Floor Statements

Mr. President, on another matter, I haven't spared any breath calling attention to the parade of unfit nominees that the Biden administration would like to see confirmed to lifetime seats on the Federal bench.

I have urged my colleagues to consider Adeel Mangi's alarming connections to terrorist sympathizers and Nancy Maldonado's record of staggering unproductivity in the lower court. So it is only fitting that I call attention to another nominee whose affiliations bear all the hallmarks of the dark money influence that so animates some of our senior-most colleagues on the Judiciary Committee.

The Senate hears a great deal from our colleague the junior Senator from Rhode Island on the subject of dark money, but so far, I haven't heard him express any concern that Sparkle Sooknanan, nominated to the DC Circuit Court, has secured the support of Robert Raben.

Mr. Raben, of course, is a notorious shepherd of liberal nominees whose client list reads like a who's-who of liberal dark money, with groups backed by everyone from George Soros to Arabella Advisors.

Apparently, this nominee engaged in a discussion with Mr. Raben and his associates after--after--her nomination was announced. This sort of contact between liberal nominees and liberal handlers doesn't fit with the Senate Democrats' idea of dark money influence as simply a conservative pastime.

So it is hardly surprising that senior members of the Judiciary Committee's majority haven't found time to scrutinize Ms. Sooknanan with the sort of vigor they devote to tarring organizers for conservative causes.

Of course, maybe Senate Democrats actually support Ms. Sooknanan's legal defense of so-called vulture funds as they cut to the front of the line of Puerto Rico's creditors.

One Democratic House Member from New York says the success makes her nomination ``an insult to the people of Puerto Rico.'' Ah, but what does she know?

Or maybe they agree with Ms. Sooknanan's supposedly conservative former law firm that she didn't disparage the former President's election-litigation efforts on a conference call and that the New York Times is simply lying when they say that she did.

It just doesn't add up, unless the real ledger being used is the one with liberal dark money from Robert Raben and Arabella Advisors.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the Supreme Court term is about to end, which means it is time for Democrats and their media allies to bully and harass the Justices. The most recent example of this is the risible attack leveled against Justice Alito for his wife's flags.

I have nothing to say about those attacks themselves because they are so profoundly unserious, but I do have an observation about how some of the attacks have been leveled.

Three of our colleagues have taken it upon themselves to write to the Chief Justice and demand Justice Alito's recusal in cases. One went so far as to tell the Chief that he should strip Justices Alito and Thomas of their ability to write majority opinions unless they recuse from the cases liberals don't want them hearing.

This goes beyond the standard disgraceful bullying my Democratic colleagues have perfected. Recusal is a judicial act.

These Senators are telling the Chief Justice, privately, to change the course of pending litigation. This is known as ex parte communication, and it is frowned upon by the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

This matters because at least two of these colleagues of ours--the junior Senator from Rhode Island and the senior Senator from Connecticut--seem to be members of the Supreme Court Bar. If so, they are, therefore, potentially engaging in unethical professional conduct before the Court.

They may be under the mistaken impression that their persistent attempts to threaten the Federal courts are a permissible use of their legislative office, but they are officers of the Court and bound by a different set of rules than a mere Senator. These rules provide for discipline against those who engage in ``conduct unbecoming'' an officer of the Court.

I might suggest to our colleagues that unethical ex parte communications seeking to change the course of pending litigation is such conduct and that the Court should take any remedial action it feels to be appropriate.

The legal profession is in distress. Unethical behavior by attorneys serving political causes, unfortunately, knows no party or faction. It is up to the legal profession to police itself, and in the end, this means that courts, including the Supreme Court, must police their officers. We don't need to appeal to heaven to fix this problem, just to the Supreme Court's power to police the ethical practice of law among the members of its bar.

Mr. President, on another matter, unaccountable international judicial juntas have made headlines in recent weeks.

First, it was the self-aggrandizing International Criminal Court, whose rogue prosecutor sought preposterous arrest warrants for Israeli leaders in a grotesque attempt to draw moral equivalence with Hamas terrorists.

Not to be outdone, the unelected and unaccountable International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has issued an advisory opinion that seeks to establish an international law requirement to regulate greenhouse gases, including a right of action against wealthy, industrialized nations.

The New York Times reports that such an opinion is unsurprisingly expected to lead to ``wide-ranging claims for damages against polluting nations.'' The paper of record also tells us the U.N.'s International Court of Justice is also seized of the matter.

Climate justice warriors are swooning as they contemplate the largesse they might receive from this redistributive lawfare. This is a money grab and a power grab, pure and simple.

All of this unaccountable globalist socialism is just another reason President Reagan refused to sign the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and why the Senate has rightly refused to ratify it. At this point, it should be called the ``ICC of the Sea.''

I know some of my colleagues believe we should ratify this treaty, and they mean well, but I would urge my friends on both sides of the aisle to ask themselves if they are willing to put U.S. sovereignty into the hands of the ``ICC of the Sea.''

No country or entity has done more to protect the freedom of navigation than the United States. The U.S. and allied navies are the ones who protect commercial shipping lanes the global economy relies on, and self-important jurists of the ``ICC of the Sea'' would do well to remember this fact the next time they consider biting the hand that feeds.

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

Mr. President, 1,231. That is how many days it has taken President Biden to do something--anything--about the humanitarian and security crisis that has consumed our southern border and is engulfing our country.

Here is another number: There are 154 days until election day. In other words, the Biden administration has waited nearly its entire term before lifting a finger to address the open borders anarchy that it invited. In that amount of time, the CBP has reported more than 7.8 million encounters with illegal migrants at the southern border, and that is not counting the 1.6 million known ``got-aways.''

Fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death among American adults between 18 and 45. The lethal pipelines that began with Chinese chemical makers flow north across a broken U.S.-Mexico border.

And perhaps most disturbing is the increasing number of individuals on the Terror Watchlist who have exploited the border chaos to set foot on American soil.

With an election just months away, the President hopes that an issued Executive order will demonstrate that he cares about this crisis and is trying to fix it, never mind that his order would still allow more than 900,000 illegal aliens to come in every year at the southern border. This is on top of the half-million illegal parolees President Biden intends to continue waiving into the country. Combined, that is more than the population of 10 States. It is a new Dallas, TX, every year. This is like turning a garden hose on a five-alarm fire. And the American people are not fools. They know that this play is too little, too late.

On a different matter, I have spoken repeatedly about how Adeel Mangi, President Biden's nominee to the Third Circuit, is unqualified for the bench. But the red flags on this administration's nominees aren't limited to radical associations and ethical lapses.

Judge Nancy Maldonado, a trial judge nominated to the Seventh Circuit, has distinguished herself with sheer--sheer--incompetence.

Thanks to reforms put in place by then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Biden, Federal courts keep track of how many fully briefed motions have been sitting without a decision for at least 6 months, a report often known among judges in Chicago as the Biden list.

It was a good reform because justice delayed is justice denied. And as it turns out, Judge Maldonado has by far the largest number of motions pending for more than 6 months among the judges of the Seventh Circuit, with 125. She would need to rule on one of these motions every workday for the next 6 months just to clear her existing Biden backlog.

There are only a handful of judges in the country who are this far behind on their work. Judge Maldonado's Biden backlog puts her beyond the 99th percentile of all district judges nationwide in terms of slowness.

The Biden list requires judges to explain why they are so far behind. Judge Maldonado blames her record on ``complexity of the case,'' ``voluminous transcripts/briefs to be read,'' and ``heavy civil and criminal caseload.'' Does the President think his nominees will face less complex cases on the court of appeals, lighter caseloads, less voluminous transcripts or briefs?

Why on Earth would our colleagues consider giving new and greater responsibilities to a judge who is clearly struggling with the ones she has already gotten or, for that matter, why would they consider promoting someone whose instinct is to pass the buck?

I wish I were making this up: When our colleagues asked Judge Maldonado about her case backlog in written questions, she blamed her clerks. That is probably cold comfort to prisoners seeking relief for inhumane treatment or litigants paying months of legal fees awaiting her decisions. Apparently, it is not the woman with a judicial commission who is responsible for justice delayed; it is the 25-year- old brandnew lawyers on her staff. But passing the buck is what Judge Maldonado does.

The junior Senator for Louisiana asked her how she defined ``assault weapon'' in a brief supporting Illinois' assault weapons ban, and the judge said she didn't know because she didn't write the brief. She was only--get this--the counsel of record.

Do our colleagues really expect a promotion to the court of appeals to turn things around? Do they really think one of the Nation's least productive jurists actually deserves such a promotion?

It doesn't have to be like this. Without even leaving Chicago, Washington Democrats will find a different trial judge, Judge Mary Rowland.

Judge Rowland has impeccable liberal credentials. She satisfies the left's desired diversity metrics. The only difference? She is actually good at her job.

Her Biden list is three cases. And her reason? These opinions are being drafted but need to have hearings. Complex cases and voluminous briefing don't faze Judge Rowland.

This matters. The Seventh Circuit is a busy court. They hear oral arguments for every case that has a lawyer and publish all of these opinions as precedent. It is also the last stop for almost all litigants in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

Confirming Judge Maldonado to that court would be taking a judge who has proven herself incapable of swimming in the shallow end of the pool and throwing her into Lake Michigan.

The people and litigants of the Seventh Circuit deserve better. And if my colleagues want to see basic competence in their judges, they ought to reject this nominee.

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

Mr. President, we are nearing the end of President Biden's term, and the American people's patience for his failure to secure our southern border is running thin. After 3 years in office, nearly every conceivable metric has distinguished the Biden administration from its predecessors for all of the wrong reasons. Since the President took office, Customs and Border Protection has seen the highest annual total for border encounters on record. CBP has reported more than 7.8 million encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border, and this doesn't even count the 1.6 million known ``got-aways.''

Fentanyl and other lethal drugs pushed by China through Mexico and across our border are the primary cause of death among American adults between ages 18 and 45.

And reports of individuals on the Terror Watch List trying to sneak across the southern border have literally soared on President Biden's watch. Five years ago, CBP didn't encounter a single individual on the list between southern border ports of entry. Last year, they encountered 169.

This is what broken borders look like. This is humanitarian and national security failure of the highest degree.

And it is no mystery how we got here. President Biden and Vice President Harris were promising open borders 4 years ago on the campaign trail, and they started following through, literally, on day one. The Biden administration rescinded policies like ``Remain in Mexico'' that helped CBP hold the crisis at bay. They froze construction of physical barriers at the border out of spite for their predecessor, a move that most Americans now say they want to see reversed.

Every Senate Democrat voted to let President Biden repeal title 42, a pandemic-era policy that represented border officials only meaningful tool to stem the flow of illegal arrivals.

The administrations supposed border czar traveled widely to discuss the root causes of migration, but for months, she couldn't find time to visit the border itself. And for years, Washington Democrats have refused to call the situation what it obviously is: a crisis.

At every step, the American people have been left, literally, scratching their heads. In some cases, they have been left with unimaginable grief, like the family of Laken Riley, the student murdered by a man who shouldn't have been allowed into the country in the first place. And in every case, they have wondered why their elected leaders are missing in action.

Families are wondering why Senate Democrats opposed Senator Blackburn's proposal to allow State and local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE to detain and deport criminals; why they voted down Senator Budd's legislation that would have prohibited granting legal status or citizenship to individuals who have assaulted a law enforcement officer; why they blocked the proposal that would have required that individuals DHS deemed to be ``special interest aliens''--potential national security risks--are detained at the border and not released into the interior by the thousands. They are wondering why leftwing groups are exploiting the crisis to line their own pockets.

But one thing the American people don't have to wonder about is why Washington Democrats are suddenly chomping at the bit to convince their constituents that they care about border security. After all, working families are the ones telling pollsters the border is their very top election-year concern. The American people aren't fooled. They know that the President's summary reversal of commonsense border authorities is what started the crisis, and they know the solution is not cynical Senate theater.

The solution is a President who is willing to exercise his authority, to use the tools he already has at his disposal, and to start cleaning up this mess. If Senate Democrats wanted to start fixing the crisis tomorrow, they would be urging the President to do exactly

that. The American people have every right to expect secure borders, along with safe streets and stable prices. They don't have time for distraction, and neither do Senate Republicans.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, last week, just days after President Orban rolled out the red carpet in Budapest for President Xi, the Chinese dictator rolled out a red carpet in Beijing for Vladimir Putin. The ``friendship without limits'' struck between America's greatest strategic adversaries will now endure ``for generations to come.'' And it appears to be rooted in a shared myth about the nature of world conflicts and a victim complex that would be laughable if it didn't carry such grave consequences for Western peace and security.

At last week's summit, Russia and China together accused the United States of threatening the world's strategic balance, as if it is Washington rather than Beijing or Moscow trying to redraw borders by force or to disrupt global order.

Well, if you are looking for the government that has doubled its nuclear arsenal in 3 years, you will find it in Beijing, not Washington. In fact, Americans' own strategic deterrent continues to suffer from chronic neglect. And the Biden administration continues to submit defense budgets that fail to keep up with inflation, much less with the growing threat posed by the PRC.

And if you are looking for the regime recklessly developing an insanely provocative and destabilizing nuclear weapon to deploy in space, you will find that one in Moscow.

The world's leading authoritarians never seem to let the facts get in the way. But economic and military realities matter enormously to the future of fledgling democracies and developing nations who are vulnerable to their economic coercion and thuggish political intimidation.

The challenge to Western peace and security is not confined to the Taiwan Straits and the trenches of Ukraine. Chinese debt traps and Russian security forces are expanding malign influence from Central America to Central Asia to Africa and to our own Western Hemisphere.

Russia's efforts to strangle democracy and wrestle free societies back under its control are perhaps most glaring along the borders of Europe.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the unshackled nations have largely chosen freedom and worked to build democratic governments and societies oriented squarely to the West. And the neo-Soviet imperialists in the Kremlin see that as a threat.

Leaders in Washington are prone to forget how fragile our own experiment in democracy was during its earliest days and how precious are the safeguards our Founders enshrined in our government to protect the minority from the excesses of authoritarianism of majority rule.

Sometimes, of course, politicians in Washington even flirt with the idea of tearing down these safeguards of democracies to deny the minority any meaningful power.

Fortunately, there is still a bipartisan firewall in the Senate against this sort of shortsighted radicalism. But for nascent, vulnerable democracies, such safeguards face even graver threats. And in Georgia, a parliamentary majority's quest for power is threatening to suffocate the nation's civil society and unravel the guardrails of its democracy.

In an attempt to consolidate its hold on government, the Georgian Dream Party would stamp out the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Georgian people.

And while the political opposition is large, it is chronically divided against itself. Despite their feckless party leaders, thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to protest. Their desire for self-determination and freedom from Russian coercion is obvious. Four in five Georgians tell pollsters they want a distinctly European future.

They believe that planting themselves firmly in the West, among democratic nations where the rule of law prevails, is in their best interest.

Whether Georgia looks East or West matters to the United States. Standing with free people resisting the aggression of tyrants like Putin or Xi is in our own interests. This is true of Taiwan and Ukraine, Estonia, and Japan.

And it is true of Georgia. The Georgian people deserve the right to write their own future, not have it dictated to them by Moscow's preferred party chiefs.

And why is it that Russians obsess over controlling Georgia's future? It is about more than acting out Putin's neo-imperialist fantasy. Geography matters. For millennia, Georgia and its Black Sea coast stood at the crossroads of the civilized world. It is a key transit point for critical resources. And today, along with Armenia, it sits as a tantalizing link in the land bridge between authoritarian partners in Moscow and Tehran.

The people of Georgia have a long history of enduring conflict and conquest. They have a long tradition of resilience and a rich culture to be proud of. And they know there is a difference between bending to Russia and turning to the West.

So, like friends of the Georgian people across the West, I am hopeful this moment will be one which can take yet more pride, as a moment when the opposition to Russian coercion puts petty differences aside and stands united.

Of course, this must also be a moment for Georgia's ruling party to recognize the costs of ignoring their people's will in order to fulfill Putin's whims and to stop short of shredding their relationship with the West.

I hope those in power in Tbilisi will put sovereignty over subjugation and withdraw the coercive ``Russia law'' from parliament.

Mr. President, now on another matter, last Thursday, the Biden administration announced its plan to sacrifice yet another source of affordable, reliable American energy on the altar of climate activism.

After years of freezes and bans on onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing,

the administration's latest attempt to appease Democrats' radical base is a ban on new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana.

This region is responsible for producing nearly half of the Nation's coal. Last year alone, the basin created more than 250 million tons of coal and employs more than 4,000 people. Shutting off development will result in lost jobs and millions of dollars of lost revenue for Montana and Wyoming.

The sting of the administration's War on Coal is one Kentuckians know all too well. And working families across the country are already struggling with persistent inflation. Energy prices alone have risen more than 40 percent since President Biden took office.

But Washington Democrats' radicalism may have finally stretched their own party to a breaking point. In fact, the Biden administration's war on affordable, reliable American energy has proven so radically harmful to consumers, workers, and our global competitiveness that it is facing bipartisan opposition right here in the Senate.

Just yesterday, a bipartisan majority passed Senator Cruz's resolution disapproving of the Department of Energy's new rule to effectively ban affordable natural gas home furnaces.

This rule would significantly increase the existing efficiency standard and effectively ban the sale of more affordable home heating furnaces that don't meet it. By one estimate, this rule will heap as much as $4 billion in new costs onto consumers who already can't afford the high cost of the Biden economy.

The American people have suffered enough, from Bidenomics to the Green New Deal. I am glad a majority of the Senate agrees it is time to slam the brakes on the administration's assault on gas appliances. And I am thankful to my colleague Senator Cruz for bringing attention to this madness.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, FDIC Chairman Mark Gruenberg announced he was prepared to step down from his position and expressed pride in maintaining public confidence in the Nation's banking system. Unfortunately, there is little such confidence in his ability to foster a safe working environment for the Agency's employees.

But despite alarming reports about rampant sexual harassment, abuse, and retaliation at the FDIC, Senate Democrats in positions to insist on change have actually pulled their punches. Instead of calls for Mr. Gruenberg's prompt resignation, we have heard everything from confidence in his ability to lead change at the Agency to delicate suggestions that the President nominate a new Chair.

The senior-most members of the Banking Committee apparently can't bring themselves to call a spade a spade. Surely, their reluctance has nothing to do with the FDIC's line of succession, which would fill a vacancy with the Agency's distinguished Vice Chair, who happens to be a Republican.

Surely, our colleagues won't play politics in the face of such glaring failures of leadership at a major regulatory authority. The Senate's oversight responsibility is serious business. I hope our colleagues in the majority are up to the task.

Mr. President, on another matter, yesterday, the Democratic leader once again tipped his cap to President Biden for what he describes as ``many actions'' in ``recent weeks'' to secure the southern border, which leads me with a couple of questions: First, what took the President so long? And, second, why isn't he taking the actions we know would actually begin to address the crisis that he actually invited?

The reason I ask is because time matters here. The cost of an average day of avoidable crisis at the border is measured in thousands of apprehensions of illegal arrivals and the interdiction of lethal drugs like fentanyl.

And if that is not alarming enough, consider the story reported earlier this month of the catch-and-release of a military-age male who spent 2 years free in the interior of the country before he was detained for alleged affiliations with ISIS-K.

Of course, everything I have mentioned so far we only know because the Border Patrol was able to stop it. But think about what border officials know they are not catching--the known ``got-aways.''

For 10 years before President Biden took office, under administrations of both parties, an average of about 125,000 people per year successfully crossed the southern border and escaped into the interior. On the Biden administration's watch, in fiscal years 2021 through 2023, the average tally of known ``got-aways'' is 550,000--from 125,000 to more than half a million.

President Biden's Press Secretary says this administration has ``done more . . . than anybody else'' to secure the border. But if you wanted to make that claim true, you would say this President has done more than anyone else to make the tough jobs of CBP and other law enforcement personnel even tougher.

In fact, one sobering new report suggests that contending for years with a historic humanitarian and security crisis without effective enforcement authorities is taking a heavy toll on the men and women of the Border Patrol. The rate of suicide among CBP personnel is three times higher than it was a decade ago. As one agent told reporters, ``when it turned out that the job became nothing more than processing and releasing these people, that was very hard to take.''

Going soft on border security may have started as just a shortsighted campaign strategy. A reckless debate-stage promise to ``surge'' asylum seekers to the border might have been just a cynical play to court leftwing voters, but after 3 years on the job, President Biden's failure to perform one of the most basic functions of his office isn't endearing. It is not some impressive sign of leftwing bona fides.

It is a glaring, avoidable failure, a profound moral embarrassment, and even Washington Democrats are beginning to recognize it as a tremendous political liability. The American people are telling poll after poll that they are alarmed by the border crisis and want to see real solutions.

Fortunately, the quickest way for the President to start undoing the damage he invented is to restore and use the authorities he already has at his disposal, like ``Remain in Mexico'' and border wall construction. Any of our Democratic colleagues who recognize that the President must act ought to start telling him so.

It is time for the Biden administration to start exercising its immense authority to restore sanity and start cleaning up the mess at our southern border. The time for distractions is long, long past.