Floor Statements

Madam President, last week, even more economic data continued to confirm that inflation is hammering working families all across America. In October, consumer prices saw their steepest spike in three decades, the worst inflation surge in more than 30 years.

When I was back home last week, I heard constantly from Kentuckians who have watched their gas prices and grocery prices literally soar. This is happening in every single State. Last month was the fifth straight month in which national consumer prices rose at least 5 percent.

The Democrats' inflation crisis has gotten so bad that Washington Democrats have stopped trying to pretend that it is just transitory and are starting to admit that it is on them to fix it. The same Democrats who spent months denying inflation was a lasting problem, the last people in America to wake up to this reality, are now convinced they are just the people to fix it.

But their supposed solutions are more of the same absurd policies that helped dig this hole in the first place. After months of mostly ignoring the problem, President Biden finally responded to last week's inflation data by insisting that ``reversing this trend is a top priority for me.''

But--surprise--the President's preferred solution just so happens to be the exact same reckless taxing-and-spending spree his administration has

been pushing, literally, for months now.

They cooked up this massive multitrillion-dollar spending spree back when they were saying inflation wasn't a major problem and it was still time to spend like crazy. But now, miraculously, that same spending binge happens to be their prescription to fight inflation.

Give me a break. This is just a sweeping socialist wish list in search of a justification. This is another megadose of the same radical recklessness that Republicans have warned against all along, that American families are already paying dearly for, as we speak.

But, so far, Democrats seem intent on grabbing the hot stove yet again, and its American families who stand to get burned.

Madam President, earlier today, our distinguished President pro tempore, the senior Senator from Vermont, announced he will conclude his incredible run of Senate service. Senator Leahy plans to retire at the end of next year, at the conclusion of his eighth term.

Senator Leahy has served Vermonters in the Senate for longer than anyone in the State's history. Of course, he has also become an all- star Senate institution in his own right. I think particularly of the opportunities I had to work with Senator Leahy when we were sharing leadership of the Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations.

It is hard to imagine the Senate without Pat and his lovely wife Marcelle. For now, I just want to salute our colleague on the occasion of his announcement and add my congratulations on his remarkable career thus far.

Mr. President, few sheriffs have accomplished as much, served as long, or helped as many as Sheriff Keith Cain of Daviess County, KY. After 48 years with the Daviess County Sheriff's Department, and 22 years as sheriff, Keith is retiring this year, leaving behind a breathtaking legacy of public service. Today, I recognize Sheriff Cain as a Kentucky hero whose record of service stands as an example for us all.

Sheriff Cain loves Daviess County and has spent his entire life working to protect and defend his fellow Kentuckians. He started his career in the Marines during the Vietnam war, showcasing the selflessness and sense of duty that would define the rest of his life. Upon returning to Kentucky, he joined the Daviess County Sheriff's Department, finding a home among his community's top law enforcement officers.

Fast forward nearly half a century, and it is clear that Sheriff Cain's dedication to his neighbors has not waned a bit since he first started his career. By pioneering new tactics and techniques, he has revolutionized law enforcement practices in Daviess County. As a graduate of both the National Sheriff's Institute and the FBI National Academy, Keith brought the technical know-how needed to beat any challenge that threatened his home community.

When the addiction crisis started in earnest in Western Kentucky, Sheriff Cain spearheaded Daviess County's rollout of Operation United Front, a program that helped combat the spread of illicit substances. He currently serves as the chair of the Drug Enforcement Committee of the National Sheriff's Association, using his expertise to help communities across the Nation. Keith is also a leader in law enforcement training and instruction. He served as the chair of the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council--the body responsible for all police training in the Commonwealth----and currently works at a local community college as a certified law enforcement instructor.

With nearly five decades of phenomenal public service under his belt, it is no surprise that Sheriff Cain has received numerous awards from law enforcement organizations all across the country. There are too many to list, but highlights include the Governor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Kentucky Law Enforcement, the Kentucky Sheriff Association's Sheriff of the Year Award, and the National Sheriff's Association Sheriff of the Year Award. Keith has been recognized by organizations like the NAACP, the U.S. Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, and the VFW. Needless to say, Daviess County will miss him dearly when he is gone.

While Sheriff Cain is retiring, I am confident we are not marking the end of his lifelong commitment to service. As the past half century has shown, Keith dedicated his entire life and career to care for his neighbors and community. While he will now have more time to spend with his wife Charlotte, son Jason, and granddaughters, Alexis and Alyssa, I am sure he will also remain an ever-present helping hand for Daviess County residents. On behalf of the Senate, I thank Sheriff Cain for his service and congratulate him on his well-earned retirement.

Mr. President, when President Lyle Roelofs joined Berea College in 2012, the school faced threats from many directions. It had fallen behind its peer institutions in infrastructure and student programming. Its endowment soon came under threat from partisan efforts that could have forced Berea to renege on its promise of providing a high-quality, tuition-free education to more than 1,600 students. But because of the work of President Roelofs, the school is now thriving like never before. Today, in light of President Roelofs's announcement that he will retire in 2023, I would like to pay tribute to one of the most generous and hard-working champions of higher education in Kentucky.

It is easy for outsiders to overlook Berea College. But nestled between the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains and the Bluegrass plains is one of the most significant institutions of higher learning in the entire United States. Founded by abolitionists before the Civil War, Berea College was the first racially integrated and coeducational college in the entire American South. Berea fostered inclusion and diversity at a time when it was difficult--even dangerous--to do so.

That grand history made the threats to Berea's tuition-free model even more worrisome. In many ways, the school embodies the unique values that make America special; it is an institution where anyone, of any background, has a chance to compete, learn new skills, and succeed. To some observers, though, Berea's work college system seemed outdated in an era when schools offer increasingly flashy amenities for ever- increasing tuition rates.

Roelofs, however, was firmly committed to Berea's foundational principles. He quickly got to work to defend the school's legacy and protect its students. Nearly a decade later, the fruits of his hard work are apparent. Berea has updated its residence halls, developed new educational programs, restored its surrounding forest ecosystem, and steadily climbed college ranking lists. Most importantly, Berea College is better equipped than ever to remain true to its tuition-free commitment.

I had the opportunity to get to know Lyle when we worked together to protect his school from an unintended tax penalty that arose when partisan lawmakers targeted the ability of schools like Berea to use the returns on their endowments to provide tuition-free education to low-income students. If these legislators had been successful, they would have forced Berea College to abandon its tuition-free promise and turn its back on its students, whose families make, on average, less than $30,000 per year. But because of the work of Berea College President Lyle Roelofs and his tireless advocacy efforts in Congress, we were able to work together to ward off these tax hikes and protect Berea College for years to come.

President Roelofs's leadership and care are astounding, and his commitment to Berea College is heroic. I know that each student who attends Berea is profoundly grateful for his work. On behalf of the Senate, I would like to congratulate President Roelofs on his well- earned retirement and thank him for his service to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

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

Madam President, this week, voters delivered a clear message to the Democratic Party: You were not elected to radically change America. You were not elected to radically change America-- period.

The message was clear on inflation and economics. The message was clear on keeping woke propaganda out of public schools. The message was clear when even the citizens of blue New York--blue New York--voted down leftwing changes that would weaken elections, similar to what has been proposed here multiple times, and the message was clear when citizens pushed back on anti-policing and on anti-law enforcement attitudes.

Even in the most liberal cities in the most liberal States, Americans told Democrats to leave their extreme campaign to ``defund the police'' behind.

Let's take Minneapolis, for example. Last summer, one local Congresswoman called the police department ``rotten to the root'' and insisted that ``no one is saying that the community is not going to be kept safe.''

Well, what happened?

Homicides are on a pace for the highest annual count in decades. So this week, Minnesota voters rejected a ballot measure that would have removed the police department--listen to this--from the city's charter.

Or take New York City, where violent crimes, like robbery and auto theft, have seen 10- to 15-percent jumps just in the last year. This week, voters chose for their mayor a former police captain whose platform declared: ``If we are for safety, we need the NYPD.'' That is the new mayor of New York.

Upstate, in Buffalo, a socialist challenger had won a primary against the incumbent mayor, promising in part to defund the police. But even though prominent New York Democrats endorsed the radical who won the primary, the incumbent won the race on a write-in--on a write-in.

Our people have just lived through the biggest nationwide jump in homicides in more than a century. In my hometown of Louisville, murders in 2021 have already more than doubled the annual total from just 2 years ago.

So, look, Americans do not want less public safety. They actually want more. No wonder that, over the summer, one survey found that a majority of Americans, including majorities of Black and Hispanic respondents, called violent crime a ``major crisis,'' ahead of any other issue.

But it remains to be seen whether Democrats here in Washington are getting the message. After all, just a few days ago, the Attorney General still seemed more focused on intimidating America's parents out of their First Amendment rights.

For the sake of public safety across our country, let's hope that Tuesday's election results compel our friends across the aisle to come back--back into the mainstream.

Climate Change

Madam President, on another matter, President Biden spent much of the past week participating in a U.N. summit on the so-called Paris climate accords.

The event was billed as a serious meeting of world leaders committed to taking action on climate policy. More than 1,000 VIPs arrived in a parade of no fewer than 400 private jets--400 private jets; a mode of transportation that some climate activists say is up to 14 times more polluting than commercial aviation.

Hypocrisy was on full display at that meeting.

The topic of discussion was a bad deal that, after 6 years, has failed to hold any of the major signatories to their commitments on reducing emissions. But, of course, that hadn't stopped President Biden from rejoining it. The President went as far as apologizing-- apologizing--that the previous administration had let the U.S. reduce its emissions from outside the deal. He pledged that, now, the United States ``will do our part.''

Now, exactly what that means is not clear. The United States exceeded in cutting its emissions more from outside the Paris deal than any other major country managed from inside the deal.

So President Biden apologized for outperforming the deal, and his counterparts welcomed America's new commitment to reduce U.S. emissions 50 percent by 2030, without a single specific on how to achieve it.

Now, while America's emissions have fallen, the world's leading carbon emitter apparently has a free pass to keep on increasing its emissions until 2030.

According to China's own representatives, their massive and thriving economy is still in a ``special development stage.'' ``Special development stage.''

We are talking about a country that built more than three times as much new coal power capacity as the rest of the world combined in 2020.

Meanwhile, one outside analysis indicates that getting America even close to net zero emissions by 2050 would mean cutting our own GDP by nearly 12 percent annually. That is trillions of dollars shipped out of this country every year. Competitors, like China, are licking their chops.

And what would this self-flagellation get us 39 years from now?

According to that same outside analysis, based on the U.N.'s own model, this economic hemorrhage would purchase us a reduction of three- tenths--three-tenths--of 1 degree in global temperatures.

Meanwhile, the same Washington Democrats who think that this nightmare sounds like a good deal are pushing a reckless taxing-and- spending spree that would hammer American families and the affordable energy they need to power and to heat their homes and to drive their cars.

After less than a year with Democrats in power, America has already more than doubled imports of Russian oil from December 2020 levels-- double the dependency on Russia in less than 12 months--America's energy future, as imagined by our colleagues on the left.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, we learned of the tragic passing of a much loved member of the Senate family.

Jean Rounds was an impressive and active public servant who served the people of South Dakota in many ways, including as their first lady; who served a large and tight-knit family as mother and grandmother; and who, for our colleague, Senator Mike Rounds, was, quite simply, the center of his world.

The life Mike and Jean built together was a partnership founded on faith, service, and love. By all accounts, Jean's bravery, Mike's devotion, and the loving care of their family in the face of a terrible illness made their inspiring example shine even brighter.

So the Senate is united in our grief. We will continue to hold our friend Mike and the entire Rounds family close in our thoughts and prayers in the difficult days that lie ahead.

Mr. President, on a totally different matter, last night was a difficult evening for Democrats. The Democratic Party has wildly misread their mandate and let the radical left run the country. Local Democrats let teachers unions keep schools shut months longer than necessary and told parents they didn't get a say in what their kids were learning. Washington Democrats have supercharged inflation, recreated welfare without work requirements, and made America significantly less energy independent.

President Biden was only given a 50-50 Senate and a tiny majority in the House, but he decided to let the radical left run the country. Citizens wanted a return to normalcy but have gotten a never-ending series of government-created crises.

So, look, the American people will not stand for this. That is what voters told Democrats last night all across the country. The results from different parts of our country demonstrate that this was, in large part, a referendum on national issues. But it is not too late. Democrats should listen to the voters, drop this reckless taxing-and- spending spree, and stop trying to ram through a socialist transformation that the American people never asked for.

The radical transformation that Democrats are writing behind closed doors would compound every mistake their party has made. Look at virtually any part of American families' lives, and Democrats' reckless taxing-and-spending spree would seize control of it and yank it way to the left.

The same Democrats who don't want parents involved in schools want to take over daycare and pre-K, crowd out faith-based and family providers, and put this vast new system under the control of the culture warrior HHS Secretary, who sued the Little Sisters of the Poor.

The same Democrats who pretend to defend working families are dead set on a massive tax cut that would overwhelmingly benefit rich people in blue States. One of the biggest pieces of

their signature bill is now a huge tax cut for rich people.

The same Democrats who say they support science and medicine want to slap arbitrary price controls on Americans' prescription drugs, reducing future innovation and, according to experts, literally costing Americans their lives who would have lived if not for this policy.

The same Democrats who pretend they care about Social Security and Medicare want to stretch seniors' existing Medicare Program even thinner. Even though the trust fund is already just a few years away from running dry, they would do this in order to fund new giveaways.

The same Democrats who talk a big game about competing with China want to raise taxes so high that our own American industries would face a higher tax rate than businesses have to pay in communist China.

The same Democrats who are still trying to sneak forms of amnesty into this bill also want to make illegal immigrants eligible for new welfare.

The same Democrats who pretend they are forward-thinking on energy issues want to hammer the U.S. economy with painful regulations while bigger emitters, like China, just keep on emitting--maximum pain for American families and no measurable gain for emissions or the climate.

The bill our colleagues are writing behind closed doors is terrible from top to bottom--more debt, more taxes, more inflation, and fewer options for American families.

This reckless taxing-and-spending spree would hurt families and help China. This radical social takeover is the last thing Americans need and the last thing Americans want. The voters of America just yesterday gave our colleagues a preview of that fact last night. It is not too late. They could still pull back from the brink while they can.

This has become an almost weekly routine--my friends on the other side trying to give Washington unprecedented power over how Americans cast their vote.

We don't have time to do the NDAA or an appropriations process, but we always have time for a few more of these stunts. In many of these bills, congressional Democrats propose to make themselves into a national board of elections.

Today, there is a small difference. They want, instead, to hand that power to Attorney General Merrick Garland; different branch of government, same bad idea.

I just want to add one observation from last night. Governors' races and State legislative seats weren't the only

things on the ballot last night. Yesterday, the deep blue State of New York--New York, the home of the Senate majority leader--had two of America's signature proposals for weaker elections actually on the ballot as ballot measures. Citizens got to vote directly on whether to open the door to two changes that the politicians wanted: same-day registration and no-excuse absentee voting, on the ballot in New York yesterday.

And as of the latest tally a few minutes ago, both proposals were losing. They currently are both losing about 60/40. Even in deep blue New York, citizens appear to be rejecting the Democrats' demands for weaker elections.

So I think there is only one question left: Where will the Mets and Yankees end up now?

Surely Major League Baseball can't let them stay in New York after this.

I urge a no vote.

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

Mr. President, since the earliest days of COVID-19, Washington Democrats have admitted they want to use the pandemic as the pretext to permanently transform our country. They hope to use the temporary crisis as a Trojan horse for permanent radical change. One of their massive, ideological goals is a huge series of disruptive changes to American families' childcare.

The story is like Democrats' long march toward socialized medicine: take an intimate area of American life, pile on a maze of new mandates, regulations, cost increases and subsidies, and push families out of the driver's seat so Washington can run their lives.

Not too long ago, the Democrats' promise that ``if you liked your healthcare plan, you could keep it'' was awarded the ``lie of the year.''

Now they want a sequel: If you like your childcare, you can keep your childcare.

Democrats want to sweep the first 5 years of children's lives into a new set of top-down, one-size-fits-all, Washington-knows-best regulations.

Their Big Government scheme would make childcare more expensive and use taxpayer money to subsidize only some families--those who structure their arrangements in ways that Democrats like. Other families would be left to fend for themselves, now in an even more inflated market.

Their bill would give Democrats and bureaucrats massive new authority they could use to shape curriculum and standards nationwide. If providers don't play along, they could be left out in the cold.

The Biden administration wants to insert itself into the most intimate family decisions and tell parents how to care for their toddlers. The entire scheme violates the basic principle of family fairness.

Speaker Pelosi suggested last week that she approves of one kind of family structure: ``Parents earning and children learning.''

She said Democrats want government programs to ``liberat[e]'' families so that both parents work full time.

Well, there are lots of families like that model, but other families prefer other models. Not everybody defines ``liberation'' the same way, yet Washington Democrats want Big Government to bless certain family arrangements and not others.

Has your family made a different set of sacrifices so a father or mother can parent full time?

Sorry, Democrats want to redistribute money away from your family to other households that may earn even more money.

Has your family built its whole life around a plan for a grandparent to provide in-home care?

Too bad. Grandma or Grandpa would have to fill out paperwork and apply for the bureaucrats' blessing or that family could be denied help also.

Democrats could easily end up taxing working-class families with a full-time parent in order to subsidize the arrangements of wealthier two-income households. They are steamrolling over family fairness, over families' choices and options, over the diversity of American families and their aspirations.

By the way, Democrats appear to want to change the law in ways that could force faith-based providers to put aside sincerely held religious beliefs.

Just look at who would be administering all this. One key player would be HHS Secretary Becerra--the partisan California lawyer who got famous by suing Catholic nuns for being too Catholic and crisis pregnancy centers for being pro-life--a hardcore culture warrior.

And this person is going to be the new national czar for early childhood?

Another key figure would be Secretary Cardona. You may recall, a few months back, Senate Republicans had to stop our Education Secretary from diverting funding for civics education towards woke propaganda that had been debunked by historians.

And this is the same Biden administration whose Attorney General just wrote an entire memo singling out concerned parents who speak up at their local school board meetings. Now they want to extend their Federal control over babies and toddlers as well.

Finally--get this--this tangled new entitlement would be so mind- bogglingly expensive that Democrats can't even put a long-term dollar amount on it. The estimate is that all this government meddling will cost $400 billion over just the first several years. After that, nobody really knows what the blank check will add up to.

Taxpayers are supposed to pony up a blank check for the privilege of having less control over family choices. I think the American people will take a pass.

Madam President, well, the American people are hurting. Inflation just hit another 30-year record high. Families are paying skyrocketing prices for everyday needs. The murder rate across the country just recorded its biggest jump ever.

But here is what the Biden administration has focused on: handing out six-figure and seven-figure payments to illegal immigrants.

A few years back, liberal interest groups started trying to sue the U.S. Government on behalf of illegal immigrants. They wanted American taxpayers to pay out legal damages because of the conditions some people faced as they tried to break into our country illegally.

As a legal matter, these lawsuits were borderline frivolous. Our government was all but certain to win the suits, but this administration wants to stand down and voluntarily pay out massive damages: ``The U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering payments that could amount to close to $1 million a family''--$1 million a family, about a half a million dollars per adult, and about a half a million dollars more per child.

American families are having to anxiously budget for gas and groceries, but

President Biden wants to literally make millionaires out of people who have violated Federal law.

What could be more unfair and unjust to law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens?

And talk about yet another massive incentive for more and more people to come here illegally: On President Biden's watch, we have already seen an alltime high in illegal border crossings, combined with a decade low in arrests in the interior.

So Democrats have already created a major border crisis, and now they want to cut seven-figure checks to illegal border crossers?

Democrats are already trying to send monthly welfare payments to people who are here illegally. That is in the reckless taxing-and- spending spree they are putting together behind closed doors.

But who needs $300 a month when President Biden wants to send these folks $450,000 per person?

That is four and a half times the payment that the Department of Defense sends to the survivors of servicemembers who were killed in action. Fallen troops' families get $100,000 from the Pentagon. But the Biden administration wants to give illegal immigrants $450,000?

This is an especially extreme example of a big error that Democrats continue to make over and over again.

The left mistakenly thinks that a compassionate border means a weak border. They think compassion requires weakness--weak security, weak enforcement, weak on upholding the rule of law. And now, apparently, we are a cruel country unless we hand out a million dollars per family to illegal immigrants who sue America.

But the entire concept is dead wrong. It is not compassion to lure people from all over the world through dangerous journeys with the promise of open-borders socialism. In fact, the government paying out six-figure sums that multiply with every additional child in tow will only incentivize the riskiest and most dangerous kinds of illegal immigration. We will be guaranteeing that even more children are dragged along the dangerous journey.

Honestly, this absurd idea feels like a satirical policy proposal that Republicans would have invented to make a parody out of the radical left. Oh, and the next thing you know, they will be sending out million-dollar checks to illegal immigrants. But this is literally what the Biden administration wants to do, according to reports that they have not denied.

Out in the real world, American families already have enough reasons to worry about the administration's spending habits. The inflation kicked off by Democrats' springtime binge has wiped out wage gains and made family budgets even harder to square.

One recent report on soaring food prices included this quote from a shopper out in Indiana: ``You have to pick and choose. Before, you didn't have to do that. You could just go in and buy a week or two's worth of food. Now, I can barely buy one week's worth.''

That is a sobering reality that too many Americans are dealing with, and it isn't limited to the grocery store. Folks in my hometown of Louisville have seen gas prices jump a full dollar in the past year. Feeding a family is getting harder. Filling up the tank is getting harder. Even heating a home this winter is shaping up to be 30 percent more expensive than last year.

Even during a time of calm and prosperity, writing million-dollar checks to illegal immigrants would be an insult to American families, but it is 10 times more insulting at a time like this, when Democrats' policies are forcing so many households to tighten their belts.

These are the same Democrats who are putting finishing touches on yet another multimillion dollar--multitrillion dollar reckless taxing-and- spending spree. So in the days and weeks ahead, when the far left tries to sell America on historic inflationary spending, historic tax hikes, and more micromanaging of American life by politicians, just remember, these are the same politicians who have proposed giving millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to people who broke Federal law to enter our country.

The same people who think that is a great idea want license to transform our entire economy.

Look around. I am not sure how much more of this transformation American families can stomach.

Madam President, yesterday brought reports that carjackings in my hometown of Louisville were up 150 percent since 2019, and the city's 2021 murder total is rapidly closing in on an alltime record that was set just last year.

These aren't just local problems; they are national trends. Twenty- twenty saw the homicide rate jump more than at any point in over a century--the worst spike in the murder rate in more than 100 years.

The law enforcement crises don't stop there. Our southern border saw more illegal crossings last year than in any year on record. Yet ICE has made its fewest interior arrests in a decade.

A crime epidemic and a border crisis--these are the sorts of problems you might expect the Nation's top law enforcement officer to face head- on. These are the sorts of issues that should keep the Department of Justice up all night long. But, alas, Attorney General Garland has other priorities.

The AG made waves this month with a bizarre memo that directed the FBI, along with DOJ's Criminal, National Security, and Civil Rights Divisions, to focus--now listen to this--special attention and security on parents--parents--who have opinions about their local school boards.

Yesterday, under questioning from the Judiciary Committee, the Attorney General seemed absolutely incapable of giving a satisfactory explanation as to why the parents of America are his A-1 priority; nor could he explain why this bizarre guidance came just days--days--after a powerful interest group sent a letter demanding this action.

Actually--listen to this--the interest group has already apologized for the letter. They say they regret sending it. But the Attorney General won't budge from his shocking guidance even after the special interests that asked for it have backed away. Apparently, the instant that special interests ask the Biden administration to jump, the Attorney General responds: How high?

The Attorney General insisted that all his Department is concerned about is ``violence and threats of violence.'' Well, of course violence and threats are always wrong. They are also already illegal and already the purview of local law enforcement.

There is no evidence that America's concerned parents needed to be singled out as targets of this J. Edgar Hoover

act from the Feds. If Democrats at the local, State, and Federal levels want fewer parents--concerned parents--showing up at school board meetings, the solution is to stop indoctrinating the kids with crazy messages on the taxpayers' dime, not trying to use Federal law enforcement to frighten families out of their First Amendment rights.

Madam President, January 22, 1997, Senator Collins cast her first rollcall vote for Madeleine Albright to be Secretary of State. From that moment on, she has not missed one single, solitary vote; zero sick days, zero scheduling conflicts. Whether we were voting on war or peace, historic legislation, or the most routine and uncontroversial bills and nominations, the Senator has made sure that Maine got its say every single time.

So here is some perspective. The longest consecutive games streak in Major League Baseball famously belonged to Cal Ripken, Jr. Well, our colleague from Caribou has lapped him three times and counting. And, by the way, the Iron Horse didn't have to plan around weekly air travel in and out of New England, all winter, every winter.

Anybody who knows Senator Collins knows this moment is not really about a round number; it is about the approach which the number happens to reflect. Our colleague is diligent. She is devoted. Her level of preparation is unparalleled. She holds herself to the highest standards, and she delivers.

It is in her blood. Both of our colleague's parents served separate terms as mayor of Caribou. But the Senator also draws inspiration from outside the gene pool. She rightly idolizes her predecessor from Maine, the legendary Margaret Chase Smith, but even Senator Smith's own impressive voting streak topped out just shy of 3,000.

I am just sorry that today's milestone moment couldn't present our colleague with a challenge worthy of her skills. Lucky number 8,000 didn't even require a sprained ankle or a hasty exit from a departing airplane.

So congratulations to our colleague on this moment and all that it represents.

Mr. President, in a few days, President Biden is set to gas up Air Force One and jet to Scotland for a global conference about the climate. According to press coverage, the President's agenda is clear:

``Biden Wants to Show the World He's Serious About Cutting Emissions.''

``Joe Biden gets real on climate change.''

What we are talking about here is a meeting to review a plan that failed to get its own signatories to meet its unenforceable ``commitments;'' a deal that couldn't compel the world's largest carbon producer, China, to commit to any less than another 9 years of rising emissions before it starts--starts--to turn things around. This is a country with single companies that emit more carbon than nations the size of Canada. Let me say that again. China is a country with single companies that emit more carbon than nations the size of Canada. And all the while, the United States, from outside the deal, cut our emissions more than any major country inside the deal. We cut our emissions more outside the deal than any of the countries inside the deal.

The Biden administration is desperately chasing bad deals to win applause from foreign leaders. That is what this is about: signing the American people up for self-inflicted pain for no meaningful gain.

The only thing that is serious about President Biden's environmental agenda is the trouble that it is already causing right here at home. Our adversaries like Russia are salivating over big windfalls while working American families are already feeling the pain.

Remember, on day one, this administration put a freeze on crucial development of domestic energy and killed the Keystone XL Pipeline, along with over 1,000 jobs. Combined with Democrats' flood of inflationary spending, it is no wonder consumers are facing the highest prices at the pump in 7 years, the most expensive home heating forecast in more than 12 years, and soaring prices on the household goods that are costing U.S. manufacturers more to make.

Ah, but wait. There is more. When President Biden jets off to next week's summit, his fellow Democrats will be busy plotting yet another reckless taxing-and-spending spree that would compound the pain with more anti-energy policies. They want to create new taxes on the most affordable and reliable forms of American energy that would put producers out of business, workers out of jobs, and make home heating even pricier this winter. They want to put billions more into ``environmental and social justice block grants,'' whatever that means. They want to subsidize the favorite products of blue State elites, like electric cars and even--listen to this--electric bicycles.

Democrats also want to pour billions of dollars into a made-up government work program they are calling the Civilian Climate Corps-- Civilian Climate Corps. This is pure socialist wish-fulfillment. We already have a worker shortage and record numbers of open jobs, but Democrats want taxpayers to put aside $8 billion for make-work programs for young, liberal activists that they admit ``[wouldn't] measurably reduce emissions.''

Under their latest batch of proposed regulations, States that fail to keep pace with heavyhanded emissions targets would face ``consequences''--consequences like freezes on funds for major transportation projects that employ lots of American workers. They want to bully every State to become more and more like California.

Washington Democrats are plowing ahead with all this precisely as the Ghost of Christmas Future is providing us with a cautionary tale from across the Atlantic. All across Europe, natural gas prices have jumped 400 percent since the start of the year. Countries are scrambling to rediscover and reactivate the reliable systems they had left behind to follow the latest fads.

Thanks in part to the Biden administration's own inaction, Putin's Russia has turned his controlling share of European gas production into a political weapon.

But instead of heeding this cautionary tale, President Biden seems to want to follow suit. His regulations have squandered the energy independence we enjoyed before he took office. U.S. imports of Russian oil have doubled. As gas prices soar, his administration is reportedly--listen to this--asking OPEC to cut us some slack.

As one academic summed it up, ``Biden policy promotes a multiyear, multitrillion-dollar windfall'' for adversaries--you heard it--like Russia.

To raise energy prices while enabling Moscow to tighten its

grip over Europe's energy supply is to turbocharge a Russian

regime that was staggering and showing its age.

Pain for the American people. Payoffs for our adversaries so that President Biden can receive cheers from the crowd in Glasgow. Small comfort for his own citizens.

Energy policy isn't the only place where the Biden administration's decisions are hurting Americans. The President's retreat from Afghanistan continues to have dangerous and disastrous consequences. Yesterday, one Pentagon official gave Senators a new estimate of how many Americans the administration has left behind. The count Secretary Austin claimed last month--last month--was less than 100. That has now risen to 450 Americans left behind enemy lines. The Biden administration spent weeks insisting they only left about 100 Americans behind in Afghanistan when the truth was multiple times that. The administration has also continued to fail to keep its promises to brave Afghan allies.

Meanwhile, as many warned, the terrorist threat is growing in the wake of our retreat. The same Pentagon official

acknowledged that Afghanistan-based ISIS-K and al-Qaida terrorists have the intent and are acquiring the capability to strike the United States. ISIS-K could threaten our homeland in as little as 6 months. The Biden administration still doesn't have basing or access agreements in neighboring countries for its supposed plan to hit terrorists from ``over the horizon.'' No wonder our adversaries are testing this President's resolve to protect American personnel and American interests.

A complex attack against U.S. forces in Syria last week may well have been carried out at the behest of Iran. The administration isn't saying. They need to come clean about who is responsible and how they intend to respond.

We know Tehran badly wants the United States and its partners out of Syria and Iraq and to continue to threaten Israel and other U.S. partners. What we don't know is what the Biden administration plans to do about it.

Even where progress should be easy, this administration finds ways to actually mess things up. For example, there is strong, bipartisan agreement about the threat the People's Republic of China poses to international security and specifically to American interests--case in point: Beijing's recent publicly reported efforts to test hypersonic weapons and advance their nuclear capabilities. China is also dramatically expanding the naval capabilities that they openly use to harass other nations.

Both Republicans and Democrats would welcome a clear and coherent China strategy from this administration, but all we are getting is a muddled mess. A few days ago, no sooner did President Biden offer comments on his own Taiwan policy then the White House staff rapidly walked it back. So it makes you want to ask, who is in charge over there--the President or the Press Secretary? American administrations have a tradition of handling Taiwan with something called strategic ambiguity. I am afraid the Biden team is taking that a little too literally. Even they themselves seem to have no idea what they are doing.

President Biden likes to say something like: Show me your budget, and I will tell you what you value. But President Biden's own request for the defense budget didn't even keep up with President Biden's inflation. The White House proposed to cut defense funding after inflation. And here in the Senate, Democrats' partisan appropriations process seems to shortchange defense in favor of runaway domestic spending. Even their ostensibly China-focused bill from earlier this year would not have included any funding for the kinds of advanced defense capabilities that we need to keep pace if it weren't for an amendment offered by Senator Sasse.

Even the NDAA is stuck in limbo. The defense authorization bill is our most basic opportunity to shape security policy. It is a core duty for the Senate majority, the bare minimum, but Democrats have completely neglected the NDAA and the traditional robust and real floor process that it will need. They are too busy debating how much socialism to unleash on the country to look out for our troops, our veterans, and our national security.

This unseriousness will leave Americans less safe. It is just that simple.