Floor Statements

Mr. President, this morning, as the majority leader just pointed out, marks an important day for a longtime member of the Senate family who will depart for greener pastures next month. After 41 years of service, LaVerne Allen, a familiar and friendly face to so many of our colleagues past and present, is retiring from Senate Doorkeepers.

LaVerne has seen the Senate from many different angles. She has worn many different hats, from the card desk to the reception room. And for years now, she has welcomed Senators, staff, and visitors right here to the Senate Chamber.

Alongside the brave men and women of the Capitol Police, our doorkeepers control access to this historic institution. Here on the floor, they keep us safe. Up in the Galleries, they give citizens a chance to watch democracy in action.

After more than four decades, LaVerne has certainly earned a break from all of us. I understand that she is looking forward to some well- deserved R&R and, eventually, some exciting international travel to visit family.

So today, on behalf of the entire Senate, I want to congratulate LaVerne on her retirement, thank her for her years of devotion and service to this institution.

Prime Minister Netanyahu

Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, yesterday I was proud to attend a joint meeting of Congress and listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu's message from Israel to America. He reminded us of our Nation's deep friendship, of the savagery of our shared enemies, of the sacrifices brave Israelis are making to combat them on behalf of the entire free world, and of the enduring importance of American leadership.

It was a powerful address. I wish more of our colleagues had heard it. But those who needed to hear it the most were otherwise occupied. Vice President Harris was on the campaign trail. Most of the Hamas apologists in Congress boycotted it. And, of course, a mob of far-left terrorist sympathizers was too busy vandalizing our Nation's Capital to tune in.

The lawless behavior of friendly radicals in our own country over the past 36 hours only underscores the challenge facing the world's only Jewish State.

When the Jewish people try to live in peace in their homeland, they are murdered in their beds. When Jewish students try to go to class, their classmates and professors lock arms to block their way. And when the leader of Israel comes to Washington, the same useful idiots and terrorist fifth columns clear their schedules to sow chaos.

On Tuesday night, criminals vandalized the hotel where Prime Minister Netanyahu was staying, scattered crickets across hallways, covered a dinner table with maggots, and pulled the fire alarm. Outside, unhinged Hamasniks screamed: We're going to kill all of you.

Then, after vandalizing private property, radical organizers called another play: vandalizing Federal property; tearing down and burning the American flag that flew over Columbus Circle and Union Station; defacing public monuments with terrorist screeds; and, unless someone doubt their seriousness, burning the Prime Minister in effigy.

Mr. President, yesterday was the 26th anniversary of horrific shootings of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson in the line of duty. That day will always be a sobering reminder of the sacrifices of law enforcement and the price of protecting this sacred institution.

It is an especially difficult day of reflection for the brave men and women who follow in Officer Chestnut's and Detective Gibson's footsteps. And yet, officers of the Capitol Police had to spend it dispersing violent anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agitators.

I am grateful for the vigilance of the Capitol Police and partner Agencies on the job yesterday. Law enforcement knows better than anyone that, when it comes to radical attention-seekers, there is nothing new under the sun: not their tactics, and certainly not the slap on wrist they receive from soft-on-crime prosecutors.

This week, it is anti-Semites painting Hamas slogans on public property. But last year, as our colleagues may recall, it was leftwing climate protesters who took their cues from the Taliban and tried to destroy priceless works of art over at the Smithsonian.

One such case was a woman who tried to destroy a one-of-a-kind French sculpture in the National Gallery. She succeeded in damaging it and was sentenced this spring to 60 days in prison. And thank goodness she got that much. Prosecutors had only asked for 30

days--never mind that the sentencing guidelines recommend 5 years, given the gravity of her actions.

We know by now that street criminals aren't the only ones the Biden administration and criminal prosecutors like to let off easy. It is the wealthy ecoterrorists and the campus Marxists as well.

But I am still amazed at how allergic liberal prosecutors are to exercising their authority with an even hand. The DOJ has been more than willing to pursue maximum sentences for the Capitol rioters on January 6--and rightly so. My view has always been that when extremists aspire to sow chaos and violate our Nation's Capital, the prosecutor should throw the book at them--throw the book at them--no matter their motivation--no matter their politics.

But will they pursue the lawless radicals inspired by October 7 with equal vigor? Will the District's own government exercise the authority Congress has given it to maintain order and discourage lawless behavior? Don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, as our country reflects with new attention on the roots of political violence, I hope we will also reflect on our deep friendship with the only pluralistic democracy in the Middle East and support its fight against terror.

How do we show we are serious? By equipping our friends with more of the tools they need to defeat aggression, by investing heavily in our own arsenal and industrial capacity, and by getting off our hands and passing the National Defense Authorization Act.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the

Sheppards of Eastern Kentucky, a family renowned in basketball and across the Commonwealth. This month, Laurel County will gather to honor the Sheppards and their impact on the community and dedicate a new monument to celebrate Laurel County's highest achieving basketball players. I would like to join my home State in recognizing Jeff, Stacey, Madison, and Reed Sheppard for their many accomplishments and contributions to Kentucky.

For decades, the Sheppard name has been a staple of Kentucky basketball. These days, most are familiar with the youngest, Reed--a No. 3 NBA draft pick and one of the Nation's top collegiate players while at the University of Kentucky--but his mom and dad, Stacey and Jeff, are both UK greats in their own right. Jeff played on two championship-winning seasons with the Cats and, in 1998, helped lead UK to one of its most unexpected victories in overtime against Stanford, securing the seventh NCAA title for the Big Blue Nation. Here on Kentucky's campus, Jeff met Stacey Reed, a fierce competitor on the women's basketball team and one of the university's best point guards.

Stacey and Jeff bonded over their faith and love of basketball and their shared experience as successful collegiate athletes. They soon married and moved their family back to Laurel County to raise their kids in Stacey's lifelong hometown. Madison and Reed eventually made their own names in basketball playing on their high school teams.

Like so many young athletes across the Commonwealth, Reed dreamed of one day wearing UK's blue and white uniform. His start on the team was met with unmatched enthusiasm in the Bluegrass, as one of the few native Kentuckians to suit up under Coach John Calipari. He quickly captured the attention of basketball fans across the Nation, named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year and the National Freshman of the Year, the first player in Kentucky basketball history to earn this honor.

While basketball certainly runs in their blood, serving Kentucky is just as much a part of the Sheppard DNA. As young parents, Jeff and Stacey established the Backpack Program, an organization that prepares bagged lunches for hungry children across Laurel County. The Sheppard's charitable work for their church and their hometown and Stacey's perseverance in battling breast cancer set an enduring example of giving and helping others, of the power of community in times of need. When catastrophic floods swept through Eastern Kentucky in 2022, killing 45 people, Reed and his family joined together to help flood victims and raise money for relief efforts across the region. Today, the entire family continues to give back to Eastern Kentucky, whether volunteering their time, raising funds for those in need, or mentoring the next generation of young ball players.

The Commonwealth has long been home to the biggest and best in basketball. But it is players like Jeff, Stacey, Madison, and Reed who bring passion and purpose to the sport that set our teams and our State apart. I am proud to join Kentuckians in congratulating the Sheppard family for receiving this well-deserved honor and in thanking them for all their contributions to the Commonwealth on and off the court.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize Ashli Watts, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and a leading voice in my home State's business community.

From an early age, Ashli had an affinity for public policy. Like me, she got her start in politics through a congressional internship on Capitol Hill. This early experience in our Nation's Capital cemented Ashli's interest in policy and public advocacy even further. Upon graduating from Campbellsville University, where she remains an active and involved alumna, Ashli went on to pursue her graduate degree in political science/public policy and administration at my alma mater, the University of Louisville.

Ashli put her public policy experience and education to good use on behalf of Kentucky's workers and job creators when she joined the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in 2012, our State's largest business association. Her hard work and yearslong dedication eventually earned her the top post at the chamber in 2019.

Not long after taking the helm, the coronavirus pandemic turned daily life in America upside down and our Nation's business community flat on its back. The health and economic crisis that unfolded wrought widespread destruction on Main Street America, shuttering businesses and forcing millions out of work. During this time of upheaval, Kentucky's job creators fortunately had a strong advocate in Ashli. As chamber president and CEO, she worked to ensure employers in my home State were informed and that their priorities were always heard in Frankfort and Washington.

Ashli has certainly wasted no time working hard to improve Kentucky's business landscape and has never shied away from an opportunity to help her home State. Her leadership on issues ranging from tax reform to supporting our workforce to navigating the regulatory environment has laid a solid foundation for the future success of Kentucky's many businesses. Just recently, I was pleased to see her appointment to chair the U.S. Chamber's Committee of 100, which represents the top 100 chamber leaders in the Nation.

As the chamber's first female president, Ashli has also used her platform to highlight other female leaders in the Commonwealth. She helped establish the chamber's first annual women's summit in 2020 to celebrate Kentuckians who are making a big impact at the local, State, and national levels. This yearly event has gained widespread recognition for its work to amplify the remarkable careers and accomplishments of Kentucky's women.

Mr. President, Spectrum News recently published an article highlighting Ashli's impact on my home State. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the article be printed in the Record.

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

Mr. President, since the Senate last convened, our Nation has seen two attempts to circumvent the American people's right to choose their leaders.

The first, of course, was the first time in more than a century that a former President of the United States was shot in an attempted assassination. That happened to Theodore Roosevelt.

This murderous assault on our democratic process very nearly robbed millions of Americans of their choice for the next President. It has been reassuring to see Americans united in their horror at this brazen act of political violence. The near-disaster on July 13 violated the trust of the American public, and restoring that trust will require transparency and accountability. I said at the outset that the resignation of the Director of the Secret Service would be an important step in that direction, and I am encouraged she has taken that step today.

The Director is on record describing her agents' responsibilities as ``a zero fail mission.'' Clearly, on July 13, the Secret Service did fail the mission. The important questions now are why and how. Apart from internal inquiries and FBI investigations, Congress's oversight authority entitles us to answers.

Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee spent hours questioning the Director of the Secret Service. Unfortunately, the Senate majority hasn't yet shown any intention of conducting oversight of its own. Democrats who so often express concern about threats to democracy have yet to look seriously at the failures of the Secret Service.

The Judiciary Committee, for its part, appeared to be more concerned with resurrecting failed judicial nominations than getting to the bottom of the first near-assassination of a former President in 100 years. Until earlier today, Chairman Durbin apparently intended to spend the committee's time taking another look at radical Judge Sarah Netburn, a nominee his own committee rejected once for engaging in political activism from the bench and lying about her actions under oath.

It is crickets at the Homeland Security Committee as well. Chairman Peters has three meetings on the calendar for this week but not one about the near-assassination of a former President.

A former President of the United States came within an inch of his life just days ago. An innocent participant in the great tradition of American campaigns was killed, and two other attendees were seriously wounded. The American people deserve to know how this happened and what steps are being taken to ensure that it won't happen again.

Fortunately, a despicable act of political violence failed, but just 2 days ago, a different decision succeeded in erasing the will of millions of American voters.

Leading Washington Democrats prevailed upon President Biden to toss out primary results and leave the nomination in limbo while party bosses anoint another candidate.

One thing is for certain: If they formally nominate President Biden's preferred successor, the choice facing working Americans remains the same. Vice President Harris owns this administration's record. Her fingerprints are all over the past 4 years of failure.

She has cast tie-breaking votes for radical judicial nominees, for soft-on-crime prosecutors, and for the reckless spending her party's top economists actually condemned. She has flouted her responsibilities as the administration's border czar and presided over the worst border crisis in American history.

The American people cannot afford 4 more years of open borders, violent crime, or historic inflation. In November, they may well reject it.

Mr. President, now on another matter, tomorrow, the Capitol will welcome Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the democratically elected leader of America's closest ally in the Middle East to address a joint meeting of Congress for the fourth time.

It is a pivotal moment for the United States-Israel alliance and for Israel's war against savage Iran-backed terrorists. This is an existential conflict for Israel, but it is also a test of America's reliability and a challenge to the entire free world.

I look forward to hearing the Prime Minister's remarks. Unfortunately, some of the leaders who could learn the most from the experience of the battle-tested, duly elected leader of a sovereign democracy apparently will not be among us.

The Vice President, who traditionally presides over joint sessions of Congress, apparently can't spare the time to demonstrate even symbolic support for the only democracy in the Middle East.

Of course, Israel deserves more than symbolism. It deserves the time, space,

and material support to guarantee its security and defeat the terrorists who started this war.

But no matter how many times I say it, no matter how many of our colleagues affirm Israel's right to exist, no matter how sternly the President insists his commitment to Israel is ``ironclad,'' America's actions speak otherwise.

The administration's policy toward Israel has often compounded the challenges our ally faces. It has withheld critical military assistance and tried to micromanage Israel's military operations.

Washington Democrats have struggled to forcefully condemn the scourge of anti-Semitism and terrorist sympathy running rampant across university campuses and throughout the American left.

Instead, they have indulged the mob, engaging in grotesquely hypocritical efforts to meddle in Israeli domestic politics and call for the removal of its democratically elected leader. And this is just in the past 9 months that the Commander in Chief's failure to deter enemies of Israel and America is a debacle years in the making. The chaos fomented by Iran and its proxies across the Middle East is no surprise when you consider the seeds this administration has sown:

Desperation to return to a failed nuclear deal told Iran that it, once again, held leverage over America. Rescinding the Houthis' terrorist designation told Iran-backed groups that America isn't serious about imposing consequences for their savage violence. A humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan invited allies and adversaries alike to question America's competence and America's resolve. Failure to respond decisively to Iran-backed strikes against American personnel, interests, and partners across the region told the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism that the world's only superpower was unwilling to act like one.

Today, America and our partners are reaping the consequences of the Biden administration's weakness. This weekend's deadly strike in Tel- Aviv was the latest in more than 200 Houthi attacks on Israeli soil since October 7. Is it merely a coincidence that this attack landed just yards from a U.S. diplomatic facility?

The same terrorists are holding global commerce hostage in the Red Sea and happily trading thousand-dollar drones for million-dollar U.S. Navy interceptors.

They have concluded--correctly, it seems--that waging war on America and our interests is a low-cost proposition. And this isn't the calculus of some autonomous terrorists. We are talking about a campaign coordinated by the master terrorists in Tehran. As one Hezbollah field commander told a reporter recently, ``The Iranians want us to escalate, so we are escalating. . . . The Iranians control every bullet we have.''

The sworn enemies of the Great Satan and the Little Satan are emboldened. They are wreaking havoc on America and Israel for pennies on the dollar. And they are working with Russia, China, and North Korea to challenge the American-led order all around the world.

Just as core U.S. interests are at stake in Russia's war against Ukraine, they are at stake in the Middle East as well. Tomorrow, as on numerous occasions in our history, Congress will hear from a close friend of America on the frontlines against this global effort to undermine the American-led order.

Prime Minister Netanyahu deserves our attention, and Israel deserves a friend that lives up to the name.

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

Mr. President, as NATO's Washington summit draws to a close today, there is clearly tremendous resolve among many of our allies to make the transatlantic alliance fit for purpose for another 75 years. But a strong and effective NATO has always required strong and effective American leadership, and here at home, there is reason for cautious optimism that support for leadership on collective defense is widespread.

Last month, the Reagan Institute released the findings of its latest poll on the American people's views of global issues. Here is what it found: A majority of Americans support ``a more engaged U.S. foreign policy'' and hold favorable views of the NATO alliance and support lethal assistance to Ukraine. Despite the media spending years amplifying views from the fringes of our politics, a majority of Republicans believe that ``U.S. involvement in international events'' benefits America.

When asked recently whether peace, prosperity, and security were products of American leadership and sacrifice--listen to this--more Republicans than Democrats actually agreed with that.

Here is the kicker: They are not just telling this to pollsters; they are actually demonstrating it at the ballot box. By massive, double- digit margins, Republican primary voters have picked candidates who supported the national security supplemental earlier this spring. Let me say that again. Not a single Republican incumbent who voted to help America's friends resist authoritarian aggression and rebuild the arsenal of democracy lost their primary. Not one lost their primary. Across the country, voters rejected fringe candidates who peddled isolationist pablum and voted instead for American leadership.

The way Speaker Johnson put it earlier this week, he has had people come up to him at events in 31 different States in recent months to say the same thing: We are glad Congress delivered the supplemental.

So, Mr. President, it can often seem like the loudest voices in Washington are the ones that bemoan the responsibilities of American leadership while enjoying the peace and prosperity it underwrites, but these voices are increasingly estranged from the views of most Americans. The American people know instinctively that leadership on the world stage isn't some handout to allies and partners; it is an investment--an investment--in our own security. They know this leadership is what preserves the U.S.-led order that has underpinned peace and prosperity for decades. Now they just need a President who is willing to exercise that leadership.

For years, the American people watched the Biden administration dither and wring its hands over fears that standing with a sovereign democracy might invite escalation from a tyrant who was already conducting a full-scale war of conquest. Since last fall, they have heard the President insist in one breath that America's commitment to a close ally was ironclad and then withhold urgent assistance in another.

It is well and good to talk about American leadership, but talk is cheap. This week would have been a great opportunity for the Commander in Chief to start backing up his words with firm commitments to start investing seriously--seriously--in hard power. It should have been the week the Democratic leader brought the NDAA up for Senate consideration. It could have been a great week to lead.

Fortunately, the most successful military alliance in history has had some strong leadership in Brussels with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. I am deeply grateful for his tireless work on both urgent and

long-term challenges facing the alliance and for his deep devotion to the cause of collective defense.

The Secretary General took office months--just months--after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine back in 2014, and after a pivotal decade, he will leave the alliance with renewed clarity and resolve to face even graver Russian aggression and linked authoritarian threats all around the world.

For 10 years, he has worked relentlessly to expand allies' focus to include serious challenges emanating from beyond NATO's borders.

Recognizing the links between major threats to global security, he has improved the alliance's engagement with critical Indo-Pacific nations like Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

Just yesterday, he led allies in making clear that China is the ``decisive enabler'' of Russia's war against Ukraine and that ``the PRC cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation.''

He has successfully expanded NATO, most recently welcoming Sweden and Finland as highly capable additions to our ranks.

In the face of Russian aggression, the Secretary General has been an extraordinarily effective advocate and spokesman for collective defense, rallying renewed investment from allies and leading the most significant NATO rearmament since the Cold War.

As he navigated the predictably diverse and spirited views of dozens of allies, the Secretary General demonstrated a keen appreciation for America's legitimate, longstanding, and bipartisan concerns about burden-sharing across the alliance and has repeatedly urged allies to take on more responsibility for our shared security.

On a personal note, I am immensely grateful for the time the Secretary General and I have spent working closely together. I have appreciated his candor, his professionalism, and his devotion to our common cause. I was particularly proud to welcome him to address a joint meeting of Congress earlier in his term.

As he departs his post, Secretary General Stoltenberg should take great pride in the historic accomplishments of his tenure and remain optimistic, as I am, in the course he has set for the alliance. He has the gratitude of allies and partners all across the free world, and he will leave big shoes for his successor, Mark Rutte, to fill.

Nomination of Sarah Netburn

Mr. President, now on another matter, I have spoken before about the New York magistrate judge with a bad habit of engaging in political activism from the bench and lying about it under oath. Unfortunately, the red flags on Judge Netburn's record aren't limited to the inappropriate actions she does commit; there is also the important work she has inexplicably chosen to ignore.

Take it from the family members of victims of 9/11 who wrote recently to our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. As these loved ones sought a small piece of justice for the lives that terrorist killers snuffed out, Judge Netburn failed to rule on the unopposed motions they submitted that would have entitled them to participate in the next round of compensation for grieving families.

As they put it:

We cannot understand how a Magistrate Judge could treat 9/

11 family members so callously or so blithely disregard her

duties.

Mr. President, I have posed this question before on another of the administration's nominees, Nancy Maldonado. But I will ask it again: Why on Earth do our Democratic colleagues continue to entertain lifetime promotions for nominees with a demonstrated inability to do the job?

This sort of gross negligence is damning. It is disqualifying. And, frankly, the Netburn nomination isn't worth another second of the Judiciary Committee's time, let alone the Senate's.

Inflation

Mr. President, on one final matter, cumulative inflation since President Biden took office now sits at 21 percent, and working families across America are still feeling the pinch in their wallets, especially when it comes to basic necessities like housing.

In New Jersey, one man who has watched his rent soar said:

I thought things were going to taper off, but it doesn't

appear to be tapering.

In my State of Kentucky, one resident said he was ``sticker-shocked'' at the skyrocketing costs of homeowners' insurance, property taxes, and utility bills. And he is certainly not alone. One survey showed nearly one in five homeowners could not afford a $500 emergency repair on their home.

Last month, 46 percent of Americans reported that they are struggling to keep pace financially, and only 25 percent of this group said they planned on supporting President Biden.

The American people know which party ignored the warnings of top economists, lit money on fire with reckless taxing-and-spending sprees, and fueled the worst inflation this country has seen since the Carter administration. The American people are sick and tired of Bidenomics. I expect they will have more to say about it this November.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, yesterday morning, the Senate was greeted by some sad news. A longtime former colleague and dear friend of many of us, Jim Inhofe, passed away.

As many of our colleagues are familiar, Jim's path to the Senate was an adventure on its own: honorable service in the Army, small business success, undergraduate degree by way of nine different schools, and, by one account, even some prospecting on rare earth minerals.

But what came to define his time in this body was more than his sheer confidence and experience on such a dizzying array of topics, more than his dogged determination on issues from infrastructure to the Armed Forces to African development. What I suspect so many of our colleagues will remember most about Jim was his honesty, his decency, and his deep faith; his love of God, love of country, and love of neighbor.

It would be difficult for anyone to hope for a richer legacy than that.

So this week, I know the Senate is keeping Jim's wife Kay and the whole Inhofe family in our prayers as they mourn a great man.

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

Mr. President, in 1949, 12 nations gathered here in Washington to establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Seventy-five years later, our Nation's Capital welcomes NATO's 32 members back for a pivotal summit.

The most successful military alliance in human history has shepherded the free world through serious challenges--from nuclear-armed Cold War, through vicious terrorist attacks, to a new chapter of multipolar competition. This has always been a collective effort, but it has always required American leadership, and today, America and our allies face a serious test of resolve.

Russian aggression, Iran-backed terror, unchecked nuclear proliferation from North Korea, and China's bid for hegemony aren't just regional concerns; they are facets of an increasingly coordinated threat to Americans' security and prosperity.

The transatlantic alliance faces doubts at home and abroad about the credibility of our commitment to uphold this order. All NATO allies will share the risks if it is undone. All of us will suffer if autocrats and despots succeed in rewriting rules and redrawing maps. Even still, on the occasion of the Washington summit, there are encouraging signs that NATO is rising to meet the challenges.

Two years on, brutal Russian escalation hasn't just woken European allies from decades of neglect for their military capabilities; it has spurred a sea change in defense policy all across Europe and a renaissance of investment in defense industrial bases and cutting-edge weapons.

Across Europe, America's allies are investing 18 percent more on their defenses than they were a year ago. More than two-thirds of NATO's members

have now met or exceeded the alliance's 2 percent defense spending target. Just as important, many are committing 20 percent of their defense budgets to procuring new weapons and capabilities.

But the latest data did more than confirm the end of our ``holiday from history''; they also prove what I have been explaining to our colleagues for years: When America leads by example, allies invest right here in America. A full two-thirds of our allies' spending on new defense procurement is going to buy American-made weapons and systems. Right now, U.S. industry is filling more than $140 billion in contracts booked by European allies.

Many allies also are expanding their own defense industrial capacity--an encouraging and necessary step that will make NATO even more resilient.

Of course, one of the most encouraging developments since the last NATO summit has been the addition of two strong, new allies with highly capable militaries and cutting-edge industrial bases of their own. It was a tremendous honor to work closely with the leaders of Finland and Sweden throughout their accession to the alliance, and I am proud to join the Democratic leader in hosting them on Capitol Hill this week.

Today, the enemies of Western peace and prosperity are giving us good reason--good reason--to take the strength of our alliances and partnerships even more seriously. The authoritarians and rogue states seeking to undermine us are working together, and we can't afford not to do the same. That is why all NATO allies need to take hard power more seriously; why the 2-percent defense spending target is a floor but is not a ceiling; why these spending increases must be built into base budgets, not treated as one-off emergencies; and why contracting and procurement have to move at the speed of relevance, not the speed of bureaucracy.

These lessons apply as much to America as they do to our European allies, and they apply even more so to our neighbor to the north. Canada is one of the only allies without a plan to reach the 2-percent spending target.

It is encouraging that as NATO members address the deficiencies of our own collective security obligations, we are joined this week by essential non-NATO partners who are taking increasingly clear-eyed approaches to their own security.

The presence of leaders from the Indo-Pacific is an especially powerful reminder of our shared stake in the future of a Western order that preserves the freedom of navigation, territorial integrity, and the right to self-determination.

I will have more to say as the week goes on, but I am grateful for the opportunity to welcome America's friends to Washington at this critical time, and I am hopeful that together, the alliance will make headway on the serious business before us.

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

Madam President, this week, the Senate convenes with important business to address. America's closest allies are in town. The eyes of the world are on the most successful military alliance in human history. Friends and foes are watching to see whether the superpower that forged the NATO alliance and guided its success across seven decades has the will to continue to lead.

This week, with the leaders of dozens of allied nations here in Washington, the Senate could do its part to answer that question. We could show America's most trusted friends and partners

that we are still willing to stand with them.

We could pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee reported overwhelmingly nearly a month ago. We could, but we won't because the Democratic leader has other plans. As important allies visit the Halls of the Senate, the clearest sign of our resolve to lead will instead continue to collect dust.

Rather than taking up the NDAA, the Senate Democrats have decided to spend precious floor time on performative stunt votes and more of President Biden's unfit judicial nominees, beginning with Judge Nancy Maldonado. There is a particular irony in our colleague's decision to put off urgent work like the annual Defense authorization in favor of giving lifetime tenure to a judge with a staggering backlog of her own.

With the eyes of the world on Washington, this week offers the Senate an opportunity to demonstrate the credibility of America's commitments. It is an opportunity we can ill afford to miss.

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

Madam President, last week, a U.S. company announced it had reached an agreement to begin exporting American liquefied natural gas to Ukraine for the first time. That is certainly good news for our friends on the frontlines of Russian aggression, for allies across Eastern Europe, and for the workers and producers behind some of America's most affordable and reliable energy.

Exporting American abundance is a win-win proposition, and it is one that our closest trading partners in Europe have increasingly recognized as an opportunity to offset their reliance on Russian gas.

But setting aside last week's good news, the Biden administration is still chronically confused about the role that affordable and abundant American energy can play as a geopolitical tool, a source of American leadership, and an engine of our own economy.

In a joint pledge issued 2 years ago, President Biden committed to help reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy and increase global energy security. Then, a few lines later, he reiterated his commitment to the unenforceable virtue signals of the Paris climate deal.

Sometimes it seems that cognitive dissonance is the most powerful force in the universe.

Remember, the President who continues to insist he is serious about helping America's closest allies resist the predations of Putin's Russia is the same President who made stunning American energy development a day-one priority. He is the same one who decided not to intervene when he had a chance--before Russia's escalation in Ukraine-- to block the expansion of European reliance on Russian gas with the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. And, of course, this is the same President who earlier this year issued a de facto ban on new permitting for LNG export infrastructure that would make it harder for American producers to respond to demand for reliable alternatives to Russian or Iranian energy.

As I have discussed at length, Russia's escalation in Ukraine prompted some of our closest European allies to finally start investing seriously in their own defenses. It has also been an opportunity to rethink their dangerous overreliance on Russian energy.

Back in February, one German state-owned energy provider was in the process of switching from buying Russian gas to buying American gas instead, but the plan was stifled by the administration's decision to appease its activist base instead of reinforcing America's allies.

So last week brought good news. But here is the rub: This new commitment to Ukraine relies, in part, on the completion of a new LNG export facility that is stuck in the Biden administration's regulatory purgatory. And even as already permitted infrastructure comes online, producers who want to create new American jobs and expand their capacity to meet foreign demand are simply out of luck.

Since 2016, American LNG has been a remarkable success story. It had driven our economy to become a net energy

exporter. And just last year, even in the shadow of the Biden administration's War on Energy, the United States was the world's largest LNG exporter.

But this year, Russia has overtaken the United States in gas exports to the European market, and it might have something to do with a ban one of our former Democratic colleagues, Mary Landrieu, described as ``throwing a match in a bale of hay.'' We might describe the President's ban as a tremendous missed opportunity, but that would undersell the predictably disastrous consequences.

In the face of a dangerous world, the administration's obsession with performative climate policy is taking meaningful levers of American power simply off the table. For 3\1/2\ years, the Biden administration has worked relentlessly to suffocate American energy production, both onshore and offshore. And when Senate Republicans offered amendments to restore some modicum of sanity to the system for permitting and leasing new energy development, every single Senate Democrat stood behind the administration and voted no.

The first and longest suffering victims of Washington Democrats' War on American Energy are the American people. Historic inflation has already made insuring a car or filling up the tank more than 50 percent more expensive on President Biden's watch. But his administration wants to compound the pain with regulations that would put entire sectors of our economy in an even more serious bind.

Back in March, the Biden administration finalized a rule on vehicle emissions that would give manufacturers of work trucks and commercial vehicles until 2032 to turn 40 percent of their new stock into zero-- zero--emission vehicles. In the case of the biggest long-haul tractor- trailers, this would effectively mean replacing a quarter of these vehicles with zero-emission vehicles that are not yet on the road. It doesn't take an expert to imagine the sort of shock waves this would send across America. Our economy simply cannot function without reliable large vehicles to get products to market--or the hard-working men and women who make a living driving them. We are talking about a rule that would supercharge inflation on delivery costs and shelf prices alike and a penalty that would hit hardest for those least able to afford it.

Unsurprisingly, this zeal for redtape extends beyond heavy-duty vehicles to every passenger car, SUV, and pickup truck. In 8 years, if the administration has its way, two of every three vehicles manufactured for American consumers will have to be electric vehicles.

Now, consumers have already made it abundantly clear that they don't want Washington bureaucrats telling them what car to drive, and major engines of our economy have joined together to take the Biden administration to court over all of this nonsense.

Folks in my home State of Kentucky are following this progress closely. I spoke recently with a car dealer from Richmond. When it comes to his livelihood, he doesn't mince any words. Here is what he had to say:

I don't want to be in court fighting a governmental agency.

I just want to sell and service the cars and trucks that my

customers want. . . . [R]ight now and for as long as I can

see, my customers don't want vehicles that our government

requires them to buy. They don't want vehicles that are not

affordable, can't be reliably re-charged, and can't be

depended upon to make the drive from Richmond to Lexington on

a below zero midnight in January.

He also said:

The history and civics classes that I dearly loved did not

prepare me for a country where executive action and career

bureaucrats can create ``law'' and regulations that will put

me out of business.

Boy, I can't top that. American workers and job creators are struggling to keep up with persistent--persistent--high prices, and all the Biden administration seems to be offering as consolation is more redtape.