family stated:

Those who knew Curtis remember his steady kindness and the

joy he carried with him everywhere he went.

His constant smile and instantly recognizable laugh made

people feel welcome, valued, and part of something bigger.

Another family member described Captain Angst's life as one defined by service, generosity, and a genuine love for people.

The Air Force says he logged 880 flight hours, 67 of which were in combat. He was promoted to captain just last November. He earned multiple honors, including the Air and Space Achievement Medal and the Meritorious Unit Award.

He will be missed by his wife Mary, his parents, and many more friends and family.

MSgt Tyler Simmons. You see them all pictured here. There is Curtis. Here is Tyler. MSgt Tyler Simmons was 28 years old from Columbus, OH. He was a 2015 graduate of Eastmoor Academy on Columbus's East Side, where he was his high school's quarterback.

He loved football and was a loyal fan of Texas Christian University, TCU. His service began in April 2018. His father said that Master Sergeant Simmons loved airplanes and always had plans for joining the Air Force.

His unit commander reports that Master Sergeant Simmons has been posthumously promoted from tech sergeant to master sergeant. He was a musician and played both the viola and violin in his high school. Amazing talent.

His family says he loved to roller skate. Tyler loved his family but was particularly fond of his grandmother Bernice, who, at 85 years old, is described as his confidante and workout buddy.

Tyler's smile could light up any room. His strong presence would fill it, his family says. His mother said he loved serving in the military and that he was born for it.

We mourn today alongside Master Sergeant Simmons' entire family. You see him pictured there. You can see his smile. You can tell what they mean when they talk about his smile.

The third individual I would like to honor is Capt. Seth Koval. He was 38 years old from Mooresville, IN, and he was an aircraft commander with 19 years of service to our country. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in aviation operations from Purdue University in 2011. He was a KC-135R Stratotanker instructor pilot. You see Captain Koval there.

Captain Koval first enlisted in 2006 as a machinist with Indiana's National Guard 122nd Fighter Wing and transferred to the Ohio National Guard, which we welcomed and loved to have him, in 2017. He flew a total of 2,076 hours, 443 of those in combat.

His wife said he grew up dreaming of being a pilot, a dream that his hard work made come true. He was a man of devout faith in Jesus. He was a man of devout faith in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He was described as loving, generous, selfless, kindhearted, smart, devoted and a fixer of all things and a real outdoorsman.

His loss is one mourned by many but most of all by his wife Heather, his son, and countless other close family members and friends of Capt. Seth Koval.

You see our three heroes right there. These servicemembers, alongside their three other brothers and sisters in arms, gave the last full measure of devotion to their country last week.

I thank my colleagues for hearing their stories this evening, for honoring their service, for celebrating their lives, and for mourning their loss alongside a grateful nation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate observe a moment of silence in remembrance of Capt. Curtis Angst, MSgt Tyler Simmons, and Capt. Seth Koval.

Mr. President, may God bless these servicemembers and their families.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, as we approach the March for Life, an annual celebration of life held in cities across America, I want to share what choosing life means to me and, for the many others who share my similar story, what it means to them.

When my birth mother became pregnant with me, she faced an incredibly difficult choice--a choice that I know thousands of women across our Nation are facing even as I speak today. Her husband had passed away, and she was already raising two young boys. After starting a new relationship, she found herself pregnant with me. Money was tight. She had little support. And she soon found herself being pressured to have an abortion.

Over the years, I have reflected on just how tough and courageous that decision must have been for her. I always try to think about what it would have been like to have been in her shoes and how difficult that must have been. Fortunately, she chose life and the path of adoption for me, which was just an amazing blessing.

After a brief stay in foster care, I received the greatest blessing of my life. I was adopted by my loving parents, Jim and Judy Husted.

I spoke with my mom and dad last night. My dad is amazing, and he is about to turn 88 years old. He and my mom have always given me the gift of unconditional love--the greatest gift any parent could give to their child.

I share my story because I want women to know this: You are not alone. Others have walked the road that you are on, if you find yourself pregnant and without the support you need--you think you need--to make it, and there is a grateful child, one day, who will, hopefully, tell you that.

You don't have to walk that road by yourself. There is support out there for you. In Ohio alone, women have access to nearly 200 pregnancy help centers and maternity homes that serve expectant mothers. I have visited many of them. They want you to go see them, if you are in need, if you are scared, if you need someone to talk to. They are there to help, not to pressure, not to judge but to provide love, care, and support. Many of the women who staff these pregnancy resource centers have faced the very same challenges that you are facing right now.

I know that my birth mother somehow found her way to Catholic Social Services and had that support. I hope, if you are struggling and you feel that aloneness out there, that you know there are people out there who want to help and that you won't feel alone. I know being alone in a tough situation is the worst thing that you could possibly feel, but there are people out there who want to help you.

So, as we prepare for another March for Life this year, I hope we can remember a few simple truths.

First, the March for Life reminds the country that this cause is ever-present; that laws may change but that culture only changes when people are willing to stand up publicly and peacefully for the cause of life.

Second, unborn children cannot march. They cannot vote. They cannot advocate for themselves. They rely on you to do that. So thank you for continuing to be a voice for them.

And, third, the pro-life movement is not just about opposing abortion. It is about supporting mothers, families, and children with real help and real hope. The March for Life shines the national spotlight on that lifesaving work that people at pregnancy resource centers and places like that are doing across our country every single day.

So, as I reflect on my own good fortune and the courageous strength of my birth mother and the gratitude I have for my mom and dad, who adopted me and gave me a great life--full of love, full of support--and as we prepare for the March for Life, I hope that we will remember those sacrifices, will remember the challenges, and do all we can to support those expectant mothers and the children of our Nation.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my story, and may God bless America.

Mr. President, healthcare is the No. 1 driver of inflation in the 21st century. When we talk about affordability, healthcare is the biggest driver of our costs rising in this century. And the fact of the matter is that the Affordable Care Act is really the ``Unaffordable Care Act,'' and it has made it less affordable. That fact is indisputable.

I have been in the Senate for less than a year; and I didn't create this problem, but I am here working to be part of the solution. In just a moment, I will ask for unanimous consent to pass my bill, S. 3391, the Accountability for Better Care Act.

My proposal represents a good-faith offer on a short-term basis to extend enhanced premium credits for 2 years. I will repeat that: This would extend enhanced premium credits for 2 years but with reforms that will reduce fraud, lower premiums, and protect longstanding conscience rights for millions of Americans. That is what it does.

Before I explain what this commonsense proposal does in more detail, I think that it is equally important to express why it is important, why I am on the floor today--because I will tell you, over the past few weeks, I have been visiting and getting calls and talking with Ohioans who are very concerned about their rising premium payments.

I was in a meeting recently with a pastor. He and his wife are attempting to renew their policy under the ACA. He makes a little over $80,000 a year, and he is going to see his premiums rise by over $10,000 next year.

I had another conversation with a small business owner who indicated, with premiums and deductibles, that it will take more than 30 percent of his salary to afford healthcare. These are just a few examples of the millions of Ohioans and Americans that are worried. That is why we have got to take action. It is long past time to do so.

One action we can take today, as part of this legislation, is to address the fraudulent enrollees under the program, though. It has existed for 4 years, and we know that it has cost taxpayers $27 billion each year. That is a lot of money. There is a lot of fraud going on in the country right now, and we certainly can't stand by and watch it happen by renewing premium subsidies and not do anything to eliminate the fraud. We know it is happening, so it is important, if we are going to extend the tax credits, that we fix the problem.

We could do this by requiring everyone receiving a premium tax credit to pay something toward their health insurance that will help realign the incentives and reduce fraud. I offer a modest solution to this. It requires simply $5--$5--on a monthly basis to enroll so that we can combat fraud, so we can know there is an actual person on the other side of this policy that the insurance companies sign people up for so that we can eliminate the rampant fraud. And to put this in perspective, a $5 request is simply 16 cents a day to get affordable healthcare provided for, largely, by the taxpayers of this country.

That is a pretty great deal for the people who would be enrolled. Requiring this minimum premium will also make certain that Americans cannot be enrolled without their knowledge because we know that there have been convictions around this country for unscrupulous brokers that sign people up under the ACA enhanced premiums. There have been prosecutions and convictions. We know it is fraud. We can fix it simply by asking people to pay a little bit in return for their largely free healthcare.

We also know that insurers raise premiums on the ACA silver plans in order to address the cost-sharing reductions for low-income individuals. We know this process as silver loading.

In my bill, we will fund the cost-sharing reductions so that we can end the practice of silver loading--the games that insurance companies have been playing. This would lower premiums in the long run by 10 to 20 percent for lower income individuals and save the taxpayers between $5 billion and $10 billion. It is an important reform to the tax credits.

Finally, my bill maintains household premium contributions for most people making up to 400 percent of the Federal poverty level, and it also places an income cap on the ACA tax credit for households up to 600 percent of the Federal poverty line. That is $192,000 for a family of four--because we know, under the old system, people making $20 an hour would subsidize the premiums for people making a million dollars a year. No one thinks that is right; I can't imagine anyone does. So we fixed that.

These premium contributions are gradually increased as individuals earn more wages up to that income cap. This will reduce the sharp cliff that many of these families are facing because of the design of the credits that currently exist and are about to expire.

I hear constantly from Ohioans that they are worried about their out- of-pocket costs due to failures with ObamaCare. We know it doesn't work; colleagues on the floor have detailed why.

My bill creates a soft landing to protect Ohioans and Americans from steep rises in their premiums created by the failure--the structural failure of the ObamaCare system.

I have long said that I believe that there is a way forward with this proposal; that we can protect families from punishing premium costs and address the underlying fraud in the ACA and to do so in a balanced and thoughtful way.

I came to the floor just a couple of weeks ago and outlined this framework in a proposal I called ``Fraud, Freeze, and Fix.'' Well, today, this is the manifestation of that as represented by the Accountability for Better Care Act.

I appeal to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that have stated that their goal is to extend the Biden-era COVID bonuses. If that is true, they should support this bill because it does that. That is what it does, but it also gives Congress a runway to fix and address the drivers of high costs of healthcare.

I will conclude this, finally. To my Democrat colleagues, there was a 43-day government shutdown that was ostensibly--it was ostensibly supposed to be about extending the ACA subsidies. Well, this is your opportunity to take yes for an answer because we are extending the ACA subsidies. You get

your wish, and we get the accountability we need.

And for these reasons, I ask unanimous consent that, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3391 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; I ask further that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be made laid and upon the table.

Mr. President, I appreciate my colleague's thoughts.

I haven't been here for years. I didn't create this. I haven't been here for years trying to undermine ObamaCare. I have been here for less than a year.

And this isn't unserious; I am very serious. This represents a compromise. My Democrat colleagues want an extension of the ACA tax credits; I am offering that. All I am asking for in return is that we eliminate the fraud--the kind of fraud that we had in Minneapolis going on right now where we don't have proper oversight of our generous taxpayer-supported programs.

I will just say specifically, though, that the proposal I am offering is more generous than the original ACA Program on tax credits, and it has nothing to do with women's rights because it doesn't ban any of it. It just says that the taxpayers don't pay for it, which has been, since the 1970s, the way this institution has operated as it relates to the Hyde amendment.

The time to work on it was last June. We offered something on CSRs last June, but it was objected to by the Democrats under the Byrd rule. It was offered. Cost-share reductions--we offered it last June, but my Democrat colleagues objected to it.

Yes, I agree, there are only 5 days, maybe longer if we want to spend a little time. And time is of the essence, so that is why we shouldn't waste any more of it. We should pass this legislation.

I yield the floor.