Floor Statements

Thank you, Vice Chair Capito. Wow. It is great to have another woman in leadership and leading these floor events now.

Madam President, I do want to thank my friend and colleague Senator Capito of West Virginia for her leadership in bringing Senate Republicans to the floor to talk about what is a very important issue to all of our constituents--the safety and the security of our great Nation.

Joe Biden created a crisis that has now turned into a complete catastrophe--one a mere photo op at a cleaned-up site in Texas won't fix. In just 2 years, under President Biden, over 4 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border--151 who are on the terror watch list. To top that off, we know of at least 1.2 million individuals who evaded the authorities. Those are the individuals we call the ``got-aways.''

This border catastrophe is so much more than a flood of illegal immigrants hoping to jump the legal immigration line to get in the door. An open border is an invitation for mischief. It is a drug lord's dream.

In my home State of Iowa, drug overdoses among young people have risen 120 percent in the last few years. According to the State's Division of

Criminal Investigation, there were four times the amount of fentanyl pills disguised as prescription drugs in 2022 as compared to the previous year.

We must act now to counter this deadly fentanyl epidemic. We, as lawmakers, should make the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death punishable by Federal felony murder charges. It is past time the consequences for intentionally inflicting an overdose fits the crime.

The cartels producing and smuggling this deadly drug into the United States are also funneling a significant number of illegal firearms and weapons, leading to barbaric violence. Just last week in California, a family of six, including a 10-month-old baby girl, was killed in a drug cartel execution. Unfortunately, the suspects are still at large.

Folks, this death and devastation cannot continue. In the coming weeks, I am looking forward to leading a bicameral delegation to the California-Mexico border. There, we plan to hear directly from Customs and Border Protection personnel about fentanyl and their ongoing drug interdictions. We will tour the port in San Diego--the epicenter for fentanyl trafficking into the United States--and get a firsthand look at the dangerous and critical work our Border Patrol agents are doing day in and day out.

I anticipate a common theme in all of our conversations: the need to physically secure our border, something my colleagues on the other side of the aisle used to support.

In 2007, then-Senator Joe Biden argued:

No great country can say it's secure without being able to

secure its borders.

In 2010, Senator Chuck Schumer supported border security and agreed the border lacked ``the resources to fully combat the drug smugglers, gun runners, human traffickers, money launderers, and organized criminals that seek to do harm to innocent Americans along our border.''

Amen, folks. I agree with both of them. But where is that same attitude now, when the southern border has become immensely more dangerous, more permeable, and more lethal?

At every single one of my townhalls, over the past 3 weeks, and in dozens of interviews with Iowa media, I was asked about the crisis at the southern border.

So, to those on the left who say this is just a Republican stunt, I think you had better get out of the beltway and into Middle America, hear directly from the people you are supposed to serve, and you will quickly find out it is no stunt; it is reality.

Iowa families want solutions. They want safety, and they want to curtail the ever-increasing access to deadly drugs for their children, and they are not alone. The American people want a solution. In fact, over a majority of Americans--73 percent, according to one Pew Research poll--say they believe we need to increase security along the U.S.- Mexico border.

It is a great place to start, a place to find common ground.

In fact, there are left over border materials from the Trump administration just lying out in the desert, materials that taxpayers have paid for that are just collecting dust. And get this: The Federal Government is actually paying--yes, they have hired contractors, and they spend our tax dollars to do this--to watch over those materials that are lying there in the desert.

Without a secure border, we cannot have a larger conversation about reforming our immigration system.

So maybe, just maybe, a good place to start is for this administration to allow States that want to complete the border barrier to do so, instead of taking them to court.

Besides, doesn't Biden's Justice Department have enough on their hands right now?

So I agree with the Senator from West Virginia that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

I ask unanimous consent to use a prop during my remarks.

Mr. President, Thanksgiving is just a week away, and, of course, we will have turkey--or so we thought. In these difficult times as Americans, we all have a lot to be thankful for.

I am so proud of my daughter Libby and grateful for my brandnew son- in-law Andrew. I am thankful for being selected by my fellow Iowans to have the privilege of representing each of them in the U.S. Senate. And I know I speak on behalf of all Iowans when I express the most heartfelt gratitude for every one of the brave men and women who have served in the Armed Forces of our great Nation, risking everything to protect what we all hold dear.

Thanksgiving is the day set aside for us to gather with family and friends to express our gratitude for all of our blessings with a grand feast. When most of us think of Thanksgiving trimmings, delicious sides like cranberry sauce--one of my favorites--sweet potatoes, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing all come to mind. But this year, as a result of Bidenomics, Thanksgiving trimmings refer instead to the items being cut from the menu due to rising prices.

With the cost of Thanksgiving dinner up 20 percent since last year, 9 out of 10 Americans are planning to eliminate at least one dish from their menu. Some are even skipping the turkey altogether and serving cheaper alternatives like pizza. Most are also planning to invite fewer guests, and one in four plans to pass on Thanksgiving dinner altogether to save money.

Hard-working Americans shouldn't have to trim the guest list or side dishes from Thanksgiving dinner, but with the out-of-control inflation being caused by the Democrats' failed economic policies gobbling up our family budgets, that is exactly what is happening.

So let's talk turkey. Turkey costs 21 percent more this Thanksgiving than last. As a matter of fact, the chairman of the Democrats' Congressional Campaign Committee said families struggling with these rising prices should eat Chef Boyardee. That is what he said. If that is the Democrats' solution, boy are we cooked. Chef Boyardee? No. Chef Boy-are-we-cooked. What did his constituents think of this idea? On election day, they canned him.

Instead of Chef Boyardee, Washington needs to serve up some real solutions to cut the causes of climbing costs. Beginning on his very first day in office, President Biden made it a priority to turn off American-made energy. This has been a recipe for disaster, with energy prices increasing nearly 18 percent just this last year.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Democrats' so-called Inflation Reduction Act will even further increase the cost of natural gas, which will have a direct impact on food prices because natural gas is a key component for producing fertilizer, which is already costing our farmers two to four times more today than just 2 years ago. The Biden administration is also bringing out leftover land use rules from the Obama era that will impose costly and bureaucratic regulations on farmers that will also impact food costs. This certainly is no way to show gratitude towards those who grow the food we rely upon to feed our families on Thanksgiving and every other day.

Folks, let's bring down costs by sticking a fork in these inflation- causing laws and burdensome regulations that the Democrats keep dishing out.

Bidenomics is going to be the real turkey at this year's gathering, but I sure hope the bigger bite it is taking out of your budget doesn't put you in a ``fowl'' mood when we all have so many other things to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, the No. 1 job of our Commander in Chief is to

protect the homeland. The constitutional oath we all take as Members of Congress, similar to the one I swore when I joined the military, is to protect our citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I want everyone in this Chamber, the American people, our allies, and our adversaries to all hear me today. Iran, the world's most deadly state sponsor of terrorism, announced its intentions to track, target, and kill American citizens here on our shores. The radical Islamists of Iran and their terrorist proxies across the Middle East are seeking to destroy America, and they are coming here to our soil.

As you can see, the Iranian regime promises to ``bring the orchestrators and perpetrators to justice.'' This is an undeniable death threat, one that they have already attempted to follow through on.

Iran isn't making this threat from Tehran, over 6,000 miles away. They made it here, for example, in New York City. Yesterday, at U.N. headquarters, the Butcher of Tehran, Ebrahim Raisi, was flanked by his personal security force, IRGC terrorists, tagged by our Justice Department as the entity responsible for attempting to kill Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Brian Hook, and others who ordered and executed the strike on Qassem Suleimani.

This President's obligation is to safeguard and protect the life, liberty, and prosperity of our people and to deter, defeat, and, when necessary, destroy our enemies.

The Biden administration's desire to bring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement back to life is delusional. Continued renegotiation with Russia as our proxy--no joke--ignores our men and women in uniform, the Iranian dissident community, our allies and partners in the Persian Gulf, and American citizens on the homeland who have bounties on their heads today.

Our Middle Eastern partners, in particular, are begging the Biden administration not to reenter this so-called nuclear agreement. They plead with us not to give Iran access to $1 trillion in capital by 2030. Don't fund their military support of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and don't fund their acts of terrorism against our own people, they ask.

I am demanding that America does not fund or support a regime trying to kill our own people. The President's ongoing negotiations pacify rather than hold Iran accountable for targeting American citizens. The Biden administration's foolish pursuit of peace through appeasement must be stopped, and we can start today. Yesterday, with 26 of my colleagues, I introduced the PUNISH Act, or the Preventing Underhanded and Nefarious Iranian Supported Homicides Act. My bill would enforce U.S. sanctions on Iran until the Secretary of State certifies to Congress that Iran has not supported any attempt or activity to kill a U.S. citizen, former or current U.S. official, or Iranian living within the United States. Specifically, it would codify the Trump administration's ``maximum pressure'' sanctions as well as preserve sanctions put in place by the Obama and Carter administrations.

It is hard to believe that, after countless attacks on Americans and multiple confirmed--confirmed--plots against U.S. officials, the Biden administration continues with these negotiations. President Biden should not provide a dime of sanctions relief to the largest state sponsor of terrorism which is actively trying to kill U.S. officials and citizens at home and abroad. I will remain committed to protecting the homeland, our troops, and officials abroad from the violent Islamic regime in Iran.

Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4924, which is at the desk. I further ask 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.

Mr. President, blocking the passage of the bill today, it is not just disappointing, but it is endangering. We do have to act now. I mean, you can read the tweet. It is right here. They are seeking justice. They are looking for retribution and revenge.

Again, it was sent from U.S. soil--this tweet was. If that doesn't constitute a clear and present danger demanding immediate attention, then I honestly don't know what does.

If a nuclear agreement is reached, folks, it is not going to change. Iran's aggression was not curbed by the Obama-Biden administration's failures. In fact, it invigorated Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Their mythical deal effectively financed the world's best organized, most capable terror group to rain down attacks on the United States, Israel, and even the Arab Gulf States.

After the deal was signed, Iran went on the offensive, and I can give you some statistics to actually show that activities increased. Attacks against the United States and our partners increased from roughly 8 incidents per every 100 days in 2015 to 28 incidents in 100 days during the 3.5 years that the JCPOA was in effect.

So arguing that the nuclear deal is a credible deterrent against Iranian terror doesn't actually hold water. Thousands of folks have died fighting the global war on terrorism, including 600 U.S. servicemembers. They have been killed at the hands of Iranian proxies in Iraq and in Syria.

I was there on the ground in 2003, in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The leader of that initial surge was a name whom we all know well, Gen. Jim Mattis. The men and women in uniform, then and today, know that Iran is an enemy. We have no common cause with the ayatollahs or anyone who chants ``Death to America.'' Jim Mattis told our enemies, and I will quote the good general:

I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I am

pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you [screw] with

me--

And he used a different word--

I'll kill you all.

Folks, Iran is killing our people overseas, and they are trying to kill our people right here, right here in the United States of America. We cannot appease, and we cannot back down.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur now.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, ``Help Wanted.'' I see the signs in nearly every county I visit in Iowa on my 99-county tour. Small businesses and public services are struggling to maintain the workforce that is vital to our communities. The Des Moines Public School District, for example, has over 100 vacancies and is providing $50,000 incentives for retiring teachers, nurses, and administrators to stay in school.

Faced with a declining number of soldiers, the Iowa National Guard is offering signing bonuses to new recruits,

along with other incentives to encourage current members to reenlist.

Police departments across the State are also facing recruitment challenges so the Iowa State Patrol is raising salaries and starting outreach efforts with kids as young as the sixth grade to get them to start thinking about careers in law enforcement.

And this need for essential workers, well, it isn't limited to just Iowa. America is facing a shortage of teachers, doctors, nurses, childcare providers, construction workers, truckdrivers, pilots, and even accountants.

And with the Democrats' latest tax-and-spend spree, a shortage of accountants is something taxpayers everywhere now need to be concerned about. The Democrats' response to the nationwide need for essential workers is to hire 87,000 new IRS agents. The reckless tax-and-spending bill passed by DC Democrats last month more than doubles the size of the IRS, which already has nearly 80,000 full-time employees.

So what are the new IRS agents being hired to do? Well, audit America, of course--and very aggressively, if a recent job announcement on the Agency's website is any indication. The IRS says it is seeking armed accountants willing to participate in ``life-threatening situations on the job.''

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says, with the supersized staff, the IRS audit rate ``would rise for all taxpayers,'' regardless of income. CBO warns it will also result in audits of innocent Americans who have paid all of their taxes and don't owe the IRS a cent. That is right. Even if you have paid your taxes, you still could be subjected to an unfair and costly audit by the Biden administration's army of IRS agents.

Folks, Washington doesn't need any more tax collectors; it needs to simplify the Tax Code. If it wasn't so complicated to calculate your tax bill, it would be a lot easier to complete your return and avoid making mistakes.

Ironically, hundreds of employees at the IRS itself may have willfully failed to pay their own tax bills, including tax collectors and even a criminal investigator. In total, 1,250 IRS employees were identified who had not paid their tax bills in full or on time by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. More than 300 of these employees were repeat offenders. Yet the tax-collecting Agency did little to discipline the tax evaders on its very own payroll.

The IRS staffers gave a variety of excuses for not paying their taxes, including forgetting to report all of their income or being unable to use TurboTax. Yep, folks, you heard that right. We have a real problem if the IRS staff who enforce the tax law aren't paying their own taxes and can't even understand how to properly fill out their own tax forms.

I have heard enough of the excuses and these Washington double standards. That is why I have asked the inspector general to audit the IRS to ensure that the tax collectors themselves are paying the taxes they owe, and, on behalf of taxpayers in Iowa and the rest of the country, I am grateful that the IG has agreed.

Before Biden's army of auditors starts harassing innocent taxpayers, let's first make sure that tax collectors have paid their own taxes.

And if the threat of being audited wasn't bad enough, the reckless tax-and-spend bill also increases taxes, which will further add to the burden of small businesses already struggling with the higher costs resulting from Bidenomics. And that is the real issue. Washington's misplaced priorities are creating problems for the rest of America.

No one in Iowa whom I talk to is begging for more IRS auditors, but I do hear about the urgent need for more teachers and daycare providers because these folks are absolutely essential to communities across Iowa. The childcare staffing crisis has an even bigger ripple effect on families because it can determine where, when, and even if a parent can work. Yet four in five childcare centers across the country are understaffed. This is particularly pressing for my home State because we lead the Nation in the percentage of families where both parents work away from home.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is working hard to increase the availability and affordability of childcare, and part of her plan is to pay recruitment and retention bonuses to childcare providers to recognize them for their hard work.

In addition, most of Iowa's restaurants and bars are also shortstaffed, which is resulting in reduced hours of service for customers and also longer shifts for current employees. To retain and attract employees, restaurants are increasing benefits like free meals, more flexible schedules, paid time off, and retirement contributions. And, folks, that is great news for these hard-working Iowans, but it also increases the cost of doing business.

So instead of increasing taxes on Iowa's small businesses to pay for the IRS's new army of auditors, Washington should allow job creators to keep more of their own earnings which can be put toward hiring more of those essential workers--whether that be childcare providers, construction workers, or food service employees--whom we all rely upon. That is the help that America really wants. And while my Democratic friends are working overtime to audit Americans, you can rest assured that Republicans--we are auditing the IRS.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, this one should be simple.

My amendment eliminates subsidies for slave and child labor. The price of buying a car has reached a record high, and what is the Democrats' answer? A tax break for wealthy coastal elites to buy electric vehicles produced with slave and child labor.

Currently, this bill already prevents vehicles containing any part sourced or assembled in foreign entities of concern, like China or Russia, from being eligible for the tax credit. My amendment doesn't change that. My amendment simply ensures that our tax dollars don't subsidize EVs from any countries using child or slave labor.

We all know the critical minerals that comprise EV batteries are largely mined in sub-Saharan Africa by companies abusing children, which are then assembled in Chinese-owned factories, many of which use slave labor. Subsidizing, to the tune of $7,500 per person, the purchase of a luxury vehicle for wealthy coastal elites that utilizes slave or child labor is a direct contradiction of our American values.

We shouldn't be sacrificing a clean conscience in exchange for a so- called cleaner car.

I urge the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. President, today, I come to the floor to urge President Biden to turn his attention to his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan 1 year ago. I want to direct the Commander in Chief to reflect on a series of commitments he made to the American people before and during his reckless exit.

On August 19, 2021, President Biden promised U.S. troops would remain on the ground until every American who wanted to leave Afghanistan was evacuated.

On August 26, 2021, President Biden promised to hunt down and avenge the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed in action by ISIS-K in Kabul.

In a speech to the United Nations on September 21, 2021, the President promised his administration would hold the Taliban accountable to protect the rights of Afghan women.

The Commander in Chief failed to uphold his word on all three fronts, and American security and prosperity have suffered as a result of his broken promises.

Today in Afghanistan, Americans who want to come home remain left behind, and the administration's lack of transparency concerning both the number and desire of Americans trapped in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is alarming.

The President and members of his Cabinet repeatedly claimed that the number of Americans who wanted out of Afghanistan was roughly 100. That number was spouted from September 2021 through the beginning of this year--the same number over and over again--even though we would hear reports on the television that 40 more Americans were out, 200 Americans were out, and yet the number remained the same. How many Americans remain in Afghanistan? The number they kept using was 100.

There is no way around it: President Biden broke his promise to the Americans who remain and their families anxiously awaiting their return.

Americans have lived and traveled abroad with assurances that the United States would come to their aid in the event of a conflict. No matter how far away, the United States is expected to have the backs of its citizens. Our withdrawal from Afghanistan was a cut-and-run approach that greatly damaged that guarantee.

If the world's greatest superpower cannot locate and extract its own citizens from the clutches of seventh-century thugs, then far greater tests of our sovereignty, security, and prosperity will only loom larger.

As we approach the anniversary of the haphazard withdrawal, there is an open wound hurting our ability to deter the actions of our adversaries.

President Biden promised vengeance on the terrorists who killed 13 Americans--including 1 from my hometown of Red Oak, IA--at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

He told the American people:

The United States will never rest. We will not forgive. We

will not forget. We will hunt you down to the ends of the

Earth, and we will--you will pay the ultimate price.

Again, the Commander in Chief's rhetoric does not match his actions. The U.S. military has not targeted or conducted any counterterrorism strikes against ISIS-K in Afghanistan since America's withdrawal on August 31, 2021. Those who planned the cowardly act remain at large.

It is not like ISIS-K is holed up in the Hindu Kush mountains, away from population centers. At least 26 terrorist attacks, many of which ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for, have struck the Afghan people in metropolitan Kabul since our withdrawal. Our enemies are not hiding, but far too often, America is.

We are also stuck with a largely unrealized over-the-horizon counterterrorism strategy that has not deterred the resurgence of terrorists or avenged our lost warriors.

Our military and covert operators' recent strike was welcome and long overdue, but the strike demonstrates a capability rarely employed and a posture toward terrorism far too inexact.

It was President Biden, after all, who said last August that al-Qaida was gone from Afghanistan. Folks, that is clearly not the case. Ensuring that al-Qaida leader al-Zawahiri will never harm an American again was a necessary action, but the strike has raised serious questions about the security situation we have in Afghanistan. The President's so-called and much-promised over-the-horizon counterterrorism strategy has not been a deterrent, like it was promised to be. Instead, we are seeing a growing threat emanating from Afghanistan.

This is the first U.S. military strike in Afghanistan since America left on August 31 of last year. In the meantime, ISIS-K fighters are flowing into the country at alarming rates while al-Qaida and the Taliban have clearly been working together for the past year. At the very least, the Taliban and Haqqani Network gave al-Zawahiri and his thugs safe haven, demonstrating ongoing Taliban collusion with terrorists. A lone strike does not demonstrate a developed capacity to prevent further coordination that threatens American security.

Not only has the U.S. capacity to protect the homeland been greatly damaged, the President's intent to champion human rights as a centerpiece of this administration's foreign policy is also in shambles.

Last fall, the President repeatedly claimed Afghan women were a linchpin of his foreign policy priorities in the region. Yet, today, after 20 years of constitutional democracy and advancement of civil rights, the Taliban has unraveled significant hard-won gains for the women of Afghanistan. The Taliban enforce a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, prohibit women from working, from attending secondary school, and from traveling any distance without being accompanied by a male member of their family. Most recently, the Taliban has required all women to cover themselves from head to toe in the burqa. Yet it is reported that the President's team continues to bargain with the Taliban concerning diplomatic recognition, potential coordination with the U.S. intelligence community, and access to $3.5 billion in held currency to the Taliban, despite these actions.

Extending official diplomatic engagement and facilitating access to funding without guaranteed and meaningful liberties for women and girls will legitimize the Taliban rule and further

subject women to a brutal regime. Any further effort to surrender leverage to the Taliban is a candid reflection of the Biden administration's failure to remedy its own hypocrisy regarding human rights.

The administration's abandonment of Americans, inability to serve justice for our soldiers killed in action, impassive counterterrorism operations, and ignorance of the human rights disaster they precipitated in Afghanistan have substituted sound strategy for an ad hoc response of willful negligence.

And they know it.

The Department of State and Department of Defense under President Biden have refused to cooperate with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

The President's neglect is most profoundly demonstrated through his administration's lack of controls on billions of dollars of taxpayer and frozen funds marked for humanitarian aid that have found their way into the Taliban's coffers.

Since the Taliban and Haqqani Network--the two groups that are ruling Afghanistan--are Specially Designated Global Terrorists, existing law compels the administration to disclose the risk of taxpayer money slipping into the hands of these two terror groups.

The licenses issued by the Treasury Department over the last year extend far beyond acute humanitarian aid for food and medicine. They expand the authorization of funding for activities from endangered species research to direct payments to support governing institutions controlled by the Taliban and the Haqqani Network.

I led 15 other Senators in asking the Biden administration to detail the total financial support provided to Afghanistan and an honest assessment of the taxes, the fees, and the import duties syphoned off by the Taliban. More than 6 months later, we are still waiting for a comprehensive answer.

This is completely unacceptable in light of recent reporting that Taliban authorities are interfering with the delivery of humanitarian aid, despite a pledge to the United Nations last fall that they would not. The people of Afghanistan continue to suffer from food insecurity while the Taliban are enjoying the spoils of America's generosity.

Numerous requests for a detailed accounting have gone unanswered by the Treasury and State Departments.

Leaving Americans behind, failing to avenge the death of 13 servicemembers, and abdicating your promises to Afghan women and girls do not deter threats from our shores.

In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on October 26, 2021, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy stated that ISIS-K and al-Qaida have the intent to conduct operations against the United States, and that ISIS-K could generate that capability in 6 to 12 months and al-Qaida within 1 to 2 years.

Eight months have come and passed, and we have yet to learn how Team Biden will protect our citizens from this threat at home or abroad. In the absence of such a framework, threats to our national security grow every day, risking the lives of Americans at home and abroad.

Folks, we are rapidly approaching that 1-year mark--the haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan--and we cannot forget.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the mountain Americans have to climb to make ends meet keeps getting steeper and steeper as a result of Bidenomics.

Since President Biden began his reckless tax-and-spending spree, prices are sky-high for gas, food, housing, and just about everything else. The administration's own statistics reveal inflation jumped nearly 10 percent in the last year, the biggest increase in over four decades.

Democrats keep telling us not to worry and that the problem is only ``temporary.'' Yet, every month, prices keep climbing and climbing and climbing. The reason is simple: President Biden's fiscal policies are driving costs higher and higher.

You may recall I came to the Senate floor a year ago to warn my colleagues that Bidenomics was causing inflation to spin out of control. Yet Democrats have ignored the struggles being inflicted on hard-working Americans and continue to pass one trillion-dollar bill after another. As reckless spending increased, the value of the dollar declined, meaning paychecks aren't going nearly as far as they did just a year ago.

To make matters even worse, the Biden administration's ongoing effort to end domestic oil and gas production is fueling the elevated price at the pump, which reached an alltime high of more than $5 per gallon this summer; and an internal analysis by the Biden administration's own Treasury Department forecasts that, this fall, gas prices could top $6 a gallon.

I am already hearing from Iowans and Iowa businesses about how folks aren't even able to afford to drive to work. The problem is becoming even more difficult since Bidenomics is driving up the sticker prices on cars to record highs. The actual retail price for a new vehicle is $48,000, and if that sounds like a lot, the cost of buying a home has also reached an alltime high of $416,000. It is no surprise fewer people are buying homes. Then look at rent. It has also hit a record high of nearly $1,900 a month. These unpredictable prices have everyone asking themselves if ``The Price is Right.''

Folks, Americans shouldn't have to play guessing games about whether or not their paychecks can be stretched far enough to avoid going over a financial cliff. Each bill the Democrats have passed as part of the Biden agenda has increased costs for working Americans while moving our Nation closer and closer to the edge of the fiscal cliff.

Consider that when Joe Biden was inaugurated as President in January 2021, the inflation rate was only 1 percent. After their so-called COVID relief bill--which cost $1.9 trillion--was passed in March of last year, the inflation rate moved up to nearly 3 percent.

In July, President Biden claimed the quickly increasing prices were ``temporary'' and that his big spending plans would result in lower prices for Americans, but by the time the President signed his $1 trillion, so-called infrastructure bill in November, inflation had climbed to almost 7 percent.

In December, President Biden said inflation had reached its ``peak.'' He was wrong once again, and, today, inflation is more than 9 percent.

This isn't a cliffhanger, folks. We all know where this is headed. Step by step, President Biden's reckless tax-and-spend policies are taking us closer and closer to going over the cliff, and yet the Democrats are still trying to outbid each other with another trillion- dollar, budget-busting, partisan package that would raise taxes on small businesses and increase prices for everyone.

That is right, folks. Bidenomics is driving up the costs of everything, and the Democrats' solution is to spend even more of your hard-earned money to pay for more of their pricey, partisan pet projects. Any more Bidenomics will push the economy over the fiscal cliff and into a recession.

It is time to take a step back and stop the wasteful Washington spending, which is the only way to make these prices come on down.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, here we are again--another day, another sympathetically titled bill offered by my Democratic colleagues wherein the talking points don't really give you the full story--case in point, the Right to Contraception Act.

The so-called Right to Contraception Act purposefully goes far beyond the scope of contraception. It includes provisions that could guarantee the funding of abortion providers and that defines ``contraceptive'' in such a broad way that it could include drugs to induce an abortion weeks or months into a pregnancy. This definition also could include non-FDA-approved drugs that would actually put a woman's health at risk.

The bill also flies in the face of decades of work in providing for conscience protections. It would require organizations to administer contraceptives despite their moral or religious beliefs.

There is something insidious with this bill, but don't take it from me. Look to the bill's text itself. The ``findings'' section of this bill notes the work of an organization that many of my colleagues will recognize: The United Nations Population Fund. This is the same organization that contributed over $10 million to a mass sterilization campaign in Peru in the nineties.

That campaign was rife with coercive practices: Quotas were set; cash bonuses were paid to health workers for each client sterilized; and poor women were bribed with nutritional supplements and clothes for their children.

Then let's not forget the former Population Fund executive director's high praise of China's one-child policy.

But let's be clear here. Routine-use contraceptives should be more easily available, and the fact that they aren't has the biggest impact on women in rural areas, where a doctor could be dozens of miles away. A woman in a rural area doesn't need a platitude-filled messaging bill like the one we have here. She needs over-the-counter access to routine-use birth control. Luckily, Republicans have a solution.

My bill, the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act, incentivizes manufacturers of contraceptives to file an application for over-the-counter access. It also allows priority review for these applications and waives the FDA filing fee. That means cheaper, quicker, and more available access for women across this Nation.

With my bill, women 18 and over can walk into their local pharmacies, whether they be in Sidney, IA, or in the deepest parts of Manhattan, and get the routine-use birth control they need.

When your doctor is 30 miles away and gas is $6 a gallon, you don't need a messaging bill; you need access.

Therefore, I object.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4638, 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.

Reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, this bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. While the language touts supporting access to family planning, in reality, it is likely a $5 billion gift for Planned Parenthood and other abortion-related providers.

Prior to the Trump administration's protect life rule, Planned Parenthood received nearly $60 million per year in title X funds. The Biden administration reversed this rule and has aggressively deployed title X funds to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

Under this bill, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers would be allowed to use the funds to build clinics, and abortion counseling referrals would be mandatory. The bill would also force religious providers to violate their beliefs. Congress should not green light family planning dollars at the expense of family destruction.

For those reasons, I object.

Madam President, 200 years ago, the Senate went about their business without computers, without cell phones, and any of our other modern conveniences that run on electricity, including the very lights in this room. Working by candlelight might sound quaint today, but many Americans may find themselves doing just that in the not too distant future because the Biden administration is taking the country back to the era of no electricity.

Folks, with President Biden and his same team of advisers who created a nationwide baby formula shortage and out-of-control inflation overseeing their ``energy transition,'' what could possibly go wrong? You don't have to look any further than your energy bills to get an answer.

Prices at the pump have nearly doubled since Biden's first day in office when he started signing Executive orders to turn off American energy supplies. And home electricity prices have increased more than 20 percent since just last summer. What is worse than these expensive energy bills? Well, folks, how about no power at all? Most of the Nation is currently in danger of experiencing power outages due to energy shortages caused by the closure of power plants as part of the Democrats' push towards renewables. These Biden blackouts will make it impossible to even run fans and air conditioners on the hottest days of the summer.

But not to worry, folks, Biden's Energy Department has issued some tips of what to do in case of an outage, which include stocking up on candles, keeping an ice chest on hand, and having a gallon of water available for every person in your house for each day you are without electricity.

Folks, that is not the most reassuring advice since no one knows how many days we could be kept in the dark during a Biden blackout.

The reality is these power outages pose a bigger problem than just the inconvenience of being uncomfortably warm or unable to watch TV for a few hours or possibly days.

Extended outages could be a matter of life or death for many folks who depend upon electronic medical devices or temperature-sensitive medicines.

You are probably wondering how it is even possible in 2022 for there to be an energy shortage right here in the United States of America. It is simple math: Democratic policies.

The ongoing closure of traditional power plants is reducing our capacity to supply enough electricity for millions of homes and renewables are not yet producing enough energy on their own to make up the difference.

The Democrats are predictably blaming global warming, but the truth is the rolling blackouts and rising prices are really being caused by man-made energy change. Just this year, the Biden administration has reduced domestic oil and gas leasing, created regulatory barriers for building pipelines, and taken administrative actions that put hundreds of solar energy projects across the U.S. on hold.

We can't just turn off the power sources we depend upon without having reliable, abundant, and affordable alternatives readily available. Yet that is exactly what the Democrats, at President Biden's direction, are doing.

I am proud that my home State of Iowa was the first State in the Nation to adopt a renewable portfolio standard nearly 40 years ago.

Today, Iowa generates most of our energy from renewables, with wind power being our primary source. Iowa also leads the Nation in the production of ethanol and biodiesel. And despite what critics say, the use of corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel reduce greenhouse gas emissions while helping to keep our Nation energy independent and our State green and clean.

However, renewables still only produce a fraction of the total electricity the Nation relies on to run, making it impossible and irresponsible to simply unplug our traditional energy sources.

Just look at California, which has set a goal of achieving a carbon- free power grid. The State is forecasting that energy shortages could leave as many as 4 million California residents without power this summer.

The State's utility provider wants to build five new fossil-fuel power generators to ensure the availability of reliable electricity in the future. But the challenge is more than just making up for the reduction in power production because the transition to renewables is creating new demands for electricity.

For example, our increasingly unreliable power grid will face even greater strains as more and more electric vehicles are plugged into it. To drive just 100 miles, an EV requires about the same amount of electricity as it takes to run a home for an entire day, including lights, heating and air-conditioning, and appliances. Tesla, the world's top EV carmaker, is already asking EV owners to not charge their cars during certain hours of the day to better ration the use of electricity.

And while President Biden and the Democrats keep telling Americans to buy an electric vehicle to cut down on the cost of gas, the high sticker price makes EVs unaffordable.

Folks, the cold, hard truth is electric vehicles are not as economical, environmental, or ethical as the Democrats want us to believe. Proponents of the Green New Deal portray themselves as heroes in a fairy tale riding to the rescue--on an EV, of course--to defeat the greedy corporations polluting the planet for profit so we can all live happily ever after. But the truth is it ain't that easy being green.

Consider the component parts used in both EVs and solar panels. Well, they are largely produced by Communist China's State-supported corporations, often using slave and child labor.

As a result, the world will be more dependent on Communist China for some energy products in a post-carbon economy than we are on OPEC for petroleum today.

President Biden's own Energy Department admits that ``U.S. decarbonization goals are reliant on both Chinese firms and the Chinese government.''

And while we will rely on China for the technology, the communist regime will rely more heavily on the forced labor of children and modern-day slaves to produce it. Consider, almost half of the world supply of polysilicon used in solar panels is made in Communist China, often by the hands of forced labor of ethnic and religious minorities. And nearly every silicon-based solar panel is likely to contain components that originated in the area of China where forced labor camps are widespread. China also has significant financial control over the world's supply of cobalt, which is an essential element used in the batteries of EVs.

The Congo produces 70 percent of the world's cobalt, and Chinese- backed companies own or have a financial interest in most of the African nation's cobalt mines. These Chinese corporations are subjecting the miners to physical abuse and hazardous conditions in exchange for very little money. Tens of thousands of children--some as young as 4 years old--are exploited to work in the mines with few safety protections.

President Biden promised to create green jobs, but he didn't mention that they would be done by children in Africa or slaves in China. These poor kids are mistreated and malnourished and even drugged to suppress their hunger so they can work for longer hours. Breathing in toxic fumes causes long-term health problems, including lung disease and heart failure, as well as birth defects. And miners are often buried alive when tunnels cave in.

These are some of the kids who mine the cobalt to make an EV run. And in the other photo are some of the folks who produce ethanol for motor vehicles. I know which photo I would rather see. Who powers your vehicle?

In addition to the toxic harm to humans, the extraction of cobalt also causes severe environmental pollution to the water, air, and to the soil.

Just take a look at this picture. This is a mine in Congo where cobalt is extracted to make batteries for EVs. Nothing about this landscape looks like an environmental success story to me. By contrast, the picture over here is a beautiful farm in Iowa where corn is grown to make fuel for motor vehicles. Every year, I drive through mile after mile of cornfields on my 99-county tour. It is the type of scenic drive that reconnects you with nature and reminds you of the importance of proper stewardship of the land we live off of.

Folks, we can all have a cleaner conscience knowing that energy made in Iowa is creating economic opportunities for our neighbors, while keeping our communities green, rather than exploiting children or creating a toxic wasteland. Can the same be said about the initiatives that are being pushed by the Biden administration? Like begging OPEC to pump more oil, sending our Nation's strategic oil reserves to China, or subsidizing China's market in slave and child labor.

Are we going to tell the truth to the children that riding the electric school buses that the Biden administration is spending $5 billion on to purchase, what really makes the wheels on these buses go round and round is the exploitation of other children who are their age or even younger? Or are we just going to tell them more green fairy tales?

It is time to come clean about the Democrats' Green New Deal. Just like President Biden's other policies, this radical agenda is creating problems, not solving them, including greater dependency on foreign adversaries like China and Russia, reliance on child and slave forced labor, harm to human health and the environment, higher costs, and energy shortages and blackouts. Democrats are literally trying to keep America in the dark about these inconvenient truths.

Folks, the Biden blackouts will be the latest unneeded reminder that the Democrats' Green New Deal can't hold a candle to the Republicans' record of producing an abundant supply of affordable energy right here in the good old United States of America.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues, especially Senators Shaheen and Tillis, for leading an incredibly successful congressional delegation to the NATO summit. I want to thank them, as well, for organizing the colloquy today.

I join them in enthusiastically endorsing Finland and Sweden's accession into NATO. Both nations have representative governments accountable to their people. They conduct extensive commerce and trade with our great United States, and, broadly, they share many of our values.

Historically, perhaps these were conditions sufficient to readily welcome two European nations into one of our multinational security frameworks, but today, given the increasingly complex threats our adversaries are imposing on the homeland, protecting American security and prosperity demands partners who are capable of sharing NATO's manpower and resource burdens.

NATO isn't a club of democracies or a playground for exploring climate change or progressive cultural interests. It is a military alliance that is assembled to deter our adversaries from wreaking havoc on our partners and against our own homeland.

Today, the United States is the unquestioned and undisputed leader of not just NATO, but continues to lead the global coalition containing and destroying terrorist operations in the Middle East and in Africa. Beyond Europe and the Middle East, the United States must--and I will repeat that--must lead a coalition to deter China's looming imperial expansion around the world and potential takeover of Taiwan and our other partners in the Indo-Pacific.

The United States has the greatest military on the face of the planet, and the American people's support of our Armed Forces is unwavering.

Still, our Commander in Chief, our diplomatic and military leadership, and Members of the Senate must hold our partners accountable to their own defense and not lean on the reach and lethality of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians alone.

Going forward, NATO member countries must invest in their own defense. Two percent must be a minimum standard. Longstanding members of the alliance remain far too lax and sometimes neglectful of their obligations to the alliance and to their people. America is not the world's policemen, but we are the leader of the free world and this alliance. And Finland and Sweden are on target regarding their 2- percent commitment.

I am confident that Finland and Sweden are ready to stand up and help shoulder the resource burden on NATO's military obligations in Europe, particularly following Russia's bloody, lawless invasion of Ukraine.

The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO is a great success, but regarding the war raging in Ukraine today, on day 140 of this conflict, the U.S. cannot grow weary. Our resolve to support our partner must carry on. China is watching. The Gulf States, South America, and Africa are weighing their commitment to the free world against the economic and security guarantees on the table from our adversaries.

Our national defense capacity diminishes the more our adversaries, from the Taliban to Iran's cluster of violent extremist organizations, to Vladimir Putin, to the Chinese Communist Party, can call our bluff and see if we cannot bear the cost of achieving our goals.

We must remain steady and strong. This administration and our partners in NATO must change their strategy to deliver Ukraine victory over Putin's Russia, and that is why Sweden and Finland will be a much welcomed addition to NATO.

Again, I thank my colleagues for organizing this colloquy, and I urge this body to move very quickly to confirm the U.S. support of Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO.

I yield the floor to my colleague from Missouri.