Floor Statements

Madam President, with last week's election results, the American people have given Republicans an incredible mandate: Secure the border, strengthen the economy, restore law and order, and do so much more that is going to put this country back on the right track.

It is pretty amazing--70 percent of the American people feel like this country is on the wrong track, and we are going to need to wait until the new year to start fully enacting the strong, conservative agenda; and we are still going to have a lot to do here in this Congress before we are sworn in.

Now, I have got something to put at the top of that to-do list, and that is ensuring that our hurricane survivors in Tennessee and across the southeast receive the disaster assistance that they desperately need.

No one ever thought that such a storm would end up in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, but it did. And the damage assessments show what Tennessee is facing in our affected counties to restore our communities so that people are able to live; to work; to rear their families; so that the kids are able to go to school.

And we know that it is going to have quite a cost to it. The estimate for repairing roads, bridges, and infrastructure from Hurricane Helene tops $510 million. Think about that. You have got an area in upper East Tennessee--7 counties--and you are looking at over a half billion dollars to repair the infrastructure.

Now, on top of this, we have got more than 1,500 homes that are not livable--503 of those homes were completely destroyed. And being on the ground in Tennessee, you have heard stories of how people saw their homes just being washed away.

And we know that this is going to take a while. Our Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has been on the ground from day one; and they are working with these homes, with these communities, and with the 209 businesses that have been impacted--and 36 of those companies were completely destroyed.

The total economic losses to Tennessee's agriculture and forest industries, meanwhile, have been estimated at $1.3 billion, and that is according to the UT Institute of Agriculture.

So you can see devastating loss--devastating loss--from one area of Tennessee in these counties that border North Carolina and sit there along the Nolichucky River and the Doe River and the devastation that has been unprecedented.

I have found it really quite amazing that when you look at what happened in Southwest Virginia and North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, that the estimates are about $50 billion in damages.

Now, as I mentioned, being on the ground really tells a story that is much more pointed and explicit than what you see in pictures or in video. And once you are on the ground, you can truly understand the devastation and the depth and breadth of this devastation.

I have been in upper East Tennessee and in every one of these affected counties five times, and I have visited communities that have been isolated because of road closures, because bridges have been completely washed out. I have talked with business owners that have lost it all, just have lost everything that they have worked for, and I have met with families whose entire homes have been washed away.

One family that I was visiting with in Johnson County, they were staying right there at the disaster relief agency because that is where they could find a place to lay their head, get a hot meal. The devastation is just unprecedented.

And in the middle of all of this, I have seen what makes Tennessee so unique. We are known as the Volunteer State. And, indeed, we do have that volunteer spirit. And seeing the way that neighbors have stood up and helped their neighbors and have come to their aid--food, shelter, clothing, cleaning supplies--indeed, if you were to go to the Bristol Motor Speedway--somewhere that people go to watch the races--what you would see is an entire building that has been turned into a command center and also a disaster relief center with pallets of water and food and cleaning supplies and linens and furniture and clothing, everything that is needed to get people back on the right track.

Now, I will say this: Our Governor--Governor Bill Lee--our State emergency management agency, and our local mayors deserve a lot of credit. These local elected officials are the first ones on the ground, and they were on the ground immediately--all of our

local law enforcement, our first responders, our county emergency management agencies--and they stepped up. They went into action, and they moved forward immediately to start to come around individuals who were losing it all, who were fighting to find people that they feared had lost their lives.

But we know that Federal support is going to prove vital to these communities being able to stand up. They are not asking for handouts. They are asking for help and a hand up so that they can rebuild.

And, unfortunately, what we are seeing is Tennesseans are struggling to get access to these Federal programs. Just 2 weeks after Hurricane Helene struck, we had the Small Business Administration announce that it had run out of funds for its disaster loan program. Now, the fiscal year started October 1; this storm happened on September 27, and you have the SBA saying 2 weeks into the fiscal year they have used every penny of their disaster loan program. And we know this is an essential lifeline for businesses to help them to stay in operation and to keep employees on the payroll.

And after spending almost half of its disaster budget in the first week of October, FEMA also warned that it may have to restrict funding for rebuilding efforts--that includes repairs for infrastructure and water treatment facilities.

This shortfall is absolutely inexcusable. The mismanagement is inexcusable.

Just days after Hurricane Helene struck Tennessee, I joined my Senate colleagues who represent the States impacted by the storm in calling for a Federal disaster relief package to aid rescue, recovery, and rebuilding efforts. We need to address the needs of our farmers whose crop fields face devastating flooding. I have joined the entire Tennessee delegation in urging House and Senate leadership to pass agricultural disaster assistance.

So with Congress back in session, we should waste no time. And before we get to next year's agenda, we should put at the top of the to-do list: addressing the needs of those who have been so devastated--their lives, their businesses, their homes--everything devastated by these floods.

I yield the floor.

I thank my colleague from Utah.

Madam President, thank you for the time and recognition.

I want to say thank you to him for bringing this issue forward.

As I am out and about in Tennessee, I hear a lot about this. People are concerned about what would happen if those who are illegally in the country get a vote, if they exercise the rights of citizenship, because so many people in Tennessee talk about that, in America, there is nothing more fundamental than guarding our God-given freedoms, approaching the ballot boxes as equal citizens for fair and open elections.

And they are quite disturbed because, for the last more than 3 years, what they have seen is that the Biden-Harris administration has waged a war on this sacred institution by working overtime to make illegal immigration legal.

Now, you have heard reference to the numbers of illegal aliens--and, by the way, that is the statutory term that is used--and about the numbers that have come into this country. We know it is north of 10 million illegal aliens. The Senator from Kansas referenced this. And the size is larger--the number, the population number--larger than 36 of our States, and the impact that that can have.

And as my colleague from Utah pointed out, when someone comes here illegally, and they go into a State like Minnesota that gives those that are illegally in the country a driver's license, and then that individual goes to another State, through the motor voter law, they can check that box, and they can register to vote. They can get that driver's license. They can register to vote. And we know that this has occurred, and we have seen it occur in voter rolls all across this country--from Massachusetts to Arizona and everywhere in between.

Now, recently, the State of Virginia went through their voter rolls, and they discovered that they had more than 6,000 that were on their voter rolls who had entered the country illegally.

And this becomes such a problem when you look at the number of States that do not require voter ID when they vote. We have got 14 States across this country where you do not have to show an ID when you go to vote at the polls. You show up, and you vote.

Now, one thing is clear. While it is against the law for illegal aliens to vote in Federal elections, many States and jurisdictions lack the proper safeguards to enforce this law. It is already illegal. It is already illegal. But they broke the law coming into the country illegally. They have broken the law by checking that box and registering to vote.

And the risk is higher than ever because of what has transpired at the open border, but the SAVE Act, which the gentleman from Utah has brought to the floor today, would solve this problem because it would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in an election, and you would have to provide that proof in person.

I will tell you, there are many people that are surprised that we don't require that proof--that you prove that you are who you say you are.

The SAVE Act also has provisions to restore our election integrity. It would require States to establish a program to remove those that are illegally in the country from the voter rolls, and it would also allow citizens to sue election officials who fail to uphold requirements for proof of citizenship.

Now, the House did pass this in July, and it had been sitting over here for the last couple of months. And so I would ask my Democratic colleagues: What in this bill do you oppose? What do you oppose? Why is it that you would want to open the door to allow individuals that have illegally entered the country to actually vote in a Federal election? Do you want to encourage them to vote in our elections?

This is why we need to protect the integrity of each citizen, each person--one person, one vote.

Now, my colleague from North Carolina has also come to the floor, and I want to say a word about his Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act, which would also be helpful. His bill, which I support, would block President Biden's Executive order that forces--not allows, but commands--it forces Federal Agencies to work with outside partisan groups to mobilize voters.

And guess what. The taxpayers got to pay for this. Talk about wanting to federalize elections. Talk about the Federal Government wanting to throw their weight. This is it.

And, of course, the Executive order excludes any information about how the Biden-Harris administration would go about approving or selecting groups.

So I commend my colleague from North Carolina for the Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act. I commend my colleague from Utah for the SAVE Act.

I yield the floor to my colleague from Utah.

Mr. President, here is a number for everyone to think about today: $35.3 trillion--$35.3 trillion. That is our Nation's debt number. As you can see, we have gotten there because of years of deficit spending.

Right now, this massive sum, which is our national debt, represents more than $100,000 of indebtedness for every man, woman, and child in this country. While this number is almost impossible to comprehend, it poses one of the greatest threats to our Nation's stability, security, and survival.

To put this issue in perspective, our debt-to-GDP ratio is 121 percent, meaning our Nation's debt is one-fifth larger than our Nation's annual economic output. Think about that. The debt is larger than our output. By comparison, our debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of World War II was 106 percent. That was the record high before we got to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As our debt balloons, the annual cost of interest payments on the debt continues to rise, and this crowds out vital services that ought to be going to people who need them. In fact, through the first 6 months of fiscal year 2024, our country spent more taxpayer money servicing the debt than we spent on our military. We spent $440 billion on interest payments on our debt. When faced with this reality, Tennesseans and Americans will probably wonder: Well, how did we get on this path to fiscal disaster?

Of course, $35.3 trillion in debt didn't just appear overnight. Each year, the Federal deficit--and I have got a chart here that goes back to 2005 and shows you what the deficit was every year--which is the annual difference between government spending and taxpayer money that is collected and coming into the Federal Government, all gets tacked on to our national debt, and under the Biden-Harris administration, this deficit spending has exploded.

You can see these numbers. Last fiscal year, the Federal deficit was nearly $1.7 trillion. It was up more than 21 percent from $1.4 trillion in 2022. If you will recall, the Biden-Harris's Inflation Reduction Act--the Green New Deal giveaway that Vice President Harris sat right up there and cast the tie-breaking vote for--was supposed to somehow, miraculously, reduce the debt.

Still, so many Tennesseans say: How can you say you are going to spend more and that is going to reduce what you spend? It is void of common sense.

In fiscal year 2021, meanwhile, the Federal deficit reached more than $2.7 trillion. Now, we know some of that overlapped with the final couple of months of the Trump administration, but the spending occurred primarily under the Biden administration and under that $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. It was the driving force of this administration's four-decade-high inflation rate.

Indeed, if you go back and you look at inflation, it was 1.4 percent the day that President Biden and Vice President Harris took office. Today, the latest number is 20.3 percent. In fact, excluding the emergency COVID spending in 2020, deficit spending under the Biden- Harris administration is at its highest point in American history--as I said, 121 percent of GDP. Previously, after World War II, it was at 106 percent.

The only other administration that has come even close to these numbers under Biden-Harris is the Obama-Biden administration. Before congressional Republicans fought for and secured serious spending cuts, that administration ran annual deficits as high as $1.4 trillion between fiscal years 2009 and 2012.

With the deficit soaring again, our country needs another serious course correction. Yet, under their 2025 budget proposal, the Biden- Harris administration has called for--and I want you to get this number. Their 2025 budget proposal calls for $86 trillion in spending over the next 10 years--$86 trillion. It would increase our national debt--that $35.3 trillion number--it would increase it by $18 trillion.

Now, bear in mind, this is spending they are putting on the books. They are claiming it. They are out here shouting for it. Bidenomics, it is working. But, again, we look at this and say: How can you spend more and then say you are reducing the deficit? It is void of common sense.

Instead of fiscal recklessness, our country needs fiscal responsibility. Every year, I have legislation that would slash Federal spending--and I do these bills every year--by 1 percent, 2 percent, 5 percent for discretionary spending, excluding Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs. I fully believe anybody can find a way to save one penny, two pennies, or a nickel out of what they are given to spend.

At a time when growth in government hiring is now outpacing growth in private sector hiring, Congress must also address the ballooning size of the Federal Government, which now employs nearly 2.4 million bureaucrats. It is time to start freezing salaries and freezing Federal hiring.

While there are many more steps that need to be taken to put America on a better fiscal trajectory, these moves would begin to tackle the threat that is posed to our Nation and to our freedoms because of overspending. If we don't get busy with this and find some ways to wrestle with this debt and with this out-of-control spending, it is our children and grandchildren who will suffer by having to pay that bill.

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

Mr. President, across our country, more than 3 million female high school and college athletes compete, practice, and train every day to achieve athletic success. For many of these young women and girls, their sports are more than just a game; they are a lifelong passion that improves their physical health, boosts self- confidence, and teaches them the leadership skills to succeed on and off the field.

In short, women's athletics have done incredible things for women, which is why it is so deeply disturbing to see the Biden-Harris administration wage a war on women's sports--in their crosshairs: title IX, the landmark civil rights law that codified protections on the basis of sex by requiring equal resources for training, recruitment, and scholarships for female athletic programs.

Title IX led to an explosion of women's participation in sports. In fact, since 1972--the year title IX became law--the number of female college athletes has increased by a factor of seven while the number of female high school athletes has increased by more than tenfold. Yet, for years, we have seen this administration undermine the very title IX protections that have enabled greater women's participation in sports.

In 2022, on the 50th anniversary of title IX, the Department of Education announced new rules that forced schools to allow biological males to play on female teams; and just in April, the administration redefined ``discrimination'' to allow biological men to use women-only locker rooms and bathrooms.

Are Tennesseans and the American people really expected to believe this is OK? You do not need to be a biologist to understand that there are fundamental, biological differences between men and women, and when it comes to sports, these differences undermine fair play, erase women's hard-earned achievements, and put female athletes in danger.

Thankfully, many young women are bravely speaking out against the Biden-Harris administration's radical agenda, including Tennessee's Riley Gaines. In 2021, Riley was forced to compete against and share a locker room with a biological male during the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships. During the 200-meter

competition, Riley tied for fifth with her male competitor, but when Riley went to the awards ceremony to pick up her trophy, officials told her that they were giving the fifth place trophy to the biological male. ``Yours will be coming in the mail,'' they told her.

This should never happen in the United States. Now, more than ever, Congress should stand with the female athletes fighting for fair play and celebrate the incredible contributions women have made in the world of sports. That is why I am calling for unanimous consent for my resolution to establish October 10 as American Girls in Sports Day. Of course, we picked that date for a special reason. As the 10th day of the 10th month, October 10 is represented by the Roman numerals XX, the same numerals of the female sex chromosome.

In the last 50 years, female athletes have gone from the sidelines to the center stage of competition. As we continue to fight for women's participation in sports, we must keep in mind what is at stake, and the American Girls in Sports Day resolution will help to ensure that we all join together and celebrate our female athletes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 669; further, 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 would encourage my colleague to go read the Republican Party platform. It is very short, as a matter of fact. There is nothing in it about banning anything, believe you me. I know that. So I would encourage him to take the 15 or 20 minutes. It is not a long, lengthy document. It has 20 actions that we are going to take, and then it has some principles on which we stand and believe.

I also find it very interesting that he looks at a resolution that would celebrate women as something that should be feared, because it is not about fear. It is not about division. It is not about distraction. This is something that says to our young girls and these young athletes: We are proud of you. Keep it up.

I mean, here is some of the language from the resolution:

Athletic participation has an important, positive impact on

young girls, improving their physical health, self-

confidence, and discipline. . . . Women have been responsible

for some of the greatest athletic feats in the sports history

of the United States, from the Olympic games--

And we all cheered our young women who excelled and won those medals and those who were in competition in the Olympics--

[all the way] to professional competition. . . . [F]emale

athletes have served as inspirations for generations of women

and girls.

In Tennessee, I will tell you, there are young girls probably out in the driveway bouncing a basketball right now. They want to be a Lady Vol. That is one of their goals in life.

As for the number of titles and things that have been lost since 2003, biological men have displaced women and girls from over 950 championship titles, medals, scholarships, and

records that should have rightfully gone to these girls and at least 28 women sports titles in volleyball, swimming, mountain biking, track and field, weightlifting, and cycling.

This is a celebration of female accomplishments. This is a celebration of female accomplishments.

So while I enjoy the opportunity to work with my colleague, I am disappointed to hear him feel and express his opinion that celebrating women and giving a day to celebrate our female athletes would be something that would strike fear and would cause division. We should all be united around celebrating our female athletes.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, as I am out and about across Tennessee, one thing I continue to hear from many Tennesseans and our small business owners is that one of the things they find very frightening is an IRS audit.

Now, for a lot of our small business owners, when they talk about this, they mention how time-consuming it is and how it means sleepless nights and financial uncertainty and needless harassment because they are all working hard, and they are trying to comply with the law.

As of last year--and I find this so very interesting. As of last year, nearly two-thirds of the IRS audits targeted Americans who were making less than $200,000, but in a misguided effort to fund the Biden- Harris administration's trillions in inflationary spending, the IRS recently doubled down on its pledge to ramp up audits on American taxpayers. We all know the administration had said no audits on taxpayers who are earning under $400,000, but bear in mind, two- thirds--two-thirds--of those audits were on taxpayers earning less than $200,000.

Regularly, when I am doing meetings in our 95 counties, I will hear from small business owners, farmers, and independent contractors all across the State who are worried about being targeted by the IRS. This is the same Agency that received $80 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, which was brought to us by this Biden-Harris administration--$80 billion to go out and hire 87,000 new agents.

While IRS Commissioner Werfel recently promised that there would be ``no new wave of audits coming from middle- and low-income'' Americans--and that is a direct quote from him--a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration confirms that Tennesseans do have a reason to be concerned. Although the Treasury Department directed the IRS to exclude Americans making less than $400,000 each year from increased audit rates, the report found that the IRS has no plan to make this happen. You heard me right. Treasury directed the IRS to exclude those Americans making less than $400,000, but the Agency has absolutely no plan for how they are going to do that.

For example, they are using a novel definition of ``taxpayers' earnings''--it is ``total positive income.'' This phrasing has no statutory definition. According to the IRS, the term refers to ``the sum of all positive amounts shown for the various sources of income reported on an individual income tax return and, thus, excludes losses.''

To be sure, the confusing definition raises more questions than it answers:

Will a small business owner or farmer be subject to more audits if his revenue exceeds $400,000 even if his profit is much less than that? Will a married couple with a household income of $400,000 face the same audit rate as a single person with the same income?

For months on the Senate Finance Committee, I pressed Commissioner Werfel and other Biden-Harris officials for answers, but time and again, they have failed to provide satisfactory explanations.

While disturbing, this lack of clarity should come as no surprise. The IG report found that the IRS has failed to define ``small business'' under the directive and develop a methodology for enforcing the $400,000 threshold, all while lacking basic documentation and transparency about its audit plan--there again, no plan.

In short, the Biden-Harris IRS is preparing to shake down Main Street, all while claiming to focus on tax cheats and millionaires and billionaires.

No doubt, the IRS audit plan is just the latest example of this administration's disastrous tax-and-spend agenda, which has seen our national debt increase by more than $7 trillion while pushing up prices across the board by 20 percent in less than 4 years. That is right. The current inflation rate from the time Joe Biden took office until today is actually 20.3 percent.

Unfortunately, this administration has forgotten a simple fact: Hard- working Tennesseans and Americans do best when they have more money in their pocketbooks, not less. With its reckless audit plan, the Biden- Harris IRS is doing its best to ensure that they take more money out of your pocket.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask that the vote scheduled for 5:30 begin immediately.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, it is really so unfortunate and really quite sad that I have to come to the floor today and speak because, today, the Senate Democrat leadership is moving forward with a vote that undermines the longstanding bipartisan traditions that this institution relies upon to serve the American people and, indeed, for each of us to be able to serve the citizens of our State.

In just a few moments, the Democrat leadership is going to move forward with a cloture vote on a judicial nominee, Kevin Ritz, whose home State Senators, which are Senator Hagerty and me, were not properly consulted by the White House during his nomination process.

The consultation process between home State Senators and the White House on judicial nominees is essential to ensuring that a nominee is well suited to serve on the Federal bench. It is a part of our duty to provide advice and consent.

Of course, Senator Hagerty and I attempted to work in good faith with the Biden-Harris administration to identify highly qualified nominees to fill the vacancy--the Tennessee vacancy--on the Sixth Circuit. We presented well-qualified nominees.

Yet, contrary to bipartisan precedent, the White House barely even worked with us. Apparently, what became quite evident was this White House--the Biden-Harris administration--preferred backroom deals to open deliberation.

This administration prefers a backroom deal to hearing the voice of the people from a State. This administration prefers backroom deals as opposed to considering nominees who have chosen to step forward and go through a nomination process with full transparency.

To be sure, this vote is all the more shameful because Mr. Ritz is deeply unsuited to serve on the Federal bench. That is not just something that I say; these are comments that have come to us from dozens--dozens--of Tennesseans.

In our country, every individual accused of a crime is entitled to due process of law. That is a bedrock principle of our justice system. Yet, as a Federal prosecutor and U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Mr. Ritz has repeatedly flouted basic professional ethics.

Mr. Ritz, for example, has been accused of using highly unethical bait-and-switch tactics to trick indigent criminal defendants into accepting plea deals that they didn't agree to. And when defense attorneys pushed back on him, Mr. Ritz has been accused of making outright false statements to the court to cover up his misdeeds.

Indeed, Mr. Ritz has chosen to surround himself with those who seemingly treat their ethical obligations with disdain. Mr. Ritz's deputy, for example, received a 1-year probation for prosecutorial misconduct.

To be clear, Mr. Ritz's record of unethical conduct is not my only objection to his nomination. There are Tennesseans who, for these same reasons, have come to us to object to his nomination.

Now, under his watch, as the chief Federal law enforcement officer, the city of Memphis has tragically become one of the most dangerous places to live in the United States.

In 2023, Memphis had the most homicides in its history and continues to lead the Nation in homicide rates this year. Now, there is a reason for this, and I think it is a reason that this Chamber needs to hear.

And it is not a reason that is supposition. It is a reason that is grounded in statistics and fact. And it is a reason that citizens in Tennessee, in Shelby County, in the Western District have raised to us, because they are concerned about crime; they are concerned about what is happening in their communities; they are concerned about juvenile crime and the rates that are there.

Now, here is their reason, and this is instructive to the Chamber as we consider this vote. As I said, Memphis has become one of the most dangerous places to live in the United States of America. In 2023, Memphis had the most homicides in its history and continues to lead the Nation in homicide rates this year.

And here comes your reason: Under Mr. Ritz's predecessor, the U.S. attorney's office in Memphis had a policy of charging 100 percent of prosecutable gun crimes. They charged them all. Yet, under his watch, Mr. Ritz has failed to uphold that prosecutorial standard which helped keep Memphians safe and helped keep dangerous people locked up behind bars.

And here is an example for you: Mr. Ritz's office failed to charge an individual with unlawful possession of a firearm, so this guy gets out and he goes on and he murders a Memphis police officer.

So when we hear about violent crime and the people we represent and we love are saying ``do something about violent crime,'' they want these criminals locked up.

But if you are not going to charge them with prosecutable gun crimes, they are not going to be locked up, and they are going to do like this criminal in Memphis and they are going to go out and they are going to murder.

And the unfortunate thing is, in Memphis, they murdered a Memphis police officer. No one deserves a promotion--especially to one of the highest courts in the country--a lifetime appointment with a track record like Mr. Ritz.

Just because the White House wants to ignore this fact doesn't mean that the Senate should ignore this fact. Listen to the voices of Tennesseans who

have reached out to us and who have said to us: He does not deserve this seat.

I would urge all of my colleagues to oppose this reckless, unqualified nominee.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 806, which is at the desk.

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 with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, it is September, which means that, across the country, America's 54 million K-12 students are starting the new school year. For so many parents and students, this is an exciting time, with new classes and teachers and projects and friends and opportunities for academic success. But for too many others, the new school year brings a growing risk, and that is juvenile crime.

Across the country, 64 percent of violent juvenile crime happens on school days, peaking between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. At a time when violent juvenile crime is rising across the country, I know many communities, including in Tennessee, are looking to the new year with apprehension.

After years of steadily declining juvenile crime, in 2023, Shelby County saw a staggering 4,546 juvenile charges. Now, that is up 37 percent from 2021, and that spike in Memphis follows spikes we are seeing in cities like Washington, DC, and New York City, where the average age of a carjacking suspect last year was 15 years old.

Now, young people are facing little supervision at the end of the schoolday and before their parents get home from work, and they are being lured into gangs that plague cities with theft, drug dealing, and murder. In Memphis, there are at least 30 criminal gangs that are out recruiting children as young as 8 years old into their operations.

Every young American and Tennessean deserves the opportunity to succeed and avoid the dangers of criminal activity, and Congress has an incredible opportunity to help ensure that. Alongside Senator Cortez Masto, I have introduced the AFTER SCHOOL Act, which would create a grant program administered through the Justice Department for local communities like Memphis to establish, maintain, and strengthen afterschool programs with the goal of reducing violent crime among juveniles.

Time and again, afterschool programs--ranging from athletics and tutoring to music and volunteer work--have proven to be successful at keeping young children out of trouble and focused on their own personal development. Across two different studies conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago, afterschool programs helped reduce arrests among at-risk teens by 28 to 35 percent and violent crime by 45 to 50 percent. Recidivism rates among participants, meanwhile, fell 21 percent.

At the same time, studies have shown that afterschool programs improve behavior in class, decrease the likelihood of drug abuse, and promote academic success. The success of these programs is a big reason why the Memphis City Council unanimously endorsed and supported this bipartisan legislation.

With juvenile crime on the rise, the lives of countless young Tennesseans and Americans are at stake, and I call on all of my colleagues to support the AFTER SCHOOL Act to secure a brighter future for our Nation's youth.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague, while he is still here on the floor, for his diligence and his work and his partnership as we have worked on the Kids Online Safety Act. Indeed, he has put many hours, as his team has also put many hours, into this.

As we get ready to move forward with passage, I think we have to remember that it was 1998 the last time this body took up and passed a bill that became law that protected children in the virtual space. And a lot has changed since then. We have seen the emergence of social media. We have seen 100 million Americans born during that period of time.

So thinking about these platforms and that emergence, when you think about Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and TikTok and online video games, those interactive games that are pulling kids into those, you think about how social media has changed the lives and the exposure of children today. They have grown up in this.

And, as Senator Blumenthal said, Mr. President, it is so important to note that there are laws that protect children from buying alcohol, buying tobacco, buying pornography, being taken to a strip show. We, as a society, have decided kids can't drive until they are 16 years old and they can't vote until they are 18 years old. But when you look at the social media platforms, there are no guardrails, and children are constantly exposed--constantly exposed--to content that encourages self-harm.

That is why we have started to see, over the last decade, such a rise in cyber bullying. I had one mom tell me her child was bullied to death--cyber-bullied nonstop. I had a principal tell me--he said: You know, Marsha, it is interesting. Previously, in previous decades, children could go home and get away from the schoolyard bully. Now, that takes place over that phone, and it never stops.

Indeed, many of the behavioral issues at school are related to what is happening online. And we have seen a rise in mental health disorders. We have seen an increase in eating disorders, online sexual abuse, human trafficking, drug overdoses in teens, and of course, suicides--online challenges where a child loses their life. And we have seen how, the way Big Tech approaches this, our kids are basically defenseless.

That is why the Kids Online Safety Act has moved forward, as Senator Blumenthal said. We have worked on this. We have met with colleagues. We have met with wonderful parents. We have met with principals and pediatricians and so many people that are involved in children's lives. That is why this legislation is focused on safety by design. And that is a change. That will be a change for social media. It will have that duty of care. There will be that toolbox for kids and parents to make it a safer environment. Those algorithms are going to have to be opened up. There is going to have to be a portal so bad actors in the virtual space can be reported, and the social media platforms will have to do something about it.

When we started focusing on these issues and doing our hearings, what became so evident to us, social media platforms knew. They knew that what they were doing and what they were allowing was causing harm. They knew it because the whistleblowers from those companies told us they knew it. But, you know what, they were putting profits before children. So they did it anyway. They did it knowing they were harming our children.

But children are not a product when they are online. That is the way social media has treated them. Indeed, Meta assigned a value to each child. That child is worth $270 a year to that company. That is the callous nature with which they have approached this.

So we are ready to move forward with this today, and we do thank the parents who have shared their stories with us and have done more. They have advocated. They have worked. They have pulled neighbors and friends and those who work with children into a coalition. It has been pretty powerful.

So we are ready to move forward with this, and we do thank Senator Blumenthal and his team. We thank the other Members of the Senate, the 70 cosponsors that are on this legislation with us. We thank Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell for their work. Commerce Committee Chairman Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz all have been supportive of moving this legislation. And it is, indeed, a testament to building consensus around bipartisan solutions that are going to last.

We also thank all of the groups and organizations that have worked with us to make certain that this legislation gets across the finish line. And as we pass it today and send it over to the House, we know that we have Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers and Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Congressman Bilirakis. Castor and Bilirakis are the House leads on this legislation. There is broad bipartisan support in the House, and we know that the House leadership is supporting it. And we are ready to move this across the finish line and to the President's desk so that as kids head to school this year, they know they have new tools in the toolbox to protect themselves as they are in the virtual space.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague, who has worked so diligently on this.

This legislation has been years in the making, as he has said. Basically, the amending process has gone on for 3 years. And as I mentioned, 70 Members of this body have joined to sponsor this legislation.

To the concerns that my colleague expressed, I want him to know this is not a speech bill. This is not a content bill. No agency can make rules on speech. Nonprofits are not covered in this bill. There is no rulemaking. News outlets are not covered in this. The government is given no new authority.

And when he mentioned websites and blogs, the Kids Online Safety Act only covers social media, social networks, multiplayer online video games, social messaging apps, video streaming services. It does not include blogs and personal websites.

Now, the question he was saying that the Kids Online Safety Act covers platforms that are run by nonprofits: Websites run by nonprofit organizations, which often host important and valuable education and support services, are not covered in the scope of this legislation. And these are important points to make.

And as Senator Blumenthal said, reading the bill, you see this is a product design. The duty of care that is there, it requires social media companies to prevent and mitigate certain harms that they know their platforms and products are causing to young users as a result of their design choices, such as their recommendation algorithms, their addictive product features.

The specific covered harms include suicide, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and sexual exploitation. And these are the reasons for having this duty of care and having this included in the Kids Online Safety Act.

But, no, it is not a speech bill. It is not a content bill. It does not include rulemaking authority. It has no rulemaking authority in the legislation, and it does not give additional authority to the government, and it does not give more authority to State attorneys general or to the FTC.

So I think the fears are unfounded. This is a good product, good legislation. We have worked with our colleagues. We have heard from thousands--thousands--of kids and parents, pediatricians, teachers, principals, mental health professionals, and everyone has come to the table to say: It is time to hold Big Tech accountable for what is happening to our kids.

And I yield back to my colleague from Connecticut.

Madam President, I know we are waiting for our colleague from Indiana to come to the floor, so as we do, today, we are moving to a cloture vote on the Kids Online Safety Act. This is something Senator Blumenthal and I have worked on over the last 3 years, and we are grateful that we are now to this day. We introduced this bill about 3 years ago, after a series of hearings where it became evident that platforms like Instagram knew they were causing rising rates of eating disorders, mental health issues among teenage girls, and yet they were downplaying these harms.

Since then, we have seen more and more evidence that Big Tech is focused on putting profit over children's safety. Children are the product when they are online. We have seen internal documents from these companies that show they know what they are doing to our kids.

We have worked tirelessly over the last 3 years to get this bill in shape. It will create new tools for parents to identify harmful behavior and to report abuse directly to those social media sites.

It will provide new controls for families to support their children, including to opt out of algorithmic recommendations.

It will require mandatory audits of the social media platforms to ensure that the platforms are mitigating harms to children.

Perhaps most importantly, it will create a duty of care for online platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, including the promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation.

Without real and enforceable reforms, social media companies will only continue to pay lipservice to the issue of protecting children while putting profits over their safety.

I am grateful to my colleague Senator Blumenthal and to Senator Schumer for his leadership in allowing the vote today.

I yield the floor.