Floor Statements

Madam President, this week on this floor, we are poised to witness something that has never happened before in living memory: an attempt to attack the core identity of the Senate by a sitting majority leader.

The senior Senator from New York once said nuking the filibuster would ``turn what the Founding Fathers called the cooling saucer of democracy into the rubber stamp of dictatorship.'' He said it would ``make the country into a banana republic . . . a doomsday for democracy,'' he said. Now, he wants to trigger that doomsday himself.

When I was majority leader, some of my own party urged me to break the Senate for our own party's short-term gain. My answer was a simple word: ``no.''

Less than 4 years ago, the senior Senator from Illinois said nuking the legislative filibuster ``would be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised and created going back to our Founding Fathers.'' Now, he wants the Senate to end on his watch.

The last time Senate Democrats were in the minority, 32 of them signed a letter demanding the legislative filibuster stay in place. Now, many of them say they want to break this institution. The excuses put forward for this behavior are entirely fake. The supposed justifications are simply false. The Senate Democratic leaders are trying to use a big lie to bully and berate their own Members into breaking their word, breaking the rules, and breaking the Senate.

We are going to spend all week sounding the alarm on the radical takeovers that some Democrats want to pull off. They want to silence millions of Americans and take over the Senate so they can take over elections so they can take over America.

Leading Democrats say they want to break the Senate because of the sinister anti-voting plot that is sweeping America. Of course, this is totally fake. It does not exist. The current control of Congress and the White House were decided in 2020 by the highest turnout in 120 years. Ninety-four percent of voters said voting was easy. More Americans say current voting laws are too lax than say they are too restrictive.

Confronted by the facts, the Democratic leader says they are, of course, irrelevant. He says the entire nuclear push is occasioned by what a few States did in 2021. This is utter nonsense. The Senator from New York has been publicly laying groundwork to nuke the Senate rules since back in 2019, before the 2020 election. More than a year before the 2020 election, the Democratic leader was openly flirting with nuking the Senate rules if he got the power so he would be able to ram through bigger changes. Now, none of this was occasioned by what State legislatures did in 2021. This is actually a yearslong quest for power in search of a pretext.

Their hysterical attack on State laws are fake as well. The State of Georgia passed a voting law providing for more in-person early voting than New York provides. It allows for no-excuse absentee voting, which New York prohibits. If there was not a voting crisis in Democrat-run New York 6 months ago, there is no crisis in Georgia now. If Georgia is a banana republic today, then New York has been and still is a banana republic. There is zero logic here, zero consistency.

In the State of Texas, Democrats are hysterical because the State rolled back some unusual COVID-specific exceptions to their prior procedures, such as universal drive-through voting and 24-hour voting. So if the bar for voting rights now requires the possibility of voting in person at 3 a.m., how many blue States in America meet that bar? Neither of these things existed in Texas before 2020, and neither widely exists in blue States.

Every hysterical claim that our democracy is in crisis rings hollow. More Americans today say that President Biden's election was legitimate--now listen to this--than said the same thing about the prior President in late 2017. More Americans today say that President Biden's election was legitimate than said the same about the prior President in late 2017. Yet Democrats are trying to use their fake hysteria to justify breaking Senate rules so they can seize control of elections in all 50 States. That is what they are up to.

Historically, the Senate has taken up elections legislation on a careful, bipartisan basis. We have made sure not to trample on the rights of voters and the proper roles of local officials.

In 2002, we passed the Help America Vote Act by a vote of 92 to 2--92 to 2. Chris Dodd and I authored that bill. Interestingly enough, the only dissenting votes came from then-Senator Hillary Clinton and the current Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer. Ninety-two to two.

Well, that is how you pass election reform if there are actual issues that need tackling. You do it carefully; you do it thoughtfully; bipartisan committee work; regular order. Our colleagues aren't doing anything like that. They are trying to ram through a sweeping, partisan legislation that they first drafted and introduced in its first iteration back in 2019.

Democrats say they are concerned about efforts to disempower the appropriate local elections officials. Well, it is actually their bills that would disempower local officials, by Washington Democrats appointing themselves the entire country's board of elections on steroids.

Democrats say they are concerned about overturning election results. Well, it is their bills that would overturn election results, overruling the commonsense voting laws that citizens across the country pick for their own States.

A case in point: The Democrats' latest bill would force the entire country to adopt two practices--same-day registration and no-excuse absentee voting--that the citizens of New York State had as ballot measures last November. Deep-blue New York rejected them both. So you have to ask yourself, why are Washington Democrats refusing to accept the decision of New York voters? Why are they trying to set aside these election results and overturn the people's will?

Our Democratic colleagues also talked about a so-called voting rights bill. This is a bill to turn the partisan Attorney General into a national elections czar. The Attorney General would no longer have to sue States to win in court; he could end up doing an end run around the legal system and push States around without having to persuade a judge first. I am sure our Democratic colleagues would have reacted well if Republicans had tried to break Senate rules so that Bill Barr could micromanage elections in blue States. I am sure that would have gone swimmingly on their side of the aisle.

But, ultimately, the issues at stake this week run even deeper than this fake hysteria, even deeper than voting laws. Breaking the Senate itself and nuking the filibuster would cause a massive political power outage for many millions of American citizens, for entire States.

So the filibuster is not just about what bills are blocked; it is also the sole feature that gives millions of Americans any voice at all in the legislation that does pass whenever there is one-party control. Annual appropriations, government funding bills, the NDAA, rescue packages like the CARES Act--all of them could be done on a one-party basis, thereby eliminating the influence of every State in America represented by a Member of the minority.

For decades, both Senators and citizens have been able to take for granted that everybody gets a voice, even when they don't have divided government. If this unique feature of the Senate is blown up, millions and millions of Americans' voices will cease to be heard in this Chamber--a radical Senate takeover, for a radical elections takeover, for a radical takeover of our Nation's future.

What the Democratic leader wants to do would not protect our democracy or our system of government. It would destroy a key feature of American Government forever, and the Senators on both sides know it.

Madam President, when Jack Brammer interviewed me in 1984 for one of the first profile pieces of my political career, I quickly saw the high quality of his reporting. He was even-handed, fair, and honest--and has remained so throughout his 43 year career as the Lexington Herald-Leader's statehouse reporter. Jack has always been among the best journalists in the Commonwealth. Today, in honor of his retirement, I recognize him for standing at the pinnacle of Kentucky journalism for over four decades.

Jack Brammer is a lifelong Kentuckian. A native of Maysville, he joined the Lexington Herald-Leader in 1978 and has covered State politics ever since. We met in 1984 during my initial race for the U.S. Senate. Though many considered me an underdog, facing off against an entrenched incumbent, Jack took extensive time to interview me for his Herald-Leader profile. He even visited my parents in Shelbyville, sitting with them for hours to discuss my background and upbringing.

In today's era of journalism, when so much reporting takes place via text, tweet, and email, Jack's methods might seem startlingly old- fashioned. But he kept up his same dogged style, always going above and beyond to deliver the complete, unabridged truth to Kentuckians. He is a journalist in the best mold of the profession: unafraid to report the facts, presented without editorializing, and allowing his readers to come to their own conclusions. I will miss Jack's steadfast commitment to the truth, which can often seem sorely lacking in today's fast- paced, cutthroat media industry.

In his 43 years on the statehouse beat, Jack covered nearly every major

moment in Kentucky politics. Like me, he has a deep passion for our Commonwealth's history and has made critical contributions to the historical record through his reporting. He had a front-row seat to 10 gubernatorial administrations, dozens of legislative sessions, and countless significant political events. His deep, hard-won understanding of Kentucky politics sets him apart from nearly every other journalist in our State. I know everyone in the statehouse, from other journalists to legislators, to the general public, will miss him.

During Jack's retirement, I feel confident he will continue to share the wealth of wisdom he acquired over his legendary career. Jack has always been an enthusiastic mentor for younger journalists, taking generations of reporters under his wing to teach them the ropes of Kentucky State politics. As a graduate of the University of Kentucky and a member of their Journalism Hall of Fame, he has also spent time imparting his knowledge to the Commonwealth's future communications professionals. Even in retirement, he will continue to make a mark on our State.

I will miss Jack's reporting dearly. He represents the best of the journalistic profession, and Kentuckians have been fortunate to read his writing for more than four decades. I wish him well in his upcoming endeavors and look forward to learning what his future holds. I would like to express my personal gratitude for Jack Brammer's many years of service to the Commonwealth and encourage my Senate colleagues to join me in congratulating him on his well-earned retirement.

Madam President, Jack Brammer recently wrote an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader reflecting on his career. I ask unanimous consent the article be printed in the Record.

I object.

Mr. President, as 2022 gets underway, working Americans and their families are facing a steady stream of significant challenges: the fastest growing inflation in almost 40 years; violent crime rates continue to rise, with many of our largest cities setting new alltime records for murders; a southern border that remains in crisis; a new highly contagious variant of the virus that President Biden promised he would personally crush; too few tests and too slow new treatments on this administration's watch; and another rolling wave of school shutdowns, as Big Labor bosses continue to make hostages out of children's futures over a virus that leaves children largely-- largely--unharmed.

Late last year, one poll asked Americans about the most important problems facing the country. Some were most worried about the high cost of living. Others said, not surprisingly, the pandemic. One-fifth of respondents, the most by far, said the biggest issue was poor leadership--at a time when the Democratic Party controls the entire government.

But do you know what wasn't on the list of concerns? It wasn't there at all--the fictional, scary stories the liberal activists keep repeating about how democracy is at death's door. The November 2020 election had the highest turnout in 120 years. Ninety-four percent of voters said voting was easy. Only 33 percent of Americans say it is currently too hard for eligible voters to vote. And a larger number than that actually say current laws are too loose--too loose.

The American people are not buying this nonsensical talk of ``Jim Crow 2.0'' or a voting rights crisis. Everybody, apart from leftwing activists and the press, understands this emperor has no clothes at all.

A few months ago, even voters in blue New York rejected multiple ballot measures to soften up election laws the way liberal activists prefer. This fake outrage is just a predicate for Washington Democrats to do something they have sought to do literally for years: appoint themselves a nationwide board of elections on steroids.

This is the takeover that Democrats have sought for multiple years, using multiple different justifications. It is not a voting rights bill. It is a sprawling, sweeping takeover of our democracy. Our colleagues' bill would do things like forcing all 50 States--all of them--to legalize corrupt ballot harvesting. They would have the government send public funds directly to political campaigns.

The same Attorney General who has frivolously sued Texas just to placate the White House, whose Department of Justice tries to intimidate parents, would be handed new power to micromanage election law.

Some early drafts of this bill tried to literally, openly turn the Federal Election Commission into an outright partisan body. Talk about tipping your hand.

These changes wouldn't bolster faith in our democracy or in our institutions. It would do exactly the opposite. It would be a civic wrecking ball. And, listen, that is before you consider that Senate Democrats want to destroy our own institution to ram this through.

The current Senate Democratic leader once said that nuking filibuster rules would be a ``doomsday for democracy.'' Just a few years ago, more than 30 Senate Democrats joined a bipartisan letter supporting the legislative filibuster.

President Biden defended the principle in long, passionate speeches throughout his entire career. Just last year, as President, he repeated that destroying the filibuster would ``throw the entire Congress into chaos.'' He certainly was right about that.

There is no partial or limited nuclear option on the table. As the Senator for West Virginia put it yesterday, whenever you start talking about carving things out, you end up eating the entire turkey.

No party that would trash the Senate's legislative traditions can be trusted to seize control over election laws all across America. Nobody who is this desperate to take over our democracy on a one-party basis can be allowed to do it.

Finally, it is beyond distasteful for some of our colleagues to ham- fistedly invoke the January 6 anniversary to advance these aims. Washington Democrats have been trying to seize control over elections for years. Their first draft of the legislation at hand was introduced in January of 2019. The fact that violent criminals broke the law does not entitle Senate Democrats to break the Senate.

It is surreal to hear sitting Senators invoke January the 6th to justify--listen to this--to justify breaking rules to grab outcomes they have not earned.

I am going to say that again. It is surreal to hear sitting Senators invoke January the 6th to justify breaking the rules to grab outcomes they have not earned.

It is surreal to hear sitting Senators invoke January the 6th to argue that institutions can be trampled because they would like a different result.

A year ago, the Senate didn't bend and it didn't break. We held strong. It is jaw-dropping for colleagues to propose to commemorate that by breaking the Senate themselves in a different way.

A year ago, there was a lot of talk on this floor about protecting the norms and institutions of our democracy by putting long-term bipartisan traditions ahead of short-term partisan power. Someday soon, it appears, we may learn which of us, actually, really meant it.

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

Mr. President, now, on another matter, over the holidays, Russian President Vladimir Putin's insatiable and unreasonable demands only grew. So did Russia's threat to Ukraine, Europe, NATO, and our own interests. Putin cannot be allowed to use force or the threat of force to further erode Ukraine's territorial integrity. The West cannot be bullied into betraying our friends, forgetting our principles, or accepting a Russian sphere of influence.

Freedom's friends will either stand up to the bully while we have a chance or we will rue the day we did not, whether in Europe, Asia, or elsewhere. If Putin walks away from this self-created crisis feeling emboldened, he and others will run the same play again and again and again.

It is appropriate for the administration and our allies to seek to deescalate the situation, but not at the expense of deterrence and not by throwing our friends' security under the bus.

And if we don't make sure our allies and partners have a seat at the table, they may well end up on the menu. For Putin, this is not just about Ukraine. This is about breaking NATO and Europe and restoring Russian domination of its neighbors.

I support President Biden's stated desire to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine. But--but--his administration must move faster to provide emergency military capabilities to help Ukraine defend themselves and deter attacks.

Time is of the essence. Moving at the speed of bureaucracy is simply not going to cut it. Neither will waiting until Russia escalates, at which point, of course, it would be too late. Because this is not merely about Ukraine, President Biden must also work with NATO allies to reinforce our collective military position on the continent.

We have to reassure our eastern flank NATO allies and deter any threats to the alliance by demonstrating that 30 nations are both willing and able to uphold article 5. The Russians have to believe that.

The President, with bipartisan support, has threatened sanctions against Russia. European allies must show that they, too, will impose significant sanctions on Moscow for any additional aggression against Ukraine.

Even if this crisis abates, the long-term threat from revisionist powers like Russia and China isn't going anywhere. These countries literally want to redraw world maps and rewrite international rules through force or the threat of force. So this is why the United States must be as serious about modernizing our military as our adversaries are about modernizing theirs.

While the Biden administration talks a good game about competing with China, their first budget proposed to cut defense spending in real terms, especially significant given their runaway inflation. We cannot shirk on investing in our military.

And our friends and allies must also pull their weight. NATO's 2 percent pledge from 2014 is not sufficient for the threat we face in 2022. But key NATO partners have still not met even that commitment.

Europe must also reassess energy and environmental policies that have purchased a green veneer at the expense of more dependence on Russia and more leverage for Moscow. This should begin with abandoning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The United States, NATO, and all our partners can either act now or, believe me, we will live to regret it.

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

Mr. President, a week ago, the Senate lost a distinguished former colleague and the State of Nevada lost an unparalleled advocate.

Senator Harry Reid's path to this Chamber was a quintessentially American story. His incredible path from childhood poverty, to the boxing ring, to leading the U.S. Senate took both toughness and tenacity. And in this Chamber, just like everywhere else, Harry left it all in the ring.

As leaders of our respective parties, the two of us disagreed energetically and often. We had sharply different views, goals, and philosophies on everything from public policy to the institution of the Senate itself. But through

all the heat and light, I never doubted that Harry was doing what he earnestly believed was right for Nevada and for the Nation.

Elaine and I were grateful to enjoy a joint friendship with Harry and Landra, the light of Harry's life, his beloved high school sweetheart. The Senate's thoughts and prayers continue to be with her and the entire Reid family.

Mr. President, on a completely different matter, as the Senate begins this new year and new session, millions of Americans are yet again having life disrupted by a new and surging variant of the coronavirus. Thus far, there is cause for optimism. The rapidly spreading Omicron variant seems to cause milder disease than previous iterations. By now, a huge portion of our population has some immunity through our remarkable safe and effective vaccines or through prior exposure, and our healthcare providers know much more today than they did 2 years ago.

Unfortunately, the last few weeks have also exposed big gaps between the Biden administration's promises and the reality under their leadership. In 2020, then-Candidate Biden promised he would ``shut down the virus.'' That clearly has not happened. Back when the virus had killed 220,000 Americans, then-Candidate Biden said that ``anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States.'' Now almost four times that many people have died.

Look, nobody is solely blaming this administration for this mutating virus, but nobody forced Democrats to campaign on those promises and attacks. They chose to do that, but they haven't governed accordingly.

It has been nearly a year since President Biden inherited three vaccines and a distribution operation that was already putting a million shots in a million arms every day. That was before this administration took office. What new solutions do Democrats have to show for a full year in power? Where is their 2021 equivalent to our 2020's Operation Warp Speed? What did they produce in 11 months besides angry speeches about the vaccines they inherited? Why does the pandemic in January 2022 feel so eerily similar to the pandemic in January of 2021, except that this administration happened to get lucky with an apparently less-dangerous variant?

After a year of this administration, families are still having trouble tracking down testing for work, school, travel, or even peace of mind. This administration has limited important treatments. They dragged their heels on promising innovations. They have been inexplicably slow to disburse relief funds for hospitals and providers that Congress set aside ages ago. They have used odd, alienating rhetoric around the vaccines they inherited.

And remember, last spring when our Democratic colleagues spent $1.9 trillion on a supposedly COVID-related spending bill, only 9 percent of it went to the actual fight against COVID-19--just 9 percent of the $1.9 trillion authorized last March.

So this all-Democrat government spent its first year distracted, and the country is feeling the consequences.

Mr. President, on a related matter, fortunately for the country, before Christmas, one of those far-left distractions was dealt a setback. The Democrats' wasteful spending last spring helped ignite the worst inflation in 40 years, but our colleagues spent the rest of 2021 trying to assemble yet another even bigger, even more reckless tax-and- spending spree. Their reaction to rising prices and family hardships their policies caused was to try to inflate their way out of inflation.

The experts say that when you strip away the budget gimmick, their proposal would cost almost $5 trillion. And all of that reckless borrowing and money-printing was for far-left policies that would hurt American families and actually help China.

The supposedly ``green'' subsidies would just dump money in China- dominated supply chains. America takes on massive debt to ``Build Back Beijing.''

The childcare plan was actually an unworkable and discriminatory toddler takeover that would drive up daycare costs and let woke bureaucrats drive out faith-based providers. They even wanted to distort American parents' child tax credit and turn it into an old- school cash welfare program with no work requirements at all--now, all of this paired with historic, crushing tax hikes and trillions more dollars to make inflation even worse.

It was a merrier Christmas for American families because this awful bill was actually put aside. Working Americans need it to actually stay on the shelf.

Mr. President, in eastern Kentucky, one man has been at the center of efforts to expand eye care for nearly 40 years. Dr. Jerald Combs, who passed away last month, played an instrumental role in modernizing and extending access to optometric care across Kentucky's Appalachian region. Today, I recognize Dr. Combs as an outstanding Kentuckian whose work made a vast impact on the lives of his patients.

When Dr. Combs began his practice in Martin, KY, in 1983, optometry in eastern Kentucky was an underdeveloped practice. Many residents lacked access to the eye care they needed, leaving far too many without good vision. Dr. Combs made it his mission to change that status quo and improved many lives in the process. His clinic served the entire eastern Kentucky region, attracting patients from far and wide who needed his care.

Perhaps Dr. Combs' greatest legacy will be his efforts to increase optometry training opportunities in his community. Because of his work in this area, the University of Pikeville named their college of optometry in his honor. The school's Jerald F. Combs Endowed Scholarship gives students of all backgrounds the ability to study the subject, providing expertise to those who will stay in eastern Kentucky and help develop the field further.

Throughout his life, Dr. Combs was committed to serving his community and our Commonwealth and earned many awards for his efforts. The Kentucky Optometric Association lavished him with praise, granting him both their Optometrist of the Year Award and Distinguished Service Award twice. He also served as president and a board member of the association for many years. Outside of optometry, Dr. Combs helped his community through the Knott County Youth Foundation, the Knott County Little League, the Kiwanis Club, and the Hazard Lions Club. He served on the University of Pikeville Board of Trustees, steering the school to success.

I knew Dr. Combs personally and was saddened to learn of his passing last month. Few Kentuckians play as big or instrumental of a role in their community as he did. While we all mourn his loss, we can also be confident that his legacy, expanded access to eye care among Kentucky's most vulnerable communities, will last for many years into the future. I would like to express my personal gratitude for Dr. Combs' decades of service to the Commonwealth and encourage my Senate colleagues to join me in sharing condolences with the family, friends, and colleagues.

Mr. President, few Kentucky creations have had as much impact on American culture as Bluegrass music. It is the spring from which all other country music flows and one of our State's most world- renowned exports. Owensboro, KY, has played an important role in maintaining and promoting Bluegrass history, style, and heritage and, in recognition of that work, was recently named the Bluegrass Capital of the World. Today, I honor Owensboro for earning this title and helping preserve Kentucky's proud Bluegrass culture.

Owensboro's deep connection to Bluegrass music dates back to the genre's earliest days. Bill Monroe, widely recognized as the ``Father of Bluegrass'', was born just outside Owensboro in Ohio County, KY. His musical group, the Blue Grass Boys, adapted the unique style of music they found in Scotch-Irish communities in Kentucky's Appalachian foothills and popularized it for a mainstream audience. Listeners, entranced by Blue Grass Boys' soaring melodies, jaunty rhythm, and homespun style, started a craze for Bluegrass music that brought national fame to generations of Kentucky artists.

Owensboro's leaders have recognized their unique role in Bluegrass history and sought to capitalize on that connection. City officials ushered in the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Owensboro in 1991, inviting both tourists and locals to learn about and enjoy Bluegrass history. The city's annual ``River of Music Party'', or ROMP, welcomes more than 20,000 visitors to the banks of the Ohio River to celebrate Bluegrass artists and help sustain this proud Kentucky tradition. And just recently, Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson signed the official proclamation naming his city the Bluegrass Capital of the World, cementing Owensboro's important place in Bluegrass history.

Owensboro's leaders have also initiated a strong campaign to educate and popularize Bluegrass among the next generation of Kentuckians. The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum features rotating exhibits highlighting key parts of Bluegrass history and hosts artists that promote the genre. The museum offers lessons in musical instruments like the mandolin, banjo, and fiddle, helping ensure the survival of their unique sounds and style. The museum's Bluegrass in the Schools program has introduced Bluegrass music to nearly 10,000 elementary students, including in 24 Owensboro-area schools, connecting young Kentuckians with their State's culture and history.

Bluegrass music is the soundtrack of Kentucky. From the first pluck of the banjo, strum of the guitar, or drone of the fiddle, the genre is immediately recognizable. Owensboro's leaders have done incredible, extensive work to preserve and promote this unique Kentucky music and are incredibly deserving of their city's recent designation as Bluegrass Capital of the World.

Mr. President, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer highlighted the city's new title in a recent article. I ask unanimous consent the article be printed in the Record.

Madam President, Western Kentucky is still reeling from last weekend's devastating storm, but support is rolling in from around the Commonwealth, our region, and the country as well.

Yesterday, I spoke with the CEO of LifePoint Health. They operate 10 hospitals in Kentucky, including one in hard-hit Mayfield. Miraculously, their Jackson Purchase Medical Center survived the tornado mostly intact. Now it is offering much needed medical services right there in Mayfield.

Nurses and doctors have worked literally day and night. LifePoint Health shipped water tankers to their facility to bolster local supply, and the company has pledged a million dollars to help Kentucky rebuild.

Across our region, individuals and companies are opening their hearts, homes, and wallets to help.

We have received important assistance from here in Washington as well. Yesterday, the President announced the Federal Government will fund the entire cost of debris removal and emergency protective measures in the eight counties hardest hit by the storm for the next month. Local officials won't need to worry about overstretching budgets. They can just focus on rebuilding.

My team and I are working hard to continue connecting Kentuckians with the resources they need. I have set up a portal on my Senate office website to help my constituents access government assistance. It has a full list of services provided by our disaster response Agencies.

Because of the Federal Government's swift action in the past week, victims of these tornadoes can access housing assistance, legal aid, crisis counseling, and more.

I recommend every impacted Kentuckian take advantage of these resources, and my office is here to help you navigate.

I will travel back to Kentucky tomorrow to visit several of the communities that were hit hardest and meet with local leaders who are spearheading recovery efforts. I will listen to their concerns and bring their stories back to Washington to ensure that they get the help they desperately need.

The scene on the ground in Western Kentucky is still devastating and quite discouraging. For far too many families, this Christmas will be tragically abnormal. But we will continue to work together to provide Kentucky with the resources it needs to recover, bigger and better than before.

Build Back Better Act

Now, Madam President, on an entirely different matter, two in three Americans want the Federal Government to ``cut back on spending and printing money.'' That is two out of three Americans want the Federal Government to cut back on spending and printing money. But our Democratic colleagues spent the last several months trying as hard as possible to do exactly--exactly--the opposite.

Washington Democrats have spent months trying to borrow, print, and spend trillions more dollars, right into the teeth of the worst inflation in almost 40 years.

They have sought to turn their monthly welfare entitlement with no work requirements from a temporary COVID measure into a permanent policy--cash welfare with no work requirements, literally forever.

Seventy-six percent of Americans say these handouts haven't helped their families at all. Yet Democrats want to dump many billions more.

Just step back and look at all the ways their leftwing wish list could hurt a young family in middle America.

First, they would need to cross their fingers that the private or employer-sponsored insurance they chose to

meet their family's specific needs isn't shoved off a cliff in Democrats' latest lurch toward more socialized medicine. And they will have to hope their war on the medical innovation sector doesn't prevent the development of lifesaving cures their family might have relied on some years down the road.

Say the family has one or two young kids. Maybe their ideal arrangement is a church-based daycare. They would need to say a prayer their faith-based center isn't sued and chased out of business thanks to Washington Democrats' toddler takeover.

Their plan would give nothing to full-time parents, grandparent caregivers, nanny shares, or neighborhood co-ops. It would push faith- based providers out of the public square by design, and it could inflate daycare costs--listen to this--by up to $12,000 or $13,000 per child per year.

If Democrats get their way, let's hope neither parent is one of the many Americans who work in our domestic energy sector. Our colleagues' bill has a huge pile of new redtape aimed at putting their industry literally out of business.

But no matter where they work, they will face inflated prices to heat their homes and fill up at the gas pump.

For all of these bad ideas and many more, our colleagues wanted to spend trillions upon trillions more dollars right into the teeth--into the teeth--of runaway inflation that they have already caused.

Yesterday, we got indications the far left's slapdash sprint may be hitting the pause button. Well, that would certainly be great news for the American people. The best Christmas gift Washington could give working families would be putting this bad bill on ice.

Senate Rules

Madam President, now, on another matter, as cracks keep forming in the Democrats' reckless taxing-and-spending spree, some of our colleagues seemed to channel their frustration into even more radical attempts to attack our government institutions.

In the span of a few hours, one Senate Democrat had renewed calls to ``nuke'' the Senate and break the rules, and another published a national op-ed arguing that Democrats should attack the rule of law and pack the Supreme Court--two frontal assaults on two branches of government proposed in the space of about 2 hours. Entire generations of statesmen would have seen either one of these unhinged proposals as Armageddon for our institutions. Ah, but apparently today's Democrats try both at once and just call it Wednesday.

We have heard false claims that the Senate obeying our rules to address the debt limit somehow paves the way for radicals to break the rules.

Madam President, I would ask unanimous consent that an additional statement on that subject be printed in a different place in the Record.

Elections

Madam President, so, look, we have discussed over and over again why Democrats will not be allowed to federalize our elections and lord over all 50 States like a self-appointed board of elections on steroids. My colleagues across the aisle have pushed absurd bills that would do things like neuter voter ID laws; make every State legalize ballot harvesting; turn the Federal Election Commission into a biased, partisan body; and even send taxpayer money to political campaigns.

It isn't about ``voting rights''; it is a naked power grab. Democrats have been pushing the same kinds of bills literally for years, even as their stated justifications have changed wildly. When Republicans win elections or start polling well, Democrats and the media say our democracy is badly broken, on death's door, and needs a radical overhaul. The answers presented are these policies. When Democrats win elections, Democrats and the media say our democracy is sterling, beyond reproach, and just needs modest safeguards to protect the status quo, but, again, the answers presented are the very same policies.

Lately, their pretext has been demagogic attacks on State voting laws and proposals. If any State scraps any of the temporary pandemic procedures that Democratic operatives favor, the radical left says the sky is falling. But outside of the liberal bubble, nobody buys this nonsense. The country is not buying the hysteria.

On election day last month--listen to this--even in deep-blue New York, voters rejected liberal ballot measures that would have liberalized no-excuse absentee voting and loosened up the rules on voter registration. Both those were voted down in New York. Not even blue New York wants these policies to weaken their elections. But some Democrats want to break the Senate and trash its rules to force these sorts of things on all 50 States? It is beyond absurd.

I understand my colleagues are frustrated they may not get to spend $4.9 trillion on the way out the door for Christmas, but, believe me, lashing out at our democracy, at the Supreme Court, and at the Senate itself is not going to solve anything.

Senate Rules

Madam President, last week, bipartisan majorities in the Senate and House passed S. 610 and the President signed the bill into law.

This law prevented painful Medicare cuts and established a one-time, expedited, simple-majority process to make Senate Democrats raise the nation's debt limit with only Democratic votes.

This week, some far-left activists and Senate Democrats who have spent months agitating to ``nuke'' the Senate are pretending that S. 610 represented some novel watershed for the Senate that gives them license to attack the institution.

These are factual claims, and they are false.

First, S. 610 needed to clear and did clear a 60-vote threshold. Sixty-four Senators voted to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment. The Senate's consideration and passage of the bill fully obeyed the Standing Rules of the Senate.

By contrast, ramming through a different fast-track procedure--or any other piece of legislation--with 50 votes over the objections of Senators requesting the 60-vote threshold would mean ``going nuclear,'' shredding the rules, and destroying the filibuster.

Last week, the Senate followed the rules. The far left wants Democrats to break the rules. There is no comparison.

Second, there was nothing novel about S. 610 establishing a new, limited, expedited, simple-majority Senate procedure via statute.

The Senate has passed many such laws creating many such procedures. Examples date back at least to the 1930s.

The much-used budget reconciliation process--with its limited, expedited, simple-majority Senate procedure--is a statutory creation of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and its amendments.

Other examples include the Trade Act of 1974, the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990, the Congressional Review Act of 1996, the Budget Control Act of 2011, and the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015. In all these instances, the Senate passed laws that set up new, limited, expedited, simple-majority Senate procedures for considering specific issues within specific parameters.

In this historical context, the one-time Senate process that S. 610 created was notably limited and minimalistic. It could only be accessed once, during a narrow stretch of time, for one specific purpose, with no other provisions or amendments permitted.

In sum, the Senate's recent action on the debt limit did not change the filibuster any more than BRAC, TPA, or the Budget ``Super- Committee'' changed the filibuster--which is to say, not at all.

As the widely admired and acclaimed expert on Senate procedure Marty Gold summarized last week, ``this expedited procedure will be created in accordance with the Standing Rules of the Senate, through passage of a regular order bill. The entire process must begin with 60 votes. [And] if it becomes law, it will be the narrowest expedited procedure ever passed.''

Last week's episode did not give radicals any pretext to wreck the Senate. Just the opposite. The Senate's functioning confirmed again that the current Senate rules generate bipartisan compromise when the country needs it.

Tribute to Sara Schwartzman

Madam President, now on one final matter, when the Senate does adjourn

for the holidays, we will also bid farewell to a talented Senate staff leader who has kept our institution running.

Sara Schwartzman is one of the Senate's finest. Sara has been a familiar face around the Senate and on the dais for more than a decade, and the most visible parts of her work as the Senate's bill clerk have certainly made her ``C-SPAN famous.''

For years, she was among the foremost experts on the pronunciation of ``Mr. Alexander.'' More recently, she has become well practiced in the delivery of ``Ms. Baldwin.'' But Sara's speaking role barely scratches the surface of her crucial responsibilities as the bill clerk. Day in and day out, she and her team are the traffic cops for mountains of legislative text and amendments. Sara tracks the paper and the records. Before the Senate can formally pass anything, it has to make a stop at her desk.

As if these core duties weren't enough to keep even the most meticulous multitasker busy, Sara has generously made herself available to folks throughout the institution as an informal resource. Bill status? Procedural hurdles? Sara's encyclopedic expertise has been just a phone call away. It is safe to say her colleagues will miss this other sort of Senate hotline.

As for Sara, one might worry that someone whose job is a part of every late-night vote and weekend session would struggle to fill her newfound free time, but I understand that, in this case, the Senate's loss is another storied institution's gain. Sara is leaving Washington but staying in public service, working in an exciting role with NASA.

So, Sara, thank you for your years of service, and good luck in the exciting chapters ahead.

(Applause.)

Mr. President, in the aftermath of Western Kentucky's devastating tornado outbreak, I have maintained close contact with State and local officials. My staff has been on the ground since the outset of the crisis, helping residents access Federal resources and keeping me up-to-date with any developments. Toward the end of the week, I will travel back to Kentucky to meet with my constituents and visit the areas affected.

The stories coming out of Kentucky are harrowing. But in recent days, we also heard about the generosity, the hard work, and the hope that are helping our State recover.

Kentuckians desperately need help to rebuild, so our universities, normally bitter rivals on the court, are rallying together to raise money and gather supplies for relief efforts.

This Christmas is shaping up to be exceptionally difficult for children all across Western Kentucky, so churches

are organizing toy drives to help make the holidays a little bit brighter. Western Kentucky community organizations are stretched to the limit, so businesses based in the Commonwealth, from distilleries to car manufacturers, to insurance companies, have stepped up and donated literally millions. Remarkable stories of survival and resiliency have trickled out of the disaster zone.

Last weekend's storm destroyed much of the First Christian Church in Mayfield, but the congregation discovered their communion table and altar cross fully intact while picking through the rubble. A symbol of hope and rebirth survived amid so much pain.

Across town, the Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation nursing home was physically devastated when it took a direct hit from the tornado on Friday night, but all 74 of the facility's elderly residents survived with only minor injuries. As one staff member said, this was ``truly a miracle.''

And in Bremen, KY, when a man visited the wreckage of his home on Saturday, he discovered his grand piano mostly undamaged--undamaged-- despite the storm. Amid the surrounding devastation, he sat down to play and to sing hymns. His songs, shared on social media, warmed the hearts of thousands.

These stories of hope have ricocheted across the Commonwealth, bringing smiles and strength to communities that need them most. And they give me faith that Kentucky will recover from this crisis stronger than ever.

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