Floor Statements

Mr. President, as I outlined earlier this week, the Senate has a great deal of work to do to fulfill

our most basic responsibilities: keeping America safe, keeping America fed, and keeping the lights on.

Our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee intend to fund the Federal Government through regular order. The Armed Services Committee has an urgent responsibility to set the Senate's national security priorities so we can face growing threats and fund our Armed Forces accordingly.

And also this year, the Agriculture Committee has to pass the farm bill. This legislation is the cornerstone of the government's approach to helping growers feed America. It includes essential provisions that support farmers, create good-paying jobs, and strengthen rural communities.

In my home State of Kentucky, nearly 75,000 farms help keep dinner plates full and grocery stores stocked throughout the entire country. But thanks to endless redtape from unelected bureaucrats and partisan foot-dragging here in Washington, it is more difficult than ever to be a farmer in Kentucky.

Washington Democrats' runaway inflation has bogged down small family farms. With production costs on the rise, the Department of Agriculture projects that net farm income will decline by--listen to this--20 percent in 2023.

Naturally, farm families are looking to Congress to deliver much needed help and stability. In Kentucky, farmers are stalling investments and taking on unforeseen risks as they wait for Washington to make up its mind. Farmers in Kentucky and across the country deserve certainty from Congress so they can plan for the future.

With less than 4 months to go until many current farm bill provisions expire, time is running out. That is why Congress needs to do its job and get this legislation across the finish line swiftly.

Last week, negotiations between a Democratic President and a Republican Speaker allowed the Senate to take an important step toward fiscal sanity and avert economic catastrophe. In the coming months, we will need further collaboration to produce legislation that puts farmers first and secures our food supply. Senate Republicans stand ready to do our part.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, for someone who campaigned as a moderate and promised to unify our country, President Biden has chosen to staff his administration with a roster--a roster--of alarmingly radical or unqualified personnel.

In recent weeks, the President's nominees who have made the biggest headlines have been the ones so far outside the mainstream that even a Democratic Senate majority would not confirm them, like the appeals court nominee who defended a school against a teenage victim of sexual assault or the traffic safety nominee whose real passion turned out to be extreme environmental regulations. This week, the Senate is considering yet another slate of radical nominations that are entirely unworthy of confirmation.

First, is the nomination of David Crane, a self-described ``climate activist.'' President Biden would like him to serve as Undersecretary for Infrastructure at the Department of Energy.

Mr. Crane's nomination is bad news for Kentucky, for coal country, and for any American who enjoys making their own choices about which cars to drive, which products to consume, and how to earn a living.

This nominee has been outspoken about his so-called ``green dream'' to force a massive chunk of the world's economy to go carbon free in 8 years--8 years--and then use their influence to ``compel society'' to follow suit.

He even observed that Democratic Presidential nominees hadn't made extreme climate policy enough of a priority in their campaigns. In other words, Hillary Clinton, who once bragged that ``we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,'' was not radical enough--not radical enough--for David Crane. So we are talking about an unabashed, top-down social planner. As we have learned over the past 2 years, that is exactly what the Biden administration ordered when it handed the keys to the American energy policy to the radical left.

Unfortunately, Mr. Crane is not the only nominee on this week's agenda with a reputation for wearing his radical liberal sympathies on his sleeve. The Senate will also vote on the nomination of David Ho to serve on the Federal bench in the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Ho has described himself--listen to this--as a ``wild-eyed leftist.'' Let me say that again. President Biden would like a self- identified ``wild-eyed leftist'' to rule on cases in the largest Federal court in the country.

Mr. Ho's legal record indicates that this radical sympathy runs very deep. This is a nominee who has publicly lamented ``originalism is not a method of constitutional interpretation that can reliably lend itself to progressive outcomes.'' Imagine that. It turns out that actually following and applying our laws and our Constitution as they were written is not a one-way ticket to leftwing utopia.

And, by the way, that should be an argument for the radical left sidelining their bad ideas, not an argument for sidelining the Constitution. Somebody who wants a lifetime appointment as an impartial judge must be committed to putting the rule of law ahead of personal views, not the other way around.

Ah, but Mr. Ho hasn't limited his public criticism to the basic legal principles that underpin the Federal judiciary. During the Obama administration, he railed against the Fraternal Order of Police for expressing their concerns about a particularly anti-cop Justice Department nominee. He called the FOP's opposition a ``disgrace.''

He has also taken to attacking members of the Judiciary Committee on Twitter. And throughout his career, Mr. Ho has been outspoken-- outspoken--in denigrating basic mainstream efforts to ensure the integrity of American elections. He has likened overwhelmingly popular practices like voter ID requirements to be ``a very thinly veiled call for racial profiling.''

Let me be absolutely clear: Senate Republicans will not participate in rubberstamping radical nominees. I would urge our colleagues to join me in rejecting each of these unfit nominations this week.

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, the Senate passed an agreement that preserved America's full faith and credit and began to rein in Democrats' runaway spending. But the Senate's work is far from over. Today, with the threat of economic crisis behind us, it is time for the Senate to focus its full attention on some of the most basic responsibilities we are sent here to fulfill: keeping America safe, keeping America fed, and keeping the lights on.

First, we have a little less than 4 months left in the fiscal year. Our colleagues, Appropriations Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins, have expressed a shared goal to fund the Federal Government through regular order. That means 12 full-year funding bills processed, passed, conferenced, and signed into law before the end of September. I think all 100 of us agree that we should not be funding the American people's government through one big omnibus at the end of the year, but achieving that is going to require hard work and incredible cooperation.

To produce funding bills that can pass the House and become law, we will have to build on the progress we made last week. After 2 years of taxing, spending, and runaway inflation, the American people chose to elect a divided government. In the coming weeks, that divided government has an opportunity to restore stability to the appropriations process and deliver more of the fiscal sanity they expect, but only if the Democratic majority lets the process actually work.

This year, we also have the responsibility to deliver a farm bill. A full 10 percent of the American workforce depends on agriculture. The Commonwealth of Kentucky is home to nearly 75,000 farms, and, in the past 5 years, since the last farm bill was passed, farming hasn't gotten any easier. Neither has ranching or forestry. Small businesses and farm families across the country will be watching the Agriculture Committee's work especially closely. Chair Stabenow, Ranking Member Boozman, and our colleagues are already hard at work producing legislation that delivers the certainty and support they need to continue innovating, supporting rural jobs, and feeding America.

And Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz, and the Commerce Committee are working on another measure that will require our attention before the end of the fiscal year--reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. Reliable and affordable air travel for both people and cargo is important to the prosperity of communities and industries across our country.

So on behalf of Kentucky growers and the entire country, I hope each of these measures receives swift consideration here on the floor.

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

Madam President, last night, an overwhelming majority of our House colleagues voted to pass the agreement Speaker McCarthy reached with President Biden. In doing so, they took an urgent and important step in the right direction for the health of our economy and the future of our country.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act avoids the catastrophic consequences of a default on our Nation's debt, and just as importantly, it makes the most serious headway in years toward curbing Washington Democrats' reckless spending addiction. The bill that the House just passed has the potential to cut Federal spending by $1.5 trillion. Now the Senate has the chance to make that important progress a reality.

Madam President, remember where we were just a few months ago. After 2 years of reckless spending and painful, runaway inflation, the American people elected a Republican House majority to serve as a check on Washington Democrats' power. It was clear from the outset that preserving the full faith and credit of the United States was going to come down to an agreement that could pass both the people's House and earn the President's signature--in other words, direct negotiations between Speaker McCarthy and President Biden just like I have said for months--for months.

So, back in February, Speaker McCarthy got right to work. He made it clear to the President he was ready to take serious steps, not only to avoid crisis in the near term but to put government spending on a more sustainable path for the long term.

Unfortunately, it took President Biden months to accept this basic reality, but when the President finally came to the table, House Republicans worked hard to secure as many serious spending reforms as possible, considering that we were in a divided government, and they produced a deal that moves every key Republican priority in the right direction.

The Speaker's agreement cuts domestic discretionary spending while increasing support for veterans and the Armed Forces. It locks in promising reforms to infrastructure permitting. It claws back unspent COVID emergency funds. It slashes bloated spending at the IRS. It ties future executive branch regulations to new spending cuts.

The deal the House passed last night is a promising step toward fiscal sanity. Ah, but make no mistake, there is much more work to be done. The fight to reel in wasteful spending is far from over.

Our obligation to provide for the common defense is especially urgent. For years, Republicans have led significant investments in improving the readiness of our Armed Forces and modernizing their capabilities to face down emerging threats, but since President Biden took office, Republicans have had to fight year after year to ensure we meet the needs of our military.

Fortunately, we have secured bipartisan recognition that President Biden's budget requests have underfunded our national defense. This was especially true last year when Republicans secured a substantial, real- dollar increase to defense funding and ended Democrats' artificial demands for parity with nondefense discretionary spending. This bought our military valuable time, but it was hardly a silver bullet.

As I said yesterday, President Biden's refusal to let the defense portion of this agreement exceed his insufficient budget request is certainly disappointing.

So while the coming votes are an important step in the right direction, we cannot--cannot--neglect our fundamental obligation to address the Nation's most pressing national security challenges. Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine continues. Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism against Americans and our partners continues. North Korea's destabilizing nuclear proliferation continues. China's growing challenge to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific continues as well.

So the Senate cannot afford to neglect its obligation to America's men and women in uniform. Our urgent work to help them defend our Nation, support our allies, and safeguard our interests remains unfinished, and so does our work to bring more of Washington Democrats' reckless liberal spending to heel.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, 4 months ago, Speaker McCarthy invited President Biden to start negotiating an agreement to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States and to begin to get our Nation's financial house in order.

The Speaker stood ready to discuss a responsible way forward, but for weeks on end, the Biden administration and the Senate Democratic leader insisted that there would be no discussion of reasonable reforms to Federal spending. Washington Democrats wanted a green light to spend more taxpayer dollars with no strings attached. Well, the people's House had other plans.

Speaker McCarthy and his team committed to what I said repeatedly was the only way to get an outcome. Just as with 7 of the last 10 debt limit agreements in recent history, House Republicans focused on reaching a bipartisan agreement to put reasonable caps on Federal spending.

The Speaker's deal secures reductions in discretionary spending. But this top-line achievement is actually just part of the story. House Republicans also succeeded in clawing back $28 billion in unspent COVID emergency funds, they eliminated this year's budget for hiring new IRS agents, and they expanded work requirements to put more Americans on sustainable paths out of poverty. They put an important down payment on permitting reform by imposing a shot clock on the costly bureaucratic reviews that hamstrings infrastructure projects. And they forced the executive branch to start balancing the cost of new regulations with corresponding cuts--a move that would have saved taxpayers $1.5 trillion in just the past 2 years.

Last fall, the American people elected a divided government. After 2 years of total Democratic control--2 years of radical spending and runaway inflation--they decided to send a Republican majority to the people's House. They decided to require that President Biden and Washington Democrats start working with Republicans on the biggest issues facing our country.

Now divided government means negotiated deals. It means nobody gets everything they want. But in this case, it means the American people got a whole lot more progress toward fiscal sanity than Washington Democrats wanted to give them.

Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans deserve our thanks. This spring, they passed the only viable legislation that both preserved our Nation's full faith and credit and made real progress toward getting Federal spending under control.

House Republicans' unity forced President Biden to do his job. It is really just that simple. And now Congress will vote on legislation that locks in that important progress.

Republicans have a tremendous opportunity to take on an existential challenge facing our economy and future generations of Americans. We have a chance to start bringing Washington Democrats' reckless spending to heel. Soon it will be the Senate's turn to put this historic agreement on the President's desk. Let's not pass up our shot.

Last week's inflation report reinforced what working families across America already know: Washington Democrats' inflation is still packing a punch. Prices climbed 4.9 percent from this time last year. Just in the last month, they accelerated nearly half a percentage point. The Biden administration called the news ``welcome breathing room for families.''

Welcome breathing room for families? According to the latest data, families have paid thousands of dollars more just to put food on the table on his watch. In Colorado, your average family has paid over $2,000 in additional food costs since 2021. In Arizona, those same groceries have cost households $1,800; in Montana, over $1,700; in my home State of Kentucky, families have paid $1,600 more, on average, since President Biden took office. It doesn't sound like breathing room to me, especially at a time when workers' wages are failing to keep pace with out-of-control prices.

Meanwhile, confidence with President Biden to do the right thing with the economy is at its lowest point since the great recession. That is hardly surprising when his top economic advisers refuse to even admit there is a problem. The President's latest pick to lead his Council of Economic Advisers has repeatedly said this administration didn't miss a thing on inflation.

So, while the Biden administration pats itself on the back for a job well done, let's remember where we were just 2 years ago. Since the President took office, prices have climbed a staggering--listen to this--16 percent--16 percent since the President took office. Gasoline is up 54 percent, electricity is up 22 percent, groceries are up 20 percent, and higher interest rates are making it harder for working families to borrow and save for the future. Washington Democrats' reckless spending and green energy fantasies are sending our economy deep into the red.

For 2 straight years, Americans have had to tighten their belt just to get by. It is time for this administration to wake up and do more of the same.

Mr. President, on another matter, as our Nation observes Police Week, cities across America continue to grapple with the rising tide of violent crime, and our Nation's Capital is certainly no exception. This year, Washington has already endured the deadliest first 4 months of any year in the last decade. Motor vehicle theft in the District is up 115 percent from this time last year. And now, the leftwing DC Council wants to make the tough job facing the brave men and women of the Metropolitan Police even tougher.

With violent crime spiraling out of control, the council proposed a new law that strips police officers of collective bargaining rights, makes more of their information available for public harassment, and adds new hurdles for the use of force in defending themselves and the public. Remember, Congress already had to step in when the council tried to go even softer on felony sentencing with another bill earlier this year. Even President Biden balked at such a radical measure.

The latest law, which is already in effect on an emergency basis, has had a devastating impact on local law enforcement. The local police union reports 1,200 officers have chosen to leave the force since it took effect--1,200 officers left the force since this took effect. In a city that is facing its worst bout of violent crime in at least a decade, the police chief estimates he has fewer officers to fight it than at any time since the 1970s.

To make matters worse, the Department is fighting a losing battle against the city's soft-on-crime prosecutions. Last year, Washington's U.S. Attorney's Office declined to press charges on--listen to this--on two-thirds of the arrests made by the police department. In other words, two of every three times an MPD officer risks their safety to take a suspect into custody, the suspect walks free.

No wonder, as Chief Contee reports, the average homicide suspect the department encounters already has a rap sheet of 11 previous arrests. Leftwing officials in our Nation's Capital are taking a cue from the Democrats' approach to border security: catch-and-release--catch-and- release. It is simply unacceptable.

This Police Week, the junior Senator from Ohio brought forward a resolution to say enough is enough. After a bipartisan vote in the House, our colleagues on both sides of the aisle voted yesterday to reject--to reject--the DC Council's new law. I am grateful to Senator Vance for his leadership, and I am proud to join colleagues in continuing to back the blue.

Mr. President, on another matter, this week, some of America's closest European allies have continued preparations to equip Ukraine with new weapons ahead of a planned counteroffensive, including long- range cruise missiles and American-made fighter aircraft that would require authorization from the United States.

As President Biden meets in Japan with our strongest economic partners, I hope he will build on the West's support for Ukraine by clearing the way for the transfer of F-16s, long-range fires, and cluster munitions that will help Ukraine win.

As Ukraine prepares to liberate territory from Russian occupation, its friends must move at the speed of relevance to approve the transfer of critical weapons and munitions to help those efforts succeed.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, President Biden took one step toward the debt limit solution we have been laying out for him literally for months.

After meeting with Speaker McCarthy, the President, finally-- finally--designated specific members of his staff to negotiate with the Speaker's office directly.

I am glad the President has taken the advice that I gave him back in February; that this would ultimately end in a negotiation between the President and the Speaker. It is encouraging that the White House is now engaging seriously with the only counterpart who can help deliver an actual solution. But because it took the President 3 months to start dealing in reality, we now have a time problem.

So I am hopeful the President's team will join with House Republicans to produce a responsible spending agreement to raise the debt ceiling, and I will continue to support Speaker McCarthy 100 percent.

Mr. President, on another matter, yesterday, at my urging, Biden administration officials held a briefing for our colleagues on the growing challenge Iran poses to America's allies, our interests, and our own personnel.

The list of threats from Tehran is long and growing. The IRGC continues to harass commercial vessels in the Arabian Gulf. They arm and equip the Houthi rebels in Yemen who terrorize America's Gulf partners. They back the terrorist proxies in Iraq and Syria who killed an American and wounded two dozen others in March. They fund, train, equip, and facilitate Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's proxy war against Israel.

All the while, Iran has developed closer ties with China, expanded its nuclear and missile programs, suppressed peaceful nationwide protests, and continued its efforts to assassinate current and former U.S. officials as well as Iranian-American dissidents here on American soil.

The administration recognizes Iran as ``Russia's top military backer'' and describes Iran's two-way arms race trade with Russia as a ``full-scale defense partnership.''

Tehran is not deterred from terror at home and abroad. Looking at this administration's record of retreat, it is little wonder why. President Biden began his term by relaxing pressure on Tehran's proxies in Yemen and turning his back on America's partners in the Gulf. His administration spent 2 years fruitlessly chasing the Iranians around the negotiating table. And they signaled weakness and incompetence through their reckless and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

And while Iran and its proxies have conducted more than 80--80-- attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the President took office, America has responded with force four times--four times. If Iran does not fear serious consequences with such aggression, we cannot be surprised when they attack again and again all across the region.

Unfortunately, the Middle East is not the only place where the Biden administration has met serious threats with a timid and halting response. Just look at the President's Ukraine policy: doing the right thing only after weeks or months of self-deterrence.

But today, President Biden has an opportunity to change course. This week, he will meet with America's closest allies and trading partners overseas. In the shadow of global challenges, he can start rallying our partners with real American leadership to help Ukraine defeat Russian aggression and to impose meaningful costs on Russia for its brutal war, to deter Iran's violence at home and abroad with new and effective international sanctions, and to meet China's manipulation and malign influence with resolve and with strength. I hope the President will seize the opportunity.

Mr. President, I just wanted to say to our new colleague: Welcome to the Senate, and an outstanding opening speech. I look forward to serving with you for many years to come.

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

Later today, I will attend a second discussion between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy on the Nation's debt limit.

The Speaker presented his case to the President back in February. House Republicans passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling in April, but as of mid-May, the President of the United States has found just two--two--more occasions to sit down and discuss an agreement to preserve the Nation's full faith and credit.

The Biden administration took 3 months to reach a conclusion that just about everyone else recognized from the beginning. I said it myself back in February: that the only way forward is spending negotiations between the President and the Speaker. That is how the American people arranged the current situation, and, by the way, that is how 7 of the last 10--7 of the last 10--debt limit increases have been secured--bipartisan negotiations.

That is how a Republican President and Democratic Speaker avoided crisis 4 years ago. I remember telling President Trump he needed to do something he was not anxious to do, which was to talk to Speaker Pelosi, because the American people had given us divided government. That is how a Democratic President and a Republican Speaker will avoid this crisis as well.

Speaker McCarthy is right. The Senate Democrat majority hasn't passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling. The House Republican majority has.

So that is where the solution to this looming crisis will be found.

Last fall, the American people sent a divided government to Washington. They chose to require that President Biden work with House Republicans on the most consequential issues. Now, the President has to make a choice of his own: Pretend the last election didn't happen or sit down with the Speaker and deal responsibly with our Nation's debt.

Time is of the essence--of the essence. So, for the second time, I will be glad to sit in at the White House to support Speaker McCarthy and to urge President Biden to start operating in reality.

Border Security

Now, Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, it has been 5 days since the Biden administration ended title 42 emergency border enforcement authorities--5 days. By all accounts, the situation at our southern border is absolutely catastrophic--absolutely catastrophic-- for the brave men and women of Customs and Border Protection and for countless communities across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

As title 42 expired on Thursday, officials in Del Rio, TX--listen to this--reported a 1-day increase in border apprehensions of 75 percent-- 1 day. In El Paso, one area of downtown is rapidly being overrun by tents and garbage--tents and garbage. One Border Patrol officer reports that every CBP enforcement sector along the southern border is now near 150 percent capacity--150 percent capacity. Sadly, what the country is witnessing right now is a slow-moving car crash.

Republicans have spent years urging President Biden and his party to get serious about securing our southern border. And the American people have known for quite some time that Democrats' approach helped create this humanitarian and security crisis. On President Biden's watch, just last fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection recorded an all-time high for migrant apprehensions: 2.7 million in 1 year. By the Agency's own estimates, another 1.2 million ``got-aways'' have successfully snuck across the southern border since the President took office.

The Biden administration made no effort to hide how little it cares about cleaning up the mess. Remember, for months on end, the White House Press Secretary assiduously avoided calling the situation at the southern border what it obviously was--a crisis.

Vice President Harris, the administration's official ``border czar,'' has been to the border just once in 2\1/2\ years.

When Congress asked the head of the Department of Homeland Security to account for the chaos unfolding on his watch, Secretary Mayorkas characterized functionally open borders as ``executing on the plan.''

Apparently, Republicans are the only ones interested in getting the southern border crisis under control.

Later this week, the Senate will vote on a resolution from Senator Marshall to remove a major pillar of the Biden administration's open- borders approach. Our colleague's measure takes aim at a rule the administration implemented late last year to severely limit what immigration officials are allowed to consider when determining whether a potential immigrant is likely to become a ``public charge'' and rely on taxpayer-funded services.

In other words, facing record flows of illegal migration, President Biden's response was to greet people at the border with food stamps and housing vouchers--welcome to America. Sadly,

that is exactly what some of the would-be immigrants arriving at the border have come to expect from Washington Democrats.

One Venezuelan man who made it to El Paso said he was told: ``They will feed you, clothe you, help you with your studies, and get a job.'' That is what this migrant from Venezuela was told.

It is alarming that Washington Democrats must be forced to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. The Biden administration should not need to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to do right by the hard-working citizens of this country.

So I am grateful to the junior Senator from Kansas for calling the Senate's attention once again to the Biden administration's shameless failure at the southern border, and I will urge each of my colleagues to join me in supporting the resolution later this week.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.