Floor Statements

Mr. President, this year, those of us at the Consumer Protection, Public Safety, and Data Security Subcommittee have spent hours working through how we deal with social media and hold them to account. And it has been a heartbreaking task of investigating thousands of pages of reporting testimony and other evidence that really has proven to us there is a devastating impact from social media on our Nation's children and teens.

This past February, Senator Blumenthal and I introduced the Kids Online Safety Act after a series of hearings that exposed Big Tech's disregard for the safety of their underage users.

The bill provides kids and parents with the tools and transparency that they need to stay safe and requires social media companies to make those platforms safer in the default settings. It also requires independent audits to ensure that these companies are, indeed, addressing the risk to underage users.

I am appalled that this is necessary, but the committee has a mountain of proof to show it is time for Congress to do something to hold these platforms to account. And we can't wait. We really cannot afford to wait any longer because as bad as things are here in Washington, they are really worse for the kids and teens who have been pulled into these platforms.

Depression, self-harm, and suicide in teens increased at an alarming rate between 2010 and 2020. There are a limited number of plausible explanations for why this has happened, but I would remind my colleagues that the 2010s ushered in the golden age of social media. This is when social media transformed from a novelty into an almost mandatory activity, especially for teens. So it is no coincidence that it was a good decade for Silicon Valley but a very dark decade for our Nation's children.

Between 2011 and 2016, as social media became popular, sleep deprivation among U.S. teens increased by 17 percent. We also know that teens who are heavy users of social media sleep about an hour less per night than their friends who are not using social media. And as I am sure many of my colleagues know, sleep deprivation is a significant risk factor for depression among adolescents. Between 2011 and 2018, the rates of teen depression increased by more than 60 percent. Between 2011 and 2015, emergency room admissions for children and teens for depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric issues rose by 28 percent.

Before 2010, suicide by young people had stabilized and declined for decades; but, over the next decade, the teen suicide death rate increased by 62 percent. And now, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 10 and 24, only behind unintentional injuries like auto accidents.

Think about that. This is what is happening to our children. It is not my stats. It is not your stats. These are stats that are coming from research, from surveys, from medical research on our children-- anxiety, depression, suicide. All of this is coming, and, when you look at the growth rate, what does it parallel? The use of social media.

Many of these platforms are robbing our children of their childhood. They are ripping it from them. American teens are succumbing to despair, and we know that social media is a big part of this reason.

In 2018, Pew released a survey revealing that close to 60 percent of youth have experienced some form of abusive online behavior. I have spent years examining what that behavior looks like, and I can tell you that calling it ``abusive'' is a gross understatement.

And as the years have gone by, the stories have gotten worse. And over the past few weeks, I have worked with dozens of parents and friends of young people who died because of what and whom they encountered on social media.

Today, with permission of their parents, I am going to share a few of the stories of these children because it is imperative that we realize what children are being exposed to online.

I had one mom tell me this. She said: You know, when you see these things and you hear these things, you cannot unsee it; you cannot unhear it.

I had another mom tell me: You know, Marsha, I once felt that, when I had my kids home and we had locked the doors, we were safe--that we were safe from the outside world. But the pandemic happened, and I realized we were not, that the enemy, the evil, the harm that was wrecking my child's life--the drug traffickers, the sex traffickers, the pedophiles--they were right in there with us.

This is what our children are being exposed to--and the extent of the damage, the severity of the harassment, the bad behavior that takes place. And parents call it out to Big Tech, and too often these platforms do nothing--nothing. They hardly even respond.

They take it down for a day, and the children are suffering from this.

Grace McComas: Now, Grace endured the torture of a man who had drugged and assaulted her. He used social media to make Grace feel isolated and afraid and worthless. From the summer of 2011, when she was subpoenaed to testify against him, until she died by suicide on Easter Sunday 2012, Grace's parents fought to save her, but there was nothing they could do to force those digital platforms to ban this evil monster who was her tormenter.

On June 23, 2020, 16-year-old Carson Bride quietly ended his life while his family slept. The night before, the whole family had celebrated Carson's first summer job. But what they didn't know is that he had been receiving hundreds of harassing, threatening, and sexually explicit messages from his classmates who were using anonymous apps to hide their identities. Carson asked his tormentors to identify themselves so that they could talk things out in person, but nobody ever did. Social media lets you be anonymous. The very last search on Carson's phone was for hacks to find out who was tormenting him.

David Molak: He was an Eagle Scout, a fantasy football aficionado, a hunter, a fisher, and, by all accounts, a truly great friend. But in the last few months of his life, he became overwhelmed with hopelessness over the barrage of threats, harassment, and abuse he experienced through text messages and on social media. On January 4, 2016, he took his own life. He was 16 years old.

There are hundreds more stories just like these, just like them. Senator Blumenthal and I have talked with these parents and these kids.

Children are using social media platforms to torment other children to the point of death. But we also know that adults are leveraging the power these platforms have over underage users so that they can--do what?--make a profit. Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased over 56 percent from 2019 to 2020, with prescription pill abuse highest among people ages 18 to 25. They are starting younger, and drug dealers are finding them--where?--on social media platforms.

When she was 15, Becca Schmill was assaulted by a boy she and her friends met on the social media party chat. The cyber bullying and harassment that followed destroyed Becca's sense of self, and, eventually, she started using drugs to cope. In a sane world, she never would have been able to get her hands on the pills that eventually killed her, but social media made it easy. On September 16, 2020, Becca died from fentanyl poisoning.

Olivia Green was 15 years old, a freshman in high school. She dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, but then she met an adult stranger on a social media platform. When she saw him in person, this man gave her a pill that he said was Percocet. It was actually fentanyl. So when she took it, she laid down and died from an overdose.

Alexander Neville's mom describes him as someone who competed with himself to be successful with everything he did. He pushed himself to succeed in Boy Scouts, at fencing, skateboarding, and as a person and a dear, dear friend. At 14, Alexander bought pills online that he thought were pain relievers, but it actually was fentanyl, and that is how Alexander became another victim of fentanyl poisoning.

Big Tech executives would like us to write these deaths off as tragedies and just move on, which is exactly the attitude you would expect from people who have treated our congressional hearings like they are on some kind of PR tour.

I think that as they point to their glossy white papers laying out steps that parents and teens can take to protect themselves and they think they provide a little bit more information about the steps and they talk about what the company is going to do to try to get this under control, they think we are going to move on. But we are not. We are talking about our children and our grandchildren, and, no, we are not moving on.

The enduring refrain of my discussions with the parents and the teens who have seen this firsthand is that trying to address the problem with the platform is like talking to a brick wall. When they received a response at all, there was no concern for the danger.

Over the past 2 years, this body has passed several pieces of legislation to address ``emergencies.'' But what about this emergency? What about the emergency that is taking the lives of our children? What about this emergency that is causing death by fentanyl?

Now, when we talk about Big Tech and we talk about social media, there is one point they have made clear time and time again, and it is that they are fully incapable and unwilling to regulate themselves because they are more interested in attracting eyeballs and keeping those eyeballs on their site longer and longer and mining that data because it is dollars in the bank to them. To me, it is absolutely sickening.

And their bad behavior--getting any change in that behavior--it is too late for Grace and Carson and the other young people I talked about today, but it is not too late to save the children and the teens who are suffering right now because these tech platforms refuse to protect them.

In July, the Commerce Committee passed the Kids Online Safety Act. Senator Blumenthal and I have worked diligently on this, and it came out of committee on a 28-to-0 vote. That is pretty overwhelming bipartisan support for a piece of legislation. And right now, this bill is waiting for a vote on the Senate floor.

I would implore Leader Schumer and I would implore my colleagues from each side of the aisle: Listen to these stories; talk to these parents and these young people who are activists for changing what is happening on social media. Listen to them. Listen to these stories. Recognize the danger that exists on social media, and let's get this bill passed and to the President's desk.

I yield floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, on November 5, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored Dolly Parton as part of their 2022 class of inductees. Anyone familiar with Dolly's path to official ``rock star'' status will remember that, when she discovered the Rock Hall was considering her for a nomination, she declined. She told them she felt she hadn't earned the right to say yes.

Never has such universal outrage sprung from such universal admiration. Country fans had no time for humility. Rock fans weren't having it either--although, to be fair, humility and rock `n' roll go together like oil and water. Even people who aren't fans of Dolly's music said that surely she was worthy of any honor bestowed by an organization whose mission is to ``engage, teach, and inspire through the power of rock & roll.''

By my estimation, this may have been the first time in history that a debate over a nominee to the Rock Hall has not devolved into a debate over what rock and roll is and who should and should not attempt to create it. I will not attempt to define it here today, but suffice it to say that, in six decades and over the course of more than 50 studio albums and 3,000 songs, Dolly discovered the genre's secrets and mastered them all.

Twenty years ago, Dolly famously mused, ``If somebody said, `You're

going to have to do one or the other. You're going to have to give up your music or you're going to go back to being poor,' I would go poor, totally broke, and start over and do my music. That's how much I love it.''

On behalf of all Tennesseans, I thank you, Dolly, for giving so much of yourself to us. The world is a better and richer place because of your music, and we love you for it.

Madam President, December is always a time of transitions here on Capitol Hill, and it is time for Team Blackburn to recognize the transition of our defense fellow, GySgt Martin Aleman, away from the Senate and toward a bright future rising in the ranks of the Marine Corps.

On the Armed Services Committee, we spend a great deal of time considering how the decisions we make in this building will affect budgets and workload and our overall national security; but paramount to me is the effect it will have on servicemembers and their families at home and abroad.

Since day one of his fellowship, Martin has been a bottomless well of information about what it is like to actually serve in the military. His stories from his service--sometimes entertaining, sometimes sobering--helped us remember that when all is said and done, each line item in a bill, dollar authorized, and penny spent will change the lives of the brave men and women who put on the uniform.

Martin, we will miss you, but I am sure Casondra is more than ready to reclaim the time our hectic schedule stole from you this past year. I wish you the best of luck as you take the next step in your already impressive career.

Madam President, this month, Team Blackburn is saying goodbye to Srdjan Simunovic, who has spent 2 years with us as part of a fellowship program between my office and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is just outside of Knoxville, TN.

Most staff here on Capitol Hill dabble in politics. Even our most dedicated policy staff tend to have ambitions that extend beyond their chosen portfolio, but the position of Oak Ridge fellow is special in that it attracts people whose expertise transcends politics.

It has been such a pleasure working with Srdjan over the past 2 years and watching him open my team's eyes to the truly marvelous things Tennesseans are doing at Oak Ridge. We will miss him tremendously, but I know his wife Marina and son Thomas will be grateful to have him home full time.

Srdjan, thank you for giving 2 years of your life to Team Blackburn. We wish you all the best with what comes next.

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

Madam President, this past February, the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed 20 to 2 to pass the Open App Markets Act. This is a piece of legislation I put together with Senator Blumenthal to stop tech giants from stifling competition in the app store marketplace.

Through their control of the app stores on consumer devices as well as the device operating systems themselves, Apple and Google have become the gatekeepers of information. They do this by physically locking down the devices they control, making it near impossible to access competing content.

Apple fully prevents consumers from accessing third-party apps and app stores on their mobile devices. Google allows more access to outside apps but makes the process so difficult that they might as well lock down their devices the way Apple is locking down the iPhone.

These companies claim that these restrictions make your devices more secure, but they don't apply the same policies to their laptops and other similar consumer devices; it is only on the iPhone and on the Android. Why would that be? Now, I don't know for sure, but I do know this: By locking down their mobile devices, Apple and Google can force app developers to abide by their terms no matter how harsh those terms may be.

Recently, Daniel Eck, who is the founder and CEO of Spotify, said: ``Over and over again, Apple gives itself every advantage while at the same time stifling innovation and hurting consumers.'' Elon Musk, now the CEO of Twitter, has criticized the 30-percent ``tax'' that Apple and Google take from developers.

What is more, app creators can't go to consumers themselves to offer them a better deal because that kind of contact is forbidden by Apple and Google in their terms of service. Think about it. You can't even reach out to the people who have your app because Apple and Google forbid you, the developer, from contacting the consumer who is using your app.

Consider the positions startup developers are placed in. Imagine trying to get your business off the ground in a market where two major players control access to your potential customers. There is no other market, and you can't negotiate with them, so you are forced to play by the rules the gatekeepers are forcing on you. Under those rules, the gatekeepers control your access to your customers. They use your confidential business information against you and block you from using the features on your customers' device to give them a better experience.

I heard just this story from a Tennessean named Karen Thomas, who is the CEO of Agrin Health in Nashville. Listen to the way she describes how Apple held her company's app hostage. I am quoting her story.

They demanded changes that would eliminate Agrin's paid

functions in its web app and stopped Karen from updating her

mobile app--which was free--until she began charging

consumers through Apple's in-app payment system. This, again,

would let Apple take a 30% cut of every subscription Agrin

received.

That is the ``Apple tax'' in action.

Karen said:

Our app and our mission was set to die at the hands of

Apple unless our infant company came up with hundreds of

thousands of dollars to reconfigure our service delivery

while losing 30% of associated revenue--and we are not alone.

It doesn't matter if you are a startup or an established company: When it comes to the digital economy, you depend on Apple and Google to stay alive because they control your access to your customers. They are the gatekeepers of your information.

Now, the Open App Markets Act made it out of committee and almost unanimously received that vote--as I said, 20 to 2. Republicans and Democrats agree that this is not the way a healthy marketplace should be working. That is why we got that near-unanimous vote.

This bill needs a vote because it will set the fair, clear, and enforceable rules needed to protect the competition. It will force Big Tech to allow third-party apps and app stores on their devices. App store owners won't be able to lock developers into in-app payment arrangements anymore, which opens the door to competitive pricing. Developers will also be able to keep their confidential business information private. Imagine having to share your information--somebody else controls it--and they use your business information to compete against you. Most importantly, the developers will be able to communicate with their customers, which for any business owner is key to creating a strong product or service.

I think it has become clear that the American people know how much Big Tech is controlling their lives, but they are no longer content to sit by and let these companies consolidate power, especially at the expense of freedom and basic human rights.

Over the past few weeks, we have watched the Chinese people revolt against Xi Jinping's ``zero-COVID'' lockdowns. Much of the coverage has come to us via apps we have downloaded on our phone. But for the protesters in China, their use of tech is a double-edged sword.

We know the Chinese Communist Party is using apps and other forms of technology to identify and surveil and ultimately punish the protesters in China. People are being tracked via their virtual private networks and through apps like Signal and Telegram.

For activists with iPhones, their options are now even more limited. Before the protests boiled over, Apple made the unforgivable choice to disable the AirDrop feature in China only. That is right--the only place on the face of the Earth that Apple decided to disable AirDrop was in China, just prior to the protests.

This feature was an activist's best friend because it allowed one person to share files with an entire local network with no way for the government to come in and monitor what they were sending. It was a game changer, and Apple decided to flip the switch.

When reporters asked Apple's CEO Tim Cook last week if he supported the protesters in China, he refused to answer. Now, I agree, this is incomprehensible--until you remember that China is Apple's largest market outside of the United States, and it is a major source for Apple's supply chain. In fact, both Apple and Google have a long history of giving authoritarian governments everything that they ask for. Last fall, both companies acted on Moscow's orders and removed an app designed to coordinate protest voting in the Russian elections.

My colleagues may remember the scandal that was the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic's app. The Chinese Communist Party forced all the athletes and coaches and spectators to use this app. They didn't have a choice. Both Apple and Google listed it on their phones even though they knew the CCP was using it to spy on their customers.

This isn't mere gatekeeping; this is picking winners and losers in an environment where the losers could end up dead because of the decisions these companies are making.

When I first started working on this bill with Senator Blumenthal, I received letters from several human rights organizations thanking me for paying attention to how these companies were using their power. We know that Apple has plans to move some of their production out of China, so perhaps some day, the Chinese Communist Party will have less of a stranglehold on free communication around the world. But I would remind my colleagues that moving the chess pieces of production, while vitally important, does not fully address the problem we are trying to solve with the Open App Markets Act. Think of everything that happened before Apple decided to speed up this transition. We don't have time to put this bill on a shelf while China and Big Tech work out their differences.

The digital marketplace is no longer a novelty; it is an essential service that billions of people rely on. In 2020, U.S. consumers spent nearly $33 billion in mobile app stores and downloaded more than 13.4 billion apps. Two companies exclusively dictate the terms of that market. They have certainly made it clear that their power comes first, their profits are more important, and the customers are at the end of the list. They are last on the list of concerns.

Every day, I hear from Tennesseans who have realized just how little control they have over their mobile device. They live half of their lives on their device, and they are no longer comfortable letting Apple and Google dictate the terms of their interactions with the rest of the world.

We shouldn't be comfortable with allowing that to continue. I would encourage my colleagues to join with Senator Blumenthal and with me and support this legislation. Let's get it passed and to the President's desk.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, on behalf of myself and Mr. Hagerty, I ask unanimous consent that the following remarks be printed in the Congressional Record to honor our fellow Tennessean, Amy Grant.

Each year, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts selects a handful of cultural luminaries to receive the Kennedy Center Honors for their lifetime artistic achievements. On behalf of the entire Tennessee congressional delegation and all Tennesseans, we want to congratulate contemporary Christian and pop singer-

songwriter Amy Grant on her inclusion in the 45th annual honoree class.

A quick glance at Amy's more than 40 years in the spotlight reveals an iconic popstar, songwriter, television personality, and philanthropist who never forgot her gospel roots. The thing that makes Amy special, though, isn't her long list of accolades, but how she used her personal faith in Christ to build bridges between the welcoming contemporary Christian genre and the secular confines of popular music.

All artist-songwriters find success when they strike at the very center of what makes the human heart ache, whether it be for a love found, a life lost, or the infinite potential of what could be. These emotions are humanity's great equalizers. But for gospel artist- songwriters, faith, and not emotion, is the touchstone. For these brave and gifted individuals, assurance comes not from an endless cycle of love, hurt, and healing, but from a far more enduring source of hope.

We could not be more pleased to see the Kennedy Center recognize the importance of Amy's work in helping new generations embrace that hope, and we join the artistic community in thanking her for sharing her gifts with the world.

Madam President, every year, Music City luminaries gather to celebrate entertainers and other giants in the arts with the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award. While statuettes do have their charms, this award highlights true champions of creativity whose life and work have made it possible for future generations to realize careers in the music industry. This year, I have the privilege of congratulating the oft imitated, never duplicated, positively incomparable Brenda Lee as she accepts this special honor.

Even in today's strange world of social media sensations and cross- discipline collaborations, success in the entertainment industry is hard to come by. And if mainstream popularity is a pipe dream, it is safe to consider crossover success on a global scale almost impossible to achieve.

Still, for many of Nashville's rising stars, this pinnacle of artistic achievement is the only measure of professional success worth striving for. But who is to mentor these dreamers? Who sets the standard? If you ask them, they will surely point to Brenda Lee.

Brenda Lee's stunning vocal talent put her on stage at 6, in the studio at 12, and on the international tour circuit by her early teens. Her third single climbed both the pop and country charts, and over the next 20 years, she achieved pop stardom, pop-to-country crossover success, and international fame. That she did this at all is remarkable; but how she did it is what makes Brenda Lee a phenomenon. Her career was not the product of clever gimmicks, but the manifestation of her own personal tastes, desires, and instincts in song. In a world of mimics, Brenda Lee dismissed convention and created something new.

I have always believed that there is no secret sauce that separates the successful from the legendary, but if there is, its main ingredient is surely the spark of captivating individualism that Brenda embraced over the course of her more than 60 years in the spotlight. And while young artists could never hope to replicate her career, her legacy serves as a reminder that, yes, you can conquer this industry, if only you have the courage to do it on your own terms.

Madam President, today I rise to honor a true Music City legend. For more than 50 years, Ray Stevens has delighted audiences with his talents as a comedian, an actor, a musician, and a songwriter. His unique vision for the future of entertainment allowed him to blaze trails no other artists would dare tread alone.

As a fellow Tennessean, and one of Ray's biggest fans, you can believe me when I say that you have never seen anything like Ray Stevens. It would have been easy for him to justify resting on his laurels while Music City grew around him, but if you know Ray, you know that was never a possibility. Although he achieved fame for his work in the creative arts, he is best known for leading with laughter, kindness, and an unfailing desire to encourage fellow artists.

In 1971, Ray and a group of fellow Music Row luminaries led by Cecil Scaife came together to create a music business program at Belmont University, where aspiring entertainers could exercise both their talents and their business acumen. This tremendous effort changed the industry for the better and set an example for the city's rising stars. Today, the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award is given annually to those whose life and work have made it possible for future generations to realize careers in the music industry, and I could not have been happier when I learned that Ray is one of this year's recipients.

Ray, on behalf of all Tennesseans, I thank you for your devotion to the arts, your zest for life, and for going above and beyond on behalf all who hope to walk in your footsteps.

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

Mr. President, for the past 2 years, the COVID pandemic dominated every news cycle, and if the mainstream media is to be believed, it was the leading topic of conversation at every dinner table, whether it was Washington or Nashville or San Francisco. As the months wore on, it became glaringly obvious that, while the pandemic was a concern, people were less worried about the virus itself and more worried about how the Democrats were using it to justify one power grab after another.

Even in the face of catastrophic inflation, the employment crisis, the failure of public education, and the slow creep of lethal opioids into rural communities, the Democrats chose power over progress every single time and, in doing so, abandoned their duty to the American people.

And now, as this year draws to a close, my Democratic colleagues have declared that now it is time for everybody to just move on, move on from the pandemic. When Dr. Fauci appeared for a final press conference before his conveniently timed retirement, the White House made sure he wouldn't have to answer any questions on the origins of COVID-19.

The talking heads in the mainstream media have spun the harm done to students by virtual schooling as a tragedy rather than the completely predictable effects of forced isolation on our precious children, and the White House remains determined to blame inflation and shortages in the energy market on Vladimir Putin.

They want us to ignore their own self-proclaimed war on American energy independence. I suppose they think that if they just erase the mess that they have made from the daily talking points, the American people will just forget about it and move on. I hate to spoil their ending, but the American people are not ready for that. They want some answers. They will never ever forget the damage that these policies have done to their families and to their communities.

Now, the left tried their best to frame the debates over lockdowns and mask mandates and vaccine mandates as conspiracy fodder, but we all found out, no, it was not; it was personal, especially after it became clear that control was the Democrats' end game. Yes, control over you, over your life, over your children, over their education, over student loans. Control is what they want.

Now, the science changed but the narrative never did, and Tennesseans have noticed this. They have caught on to this. The ongoing fight over the military's vaccine mandate is particularly raw for Tennesseans because it is proof that the Democrats are willing to jeopardize our national security to score points against political rivals. This desire for power and control is in direct opposition to the Federal Government's sworn mission to provide for the defense of our Nation. This isn't a matter of opinion; it is a fact, confirmed by President Biden's chosen military commanders.

This year, the number of new servicemembers joining the ranks has hit an alltime low; so did academy applications for our Nation's prestigious military academies. The Army fell 15,000 soldiers short of their recruitment goal for 2022. The other services and the National Guard are also struggling.

The Pentagon doesn't expect the situation to improve even for the next few years. The Army predicts they will be down 21,000 troops in 2023, and the National Guard says they are going to lose 14,000 soldiers by the end of 2024.

The strongest, fastest, and most lethal fighting force on the planet is moving backward. Meanwhile, the new

axis of evil, they are marching forward. We know for a fact that Tehran is sending drones and military equipment to Moscow to support Putin's war in Ukraine. North Korea is conducting ballistic missile tests that threaten South Korean sovereignty. And the Chinese Communist Party is doing the exact opposite of what the Pentagon is doing: They are focusing on readiness and building up their military.

In June, they christened their first-ever aircraft carrier to be completely designed and developed in China. Their goal is to increase their fleet by 40 percent by the end of 2040 and quadruple their nuclear stockpile by the end of the decade. This is all consistent with Beijing's broader goal of becoming a military superpower.

They are focused on global domination. They are focused on readiness. They are focused on defeating us. Meanwhile, our Pentagon is focused on a vaccine mandate. The strong men in control of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea--that axis of evil--are notorious for their aggression, and none of them have bothered to keep their hatred of the United States of America a secret.

The wolves are at the door, Mr. President, yet here we are, debating a military vaccine mandate that has zero--zero--basis in science or common sense. It will gut the ranks of the military and make us more vulnerable to the rising threat from the new axis of evil.

This isn't just my opinion; it is another fact confirmed by the people President Biden trusts to lead our Nation's military. The Army confirmed in a November 4 press release that the vaccine mandate has already separated 1,796 Active-Duty soldiers from their service.

Bear in mind, they raised their hand; they took an oath. They did this because they want to serve, protect, defend. And what has happened? What has happened to that service, to that loyalty? Look at what has happened. They are getting a slap across the face. As I said, 1,796 were shown the door because they would not take a COVID shot. They wouldn't take a shot. For the soldiers who remain, the Army has approved less than 4 percent of medical exemptions and just over 1 percent of religious exemptions. The Guard has only approved 15 percent of the medical exemptions and--get this--0.0047 percent of religious exemptions. And the Reserves, they have approved little more than 5 percent of their medical exemptions and 0.0044 percent of religious exemptions.

Leader Schumer left Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday without acknowledging this manpower crisis in our military and without offering a clear answer on when we will take up the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

Now that we are back in session, I would hope that he has a plan to stop dangling this bill over the heads of our servicemembers and their families. But while we are waiting, I would like to offer a small improvement to what is already a very strong and bipartisan piece of legislation.

Mr. President, as you know, the Senate Armed Services Committee finished their work on this bill back in June. When we were debating the NDAA in the Armed Services Committee, I introduced two amendments that would have protected servicemembers from the arbitrary effects of the vaccine mandate. The first would prohibit the involuntary separation of any servicemember for refusing the COVID-19 shot until each service achieves its authorized end strength--good common sense. It is not saying you can't implement your mandate, just saying you can't do it until you have reached your goal, your recruitment and your retention goals.

The Second Amendment would make sure that members of the National Guard or Reserve maintain access to both pay and benefits while their request for a medical or religious accommodation is pending.

My Democratic colleagues on the Armed Services Committee killed these amendments, but I do hope they will change their mind and support them now that they have had the opportunity to hear from folks back home, to hear from our military, our Guard, our Reserves. I hope they will give this another look; but if they don't, they will have another opportunity to fix this mistake.

I have combined the amendments into a single bill called the Preserving the Readiness of Our Armed Forces Act, and I would be happy to add each and every one of them as a cosponsor. As we begin what I am sure will be a mad dash to the end of the year, I want to encourage my Democratic colleagues to keep preserving readiness at the front of their mind.

When the Pentagon first revealed this vaccine mandate, veterans, military experts, and Active-Duty servicemembers up and down the ranks told us exactly what would happen if the Biden administration went through with this. And do you know what? They were accurate in their assessment. Because of the Democratic actions, this White House's actions, they have fired thousands of servicemembers, and tens of thousands more are in jeopardy. Bear in mind, these are people who have chosen to serve. This chaos has prompted thousands of potential soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines to decide against entering the service, and who knows how many will choose not to enter the National Guard.

The Biden administration is digging in their heels at the worst possible time. The new axis of evil--they are on the rise, and they are counting on the rest of the world to remain complacent.

Over the past few years, each of these nations has been exposed on the international stage as factories of repression, violence, and misery, but in the aftermath, nothing changed.

Just last week, the CCP reminded us how little value they place on human life. Ten people in Xinjiang burned to death when their apartment building caught fire. The firefighters couldn't get to them in time because of the barricades CCP officials had constructed to enforce their zero-COVID policy.

Protesters took to the streets and forced the international press to pay attention. In response, the CCP brutalized journalists, censored videos shot the night of the fire, and claimed that the residents who died were too weak to save themselves.

I would remind my colleagues that these are the same officials who claimed that the Uighur Muslims are comfortable in their concentration camps, that the Tibetans welcomed ethnic cleansing, and that firing missiles at Taiwan is part of normal military operations. Exposure will not stop them. Outrage will not give them pause because they are on a quest for global domination, and they are not going to take a timeout because the Democrats in control of our government decided to prioritize a shot over our Nation's security.

Let that sink in. They are going full steam ahead. They are increasing their military rights. They are building their navy. They are working to develop new missiles. And we are focused on removing military members because they will not take a shot. By the way, you can get vaccinated and boosted, and it doesn't keep you from getting COVID.

Unfortunately, our adversaries have decided to take advantage of weak leaders in the White House and in Congress and to exploit our vulnerabilities until we force them to stop.

Our military is not the only tool we use to keep this country safe, but it certainly has the power to be the most decisive, and I cannot think of anything more foolish than to sabotage it while the enemy watches and says: Look at America's priority.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I have spoken repeatedly about the many ways my Democratic colleagues' crusade for power has been disastrous for the American people. We have recordbreaking inflation, a chaotic southern border, and the collapsing energy industry. This is the world that the Democrats created in just 2 short years.

What is worse, this Democrat-led government has ignored the ripple effects of their reckless agenda in favor of maintaining a political narrative about progress. But to Tennesseans and to so many Americans, it feels like the country is not moving forward; it is moving backward.

I have come to the floor again today to talk about the ripple effects of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that threatens to gut the ranks of the U.S. military. This body has had multiple chances to avert disaster, and each time the Democrats have decided to take the wrong path.

I introduced two amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have kept politics out of the military's use of vaccines. They are simple. Each amendment is about one page long. The first of these would have prohibited involuntary separation of any servicemember for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine until each service achieves its authorized end strength.

You see, it makes absolutely no sense that we would be removing people from military service simply because they do not get a shot--a shot, by the way, that does not prevent you from getting COVID.

Now, the second amendment would make sure that members of the National Guard or Reserve maintain access to both pay and benefits while their request for an accommodation--a medical accommodation or religious beliefs accommodation--is pending. But, of course, my Democratic colleagues have blocked these two amendments. They are common sense. They protect our men and women in the military.

But it is my plan to offer them another opportunity to do the right thing. I have combined these amendments into a bill. That bill is called the Preserving the Readiness of our Armed Forces Act. It is filed. It is ready for more cosponsors. I am also going to give them another opportunity. When the NDAA finally comes to the floor, they are going to have the opportunity to consider these two amendments, and I am asking my colleagues to support me in this. I stand by my call to Leader Schumer to bring the NDAA to the floor for a vote and hope that my Democratic colleagues will change course and support these two amendments to protect our men and women in uniform.

But, right now, the ripple effect is seen as another reckless power play by this administration and their Department of Defense.

I went into detail earlier this week about how this would hamper the readiness of the U.S. military, and I want to focus on the death blow today that this has dealt to our recruitment. Keep in mind that this is information that is available to each and every Member of this Chamber. My Democratic colleagues have this information.

Here is what we have to consider: the number of new servicemembers who are joining the military is, right now--right now--at an all-time low. Academy applications for our military academies are also at an all-time low.

See, even high school students know something is wrong with this picture. So they are not sitting there thinking: ``I want to go to West Point'' or ``I want to go to Annapolis'' or ``I want to go to the Air Force.'' They are not thinking that. What they are saying is, Why is the military focused on all this other stuff other than on their core mission--keeping this country safe?

Now, again, statistics prove the point.

The Army has fallen 15,000 soldiers short of their goal for 2022, and they don't expect this situation to improve. In 2023, they think they are going to be 21,000 troops short. I want you to think about this. Think about what we are facing, whether it is attacks from the axis of evil--Russia, China, Iran, North Korea--or whether it is China's aggressiveness.

Think about this. Think about the difference that 10,000 troops, 15,000 troops, 21,000 troops make, and then ask yourself, why is it that men and women, citizens of this country, are not wanting to raise their hand and take the oath to protect and defend? If you are honest with yourself, you know that a big part of the problem is the way the military has been treated over the last couple of years.

We didn't have this problem previously. This is a problem that has been made for our military, for this Nation's security. It has been made by this administration.

The National Guard is missing their recruitment goals. Why is that? Could it be that having to take a shot--and bear in mind, it is not a vaccine like a polio vaccine or other vaccines; it is a shot for a certain strain of COVID. What you have is a Department of Defense that is willing to say ``You are fired'' to people who have volunteered to serve this country, and they are going to do it over a shot. They don't expect anybody running over the southern border illegally, I might add, to have the shot, but they expect members of the U.S. military, students at our academies, those who are on Active Duty, those who are reservists, those who are in the National Guard to get this even though President Biden has said the pandemic is over--it is over.

So you have to ask, why is it that they are continuing to beat down on the military? Why are they willing to pummel them over a shot? Why are they not willing to put the NDAA on the floor? We have done it for 61 years. Are we going to miss on year 62? Why is it not a priority? Could it possibly be that the NDAA is not a priority for my

Democratic colleagues, that the men and women in uniform protecting them and their families are not a priority? Could it be it is not at the top of their to-do list?

The choice to enter military service is a serious choice. It is a choice that people do not make lightly. But this hesitancy to serve should raise alarm bells in this Chamber. Looking at these numbers that are falling so far short of our recruitment goals, our retention goals, should ring some alarm bells. It is symptomatic of a much larger problem.

The past few years haven't been easy for anyone, but we all have the benefit of hindsight. We all have the benefit of lessons learned. But it appears that some people are just not willing to learn from those lessons, and anyone willing to be honest about how the Democrats have handled this can see two things pretty clearly:

First, turning the debate over the COVID vaccine into political warfare--that is a choice that the Democrats in this Chamber, the Democrats in Washington, DC, and this administration--that is a choice that they have made. Let's take this vaccine mandate, and let's turn it into political warfare.

Secondly, getting political about this particular vaccine or shot, as it is, in the context of military readiness--that was a choice; I might add, a very bad, a very inappropriate choice. The military is supposed to be apolitical. Servicemembers count on that when they sign up to serve, when they raise their hand, when they take that oath, but now punditry drives policy at the Pentagon, and this has eroded trust between the military, the servicemembers, and their families.

The Democrats are in charge of the Senate. If they had allowed it, we could have had an honest debate about my two amendments. As I said, they are each about one page long. They are there specifically to protect our men and women in uniform, to say we have to have them serve. We lost 5,700 to this COVID mandate. We are short--I have given you the numbers--15,000 this year and 21,000 for next year. That is what we are short. Recruitment is low. We are not hitting our marks there. Signing up for our military academies--the numbers are the lowest ever. We are not hitting the mark there. Why is it? Be honest with yourself and ask yourself, what has caused this change in attitude? You know, if you are honest with yourself, if the President were honest with himself, he could rescind that mandate. That would be a very good thing. But to ignore reality and pretend that these low recruitment numbers, these firings, these retention numbers are all OK--it is unconscionable.

It is time for my colleagues--my Democratic colleagues--to stop ignoring the reality, stop ignoring the ripple effects of their political agenda before it puts our Nation and our military in danger.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, I want to begin by welcoming the Tennessee National Guard's 268th Military Police Company home after a 305-day deployment to Africa.

We are so incredibly grateful for their service and for the service and sacrifice that their families make during these times of deployment, and I know I speak for every Tennessean when I say to them: Welcome home. Job well done.

Mr. President, over the years, country music has evolved from its humble roots into a celebration of extremes. Most modern artists like to draw their listeners into one of two states: perfect happiness or pure agony. But country music's legacy lies somewhere in the middle, where life tests our mettle and deals both joy and sorrow, all too often in unequal measure. It is the realm of the courageously unlucky and the quietly brokenhearted and the source of the world's most complex and affecting storytelling. It is that world that Loretta Lynn invited us to experience from the time she was a young woman until the day she died.

Her resume is one of the most impressive in all entertainment: 46 solo studio albums, more than 50 Top Ten hits, member of the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Famer, and the Country Music Association's first female Entertainer of the Year. But Loretta was much more than the sum of her accolades.

She grew up poor and uneducated in the coal-mining hills of Kentucky. She was a wife at 15, a mother at 16, and moved thousands of miles away from home at an age when most teenagers today would just start dreaming about escaping from their parents. When she wasn't busy raising her children, she sang and played songs on a $17 Sears guitar.

If Nashville is a 10-year town, then I suppose Loretta Lynn must have considered herself lucky at last, she only had to wait 7 months from the time of her first record pressing to the moment she first stepped onstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Still, at 28, she had seen more than enough to know that there was no hiding in a spotlight, so she sang about her life and found a voice that was once assertive and disruptive. She blazed trails in music and television by being herself, using humor to blunt the edge that hard living and having little agency well into womanhood had given her writing.

On October 4 of this year, we lost our coal miner's daughter to a far better place. I will be forever grateful to her for her absolute belief in the power of storytelling. I hope her memory will inspire future generations of young women in music to do the bravest thing an artist can do and share their joy, pain, confusion, and hope in its most authentic form.