Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, this week, the Senate faces one more test to complete its annual appropriations process, and the stakes really couldn't be higher for Americans' security at home and abroad.

The work we have outstanding amounts to nearly 70 percent--70 percent--of the discretionary budget. Once again, I am grateful to our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee for their commitment to regular order. I am especially grateful to Senator Collins for fighting to advance Republican priorities throughout the process, particularly in the Defense appropriations bill.

Predictable annual allocations are essential to meeting national defense responsibilities. They allow for effective investments in modernizing our forces, developing new, cutting-edge capabilities, and expanding the industrial capacity that will drive long-term strategic competition. Needless to say, investments like these are especially critical right now as the gulf between

the threats we face and the Biden administration's willingness to address them seems to be growing wider. President Biden has just turned in his fourth straight budget request that would cut defense funding after inflation. So the work before us is gravely necessary, and I am encouraged that we are beginning this week with an agreement in hand to actually complete the process.

Congress has secured a path forward to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which will allow us to complete the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process in the coming days. As always, making headway depends on serious cooperation, and I am grateful to our appropriators and negotiators for their commitment to working in good faith. Providing for the common defense is among our most basic constitutional responsibilities, and we need to be honest with ourselves: Growing threats and increasing military requirements make fulfilling this responsibility even more critical.

The legislation in front of us will not be Congress's last word, but it represents an important down payment, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to complete the annual appropriations process very, very soon.

Mr. President, the Jewish State of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one. The people of Israel, at home and in captivity, deserve America's support; and Israel's unity government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign democratic country.

The primary obstacles to peace in Israel's region are genocidal terrorists, like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who slaughter innocent people and corrupt leaders of the Palestinian Authority, who have repeatedly--repeatedly--rejected peace deals from multiple Israeli Governments.

And foreign observers who cannot keep these clear distinctions straight ought to refrain from weighing in. It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel. This is unprecedented. We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all.

Things that upset leftwing activists are not a Prime Minister's policies; they are Israel's policies. Make no mistake, the Democratic Party doesn't have an anti-Bibi problem; it has an anti-Israel problem. Israel is not a colony of America whose leaders serve at the pleasure of the party in power in Washington. Only Israel's citizens should have a say in who runs their government. This is the very definition of democracy and sovereignty. Either we respect their decisions or we disrespect their democracy.

Now, Mr. President, on another entirely different matter, this week, Vladimir Putin himself responded to reports of weakening Western resolve to stand with Ukraine and of ammunition shortages on the frontlines.

Here is what Putin had to say:

It would be ridiculous for us to start negotiating with

Ukraine just because it's running out of ammunition.

The chilling reality here is abundantly clear: Withholding critical weapons has not helped manage Putin's escalation--it has only emboldened him.

The administration that hesitated and wrung its hands through the early days of Russian escalation actually emboldened Putin, and it ought to be a lesson to those who insist--without firm footing in its strategy or logic--that withholding lethal assistance would somehow hasten an acceptable negotiated settlement to the conflict.

I have said too many times to count that America's adversaries only speak the language of power. But our colleagues don't have to take my word for it. Just take it straight from the dictator's mouth. Vladimir Putin is not playing for a tie. He is not headed for the negotiating table. He will not stop at Ukraine. He has told us, and he has shown us many times.

Whether or not you are willing to take the architect of the neo- Soviet Empire at his word, the facts remain the same: Equipping Ukraine for battlefield success is the surest way to help our friends resolve this war from a position of strength.

Backing Ukraine as it degrades our common adversary's military also strengthens America's interests, and investing in our own military and our own defense industrial capacity at the same time just makes common sense. It is time for the House to take up the Senate-passed national security supplemental and finish the job.

(The remarks of Mr. McConnell pertaining to the introduction of S.J. Res. 65 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. President, on another matter, I would like to speak briefly on a practice in our Nation's courts that has confounded administrations of both parties with increasing frequency over the past decade. It is the issuance of nationwide injunctions.

Time after time, district judges will respond to a case challenging a Federal law by preventing its application not just to the parties before them or within their jurisdictions but nationwide.

During the last administration, Attorneys General Sessions and Barr issued policy and litigation guidance on the issue to try and pare it back. Senator Cotton introduced a bill to eliminate the practice by statute; and Chairman Graham was eager to move the Cotton bill, but Senate Democrats were not. In fact, their star witness in support of nationwide injunctions is now a Federal judge in the District of Columbia.

Rather than working with Republicans to eliminate a practice that gores the oxen of both parties, it turns out our colleagues prefer to preserve it just for themselves.

Now that nationwide injunctions are being used against the Biden administration, liberal allies in the academy and in the media have started to ``target single judge divisions,'' where they think conservative plaintiffs are likely to get favorable ratings from sympathetic judges.

The Democratic leader even wrote to the Judicial Conference demanding action against the scourge of judges who don't rule in favor of the Biden administration. In other words, he urged the Conference to keep the injunctions and just restrict the access to conservative judges.

It seems the Judicial Conference took the bait. On Tuesday, they instructed district courts to assign all cases seeking to invalidate State or Federal law randomly across the district in which they were brought. This will have no practical effect in the venues favored by liberal activists, but Democrats are salivating at the possibility of shutting down access to justice in the venues favored by conservatives.

What will this do in practice? It means the young woman challenging Texas abortion laws in Austin can now be forced, for no good reason, to have her case heard in El Paso. A veteran defending his Second Amendment rights in Youngstown can be sent to Toledo to have his day in court. In Kentucky, a coal miner challenging labor regulations in London could find his case handed to a judge in Covington--all to prevent so-called judge shopping.

But didn't Chief Justice Roberts say, ``There are not Obama judges or Trump judges''? What exactly is the problem that demands such a drastic solution?

Here is what this policy won't do: It won't solve the issues caused by nationwide injunctions. If Democrats are right about the practical effects of this policy, any remaining incentive they have to work with Republicans on this issue will vanish--``Nationwide injunctions for me, but not for thee.''

Needless to say, if Republicans see a Federal judiciary that is using its procedural independence to wade into political disputes, any incentive we may have to defend the procedural independence will vanish as well.

This was an unforced error by the Judicial Conference. I hope they will reconsider, and I hope district courts throughout the country will instead weigh what is best for their jurisdictions, not half-baked ``guidance'' that just does Washington Democrats' bidding.

Madam President, on another matter, last week, in the State of the Union Address, President Biden bragged that he was taking ``the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.''

What he failed to mention is that his radical climate policy almost always comes at the expense of American workers and job creators.

Just recently, the Biden administration rolled out yet another job- killing mandate that would impose more unilateral economic pain here at home. This one goes well beyond the regulatory standards of most of our European allies, let alone our top strategic competitor, China.

The EPA wants to tighten limits on fine particulates in the air, known as PM2.5, despite its own data showing that concentrations have actually gone down by over 40 percent in the last two decades. The vast majority of these emissions come from sources like wildfires and dust from agriculture and roads that are not easily contained and, in some cases, impossible to control. We are talking about a climate boogeyman conjured out of smoke and dust.

The EPA's new standard is so strict that when it takes effect, 30 percent of U.S. counties, including many in my home State, would immediately find themselves out of compliance, grounding manufacturing growth to a halt. Meanwhile, the job of actually implementing the EPA's new mandate will fall to the States that are forced to inherit all the costs of this bad policy--from offshore manufacturing jobs to greater reliance on China to higher prices when Americans can least afford it.

In order to keep up with President Biden's new mandate, American manufacturers would be forced to import raw materials, like concrete and steel, for virtually any construction project--the kind of projects that grow our economy and support good-paying jobs. In other words, the Biden administration is saying, in no uncertain terms, that they are willing to make our economy more--more--dependent on foreign supply chains just to appease the green activists in this country.

So it is no surprise that State leaders are pushing back on this ruling. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is leading a lawsuit with West Virginia to challenge the EPA's mandate; and so far, nearly half of our States have signed on. Unlike the Biden administration, local and State leaders understand just how damaging this new rule would be for workers and for job creators back home.

So today, I am happy to announce that Senate Republicans stand ready to do our part. Today, I am introducing a resolution under the Congressional Review Act that would prevent the EPA from plowing ahead with this senseless regulatory overkill.

I am thankful to more than 40 colleagues who have joined my resolution, so far, as cosponsors. Senate Republicans will continue to stand with American workers and job creators, especially when the Biden administration tries to make their work so much harder.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Madam President, on another matter, last week, in the State of the Union Address, President Biden bragged that he was taking ``the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.''

What he failed to mention is that his radical climate policy almost always comes at the expense of American workers and job creators.

Just recently, the Biden administration rolled out yet another job- killing mandate that would impose more unilateral economic pain here at home. This one goes well beyond the regulatory standards of most of our European allies, let alone our top strategic competitor, China.

The EPA wants to tighten limits on fine particulates in the air, known as PM2.5, despite its own data showing that concentrations have actually gone down by over 40 percent in the last two decades. The vast majority of these emissions come from sources like wildfires and dust from agriculture and roads that are not easily contained and, in some cases, impossible to control. We are talking about a climate boogeyman conjured out of smoke and dust.

The EPA's new standard is so strict that when it takes effect, 30 percent of U.S. counties, including many in my home State, would immediately find themselves out of compliance, grounding manufacturing growth to a halt. Meanwhile, the job of actually implementing the EPA's new mandate will fall to the States that are forced to inherit all the costs of this bad policy--from offshore manufacturing jobs to greater reliance on China to higher prices when Americans can least afford it.

In order to keep up with President Biden's new mandate, American manufacturers would be forced to import raw materials, like concrete and steel, for virtually any construction project--the kind of projects that grow our economy and support good-paying jobs. In other words, the Biden administration is saying, in no uncertain terms, that they are willing to make our economy more--more--dependent on foreign supply chains just to appease the green activists in this country.

So it is no surprise that State leaders are pushing back on this ruling. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is leading a lawsuit with West Virginia to challenge the EPA's mandate; and so far, nearly half of our States have signed on. Unlike the Biden administration, local and State leaders understand just how damaging this new rule would be for workers and for job creators back home.

So today, I am happy to announce that Senate Republicans stand ready to do our part. Today, I am introducing a resolution under the Congressional Review Act that would prevent the EPA from plowing ahead with this senseless regulatory overkill.

I am thankful to more than 40 colleagues who have joined my resolution, so far, as cosponsors. Senate Republicans will continue to stand with American workers and job creators, especially when the Biden administration tries to make their work so much harder.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, President Biden released his budget request for the next fiscal year. Here is the top line: He wants the American people to take on more than $16 trillion in cumulative deficits over the next decade. The President who told the Nation last week that he was cutting the deficit just put out a budget request that would do the exact opposite.

Unfortunately, this is hardly the only pledge that President Biden's request would break. After repeatedly promising not to raise taxes on households making less than $400,000 a year, the President is now selling a plan that would heap $5 trillion in new and expanded taxes on American workers and job creators.

Let's put this in perspective. The Biden administration's budget proposal would raise taxes as a share of the U.S. economy to levels our Nation hasn't seen since World War II.

Let me say that again. President Biden wants to bring taxes as a share of GDP higher than they have been since the middle of the fight against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Now, I have been pretty frank in my assessment that the threats America is facing today are as dangerous as we have seen since the Cold War, if not the era of the Axis Powers. But here is the rub: The President apparently only wants to tax the American people at wartime levels. By contrast, he shows no interest in the sort of defense investments that were needed to squeeze the Soviets in the 1980s, let alone to liberate Europe and Asia in the 1940s.

It is far more expensive to fight wars than to deter them. American defense spending during World War II spiked at 37 percent of GDP; during the Korean war, 14 percent of GDP; Vietnam, 9 percent of GDP. By contrast, the Reagan buildup that helped end the Cold War hit only 6 percent of GDP in 1986. But today, in a renewed era of major power competition, the Biden administration appears to lack the will even to sustain such credible deterrence.

Here lies another broken promise: After engaging in political hostage-taking over the debt limit last year, the Biden administration apparently doesn't intend to honor their own agreement on spending limits. The latest budget request uses accounting gimmicks to blow clear through agreed-upon limits for domestic discretionary spending. Yet, at the same time, administration officials insist it should ``not have been a surprise'' that the President sees spending caps on national defense as sacrosanct.

Of course, this reckless behavior follows a predictable pattern. Under this Commander in Chief, U.S. military faces the same historic inflation as everyone else in our country. As gas and groceries get more expensive, so do the capabilities our servicemembers need.

Yet this is the fourth straight time the Biden administration has turned in a defense budget request that amounts to a net cut after inflation. Apparently, the President hadn't yet learned the lessons of Bidenomics; instead, for more than 3 years, a global superpower has responded to growing coordination amongst its major adversaries, a restored haven for terrorists in Afghanistan, the first major land war in Europe since 1945, the deadliest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust on October 7 in Israel, and breakneck military spending and modernizations from our top strategic rival but cutting our own military strength.

In a budget request full of gross excess in all the wrong places, neglecting the national defense is the takeaway that history will remember as the most alarming.

Madam President, on Friday, the Senate completed its work on annual appropriations for six major areas of the Federal Government: agriculture and rural development; commerce, justice, and science; energy and water development; interior and environment; military construction, veterans' affairs; and transportation, housing, and urban development.

The Senate's vote was a major milestone in a process our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee began the better part of a year ago. Thanks to Senator Collins and Senator Murray's commitment to operating in good faith and adhering as much as possible to regular order, a significant portion of the Federal Government's discretionary budget is complete.

As I mentioned last week, the agreement before the Senate includes a number of conservative accomplishments that Vice Chair Collins fought for upfront. I am especially pleased that it will advance priorities near and dear to the hearts of my fellow Kentuckians--from rural transportation to military readiness to stopping the flow of illegal drugs.

I am proud to represent three military installations in Kentucky that are vital to America's national defense strategy. And the bill the Senate passed last week will fund critical construction projects at each of them. It green-lights the construction of top-of-the-line training and operational capabilities at Fort Knox and Fort Campbell, both home to a number of our Nation's most storied Army units. And it resurrects resources from a National Guard training range in Greenville, KY, a long-overdue project that has fallen by the wayside for nearly two decades.

Hundreds of millions of dollars will also go toward helping rural Kentuckians and the rest of Middle America: urgent funding to overhaul aging roads, bridges, and river ports that hold back Main Street; investments for clean, reliable water infrastructure; funds to continue environmental cleanup efforts in Paducah; and resources to

expand broadband access to every corner of the Commonwealth. It also empowers law enforcement with new resources to combat the opioid crisis that has devastated my home State and remains a top killer of young Kentuckians.

So I was glad the Senate finished the job on a major portion of our government funding responsibilities, and I was especially proud to deliver on some of my fellow Kentuckians' top priorities.

Madam President, on another matter, last week, I was proud to welcome the Prime Minister of Sweden to the Capitol on a historic day in his Nation's history and a great day for America and fellow members of the transatlantic alliance.

Earlier today, the flag of Sweden was raised over NATO headquarters for the first time. Sweden is our newest NATO ally, and the Prime Minister's visit to Washington marked the culmination of a process that began more than 2 years ago. As Russian forces amassed on Ukraine's border in the winter of 2022, Putin's aggressive ambitions clarified the thinking of some of Europe's strongest security partners.

From outside NATO, Sweden and Finland had already built advanced economies, capable militaries, and impressive defense industries. But in the face of an axis of revisionist powers, our Nordic friends decided it was time to cast their lot with the most successful military alliance in history.

Their path to accession is a clarifying reminder that NATO has always been a defensive alliance. Its members first undertook the responsibility of collective security to defending against growing Soviet aggression. Central and Eastern European members pursued membership after the fall of the Iron Curtain to protect their newly reclaimed sovereignty and democracy.

NATO's expansion has always been linked to the threat posed by outside forces; and today, it is no different. I have been proud to walk with our newest allies at every stop of the process. I will never forget standing with them 2 years ago in Stockholm and in Helsinki on the very day the Swedish and Finnish Parliaments voted overwhelmingly to launch their NATO axis bills.

Russia's escalation in Ukraine has unified Swedish and Finnish leaders. In both countries, strong support for NATO and a willingness to share the burden of collective defense literally transcends party lines.

Today, America's newest treaty allies are poised to make significant, immediate contributions to the transatlantic alliance. With highly trained forces equipped with cutting-edge capabilities, their commitment to NATO is a tremendous vote of confidence in the enduring importance of collective defense.

With Sweden and Finland in our ranks, the West stands even more united against autocrats with imperial designs. With two new frontline allies, America's interests are more secure.

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

Mr. President, well, tonight, President Biden will deliver the last State of the Union Address of his term. For the past 3 years, these speeches have served as mile markers but not of any meaningful progress toward a more perfect Union. Instead, each year, the American people tuned in to see just how far the President's own version of his record is from the reality of their lives.

For 3 years, the President, who campaigned as a moderate, has governed like an activist from the furthest fringe of the Democratic Party.

The Biden administration's agenda has meant pain at home and weakness abroad. It didn't have to be this way. President Biden took office amid strong tailwinds--from an economic recovery that was already restoring the record-setting prosperity we saw before the pandemic to a historic modernization of our military that was well underway. He inherited everything he needed to point our Nation toward further security and prosperity, but he chose weakness and invited danger instead.

Today, nearly two-thirds of voters say our economy is worse than it was 4 years ago. Not even one in four thinks our country is on the right track. Barely a quarter of the country expects our economy to improve in the coming year. But that hasn't stopped President Biden from trying to convince working Americans to take his word for it and ignore their own shrinking paychecks. He has literally taken a victory tour to tout his disastrous economic record. His administration has declared Bidenomics ``the word of the year.''

Meanwhile, American consumers are shelling out a bigger portion of their income on groceries than at any point in the last 30 years. A food pantry in Northern Kentucky is reporting ``more and more demand for . . . enough food to make people's income stretch.'' Across the board, consumer prices are nearly 18 percent higher today than they were when President Biden took office. This is what ``Bidenomics in action'' really means?

At kitchen tables tonight, working families will probably wonder whether the President has any regrets, whether he wishes he hadn't ignored his party's top economists and rammed through trillions of dollars in leftwing spending, which brought on the worst inflation in 40 years, or whether he wishes he hadn't declared total war on our most affordable sources of domestic energy, along with the jobs these American industries support. On President Biden's watch, overall energy prices are up nearly a third.

Time after time, when given the choice to lead or to outsource his work to leftwing activists, President Biden has chosen the latter. He has handed his base a blank check for a wish list of social engineering and left the American people to foot the bill.

Meanwhile, he has poured gasoline on the fire of leftwing, pro- criminal, anti-police rhetoric across the country. The Biden administration has packed its Justice Department full of leftwing activists working overtime to tear serious crimes right out of the Criminal Code.

A couple years back, a district attorney in Massachusetts declared she wouldn't prosecute crimes like breaking and entering or drug possession with intent to distribute. President Biden rewarded this behavior by making Rachael Rollins one of his first U.S. attorneys. Across the country, on this President's watch, leftwing prosecutors have turned repeated offenders into the streets--repeatedly. In President Biden's America, violent criminals have learned that they won't face serious consequences, and, of course, they are acting accordingly.

At the same time, leftwing activists bent on attacking the Federal judiciary have found an ally in the Biden White House. The President has tried to give life tenure to a judicial nominee who identified himself as a ``wild-eyed leftist,'' another with a history of supporting terrorist sympathizers, and even one who had worked to undermine a teenage girl's claim of sexual assault. President Biden hasn't just tried putting the wrong people in our Nation's institutions, he spent 3 years undermining the institutions themselves. His Attorney General slow-walked urgent security measures to protect the Supreme Court Justices and their families from angry mobs, and his administration even stood up a commission to explore Court packing--a terrible idea that hasn't gotten any less terrible since it was killed back in the 1930s.

So the rule of law is less stable on President Biden's watch. The streets of our major cities are less safe. And, of course, our borders are less secure.

Mr. President, next month will mark 45 years since a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy in an increasingly critical region of the world became law. The formal title of the law is worth a read in today's context:

An act to help maintain peace, security, and stability in

the Western Pacific and to promote the foreign policy of the

United States by authorizing the continuation of commercial,

cultural, and other relations between the people of the

United States and the people of Taiwan.

In the 45 years since Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, our friends on the island have continued to write an incredible story of resilience. Taiwan has established a strong democracy, a robust civil society, and a modern, innovative, high-tech economy. And its people have planted themselves squarely--squarely--on the side of free societies and free markets.

America is Taiwan's second largest trading partner. Its military is reforming and modernizing, increasingly arming itself with cutting-edge American capabilities. And the U.S.-Taiwan partnership has become an increasingly important indicator of bipartisan American resolve at a time when our allies and adversaries alike doubt--doubt--the credibility of our commitments.

After abandoning allies in Afghanistan, squandering leverage over Iran, and slow-walking assistance to Ukraine, America's relationship with Taiwan holds unique value. And, like it or not, it will be increasingly seen as a test of whether America's commitments to allies and partners hold any water.

Today, investing in our capabilities and defense industrial capacity would show our friends across the Indo-Pacific that we do--do-- recognize the significance of that region and of the strategic competition unfolding out there--a competition America cannot afford to neglect. After all, the PRC is certainly not neglecting it.

Since 2015, Beijing's publicly reported spending on its military has doubled, and, just yesterday, Communist Party leaders announced that defense investments would grow a further 7.2 percent.

Of course, that is just the figure Beijing acknowledges publicly. China's real military modernization efforts are

actually more expansive and more worrisome, and they are intended to enable the PRC to dominate its neighbors and counter America's ability to project power in the region.

By word and deed, the PRC is showing the world that it is prepared to redraw maps by force. Sound familiar? That is because the revisionists autocrats we face are operating from the very same playbook.

And Taiwan appreciates the links between the threats we face as well as any of our allies and partners. Its leaders have been outspoken in connecting the dots between an aggressive Russia in Europe and an emboldened China in the Indo-Pacific. And the people of Taiwan increasingly recognize their interests in preparing to deter and defeat aggression. In fact, they are so clear-eyed about challenges posed by revisionist powers today, they are helping a fellow democracy halfway around the world in Ukraine.

But the more pressing questions right now are whether America recognizes our own interests in maintaining a world in which our commitments are trusted, our threats are feared, and what we are prepared to do about it.

Standing by our friends, standing up to adversaries, and investing in the military capacity to do both--as Congress considers annual Defense appropriations and finishes its work on the national security supplemental, these are the fundamental tasks at hand.

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