Floor Statements

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate this year's winners of the Congressional Award. Established by Congress in 1979, the award recognizes the achievements of young Americans between the ages of 14 and 23 years old and celebrates their accomplishment in four program areas: voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration.

The award challenges participants to set goals in an area that interests them, encourages them to pursue new interests, and helps them grow along the way. If they are successful in their pursuit, they earn bronze, silver, and gold certificates and medals. Through this long- running program, generations of young Americans have learned new skills, earned greater confidence, and positioned themselves for future success.

On Friday, August 5, Gold Medal recipients will gather for a virtual ceremony to receive their Congressional Award. On behalf of the U.S. Senate, I would like to congratulate all of the winners for their accomplishments and for the example they set for their peers. Among this impressive group, my State of Kentucky is home to nine gold medalists.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a list of this year's recipients of the Congressional Award Gold Medal be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, on a different subject, the Democrats have had a tough few

days rolling out their latest reckless taxing-and-spending spree. It turns out that proposing huge, job-killing tax hikes and more runaway spending during inflation and a recession doesn't go over very well. Here are a few of the things nonpartisan--nonpartisan--experts have already proven about the Democrats' proposal.

No. 1, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act would actually increase inflation in the short term and do nothing to tackle the problem in the long term. That is from the University of Pennsylvania.

No. 2, their tax hikes would shatter President Biden's promise not to impact households earning below $400,000. Many billions of dollars of the new tax hikes would fall--listen to this--directly on the working class and the middle class. That, of course, is not from Republicans but from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

No. 3, also from the Joint Committee on Taxation, fully half of the Democrats' $300-plus billion--billion--new tax on American jobs would come crashing down on American manufacturers in particular-- manufacturers in particular.

Now, those groups that I cited are neutral and nonpartisan. But, just for fun, let's take a look at the most favorable numbers--most favorable numbers--for Democrats. Let's look at their own spin.

One of the Biden administration's favorite outside economists, somebody who has consistently been overoptimistic about inflation and Democrats' policies, claims their bill will reduce the Consumer Price Index by a grand total--listen to this--of one-third of 1 percent--one- third of 1 percent--between now and the end of the year 2031--wow--0.33 percent over 9 years. That is one twenty-eighth of the inflation Democrats have caused in just the last 12 months. For goodness' sake, Democrats added four times that much inflation just in the month of June alone.

So, listen, the friendliest estimate for Democrats says their taxing- and-spending spree would take 9 years--9 years--to unwind literally 1 week's worth of recent inflation. Hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, and it would take 9 years to remove 1 week's worth of Democrats' inflation-- goodness.

So let me repeat it one more time. This is the most generous estimate for Democrats. Neutral experts like the University of Pennsylvania say even this is too optimistic, and their bill would actually make inflation even worse in the coming months.

So, look, this isn't an Inflation Reduction Act--not even close. It is just a catalog of tax hikes and green boondoggles that Democrats have wanted, literally, for years with a false new label slapped on the front. The Inflation Reduction Act won't reduce inflation any more than the American Rescue Plan actually rescued America.

The Inflation Reduction Act won't reduce inflation any more than the American Rescue Plan actually rescued America. The only thing the so- called rescue plan rescued the country from was stable prices and a functioning economy. And the only thing their inflation reduction plan will reduce is American jobs, wages, after-tax incomes, energy affordability, and new lifesaving medicines. Wow. What an accomplishment.

So the Democrats say they need to pass another massive economic failure because their first huge economic failure has made it necessary. Well, the American people see things quite differently.

Mr. President, we learn more each day about the devastating toll that ongoing flooding has inflicted on Eastern Kentucky. As rescue and recovery efforts continue, Kentuckians are grieving lost family members and friends and neighbors.

One of the victims of last weekend's flash floods was Gabe Hensley, a 30-year-old coal miner and father. Gabe was working a shift when the floods hit. On his way home to rescue his wife and son, he stopped to help a man who had wrecked a four-wheeler. He cleared trees and turned people away from danger. Then, tragically, the floodwaters swept Gabe away.

As Gabe's cousin told the Herald-Leader yesterday, ``Eastern Kentucky lost a hero.''

We are all grieving for the men, women, and children this flood has taken from us. The Hensley family has asked that people honor Gabe by helping other flood victims. Flooding, high winds, and power outages are still ongoing, and forecasters predict more heavy rainfall in the region throughout next week. The threat of even more disaster in Eastern Kentucky is acute.

I spoke with the Governor, State legislative leaders, and officials on the ground in Eastern Kentucky yesterday. They echoed the need for food, cleaning supplies, and water.

In such dire times, the ray of hope is the fact that generous Kentuckians from across the Commonwealth are hearing these calls for help and answering loud and clear. Already, the Eastern Kentucky relief fund has received about $2.3 million in charitable donations. Across my home State, from the Winchester VWF to neighborhood restaurants in Northern Kentucky, locals are organizing donation drives. The University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville's men's basketball teams are both fundraising for flood relief, and police departments from around the region donated cruisers to help with search and rescue.

All this generosity will play a crucial role as we begin to rebuild. As the officials I spoke to emphasized, it will be a long road ahead for the families affected by these awful floods. But I know I speak for every Kentuckian when I say: We will be with them every single step of the way.

Madam President, Eastern Kentucky is reeling, reeling from some of the worst flooding in our State's history. The area is still experiencing rainfall today. This horrible, tragic crisis is far from over.

In Jackson, waters reached 43-\1/2\ feet high, breaking an 83-year- old record. Drone footage shows whole towns completely submerged. Roadways have turned into rivers. Rising waters have reached rooftops. Across more than a dozen counties, severe rainstorms have created crisis conditions. Water rose too quickly for many to react, with tragic consequences.

The Governor has confirmed that, so far, 35 people have lost their lives amid flash floods, including children, and I think that number is likely to rise in the coming days. Even the families who were lucky enough to get out unscathed have lost homes, businesses, and heirlooms. In many communities, the waterlogged destruction is absolute.

Eastern Kentucky is well known for its steep hilltops, rolling forests, and deep hollers. Those features, which make the region one of the most unique in the country, also create complications for emergency personnel.

Our heroic first responders, including the National Guard from Kentucky and surrounding States, are working overtime to find and recover stranded residents. They have rescued more than 1,400 individuals since floodwaters hit. Nearly half of the rescues were by air.

Late last week, I joined with every member of Kentucky's congressional delegation to support the Governor's request to the President for a major disaster declaration to give our first responders Federal help. President Biden issued that declaration promptly, and resources are already flowing into the Commonwealth to assist local emergency personnel. The President called me the other day, as well as Secretary Mayorkas and FEMA Director Criswell. We are deeply grateful to them all for their speedy action.

Director Criswell traveled to Kentucky last week and has been on the ground assisting with recovery efforts directly. My staff in Southeastern Kentucky are in close touch with local officials in the area, providing all the help we can. I will visit the affected communities myself in the coming days to meet with constituents and offer support.

Unthinkably painful stories continue to come to us out of Eastern Kentucky. However, we have also heard moving reminders of Kentuckians' selflessness. Last December, the city of Mayfield, in the western part of Kentucky, was devastated by tornadoes. The town lost its fire station in that storm. But despite their own challenges, last week, the Mayfield Fire Department filled an ambulance with equipment and rushed to Eastern Kentucky to aid relief efforts. They didn't have to think twice before helping fellow Kentuckians.

We saw generosity all across the affected region. Residents with boats, jet skis, and kayaks put their own lives at risk to rescue their neighbors. Schools, churches, parks, and businesses opened their doors to displaced families. As one resident put it over the weekend, no matter what, Eastern Kentuckians ``help each other.''

So I am monitoring the situation closely and doing all I can to assist. Kentucky leaders on both sides of the political aisle are working together to coordinate further Federal aid. I am thankful to everyone who sprang into action to help with the rescue efforts, whether they were professional first responders or just Good Samaritans.

And I am thankful for the help our State has already received from FEMA. Their continued assistance will be vital for rebuilding in the months ahead. Eastern Kentucky has been devastated by these floods. Our recovery process will take months and, in some places, literally years. But I know we will bounce back. Kentucky has faced challenges before, and we always, always overcome.

Madam President, minutes ago, new data confirmed what a supermajority of Americans already knew: Democrats have plunged America into a recession. According to official statistics, the U.S. economy just shrank for the second consecutive quarter. Democrats inherited an economy that was primed for a historic comeback and promptly ran it straight into the ground.

Of course, working families didn't need any experts or statistics to tell them today's Democratic Party is a walking, talking economic disaster. Democrats' failures are causing working families deep personal pain on a daily basis.

Americans know Democrats can't be trusted. They know it every time they fill the gas tank, every time they check out at the supermarket, every time parents stay up late at the kitchen table trying to figure out which bills they can afford to pay this particular month.

Because Democrats spent us into inflation, 90 million American households say they are having a hard time meeting expenses--90 million American households. The average household in this country is having to pay an extra $5,300 and climbing every year just to tread water. Democrats' inflation is stealing more than $5,000 from the average family per year, and like a supermajority of Americans already knew before this morning, it has now driven the country into a recession.

A few years back, our colleague the senior Senator from West Virginia said: ``I don't think [that] during a time of recession, you mess with any of the taxes, or increase any taxes.'' But, alas, yesterday, Washington Democrats announced they plan to do exactly that. The Democrats who robbed American families once with inflation now want to rob the country a second time through a gigantic, gigantic job-killing tax hike.

Apparently, our Democratic colleagues do not want to be responsible for just skyrocketing prices alone. They want Americans to be faced with skyrocketing prices and higher taxes and fewer jobs all at the same time.

Democrats have outlined a giant package of huge, new job-killing tax hikes, Green New Deal craziness that will kill American energy, and prescription drug socialism that will leave us with fewer lifesaving medicines--a reckless taxing-and-spending spree that will delight the far left and hammer working families even harder.

The Democrats are going all in on a multihundred-billion-dollar tax hike

on American jobs that experts called--listen to this--the single most economically damaging part of their entire BBB plan from last year. Years of research show the burden would be overwhelmingly passed down to workers. This one tax hike alone would kill tens of thousands of American jobs.

Democrats aren't sticking it to the fat cats. They are sticking it to the same middle-class families they have already crushed with inflation.

So Democrats want to respond to their inflation crisis by killing jobs. They also want to respond to the global energy crisis by attacking American natural gas. This reckless taxing-and-spending spree includes a massive, massive new tax on American natural gas, our country's single largest source of electricity.

We all know that when you tax something, you get less of it, and Democrats want new taxes on American natural gas wells, new taxes on American pipelines, and new taxes on American LNG exporting--higher electricity bills in the summer, higher heating bills in the winter, less reliable energy for our country, and less American energy exported to our allies abroad; doubling down--literally, doubling down--on inflation.

I have only scratched the surface of all the ways Democrats want to pick Americans' pockets. They want to pour new funding--listen to this--into IRS agents so Americans end up with more audits. IRS agents get new computers and smartphones so that American small businesses get more audits.

Also, Democrats want to drain money out of medical innovation and leave terminally ill Americans with fewer real treatments and cures as a result. The experts say this Big Government money grab will literally cost Americans their lives.

But, remember, Democrats say all of these historic tax hikes are their answer to the inflation they already created themselves.

So do you hear that, America? Democrats' answer to hurting you once is to hurt you again. Democrats say the response to Democratic inflation is Democratic tax hikes.

It wasn't enough that Democrats have already destroyed your family's purchasing power. Now they want to kill your job and tax your electricity as well.

So the natural next question is, What do Democrats want to do with all that money? What spending spree do the Democrats want so badly that they will raise taxes in the midst of a recession?

Ah, here is the answer: Green New Deal nonsense and goodies for rich coastal elites. They want these job-killing tax hikes so they can spend tens of billions of dollars on slush funds for ``green banks'' and ``environmental justice.'' They want job-killing tax hikes so they can finance new handouts for wealthy households earning up to $300,000 a year to buy an $80,000 electric car. Let me say that again: tax hikes so they can finance new handouts for wealthy households earning up to $300,000 a year to buy an $80,000 electric car. They want to subsidize rich people buying electric cars that cost more--more--than the median American household earns in an entire year.

They want to tax American natural gas. They want to tax your electricity so they can spend billions making solar and wind power look artificially ready for prime time when they are not yet--billions of dollars so Democrats can meddle in what kind of car you drive; what kind of stove, hot water heater, or clothes dryer you can afford; and how you are allowed to heat your house. This is the nonsense that Democrats are focused on--not helping you put gas in your car, not helping you afford your groceries.

They want to use the middle-class economic crisis they themselves created as an excuse to raise your taxes and ram through their Green New Deal nonsense, all of this liberal waste with no proof--none--that any of it would lead to a meaningful reduction in global emissions, much less global temperatures.

America has already been reducing our emissions considerably over the last 15 to 20 years. Countries like China have just kept on emitting more and more, totally washing out our reductions and then some. Democrats want to forcibly reengineer our entire economy out from under working Americans' feet while China keeps on emitting more and more.

Democrats are seeing American families the worst inflation in 40 years and raising them job-killing tax hikes and--and--a war on American electricity.

Our colleagues across the aisle have already completely lost Americans' trust on the economy before this reckless taxing-and- spending spree. Apparently, they now want to see how much farther they can fall.

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

Mr. President, here is how Washington Democrats are describing the American economy. From the White House last month: ``robust economic progress under President Biden's leadership.'' According to President Biden himself, our economy has ``unique strengths that we can build on,'' that it was ``providing important breathing room for American families,'' and that it was ``strong as can be but for inflation, but for gas and food.'' The economy is as strong as it can be except that pesky thing: the worst inflation in more than 40 years. You almost have to laugh at that analysis.

Contrast the Democrats' spin with how working Americans are describing our economy. From a grocery store manager in Tennessee: ``It's just not a good situation.'' From a grandmother in Georgia: ``The food, the gas, the bills, and the mortgage, everything. . . . It's a lot on a family.'' Overall, a majority of Americans are concerned their paycheck can't cover the essentials amidst inflation, and a majority

disapprove of what President Biden is doing about it.

Clearly, something isn't adding up, but that isn't a new feature of Washington Democrats' one-party control of government. In fact, missing the mark on economic policy has been a hallmark of the Biden administration. Last spring, they misread what it needed after a once- in-a-century pandemic and flooded the engine with trillions in liberal spending. Then, they missed the warning signs of the runaway inflation that that mistake brought on. Now, they are mounting a panicked campaign to redefine the word ``recession'' before the next quarterly GDP comes out tomorrow.

So Washington Democrats seem to think the real-world effects of their policies--the pain Americans are feeling as they try to balance household budgets--can just be spun away--spun away--with talking points. Well, I can tell you there are millions of working families who wish it were, in fact, that simple, but you know full well that it isn't.

Border Security

Mr. President, now on a different matter, yesterday, I met with members of the Kentucky Narcotics Officers Association to discuss the ongoing substance abuse crisis in my home State. These frontline professionals have watched Kentucky pass some grim milestones in recent years. This is one of the most horrifying consequences of the ongoing breakdown of law and order in our country.

In 2020, overdose deaths in the Commonwealth increased nearly 50 percent from the year prior, reaching an alltime high of 1,964. Then, last year, we broke that record again, recording 2,250 overdose deaths--14.5 percent higher than in 2020.

Remember, as of this past January, 2 years into the pandemic, fentanyl alone had killed more Americans aged 18 to 45 than the coronavirus. That is not even all overdoses; that is just fentanyl alone.

The Kentucky law enforcement officers with whom I got to visit work every day to try to reverse these heart-wrenching trends. They have had some success. Earlier this month, in Louisville, law enforcement seized a full kilogram of fentanyl in Louisville. The experts say that is enough to kill half a million people in Louisville alone. But they are struggling to stem the cascade of narcotics pouring into our streets. The reason for this, they told me, is pretty clear: our unsecured borders.

Already this year, our overwhelmed Customs and Border Patrol agents encountered more than 1.6 million illegal crossers down at the border. That is close to the total number of encounters for the entirety of last year. Some of these individuals were promptly detained and deported, but many of them were booked briefly and then released into the American heartland. Presumably, we will never hear from most of them ever again. These are just the known encounters, to say nothing of the 900,000 ``got-aways'' that DHS officials think have taken place since the beginning of the last fiscal year. Put another way, a group of people larger than the entire population in my hometown broke into our country without interacting with border agents at all.

Alongside this human tide is an ever-increasing flood of illicit drugs, most notably fentanyl. That drug played a role in 72 percent of overdoses in Kentucky last year. CBP officials have seized 5,722 pounds of the stuff this year alone. Imagine how much slipped through their fingers and onto our streets.

Are Democrats admitting this is an emergency? Are they working overtime to put a tourniquet on this crisis? Just the opposite. Secretary Mayorkas jetted to a summit in Aspen earlier this month and pronounced that ``the border is secure.'' That is our Secretary of Homeland Security. Maybe that kind of talk plays well at a ritzy ski resort packed with liberals. It doesn't play very well with law enforcement and first responders in States like Kentucky who have to deal with crime and fatal drug overdoses every single day. The far left throws our borders open for ideological reasons, and it is the most vulnerable communities that end up paying the deadly price.

The president of the National Border Patrol Council has directly contradicted the Biden administration's insistence that our southern border is in great shape. Here is what he had to say. This is the president of the National Border Patrol Council:

[T]he cartels use illegal border crossers to facilitate

their higher value contraband, including . . . fentanyl.

In other words, more illegal immigration means more of this illegal poison. But President Biden and Washington Democrats simply won't admit it. Their response to the border crisis has been to issue new internal guidance encouraging border personnel to use more politically correct language when they are referring to criminal aliens. They would rather police language than police the border.

Remember, the Biden administration spent taxpayer dollars going to court, arguing they have a right to end the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy and throw our borders open even wider. President Biden tried to cut funding for ICE in his most recent budget.

Washington liberals say the compassionate policy is to lure desperate people into inhumane conditions, let the drug cartels have open season, and let Americans die as a result. That is not compassion; that is cruelty--an abdication of duty with deadly consequences for the American people.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, over the past two decades, one man has revolutionized law enforcement in Kentucky's Oldham County and built a reputation as one of the Commonwealth's best sheriffs. Steve Sparrow has served as Oldham County's sheriff since 1999 and, in his time leading the county's police force, has brought professionalism, dedication, and, above all, devotion to the rule of law to his community. This year, Sheriff Sparrow is retiring from his post. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring his career and the lasting legacy he built in Oldham County.

Sheriff Sparrow began his career in law enforcement nearly 50 years ago, at a time when Oldham County's population was less than a quarter of its current size. As this burgeoning community expanded into one of Kentucky's fastest growing counties, Sheriff Sparrow's leadership helped Oldham County maintain its reputation for safety and neighborliness. Under his purview, the area remains one of the most desirable places to live in the Commonwealth.

Sheriff Sparrow didn't achieve this high level of law enforcement efficacy by accident. As sheriff, he dedicated himself to furthering professional training for both himself and his department. He is the only sheriff in Oldham County history to have trained at a certified law enforcement academy and the only Oldham County sheriff to have graduated from the National Sheriff's Institute. He brought similar high levels of training to his department, making Oldham County Sheriff's Office the fifth in the Commonwealth to achieve accreditation standards.

In recognition of Sheriff Sparrow's hard work to improve Oldham County's police department, the Kentucky Sheriff's Association named Sheriff Sparrow their president in both 2005 and 2012. He received additional praise and leadership roles from Kentucky's Governor, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Board of Directors, and the National Sheriff's Association Board of Directors. Oldham County voters also strongly approved of Sheriff Sparrow's performance, reelecting him to his office six times in a row.

Leaders around the Commonwealth will be sad to see Sheriff Sparrow leave his role. He has been one of my closest partners in the law enforcement community, and I have been proud to lean on his expertise to back the blue at the Federal level. Though we will all miss Sheriff Sparrow's leadership, I know he will put his retirement to good use, spending more time with his wife Dotty and their children and grandchildren. On behalf of the Senate, I share our congratulations with Sheriff Sparrow for achieving this milestone and wish him the best in this next chapter of his life.

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

Mr. President, 93 percent of the American people are concerned about inflation; 42 percent say they are struggling just to stand

still financially; 63 percent say that gas prices, inflation, bills, or the economy are their biggest concerns. That is because 100 percent of the American people live in a country experiencing the worst inflation in more than 40 years, and 100 percent of the American people live in a country where things did not have to be this bad but for Democrats' deliberate policy choices.

Don't take it from me. Listen to Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary to President Clinton and NEC Director to President Obama. Here is what Larry Summers had to say:

There wouldn't have been nearly the same kinds of supply

chain problems . . . if we weren't giving people who were

laid off unemployment insurance that was far more than the

salaries they had been earning . . . if we weren't mailing

checks willy-nilly . . . there would have been less spending,

that would have meant less bottlenecks.

He continued:

Printing money and distributing it well ahead of the supply

of goods is a prescription for inflation--and that's what we

did. We injected enough money into the economy to make total

spending grow at an 11.6 percent rate last year. When you

have 11.6 percent growth rate in spending, then on any

reasonable theory of how much capacity there is, you're going

to have a lot of inflation. And that's what we did.

That is a top Democrat talking, but he is intellectually honest. He tried to advise Washington Democrats not to dump nearly $2 trillion onto the economy, but, of course, they didn't listen. And now working families are stuck with skyrocketing costs and bills as a consequence.

You would think the worst inflation in 40 years would be enough to convince Democrats to stop running these painful experiments on American families. But, if you can believe it, almost every House and Senate Democrat would like to follow up this historic inflation with massive new tax hikes. The same people who spent us into inflation want to tax us all the way into recession.

So let's hope this small handful of Democrats who see the insanity of this approach continue to stand strong for our country.

Ukraine

Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, this past Saturday brought yet another escalation in Russia's brutal war in Ukraine. The ink had barely dried on a deal securing safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports when Russian missiles hit the port city of Odesa.

Ukraine produces one-fifth of the world's high-grade wheat. Russia's Black Sea blockade and the destruction of Ukraine's crops have left vulnerable regions of the world literally on the verge of crisis. But Vladimir Putin only managed to resist the urge to commit senseless violence for about 24 hours.

Now, the fact that Putin was even compelled to negotiate was thanks to the introduction of HIMARS long-range rockets and Harpoon anti-ship missiles into Ukraine's arsenal. If Ukraine had had weapons like these earlier, the blockade of Odesa could have been prevented in the first place.

The Biden administration says its decision making throughout the process has been deliberate and nuanced. History will likely judge otherwise. The months before Putin's escalation clearly called for boldness and resolve, to say nothing of the months since. But, too often, the administration's first instincts have been to plot along slowly and vacillate.

The Ukrainians have fought bravely to stop Russia's advance despite being undermanned and outgunned. Just think what they could have accomplished if the West had acted boldly to support Ukraine as storm clouds were first gathering, or right away when the storm broke.

But, now, no one should need a reminder of the far-reaching impacts of the war in Ukraine. Our eastern flank allies certainly don't. They have been preparing to defend themselves literally for generations, and from the beginning of Russia's latest offensive, they have reached deep into their own inventories to help equip Ukraine.

Elsewhere in Europe, treaty allies have finally taken an important lesson about investing in deterrence and self-defense to heart. Countries like Germany have made historic commitments to increase military spending. The Germans, Swedes, and others have also broken historic precedent to share their stockpiles with Ukraine.

And, of course, Russia's war has led other major European states to announce their intention to join the ranks of the strongest alliance in world history. Last week, our colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee advanced the necessary protocols to ratify Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO. There is now nothing preventing the Democratic leader from calling these measures up for immediate consideration and passage by the full Senate. The legislatures of other NATO allies like Canada, Norway, Poland, and Germany have already ratified them.

The United States would be fortunate to have two new treaty allies as impressive and capable as Finland and Sweden. Both countries' high-tech economies and extensive American-made systems will improve the alliance's interoperability and instantly improve the state of burden- sharing the day they come in.

American leadership in the world has made possible the peace and security our country enjoys today. That leadership is helping encourage our allies to make sufficient investments in their own capabilities to face down the shared threats, but American leadership is only as strong as our willingness to make robust investments in our own capabilities.

President Biden has submitted a defense budget request that fails to keep pace with growing threats and fails to keep pace with Democrats' own inflation, and Senate Democrats are giving short shrift to the need for a strong, bipartisan Defense authorization bill.

Russian aggression isn't the only threat to American interests today. Rogue states like Iran and North Korea continue to march toward devastating weapons. China's provocative behavior in the Indo-Pacific continues to raise the stakes for long-term competition.

So there is no time--no time--to waste on either of these measures-- neither the Sweden and Finland protocols nor a strong, bipartisan NDAA. We need to do all three as soon as possible.

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

Madam President, for the past year and a half, Washington Democrats have continually found new ways to be wrong about the U.S. economy. Last springtime, Democrats insisted their plan to dump $1.9 trillion onto the economy would not cause inflation.

Here was the Democratic leader in March of 2021:

I do not think the dangers of inflation, at least in the

near term, are very real.

And here was President Biden:

The biggest risk is not going too big . . . it's if we go

too small.''

Well, obviously, they were entirely wrong. Their reckless spending fueled the worst inflation in 40 years. As Ms. Alvarado, a teacher and mother of three, explained to a reporter--here is what she said:

When I say, ``OK, we cannot buy anything this week or else

we'll go into overdraft,'' [my husband] says, ``No, what are

you talking about? We're both working. That shouldn't

happen.''

Well, it shouldn't have happened, but it is exactly what Democrats' policies have inflicted on working families in this country.

Every time I fill up our van, I'm flabbergasted--

Ms. Alvarado explains--

I'm always worrying. . . . I can postpone the mortgage by

two weeks, but then it becomes two more weeks, and then all

of a sudden they're calling you.

After Democrats' policies that did cause inflation, they moved on to their next wrong prediction. President Biden admitted inflation did, in fact, exist but said it was ``expected to be temporary.'' That one didn't work out either. That was over a year ago.

Then, 7 months ago, in early December, President Biden promised inflation had peaked--wrong again. It didn't peak in December. It just kept getting worse. Inflation set a fresh new 40-year high just last month.

These same folks are preparing for yet another battle against reality. In advance of the GDP numbers coming out later this week, the Biden administration has begun their latest project: a frantic effort to redefine the word ``recession.'' The White House published a whole explanation insisting that even if the new data suggested our country is in recession, we actually won't be.

It is almost beyond satire. The White House isn't focusing their energies on

correcting their mistakes and making the economy better for working families who are hurting. Instead, their priority is telling everybody things aren't as bad as they look or feel. They want working Americans like Ms. Alvarado to believe Democrats' spin instead of their own lying eyes.

I guess the whopping 42 percent of Americans who say they are struggling to stay where they are financially are supposed to read the White House press release and cheer up. The same people who said inflation wouldn't happen and then said it would be transitory and then said it had peaked last year are now insisting we aren't heading into a recession. Well, draw your own conclusions.

Prescription Drug Costs

Madam President, on another matter, staring down the barrel of the economic disaster they have created, Washington Democrats still don't appear to be pumping the brakes on their reckless agenda. For example, the same Democrats who spent our country into inflation are now angling to regulate our medical cures industry into fewer new cures and fewer lifesaving treatments.

American researchers and manufacturers are the driving force behind cutting-edge treatments that the entire world relies on. American innovators are leading the races to cure terminal illnesses like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The entire world benefits from our genius, but, in particular, the American people get first and fastest access to the latest new treatments, cures, and medical marvels. But the Democrats' pursuit of prescription drug socialism could put all of this at risk.

Arbitrary, top-down, government price controls would dry out the wells of American innovation to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in lost research and development, and American patients would feel the pain. The cost of breakthrough cures is measured in dollars, but the cost of neglecting them would be measured in lost years of American life.

One academic analysis pegged that true cost at a cumulative 331.5 million years.

Let me say that again: One expert says the negative effects of Democrats' proposal on medical research would cost a collective total of 331.5 million cumulative years of life.

In other words, their proposal would eventually destroy as many years of Americans' lives as there are Americans to live them.

Just 2 years ago, Democrats were lining up with Republicans and the rest of the country to cheer the American researchers and innovators who were driving the race for a COVID-19 vaccine--a race they finished in record time.

The American people know what it looks like when lifesaving advances happen right here at home. Unfortunately, they may be about to find what happens when they don't.

Burma

Madam President, now, on one final matter, over the weekend, Burma's long and difficult struggle toward democracy and freedom took another dark step backward. The brutal military junta controlling Burma executed--executed--four political prisoners, including the well-known activist Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former elected official and protest musician--yet more innocent bloodshed for the crime of dissenting against the junta's illegitimate rule.

This is yet another atrocity in a long list of horrors committed by the junta with no legitimacy, no regard for the sanctity of human life, and no respect for its fellow citizens. It provides even further evidence that the junta does not fear any consequences for its actions--not from internal chaos, not from civil war, not from its neighbors, not from the so-called international community.

The United States has led efforts to support Burma's people and to impose costs and consequences on the junta. Clearly, it is time for Burma's neighbors to shoulder a larger burden as well. It is time for ASEAN states to step up, individually and collectively.

As the junta plunges Burma deeper into chaos and civil war, the turmoil will affect the entire region. It is Burma's neighbors who have the most economic influence over the junta, and it is Burma's neighbors who have the most at stake.

Do they want a failed state wracked by civil war like Syria on their borders? Do they want a Russian- or Chinese-backed client state in their midst?

If they will not step up and impose meaningful costs on the junta, the Biden administration should use authorities already given to it by Congress to sanction Burma's energy sector, including Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, notwithstanding the concerns of those neighbors.

The people of Burma are risking their lives and, in some cases, losing their lives to defend their freedom. The Biden administration claims to prioritize democracy and human rights in its foreign policy. Here is an opportunity to demonstrate that it means what it says.

So in sum, it is time for Burma's neighbors to act. If they do not, the Biden administration should sanction Burma's energy and other major sources of revenue for the junta.

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

Madam President, Washington Democrats' one-party government has actually performed an amazing feat. In 18 months, they have taken an economy that was ready to soar and completely derailed it with $2 trillion in unnecessary borrowing, printing, and spending. Now, 9.1 percent inflation is pinching hard-working Americans every time they visit the gas pump or the grocery store.

The Biden administration has tried their hardest to find a silver lining amid the economic storm clouds they helped create. They have touted the strength of consumer spending to conclude our economy is strong. That is what they said. Well, of course, consumer spending has only gone up because the price of nearly everything has increased. A recent economic analysis shows the American people do spend more on gas, groceries, furniture, and clothes than we used to, but--listen to this--adjusted for inflation, they are actually consuming less--paying more, getting less.

Parents of school-age kids are some of the hardest hit. Four in ten say they won't go back-to-school shopping before the upcoming school year. One young mother in Nevada says she will ``pick out one or two shirts'' for her daughter ``and that's it.'' Inflation has made everything else too expensive.

Over in Arizona, inflation forces the average household to spend over $9,600 more a year compared to when President Biden took office. Many families simply don't have that much wiggle room in their budgets and are resorting to desperate measures simply to stay afloat.

One Phoenix area food bank has seen a 78-percent increase in visitors compared with just last year--78 percent more families who simply can't afford to live in this Democrat-run economy. A woman in line at the food bank said she had never needed to visit one before but ``the prices are way too high'' right now to support four children on her husband's salary.

Colorado families are facing the highest inflation costs in the Nation, in the whole country: nearly $10,900 in extra spending per year compared to the beginning of the Biden administration. Not surprisingly, Coloradans are falling behind on paying for daily necessities. One pawn shop owner in the State has noticed a marked increase in loan seekers at his business. For most of them, they just need ``30 bucks, 40 bucks'' to ``pay small bills, get gas, put groceries on the table.''

This is all happening in my home State of Kentucky as well. People are taking out loans, cutting back spending, and relying on charity just to cope with ever-increasing prices. But that hasn't stopped Washington Democrats from proposing new ways to wreck our economy. As we speak, they are batting around a new suite of tax hikes aimed squarely at the middle class. If Democrat-driven inflation hasn't pushed struggling families off the edge quite yet, the Democrat-driven recession certainly will finish the job.

So what is on the menu? New taxes on small businesses already struggling with inflation, new fees and regulations on American energy producers that will send prices even higher at the pump, new socialist price control schemes to stifle healthcare innovation.

Apparently, record inflation isn't enough to make Democrats realize their reckless economic agenda is a failure, an abject failure. Maybe tax-hike-induced stagflation will set them straight.

Ukraine

Madam President, now on another matter, I had the honor, along with others, of greeting the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, who greeted us here in the Capitol. Like my colleagues in the room, I was moved by her blunt, plaintive remarks to Congress. As her country endures the fifth month of a brutal Russian siege, Ms. Zelenska was candid about the pain and suffering Russia's unprovoked war of aggression was causing her homeland. She said: ``Russia is destroying our people.''

The First Lady conveyed the incredible determination of the Ukrainian people and echoed their simple request for the tools to fight their own fight--``Weapons,'' she said, ``to protect one's home and the right to wake up alive in that home.''

I hope the First Lady's visit helped steel our colleagues' resolve as friends of Ukraine. Russia's invasion has already reminded the West that revisionist aggressors cannot be appeased. And Ukraine's brave resistance, equipped with the arsenal of the free world, is a further reminder that this is a fight they intend to win.

The Senate should be proud of our work over the past several months to get more lethal capabilities into Ukrainian hands. But at every step of the way, the Biden administration has been a bit slow to green light the game-changing weapons Ukraine's frontline defenders actually need.

I urged the President for more than a year to take specific actions to deter Russian aggression against Ukraine--actually, before it escalated. Last June, I urged him to deliver lethal capabilities to Ukraine and other states in Vladimir Putin's crosshairs. Instead, the administration slow-walked security assistance for months.

In December, I called for U.S. military reinforcements along NATO's eastern flank, but the President waited until February to deploy forces--too late to deter Putin's aggression. And even after Russia had launched its unlawful invasion, the President has repeatedly deterred himself from providing Ukraine the capabilities it needs.

With nearly every weapons system requested by Ukraine, the cycle in Washington plays out like this: first, hesitation and concern; then, excuses that Ukraine couldn't effectively use the proposed weapons or objections that providing them would escalate the conflict; then-- then--grudging willingness to transfer the weapons; and finally, with weapons in Ukrainian hands, self-congratulations from the Biden administration that they are having a positive impact on the battlefield. It is exhausting to watch this decision-making cycle repeat itself from Kentucky. It must be exacerbating to watch it from Kyiv.

The need for advanced, longer-range weapons to turn back Russia's aggression is painfully obvious. Air defense capabilities to combat Russia's continuing long-range strikes against civilian populations across Ukraine, anti-ship weapons to combat the Russia Black Sea blockade and the humanitarian food crisis it is causing worldwide, and more capable, longer-range artillery to pound Russian positions in occupied Ukraine from relative safety--this will help offset any numerical advantage Russia has achieved by pumping so much more combat power into its invasion force.

So here it is. Putin cannot be allowed to believe he can just wait for the West to become complacent. It would do a moral disservice to the brave Ukrainians fighting every single day for their country. But this is not just about Ukraine's security. If Russia achieves its objective in Ukraine, it will imperil our own security. And if we waiver--if we waiver--on Ukraine, it would certainly send an unmistakable signal of weakness to Beijing, which is watching the conflict in Ukraine very closely.

For their part, so are our friends and allies in China's backyard. As Japan's Prime Minister put it back in May: ``Ukraine might be East Asia tomorrow.''

Russia's brutal war has cost the people of Ukraine their homes, their safety, and their lives. But it has also reawakened the West to the reality of long-term deterrence and competition.

It has led modern partners like Sweden and Finland to cast their lot with the greatest military alliance in the history of the world. And it has prompted current treaty allies to shake off years of neglect for their own defense capabilities. All of this will result in greater burden-sharing, interoperability, military capability, and collective security for the NATO alliance.

The United States cannot afford to neglect this lesson ourselves. As the leader of the free world and the No. 1 target of revisionist adversaries like China and Russia, we have to take seriously our obligation to maintain America's military superiority.

We need to act quickly and pass a defense authorization bill that restores our readiness, grows our stockpiles of critical munitions, reinforces our position along NATO's eastern flank, and lays the foundations for a new era of credible deterrence in Asia by modernizing and equipping our military for real competition with China.

I hope the Democratic leader will let the Senate take action on this critical legislation without further delay.

Mr. President, today, with our country facing an inflation crisis, a violent crime crisis, and a functionally open southern border, our Democratic colleagues are choosing to focus on chilling Americans' First Amendment rights and enabling more harassment of citizens for their private views.

Way back in 1958, the NAACP fought Alabama's attorney general, a segregationist Democrat, all the way to the Supreme Court to defend the bedrock American liberty of associational privacy--associational privacy. Here is what Justice Harlan said for the majority back then:

Inviolability of privacy in group association may in many

circumstances be indispensable to preservation of freedom of

association, particularly where a group espouses dissident

beliefs.

As the majority opinion put it, this was ``hardly a novel exception,'' even back in 1958. And yet, for most of my career, I have had to push back against Democrats' repeated attempts to unlearn this fundamental constitutional lesson. I have repeatedly defended Americans' right to join together and to voice their opinions.

Prior to McCain-Feingold, almost all money in politics ran through candidates and party committees. I warned that placing unconstitutional restrictions on speech in that bill was like putting a rock on Jell-O-- it wouldn't quash political speech; it would just displace it. And the Supreme Court has consistently reaffirmed that point in case after case, upholding free speech.

Our Democratic colleagues' obsession with regulating political speech is what created the environment they now disprove of. It is what drove support for McCain-Feingold, and it is what spawned this perennial bill in 2010.

Democrats want to pass a law that puts discourse in the hands of the mob. But needless to say, they haven't always been very concerned with compelling disclosure using laws on the books.

Existing law already requires disclosure of donations to PACs and other outside groups with the intention of influencing Federal elections. But even as our colleagues have introduced successive versions of the DISCLOSE Act, enterprising activist liberals have taken it upon themselves to name and shame conservatives by ``outing'' their

private contributions illegally. It was practically administration policy during the Obama-Biden IRS.

And for those keeping score, Washington Democrats never seemed as eager to publicize the donor rolls of groups whose political views they happen to share. Somehow, donor privacy for organizations pursuing liberal causes is sacrosanct, but donor privacy for groups with conservative beliefs is a threat to democracy.

Somehow working for outside groups is practically a prerequisite for a West Wing job under a Democratic President, but association with groups Democrats don't like is a one-way ticket to picketing and harassment. Sixty-four years ago, the Supreme Court said the link between freedom of association and the freedom of speech was ``beyond debate.'' But today's Democratic Party wants to make sure the threat to associational privacy is every bit as real--as real--as it was in 1958.

The stakes are so clear; even liberal groups like the ACLU have joined the NAACP and Senate Republicans in continuing to sound the alarm--ACLU, NAACP, and Senate Republicans aligned, sounding the alarm. They have been working together to fight State-level public disclosure laws all the way to the Supreme Court.

Last year, the Court sided with those advocates to strike down predatory disclosure practices out in California. Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit did the same to an unconstitutionally vague disclosure law out in Montana.

Meanwhile, the Federal judiciary itself is contending with particularly outrageous threats from the radical left to the privacy and security of the judges themselves and their families.

The same liberal groups stoking mob intimidation outside the homes of Supreme Court Justices are the ones most eager to put out private citizens' political speech records.

The same Democrats who refused to condemn naked threats against public officials earlier this summer once again want to expand the Federal Government's power to threaten private citizens. That is not a trade the American people or their Constitution can afford to make.

Mr. President, now on another matter, right now, Washington Democrats are frustrated by the pace of the radical green transformation they envision for our country. They are having trouble getting enough Senators to agree to make the most reliable and abundant forms of American energy more expensive for working Americans.

Energy prices are rising faster than at any point since 1980. Gasoline is nearly 60 percent more expensive than it was last summer. Natural gas is up nearly 40 percent in the same timeframe.

Washington Democrats have surveyed this scene and decided it is the perfect time--perfect time--to hike taxes on American energy, reviving a failed tax from the 1980s on American oil refineries and exporters and--listen to this--increasing it by nearly 60 percent, new sky-high fees on American natural gas producers and more pain at the pump for working families. It is an insane proposition.

But there does appear to be an exception. If you are not among the 75 percent of Americans who say inflation has caused you financial hardship, and you happen to have a spare $80,000 lying around, Washington Democrats want to give you a green energy tax credit if you buy an electric vehicle made with Chinese supply chains. This is what Washington Democrats are trying to do with their one-party control of government, and they are hoping President Biden will declare a national emergency to help them do it faster.

Well, unfortunately for the far left, the President is occupied with a climate conundrum of his own. On the campaign trail, Candidate Biden left no room for doubt that he had bought his party's radical climate dogma, whole hog. This is what he said back then:

I guarantee you we are going to end fossil fuel.

``End fossil fuel.'' Sure enough, his first year in office was an all-out assault on American energy, just like green activists drew it up--day 1 bans on energy exploration; canceling a safe, efficient pipeline that was set to create American jobs; and ghoulish, reanimated regulations from the War on Coal.

But unlike the radical base that is frustrated their ideas aren't moving faster, the Biden administration now appears to be concerned that their assault on American energy has actually worked too quickly.

Americans have seen gas prices double on this President's watch. Sky- high diesel is driving other prices up all across the country, and big majorities of Americans don't like what Democrats are doing about it. But rather than call off the onslaught and clear the way for a return to domestic energy dominance, the Biden administration has dispatched officials to beg other countries to take over America's share of the market for reliable energy that the President has purposely abandoned. They have literally chosen places like Venezuela over States like Pennsylvania or Texas or Alaska.

Then, on a trip to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, President Biden announced that ``I'm doing all I can to increase [oil] supply for the United States of America.''

The President who promised he would ``end fossil fuels'' thinks that finding more energy for American families means flying to the Middle East and asking politely instead of unleashing our own production right here at home.

And for the record, U.S. producers extract oil and gas in a far, far more environmentally friendly manner than many of their competitors overseas. So if the priority is reducing our environmental impact, outsourcing seems more than a little bit shortsighted.

So, Mr. President, if the Biden administration really is serious about helping American consumers, then they will stop waging war on American producers. If they are serious, they will call off Democrats' plan to tax reliable American energy into extinction.

For the sake of working families who are struggling to fill their gas tanks and keep the lights on, I hope they get serious sometime soon.

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

Mr. President, a year ago today, with prices already rising, President Biden said that high inflation was ``expected to be temporary.'' One year later, after 9 straight months of inflation over 6 percent, the prices are now rising at their fastest rate in over 40 years.

Last week's inflation report confirmed on paper what working families have been feeling for a year: President Biden's prediction was dead wrong. Instead, prices are skyrocketing, and paychecks aren't keeping up. Real hourly wages are declining at breakneck speeds, dropping a full 1 percent last month alone. The average American worker got a full 1-percent pay cut just last month alone due to inflation.

The Biden administration has tried to claim that we are ``stronger economically than we have been in history.'' That is what the White House Press Secretary told reporters earlier this month. Kentuckians know that is utterly absurd. They know the opposite is true. In my home State, the average household now spends over $600 more--$600 more-- every month compared to the day President Biden took his oath of office. That comes out to more than $7,300 a year.

Inflation is pushing Kentucky families to the brink. As a result, food bank

demand is rising, and shelves are running low. A soup kitchen in Campbell County put out an urgent call for volunteers as surging visitors threaten to overwhelm its limited staff. As the executive director said in an interview, with ``inflation and milk [at] $4 a gallon,'' they see people who have ``never needed help before.''

I have received messages from constituents all over the Commonwealth facing the same crisis: Prices are rising while real wages fall.

A 59-year-old from Louisville tells me she has worked two jobs since she graduated from college in 1987 to save for retirement. Now she is afraid she will ``lose [her] hard-earned money . . . due to this inflation.''

Another constituent in Hopkins County tells me he worked 60 hours a week for years to afford the home he bought recently. Now, with rising prices, he ``can't even support [his] family anymore'' and might lose his new house as well.

A couple in Lexington in their late seventies spends almost all of their fixed income on rent, utilities, and medical bills. They are struggling to find enough left over for food. ``What are we suppose[d] to do?'' they ask.

Families across Kentucky are asking themselves the same question every day. The answer from Washington Democrats is alarming but not surprising. After spending us into inflation, they now want to tax us into recession. I can't think of a more reckless response for struggling Kentuckians.