Floor Statements

Mr. President, now on a completely different matter, I have been talking all week about the ways that liberal policies hurt American families in their daily lives.

After 2 years of total Democratic control in Washington, we have seen how reckless spending comes home to roost in the form of decades-high inflation and shrinking paychecks for working Americans.

We have seen what happens when one of our two major political parties decides in its rhetoric, in its personnel, and in its policies that keeping our streets safe, our border secure, and

criminals behind bars are simply not their priorities. And despite multiple glaring cautionary tales both at home and abroad, we are seeing the early warning signs of our Democratic colleagues' hostility to an all-of-the-above American energy strategy.

In Europe, some of America's closest allies are reaping the painful effects of years of shortsighted green policies. By swapping affordable and reliable domestic power for half-baked fads, our friends have placed themselves at the mercy of Vladimir Putin to meet demand ahead of another cold winter.

Working families and small businesses are taking this tradeoff on the chin. I saw one shop owner in Ireland explain she has just had to pay almost as much for 2 months of electricity as she did throughout all of last year. Unfortunately, millions of Americans can sympathize. An estimated 20 million U.S. households are already behind on their energy bills thanks to Democrats' runaway inflation.

And out in California, State and local Democrats have wasted no time taking things even further--even further--in the wrong direction. Democrats have made California's electrical grid into a giant experiment to try out all of their misunderstandings about energy policy. It is not going well. With hot weather demand surging, California authorities are sweating political shortfalls of up to 5,000 megawatts. California's love affair with fickle, unreliable green energy could force its residents to put up with rolling blackouts just to conform to wealthy liberals' preferences.

The government had to send out an emergency message begging citizens to ration power. Ironically, just weeks after announcing a future ban on gas-powered automobiles, the State is now begging folks not to charge their expensive electric cars to avoid crashing the grid.

So California Democrats don't want you putting gas in your car; they don't want you to plug in your car either. That is exactly where their war on energy would leave the American people: Going nowhere fast.

President Biden's Secretary of Energy, Secretary Granholm, literally said less than a week ago that:

California is in the lead--

In the lead--

and can show the rest of the nation how it is done.

So at home and abroad, our Democratic colleagues have been given sobering warnings of what not to do on energy. They have seen what happens when you wage war on abundant fossil fuels, abandon nuclear power, and go all in on the least--the least--reliable energy sources.

But this all-Democratic government has spent 2 straight years running head-on toward these bright red flashing warning signals. They have frozen new domestic energy leasing, canceled new pipelines, and reinstated a maze--a maze--of redtape designed to strangle entire domestic industries.

As gas prices skyrocketed on President Biden's watch, his administration approved less new oil drilling than any since Harry Truman was in office. Our Democratic colleagues have doubled and tripled down. Last month, while they rammed through their reckless taxing-and-spending spree, they voted in lockstep multiple times against Republican amendments that would have helped shore up American energy and rebuild our independence.

Europe in thrall to Putin's gas supply, California talking about rolling blackouts--exactly what further warning do our Democratic colleagues actually need?

Mr. President, now on another matter, in January 2019, a bipartisan supermajority of the Senate voted for an amendment I authored warning that the ``. . . precipitous withdrawal of United States forces from [Afghanistan] could put at risk hard-won gains and United States national security.''

Two years later, senior experts and advisers repeated the same warning to President Biden. His own experts made it clear that a hasty retreat from counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan would lead to the collapse of the Afghan Government.

Those warnings, of course, fell on deaf ears. Thirteen American servicemembers died fulfilling the Biden administration's rush to evacuation. The Taliban now rules again in Kabul, as it did before U.S. forces arrived. Now, 1 year on from last August's disaster, the devastating scale of the fallout from President Biden's decision has come into sharper focus. Afghanistan has become, once again, a global pariah. Its economy has shrunk by nearly a third. Half of its population is now suffering critical levels of food insecurity. Afghan women and girls have had their rights to work, attend school, and live independently torn away under Taliban rule. And just as we feared, just as was predicted, Afghanistan is again becoming a serious haven for terrorists.

The recent American strike that took out al-Qaida's leader al- Zawahiri is a credit to decades of work by the professionals of our intelligence community.

Ah, but the fact that a terrorist kingpin felt comfortable in Kabul just months after America's withdrawal is a damning condemnation of the Biden administration's unjustified confidence that the Taliban could be trusted not to lay out the welcome mat for our most consequential terrorist enemies.

The strike was a success, but the underlying fact that President Biden's policies led this top terrorist to set up shop with impunity right in downtown Kabul is a colossal failure.

In fact, just weeks before the strike that killed Zawahiri, when the administration already knew full well that the Taliban government and senior Haqqani terrorists were harboring him, the administration still--still--released another hardened terrorist from Guantanamo and returned him into the Taliban's waiting arms.

So al-Qaida is rebuilding under the patronage of the Taliban and the Haqqanis. There is no question that so-called over-the-horizon counterterrorism operations are becoming much more difficult. Senior administration officials have acknowledged that our intelligence about the growing threat is drying up--so is our ability to combat it.

And the damage, the fallout, isn't limited just to Afghanistan itself. America's reckless abandonment has done lasting damage to the coalition partnerships that had made our operations there so successful. President Biden showed America's allies we couldn't be trusted or reasoned with, and he showed our adversaries the weakness of our resolve. There is no question in my mind that Russian, Chinese, and Iranian leaders watched us retreat from Afghanistan and, of course, were emboldened.

I advised three consecutive Presidents not to withdraw from Afghanistan--three of them. I believed a small residual presence was sustainable, would help us keep pressure on the terrorists, and protect us here at home.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, CENTCOM commander during the withdrawal, has said repeatedly that he voiced the very same view to President Biden.

But even now, a year after the President's orders were carried out, the Biden administration continues to shirk accountability and responsibility.

The fact that their haphazard scramble required an unprecedented airlift was not a success; it was a failure. The fact that over a year later, the administration still cannot really account for who they brought into our country, while both Americans and vulnerable Afghan partners still remain in Afghanistan as we speak, is not a success; it is a failure.

President Biden has rejected practically every part of his predecessor's agenda, foreign and domestic, but he pretends he was somehow powerless to alter the previous administration's Doha agreement to pull out of Afghanistan--the one time President Biden decided the previous President had it right. Of course, the truth is that President Biden wanted to withdraw from Afghanistan. He campaigned on it. According to public reports, he spent the entire Obama administration pushing back against the generals' advice not to cut and run. And once in office himself, he pushed ahead.

Senate Republicans will continue to press for accountability, will continue to pursue answers to tough questions about why the Biden administration

ran headfirst--headfirst--into this national embarrassment. Just as importantly, we will also keep pushing to rebuild America's military, both to meet major threats from Russia and China and to defend the terrorist challenges President Biden has left to fester.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, today, all Americans stand with our great friends across the Atlantic in mourning the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our deepest sympathies are with the royal family and the many millions of people across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and the entire world who have drawn reassurance and inspiration from her historic reign, sterling character, and shining example.

For 70 long years--from the aftermath of World War II well into the 21st century, across 15 different Prime Ministers, through great triumphs and great challenges--the Queen's steady leadership safeguarded the land she loved. Despite spending nearly three-quarters of a century as one of the most famous and admired individuals on the entire planet, the Queen made sure her reign was never really about herself, not about her fame or her feelings or her personal wants or needs.

She guided venerable institutions through modern times using timeless virtues like duty, dignity, and sacrifice. She offered our contemporary world a living master class that it needed badly.

Of particular importance to all Americans, the decades of Her Majesty's reign saw an intense deepening of the special relationship and close bond between the United States and the United Kingdom. The Queen met sitting President Harry S. Truman when she was a 25-year-old princess. She went on to meet with a dozen more of our Presidents during her reign. She presided over a period of historic strengthening of the alliance between our nations that has changed the course of world history for the better.

So, Madam President, today, the Senate and the American people are joined with our dear friends across the ocean. We are joined in prayer, in grief, and in gratitude for such a remarkable leader and such a successful reign.

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

Mr. President, Washington Democrats have spent nearly 2 years--2 years--borrowing, printing, and spending our economy into turmoil. Families and businesses across Middle America are paying the price. I met with many of them in my home State of Kentucky over the past few weeks.

Since President Biden took office, prices in the Commonwealth have spiked by 13 percent. At the same time, we still have 19,000 fewer workers than before the pandemic.

During a meeting with the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers in Louisville, I heard directly from employers who would, under different circumstances, be powering our recovery. Instead, many are struggling to find enough workers to meet consumer demand.

In Hopkinsville, I spoke to farmers who have watched the price of energy skyrocket, raising the cost of everything from fuel to fertilizer. As a result, all Americans are paying higher prices at the grocery store.

While Eastern Kentucky struggles to recover from devastating floods, supply

chain issues and the increased cost of building materials are hamstringing the repair process and making it even harder to rebuild.

I am sure my Democratic colleagues heard similar stories during their own August travel. Kentuckians aren't the only Americans feeling pinched.

The official inflation numbers confirmed that yet again just after the Senate adjourned last month--a fifth straight month of inflation above 8 percent. Inflated gas prices, inflated utility bills, the worst explosion in grocery costs since 1979--these are the painful effects of Democrats' reckless spending.

Americans keep communicating over and over and over that runaway costs are their top concern, and they didn't like what President Biden and his party are doing about it.

Ah, but amazingly, just a few days before the latest inflation report, Democrats had just pushed through hundreds of billions of dollars more in liberal waste on a party-line basis. Democrats packed their bill with an environmentalist wish list that won't even affect climate. They sold it--listen to this--as an Inflation Reduction Act even though experts found it would do absolutely nothing meaningful to reduce inflation. They did find room for massive, job-killing tax hikes that will hit manufacturing especially hard and kill jobs on the brink of a possible recession.

It is not getting any easier to put food on the table, pay rent, or even keep the lights on, but here we are again, starting another Senate work period with not one word from the Democratic leader about plans to bring bills to the floor to cut inflation, fight the crimewave, or secure the border.

The American people have communicated loud and clear what their priorities are, and Democrats keep communicating loud and clear they simply do not care.

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

Mr. President, it has been over a month since relentless rains and major flooding devastated Eastern Kentucky. This disaster took homes, businesses, and at least 39 lives. Only a few months after tornadoes had caused widespread damage in the western part of our State, catastrophe struck our Commonwealth one more time.

I traveled back to Eastern Kentucky multiple times during the August State work period to survey damage, meet with survivors, and lend any help I could. What I saw were scenes of absolute destruction: water- logged houses, swollen creeks, washed-out roads. I heard directly from survivors who have shouldered impossible burdens over the past month, struggling to salvage belongings and to literally try to rebuild their lives. Agencies report that thousands of homes were destroyed and damaged in the flooding. Many of those affected lack flood insurance.

I will say that as devastating as the flooding was, stories of heroism and generosity still shine through. The local officials I met with reserved special praise for Kentucky's National Guard. Our guardsmen mobilized at the outset of this crisis to perform daring rescues and to distribute critical supplies to stranded residents. Regular citizens also came to the aid of their neighbors and friends in any way they could, sometimes in trucks and sometimes on horseback or jet skis.

Help has poured in from around our State and beyond, both from private charities and trained emergency responders, but, of course, there is still a tremendous need for help. Eastern Kentucky has notoriously rugged terrain. It also had preexisting communications issues before the floods. These factors have made rescue and rebuilding uniquely challenging already, and this is only the beginning.

Although FEMA is playing a critical role in Eastern Kentucky's recovery, Kentuckians have grave concerns about shortcomings in the Federal response. The Agency's convoluted application processes have left far too many

flood victims without the timely aid they need, often due to just simple clerical errors. I heard about these issues firsthand from countless Kentuckians I met during my multiple visits.

Of course, I quickly called FEMA Administrator Criswell to say her Agency needs to step it up. I visited the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center to review the joint State and Federal response firsthand. I convened leaders from our hardest hit counties, the State legislature, and Federal response Agencies so we have clearer lines of communication moving forward.

I hope and expect aid will begin to flow more smoothly to Eastern Kentucky soon, and I will continue working around the clock here in Washington to try to help make that happen.

And I promise to keep standing strong by Eastern Kentucky's side as our immediate efforts evolve into longer term rebuilding.

A long road--a very long road--to recovery lies before us, but Eastern Kentucky will come back stronger than ever.

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

Madam President, Eastern Kentucky is again facing the threat of stormy weather and flash floods this weekend. Emergency responders have been on the ground since the flooding began and will continue their critical role in the coming days. We are making sure the Federal Government is stepping up as well.

In addition to the Governor and State lawmakers, I have been in personal contact with the President, Secretaries Mayorkas and Becerra, and FEMA Administrator Criswell going back to the beginning of this emergency.

FEMA has been on the ground since day one, providing enormous help with search and rescue operations. Once rebuilding begins, their role will only be more important.

With the President's major disaster declaration, FEMA is now authorized to send financial assistance directly to the flood victims. These funds will be critical to those who lost their homes in the flooding, especially since many lack flood insurance. To reach remote residents, FEMA representatives are going door-to-door and speaking directly to survivors in shelters to make sure everyone who qualifies for help actually receives it. The Agency has already approved hundreds of thousands of dollars for affected Kentuckians.

FEMA is also helping pull together a wide swath of Federal Agencies to supplement the Kentucky National Guard and State agencies. The Forest Service is already on the ground, clearing debris from roadways. The Small Business Administration is issuing loans to help employers rebuild. The Army Corps of Engineers is ensuring all dams in the region remain operational.

The Federal response so far has been extraordinary.

I have been proud to stand with the Governor and Kentucky's entire congressional delegation to help expand the number of counties receiving assistance and streamline the aid. Kentuckians can visit my official website to see the full list of services offered by our Federal disaster response Agencies.

The Federal Government has done an excellent job so far. The crisis is far from over.

Soon, I will visit the region myself to meet with flood victims and listen to their concerns, and then I will take what I hear from my constituents back to Washington and ensure we stand by their side as we rebuild bigger and better than before.

Inflation

Madam President, now on an entirely different matter, a year and a half ago, Democrats misread a 50-50 Senate as a mandate for $1.9 trillion in party-line reckless spending. The result has been the worst inflation in 40 years.

With Democrats in charge, working families are having to spend thousands of extra dollars each year just to tread water. Grocery costs are through the roof. Energy bills are skyrocketing. Gas prices are more than $1 higher than on Inauguration Day. American families are trapped in an inflation spiral, where many workers have earned pay raises on paper, but even those bigger paychecks buy them less and less every time they go to the store.

Because of Democrats' historic failure on the economy, the American people have lost their patience. Ninety percent say they are feeling anxious about inflation. Only 28 percent like what President Biden is doing about it, and just 22 percent think we will be in any better shape after another year of Democratic leadership. But, amazingly, Senate Democrats are misreading the American people's outrage as a mandate for yet another--yet another--reckless taxing-and-spending spree. Democrats have already robbed American families once through inflation, and now their solution is to rob American families yet a second time.

Democrats want to ram through hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes and hundreds of billions of dollars in reckless spending--and for what? For a so-called inflation bill that will not meaningfully reduce inflation at all and will actually make inflation even worse in the short term; for a so-called economic bill that will kill American jobs and hammer our manufacturing sector; for a so-called climate bill that will have no meaningful impact on global temperatures whatsoever; for a so-called prescription drug bill that will result in fewer lifesaving medicines and higher prices for the new cures that are invented. Every fact I have just laid out has come from nonpartisan experts and academics.

Democrats' bill will do nothing to meaningfully cut inflation. Hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes on a struggling economy will help kill American jobs everywhere, except the IRS, that is, where the bill would fund the hiring of--listen to this--86,000 new tax collectors plus new cars and new computers.

Jacking up Americans' electricity bills and gas prices in order to subsidize rich people buying luxury cars and new appliances will not make one dent in the future trajectory of global temperatures.

Democrats will choke off the development of new lifesaving medicines if they pretend that making things cheaper is as simple as passing a law saying they ought to be cheaper.

Survey after survey, poll after poll has proven that none of this nonsense is what American people want Democrats to focus on. The American people don't want hundreds of millions of dollars in Green New Deal waste. They want less inflation, not more. American families don't want tens of thousands more IRS agents. What they would like are more Border Patrol and ICE agents. American families don't want Democrats policing what kinds of stoves and clothes dryers they can put in their homes. What they want is for Democrats to actually start policing our city streets.

Democrats have decided their first economic disaster justifies a second economic disaster. The working people of this country feel very, very differently.

Now, on a related matter. I want to drill down on Democrats' plan to take a buzz saw to the research and development behind new lifesaving medical treatment and cures. The American people have enough common sense to know that the government can't actually make something cost less by making it illegal to raise the price. Let me say that again. The government can't actually make something cost less by making it illegal to raise its price. This was the logic of college sophomore socialism. It is not fair that a certain thing costs more than we like. Why doesn't the government simply pass a law making it cheaper?

Well, the world would be a lot easier for everybody if things actually worked that way. It would certainly be easier to be a member of Congress. We could just vote to set the price of everything in America, snap our fingers and everybody in the country would enjoy $5 smartphones, $10 TVs, and $100 pickup trucks. What a concept. Why hasn't anybody thought of this genius idea before?

Well, of course, people have thought of it before. Plenty of governments have tried crude price-fixing--Cuba, Venezuela, the old Soviet Union, not exactly thriving paradises, not pinnacles of prosperity, well-being, or innovation; not the examples we would want to follow.

Everybody wants prescription drugs and complex medicines to be more affordable. Everybody wants to help struggling families. That is the goal we all share. But you know what would not achieve that goal? Empowering some Biden administration bureaucrat to sit down at a desk and arbitrarily name the price that manufacturers can charge.

Democrats' policy would not bring about some paradise where we all get

amazing new innovations we would have gotten anyway, but at a lower cost. Their policy would bring about a world where many fewer new drugs and treatments get invented in the first place as companies cut back on

Mr. President, the last time the Senate was in this position, the last time Democrats grabbed control of our economy on a party-line vote, they spent $1.9 trillion and stuck Americans with the worst inflation in 40 years.

Every Senate Democrat cast the deciding vote for this inflation nightmare. Their historic mistake has left American families spending thousands of dollars extra just to avoid losing ground.

In President Biden's America, forget about getting ahead; you have to pay a multi-thousand-dollar inflation tax just to stand still.

Millions of households haven't been able to keep up with Democrats' skyrocketing prices no matter how hard they have tried. They have had to watch their families' hard-earned living standards just slip away-- all because, a year and a half ago, Senate Democrats tried to take over our economy on a party-line vote. And today, they want to do it again.

Washington Democrats have already robbed American families once through inflation. Now, they say the solution is to rob the country a second time. They say they need a second reckless taxing and spending spree to clean up the damage from their first one.

Every homeowner in America knows that if you call a plumber to fix a leaky faucet and they end up flooding your entire house, you don't give them a blank check and a second chance. You show them the door.

President Biden's approval on the economy is 30 percent. An outright majority of the country--including more than one in four Democrats-- agree that Democrats' policies have actively made the economy worse.

Democrats have lost the country's confidence. They have lost the people's trust. The voters who placed their families' financial futures in Democrats' hands have been betrayed. And they know it.

Sadly, there is no shortage of crises that Americans would like this government to address: an inflation crisis; an energy crisis; a violent crime crisis; a border crisis.

But this weekend, today's Democratic Party is being unusually honest about their top priority. They are pulling out all the stops. They have twisted every arm. And for what? Not taking back our economy from inflation. Not taking back our streets from murders and carjackings. Not taking back our border from chaos and deadly drugs.

That is what the American people want addressed. But none of that is on the agenda this weekend.

President Biden may have won the fight for the Democratic Party's nomination, but our colleague Chairman Sanders sure did win the war for its soul.

This reckless taxing and spending spree is a clear catalog of Washington Democrats' top priorities. It shows the American people what they care about. And here it is: They want hundreds of billions of dollars in job-killing tax hikes, 86,000 new IRS agents, new taxes on American oil and natural gas that will hammer consumers and reduce energy independence, and a money grab from Americans' medicine cabinets that will lead to fewer new lifesaving cures in the future.

They want to stick a shaky economy with historic tax hikes, in order to set up a colossal Green New Deal slush fund. To give rich people tax credits for buying $80,000 electric cars and new appliances. To send taxpayer money directly to far-left protest groups. To buy government agencies fleets of brand-new electric vehicles while working families can't afford the used car lot.

And all of it is just unbelievably expensive liberal performance art because experts say none of this ``retail therapy'' for rich liberals and bureaucrats will make a dent at all in the future trajectory of global temperatures--No meaningful impact on the world's climate. None.

That is why none of our Democratic colleagues can talk about actual results. Have you noticed that? They only have one talking point: that this is the biggest climate investment ever. That is just a way of admitting that the only historic thing is the gigantic price tag.

Democrats still define success by how much of your money they get to take from you in taxes and waste in spending. That is the exactly the attitude that got us in this mess. That is exactly the far-left mindset that has crushed American families for 18 months and counting.

Our colleagues want to tax and spend unfathomable sums of money without making an inch of progress on our citizens' top priorities. Washington Democrats call that a big success. Do you know what the American people call it? The lowest Presidential approval rating after 18 months in modern history.

Mr. President, Kentucky officials are working literally overtime to deliver supplies to those affected by ongoing flooding. Heat and humidity are rising to dangerous levels in the areas that still lack power.

My team is helping coordinate relief efforts in any way we can. With the Senate still in session, my State director joined the Kentucky National

Guard yesterday as they distributed food and water to displaced residents.

Many of the roads in Eastern Kentucky are still impassable, so the Kentucky National Guard is flying dozens of helicopter missions daily to drop water, MREs, and vital supplies to Kentuckians in remote areas of our State. My State director was on board as they flew over flooded roadways and homes to visit the community centers operating as supply hubs in areas isolated by rising water. The landings are difficult, sometimes nearly impossible, but the heroes of the Kentucky National Guard will do whatever it takes to reach those stranded by the floods.

And that is just one part of the flurry of activity. Emergency responders have deployed boats and trucks across the affected region. In Buckhorn, residents are even loading up horses to take supplies to areas where the roads are literally washed out. It is truly, truly heroic work.

This emergency is far from over, but when their neighbors are in need, Kentuckians will always help other Kentuckians. I will visit the region myself soon to survey the damage and help with relief efforts. While here in Washington, I remain in close contact with those who are out on the ground.

I am grateful to everyone for taking on the colossal task of providing for Kentucky amid this disaster.

Remembering Jackie Walorski, Emma Thomson, and Zachery Potts

Mr. President, now on another sad note, yesterday, Congress was shaken by the news that a tragic automobile accident had killed Congresswoman Jackie Walorski and three others, including Emma Thomson and Zachery Potts, members of her staff.

Our former colleague here in the Capitol was back home among her fellow Hoosiers in Indiana's Second District, in circumstances that are familiar to each of us: long days on the road with trusted aides, meeting with the people we represent.

By all accounts, Congresswoman Walorski had two stellar young people by her side.

At 27, Zach was already a 7-year veteran of her team, having served as both campaign manager and district director.

Emma, her 28-year-old communications director, was already a Capitol Hill veteran, whose ``intelligence'' and ``drive,'' one former boss described as ``second-to-none.''

The last day's outpourings of grief and admiration demonstrate just how great a hole Jackie Walorski is leaving behind among her friends here in the Capitol. They marveled at both her tremendous personal kindness and her fierce advocacy for the families she represented.

I had the personal pleasure of breaking bread with Congresswoman Walorski several years ago and looked forward to every time that our paths would actually cross.

According to those who knew Jackie best, her infectious passion and boundless energy for service were rooted in the faith that guided her entire life. That faith also led her and her beloved husband Dean to found a charity and to spend years living and serving needy people in Romania.

Today, we trust that this faith has reunited our colleague with her eternal Father, and we pray that He will comfort Dean, all her family and friends, and those who mourn Zach and Emma, in these terrible days.

S.J. Res. 55

Mr. President, later today, the Senate will vote on a resolution to peel back a significant layer of regulatory redtape that has been causing headaches all across our country.

Thanks to the leadership of the junior Senator from Alaska, this resolution would overturn a Biden administration action that aims to give the Federal Government even more authority to slow and stall critical infrastructure projects.

For years, our Republican government made headway in rolling back some of the countless roadblocks liberal bureaucrats have put in the path of new highways, bridges, and pipelines. We took big bites out of the bloated permitting process, and, just last year, Republicans ensured that bipartisan infrastructure legislation included clear limits designed to speed up Federal permitting reviews.

But earlier this year, the President fired off a far-left Executive action that directly contradicted some of that bipartisan headway. Catering to radical environmentalists, the new Biden rule reinstates sweeping jurisdiction for Federal bureaucrats to slow down all sorts of critical infrastructure. This Democratic action is taking a process that is already known for years-long waiting periods and multihundred- page Federal reports and actually making it worse.

Every single Senate Republican is proud to cosponsor Senator Sullivan's resolution. The future of our infrastructure needs at least one Democrat to see the light as well.

Inflation

Mr. President, now on one final matter, a year and a half ago, every Senate Democrat cast the deciding vote for a $1.9 trillion disaster that caused the worst inflation in 40 years.

Democrats have crushed working families with runaway prices. More than 80 percent of the country says our economy is in bad shape. President Biden's approval on the economy is down to 30 percent and falling. By the traditional rule of thumb, our country is now in a recession, and a supermajority of Americans are aware of it.

American families are crying out for relief, but Democrats have decided to spend hundreds of billions of dollars of the people's money on a bill that laughs at the people's priorities.

Americans say their No. 1 concern is inflation and the cost of living. So here is what the Democrats' taxing-and-spending spree would accomplish on that issue: It would make inflation worse over the next few years and then do nothing to cut inflation in the long term.

Even the Democrats' favorite estimates say that their bill would take 9 years--9 years--to subtract the amount of inflation we have been adding every single week.

I will say that again. Even the Democrats' favorite estimates say their bill would take 9 years--9--to subtract the amount of inflation we have been adding every single week.

After inflation, in particular, another huge group of Americans say that their biggest issue is the overall state of the economy in general, and here is what Democrats want to accomplish on that subject. They want to ram through giant new tax hikes in the middle of the recession--new multihundred-billion-dollar tax hikes on American jobs that specifically target the manufacturing sector, leaving Americans with fewer jobs and lower wages; new tax hikes on American natural gas and crude oil, higher fees for producing energy on Federal land-- leaving Americans with higher electric bills, higher utility bills, higher gas prices, and more dependence on foreign countries that don't like us.

In a time of inflation, Democrats also want to spend $80 billion to roughly double the size of the IRS so they can shake more money out of the American people through harassment and audits--using taxpayer money to make taxpayers' lives worse.

So what do Democrats want to do with all the money they want to drain out of Americans' pockets in the midst of this recession? They want to lavish hundreds of billions of dollars on an issue that exactly 3 percent of the country says is our biggest problem: far-left environmental and climate spending.

American families have been hemorrhaging financially for a year and a half. Working people can barely tread water. And the Democrats' focus is Green New Deal nonsense that only 3 percent of the country wants prioritized, big subsidies to help rich people to buy luxury cars and new stoves, taxpayer funding for environmental protesters--a huge catalog of nonsense that would not put a dent in global emissions, while countries like China continue to emit more and more.

So I dare any of our Democratic colleagues to walk up to a working- class American on the street and ask them what the government ought to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on.

Well, first off, in a time of inflation, they would probably tell them not to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the first place. But I doubt a single American worker or middle-class parent would say: You know what? My top priorities are doubling the size of the IRS and giving my boss a government kickback if he buys an $80,000 electric car.

Do you know a single normal American family that is clamoring for this

nonsense? Americans want lower prices. They want border security. They want more police and public safety. Americans don't want tens of thousands more IRS agents. They want more Border Patrol and ICE agents. Americans don't want Democrats to regulate us into an even deeper recession. They want liberals to let police officers bring law and order back to our streets.

Democrats want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a 3- percent issue while they completely neglect crime and border security and make inflation and the recession even worse.

Democrats are catastrophically out of touch with what American families actually do care about. Their approval ratings show it, and their reckless taxing-and-spending spree proves it as well.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, tragic flooding continues to devastate

Eastern Kentucky. In the last few days, I have spoken to State legislators and county judge-executives who represent our hardest hit counties.

The Governor reports that Knott County has seen the largest loss of life so far. County Judge Dobson tells me the toll may keep rising in the coming days.

State Representative Chris Fugate represents Breathitt, Owsley, and Perry Counties. He tells me he is housing about 85 people in his church. And the need for shelter for displaced residents will only grow.

State Senator Johnnie Turner represents five counties, including Knott and Letcher. He plans to use his own equipment to help clear debris from the roads.

All across Eastern Kentucky, emergency crews are making a herculean effort to restore access to power, roads, and running water. The Kentucky National Guard has been on the ground and in the air since the outset of this emergency, performing breathtaking rescues and rendering aid.

Some of their amazing work was captured on video. Residents stranded on the roofs of submerged houses were pulled hundreds of feet into the air on a cable and into a helicopter--just extraordinary work.

I am deeply grateful for the brave men and women of the Kentucky National Guard and their service to our State.

As professional first responders work around the clock, families, friends, and neighbors are stepping up as well. One man's actions have attracted national attention. On Thursday, an anonymous neighbor helped a family of three escape their flooded home. Video footage showed a 98- year-old grandmother sitting on a bed fully submerged in water. This anonymous rescuer whisked that woman, her son, and her grandson to safety. All three are now recovering.

Federal, State, and local officials will continue to do everything possible and coordinate rescue and relief efforts. All these courageous acts from professionals and ordinary Kentuckians alike will continue to provide a hopeful glimmer of humanity in this dark, dark disaster.

Mr. President, now on an entirely different matter today, the Senate will approve ratification protocols to welcome Finland and Sweden as the two newest members of NATO.

I appreciate Leader Schumer working with me to ensure the Senate takes this vote before the August recess. And for the reasons I have explained for months now, the vote this afternoon will be as decisive-- as decisive--as it is bipartisan.

There is just no question that admitting these robust democratic countries, with modern economies and capable, interoperable militaries, will only strengthen the most successful military alive in human history.

Both countries already participate in NATO and American-led missions. Finland already meets NATO's 2 percent spending target, and Sweden is making significant investments in modernizing its military.

Even with the capabilities these militaries already have, they will bring meaningful, interoperable military capabilities into the alliance on day 1 and improve burden-sharing across the alliance.

There is also no question that their entry is specifically in our interest. These are longstanding defense partners of the United States. The Finns have been flying F-18s and buying sophisticated American munitions since the 1990s. The Swedish defense industry cooperates closely with ours and incorporates American components into modern systems like their fighter aircraft.

Even closer cooperation with these partners will help us counter Russia and China. Their accession will make NATO stronger and America more secure.

If any Senator is looking for a defensible excuse to vote no, I wish them good luck. This is a slam dunk for national security that deserves unanimous bipartisan support.

Mr. President, now on one final matter, Democrats want to pass huge, job-killing tax hikes in the middle of a recession that they themselves created--hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes on American jobs, American manufacturing, American electricity, and American investment.

Nonpartisan experts have proven these tax hikes will break President Biden's promise not to raise taxes on the middle class. The working class and the middle class will shoulder huge--huge--new burdens.

And all these tax hikes would buy American families no relief whatsoever from inflation. Nonpartisan experts say Democrats' bill would make inflation actually even worse until 2024 and then do basically nothing--nothing--to inflation thereafter. In the teeth of the inflation crisis, Democrats' bill would make inflation even worse over the next 2 years.

Even the most optimistic estimate, the best figures for Democrats, say it would take their legislation--listen to this--9 years--9 years-- to unwind as much inflation as the country added every week in the month of June--9 years of runaway taxing and spending in order to subtract 1 week's worth of inflation. And that is an optimistic projection.

Obviously, the point of this bill is not to reduce inflation. Clearly, this taxing-and-spending spree has a different purpose. And when you look at the legislation, the real purpose is absolutely clear: This bill is a massive goodie bag of far-left environmental activists at the expense of working families.

Democrats want to use their own inflation as a pretext to dump hundreds of billions of dollars into Green New Deal nonsense. This bill declares war on American energy independence and affordability. It will push working families' bills higher in order to send cash kickbacks to rich elites if they buy fancy cars and redo their kitchens.

Democrats literally want to increase working families' gas bill, electricity bill, and heating bill so they can send rebates to rich people who buy $80,000 luxury electric cars.

I am not making this up. They have come up with a huge new tax on American natural gas, which millions of Americans use to heat their homes, cook their food, and dry their clothes. On top of that, natural gas is the Nation's largest source of electricity. So Democrats want to add new taxes on top of two of the major bills that millions of American working families pay every month.

That is not all. There is also a new per-barrel tax on American oil and new royalties and fees to drive up the cost of oil and gas production on Federal lands.

With all the money they collect from shaking down American families, Democrats want to finance new credits for people who can afford to buy fancy new cars, stoves, and clothes dryers. Why? Because that is really ``green''--subsidizing retail therapy for liberal elites to rip out working appliances, throw them away, and replace them with the latest fashions.

We have the worst inflation in 40 years right now. Working families can barely afford gas and groceries right now. And Democrats' answer is to offer them a mail-in rebate if they buy an $80,000 car or remodel their kitchen? A specific subsidy for electric car buyers that the senior Senator from West Virginia once called ludicrous is in this bill which he has now authored.

Oh, and the bill tries to skirt a Supreme Court victory that West Virginia just won to stop Democrats' illegal regulations from crushing the State's economy. The legislation intentionally--intentionally-- flouts the victory that people of West Virginia just won a few weeks ago at the Supreme Court.

There are billions of dollars for environmental and climate justice block grants to directly enrich far-left nonprofits, including explicit language that would send taxpayer funding to political activism.

Democrats literally want to raise your electric bill in order to pay off their own protesters. I guess the people who stand in the middle of highways during rush hour to make some protest gesture now want to receive taxpayer money for their trouble. Oh--oh--and their bill would send billions of dollars to the Secretary of Transportation to tear up highways instead of building more highways.

If that is not enough, here is the kicker. All of this expensive nonsense adds up to no--no--meaningful impact whatsoever. All of these hundreds of billions of dollars to bankroll new appliances for rich people will not put so much as a dent--a dent--in worldwide emissions or temperatures.

The Washington Post admitted on Monday this legislation ``can scarcely be expected to have an immediate, measurable impact on the warming planet.''

Huge developing countries like China and India are dramatically increasing their emissions every year. Even according to liberals' own modeling, this bill that is supposedly worth looting--looting--the American people would have basically no measurable impact on global warming whatsoever.

Liberal waste, subsidies for the rich, and, according to their very own models, no meaningful impact on the climate--I guess Democrats think their 30 percent approval rating on the economy is actually still too high.