Floor Statements

Mr. President, I understand that there are two measures at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 25; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I call up amendment No. 5262, and I ask that it be reported by number.

Madam President, I rise on behalf of nearly 4\1/2\ million Americans in 12 States, including 646,000 Georgians who, a decade after the Affordable Care Act became law, still do not have access to affordable healthcare. They are the working poor. They are being blocked by Governors and legislatures.

But, sadly, today they are being betrayed by this body. The bill we are about to pass will rightly strengthen healthcare access for millions of Americans, but how do we justify doing that while leaving the hard-working families in Georgia who gave us this power in the first place and the other 11 nonexpansion States in the cold? My amendment would simply extend the same subsidies to them.

If in this bill we can extend tax relief to hedge fund managers, then, surely, we can extend tax credits as a lifeline to the working poor.

This is a moral moment. The scripture says: Woe to those who crush the poor.

I am asking my Democratic colleagues to do the right thing and close this gap.

Madam President, pursuant to Section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that Act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of the pending amendment, and I ask for the yeas and the nays.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to honor a friend, our late Senator from Georgia, my predecessor, Senator Johnny Isakson, as we work across the aisle, just as he did, to rename the Department of Veterans Affairs Atlanta Regional Office in his honor.

I thank my brother and fellow Senator from Georgia for leading this effort.

Without a doubt, Senator Isakson loved Georgia, and he cared deeply for our country. He was a patriot, a public servant, and I am proud to say that there are members of my staff who used to work for Johnny Isakson. They will tell you that he never hesitated to show up.

In my other job as a pastor, I talk often about the ministry of presence. Sometimes, it is not about what you say, because there are some situations, quite frankly, for which there are no adequate words. When someone has lost a loved one, and you are standing there at graveside or standing in a hospital at bedside with a patient, sometimes the issue is really showing up--the ministry of presence.

Johnny Isakson had it. He knew how to show up. Whether it was paying a visit to an ill patient or seeing a disabled veteran, he was there. Senator Isakson, the consummate public servant, dedicated his years of service to our beloved Georgia, to veterans, to our families, and to our children.

He always made it a point to show up at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Every year in January, as we celebrate Georgia's greatest son, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Johnny Isakson, without fail, was always in the house. Now, to be sure, when the King holiday rolls around, politicians do tend to show up, but what was so impressive about Johnny Isakson is that, not only did he show up for the service, he stayed for the whole service--a service which, I will admit, is long, even by Baptist standards. He stayed there the whole time.

He was unafraid to work across ideological and political differences in our State, in our country. I shall never forget his example of public service.

We talked from time to time. In fact, it occurs to me that the first time I stood in this Chamber, I stood not as a Senator but as Chaplain of the day, and it was at Johnny Isakson's invitation. I remember his graciousness on that day and on so many occasions.

When he announced his retirement, he called me and said: Raphael, I am retiring, and I want to drop by Ebenezer and say goodbye.

When he came that Sunday, he asked the members of our church who are veterans to stand. As he looked across the audience and saw all the veterans who were in our church, he said: I want to leave a special offering for the veterans ministry in this church.

That was Johnny Isakson.

So I am thrilled that today, with great appreciation and admiration for Senator Johnny Isakson, our bipartisan legislation honors his life and his legacy by renaming the Department of Veterans Affairs Atlanta Regional Office in his honor, and I am thrilled that it has passed in the Senate in a bipartisan way with unanimous support.

Isn't that fitting? Johnny Isakson is doing now in death what he did in life--bringing us together. And in this moment in which we are in a debate about what to do for our veterans, isn't it appropriate that his spirit summons us to common ground--and the higher ground--so that we can do all we can for those who have our back in dangerous places all over the globe.

Senator Isakson cared deeply for Georgia's veterans and for veterans all across our country. He understood that there are some things bigger than politics. So we recognize his amazing service, his incredible legacy of life and self-sacrifice by renaming the Atlanta Regional Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs in his honor.

I am proud to sit in the seat where he sat, and it is my honor to help lead the passage of this bipartisan piece of legislation that will help preserve the legacy of our late and dear friend.

Long live the spirit of Johnny Isakson.

Mr. President, as it turns out, I rise to echo the sentiments of my colleague, the distinguished Senator from the State of Illinois.

The Senate is prepared to finally begin debating a targeted version of the jobs and competition bill that many of us have been working on for more than a year, and I rise today to urge my colleagues not to waste any more time in getting this important bill across the finish line. We should not allow politics to get in the way of the people's work.

As a voice in the Senate for my home State of Georgia, I cannot stress enough how critical it is for us to get this bill done for our national security

and to keep our economy competitive against global actors like the Chinese Communist Party and to lower rising costs for hard-working families all across Georgia and all across our country.

Now, I know that there might be disappointment from some of my colleagues that we are not able to pass the more robust package right now that we have been working on and negotiating since last April. And, honestly, I share that disappointment.

As both a member of the Commerce Committee and a member of the committee that has been negotiating the final competition bill, I have been working hard to secure several priorities for Georgia in that package, and I am not about to stop fighting for those priorities.

I am going to keep fighting to get investments and policies like funding for regional tech hubs, for STEM education--an education program that invests in all of our children, in all of our young people--and workforce development passed into law.

But let me be clear: Passing a bill that will strengthen domestic production of one of our country's most valuable resources, semiconductors or chips, is a crucial opportunity to invest in the economy, invest in our security, and our future. And we cannot wait another minute.

I want to shine a spotlight on this because I have heard from Georgians about the importance of this legislation and, specifically, investing and making more chips here in the United States. We know that chips are essential components in the products that support thousands of good-paying jobs in Georgia, not to mention things like cars, cell phones, computers, vacuum cleaners, ATMs. Chips are all around us, a host of products we rely on every single day.

And we know that our chips supply chains are under significant strain, both from production limits and geopolitical threats. But what you may not know is how these issues directly affect workers and companies on the ground all across the State of Georgia--companies like Kia, which has a thriving facility out in West Point, GA, about halfway between Atlanta and Montgomery, AL, on I-85. Semiconductors are essential to the manufacturing of the roughly 340,000 vehicles Kia produces in Georgia every year. At least twice in the past year, this facility, which I have visited on more than one occasion, has had to stop work at the plant because they didn't have enough chips.

They had to stop working, not because they didn't have enough customers, but because they didn't have enough chips. I visited that West Point facility, and I met with some of those workers. And I can tell you that the last thing that those workers need is to miss days off work and money out of their paychecks because we don't manufacture enough of the materials that they work with every single day.

And it is not just car manufacturers in Georgia. The chip shortage is hurting our State's economy in myriad ways, big and small. For instance, Stephen Milner is the CEO of Planters Telephone Cooperative, a member-owned telecommunications provider in Screven County that does broadband expansion, as well as broadband maintenance.

Stephen's company needs equipment to do that work that requires semiconductors, and as he explained recently in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, it has become harder to expand telephone and internet services to new businesses and homes in the rural communities he services because his company can't guarantee that it will get the parts needed to complete the job.

So think about that. The chip shortage isn't just hurting jobs and bottom lines; it is hobbling our ability to expand rural broadband. And farmers all across Georgia will tell you that you can't even farm efficiently without a good broadband connection.

And so this is devastating, especially for rural Georgians. And if we don't act soon, it will get worse. We have got to ensure that all of our citizens can take full advantage of every opportunity in our changing economy. And this is a problem we can solve. We can solve it.

The only thing that gets in the way of this right now is politics. And so we have got to pass this bill. If we produced more chips here at home, it would boost domestic manufacturing, ease supply chain issues, and help begin to lower rising costs for goods that families are experiencing in Georgia and around the country. Why wouldn't we want to take steps to drive down costs for hard-working families right now? We work for them.

Lastly, this bill contains provisions I fought for that will expand these tax incentives to companies down the semiconductor supply chain, supporting economic engines like the high-tech semiconductor plant being built in Covington, GA, that will create 400 new jobs.

There are real economic consequences for people in my State if we do not pass this chips bill and make these investments. These are the human faces of the public policy that we would pass. But that is not the only reason we need to get this bill done as urgently as possible.

It also bears repeating that passing this legislation is critical to our national security and strengthening our competitiveness against global actors like the Chinese Communist Party. Chips are used in technology critical to our national security.

According to a 2020 report from the Semiconductor Industry Association, in 1990--listen--in 1990, the United States represented a 37 percent share of the world's chip manufacturing capacity. Today, that number is 12 percent--from 37 percent to 12 percent.

I submit that that is unacceptable, and it is a threat to our national security. As we have heard from Defense Secretary Austin, Commerce Secretary Raimondo, and other administration officials, we are at a tipping point--a tipping point--where international companies are making significant decisions about where they are investing their capital and putting down roots.

In fact, we have already seen several of these entities hesitate to invest in American manufacturing due to inaction and political gamesmanship right here in Washington.

So our ability to rise to this occasion will demonstrate whether the United States is willing to cede the innovation and economic higher ground to the Chinese Communist Party or whether we will stand up to the People's Republic of China and reinvest in the manufacturing and innovation prowess that has made America a lone superpower for decades.

I submit that if we fail to pass this bill immediately, we will set back America's competitiveness for a generation or more. This critical moment requires all of us to put the country above politics. Imagine that: Put the country above politics. Put hard-working American families who are doing the best they can right now above politics and strengthen our Nation's competitiveness.

And so I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the strong chips legislation, and let's ensure that the next century, like the 20th century, is the American century.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following letters be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which is at the desk.

Mr. President, this legislation will help to lower costs for hard-working families, create jobs, and equip the Nation to compete in a changing economy.

Historically Black colleges and universities have been putting in the work. For years, they have always had to punch above their weight, but they play a critical role in creating those jobs and in ensuring that we have a diverse, trained workforce for new technology, for research, and advanced manufacturing opportunities in Georgia and, indeed, across the country.

That is why we have to invest in their ability to meet tomorrow's challenges. When we invest in all of our young people, we position our economy to be strong for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years into the future.

The purpose of this motion is very simple. It will ensure that our entire higher education sector can contribute to our growing tech and innovation economy. We make good use of all of our talent in creating businesses and good-paying jobs in Georgia and all across the Nation. I hope that we can adopt this motion by voice vote.

Vote on Motion

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to express my joy in voting to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What a great day it is for the United States of America, for our system of government and the grand march toward the fulfillment of the sacred covenant we have with one another as an American people--``e pluribus unum": out of many, one.

Ketanji Brown Jackson's improbable journey to the Nation's highest Court is a reflection of our own journey, through fits and starts, toward the Nation's highest ideals. She embodies the arc of our history. The very fine product of public schools, both her parents attended segregated primary schools before graduating from historically Black colleges and universities.

She is a two-time graduate of Harvard; a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Breyer, to whom the Nation owes enormous thanks for his decades of public service; a former Federal public defender who would be the first of her kind to serve on the Supreme Court; a jurist who has gone before the Senate on three separate occasions and each time has garnered strong bipartisan support; a judge who has heard cases both in the U.S. district court and our Federal court of appeals; a judge who has the strong endorsement

of critical stakeholders from across our justice system. From the American Bar Association to those who advocate for civil rights, to organizations representing our Nation's brave law enforcement officers, all of them respect Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She is a wife and a working mom. She is America at its best. That, I believe in my heart after meeting with her in my office, talking to folks whom I trust who know her, and hearing her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Under intense questioning before the committee--much of it appropriate and necessary; some of it outrageous and beyond the pale-- she demonstrated her legal acumen, sharp intellect, and the kind of temperament we need on the Bench, especially at a time like this. If there were any doubts about her character, she more than proved her poise, her skill, composure, and the depth of her patriotism through the process--amazing grace under pressure.

As a voice for Georgians in the Senate, I have said from the beginning that people in my State want someone on the Court who is fair, eminently qualified, and has a record of protecting the constitutional rights and freedoms of Georgians and Americans. That is why my office has received thousands of emails and phone calls from Georgians in every corner of our State voicing their support for Judge Jackson's confirmation.

After hearing from Georgians and thoroughly evaluating her nomination, I am ecstatic to say that Judge Jackson is an excellent jurist who has the temperament and discernment to sit on our Nation's highest Court.

The people of Georgia made this appointment possible by making history last year. So in addition to thanking Georgia for this moment, I want to acknowledge that the historic nature of her appointment isn't lost on me. Like my brother Senator Booker, I know what it has taken for Judge Jackson to get to this moment, and nobody is going to steal my joy.

Yes, I am a Senator; I am a pastor, but beyond all of that, I am the father of a young Black girl. I know how much it means for Judge Jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to now stand in the glory of this moment in all of her excellence. For my 5-year-old daughter and for so many young women in our country--but, really, if we are thinking about it right, for all of us--seeing Judge Jackson ascend to the Supreme Court reflects the promise of progress on which our democracy rests.

So what a great day it is in America. Today, the word of justice and equal protection under the law becomes flesh and lives among us in new ways. Today, at the highest levels of our government, the administration of our Constitution looks a little bit more like what it says. And it fills me with great pride for our country, how far we have come and what we can achieve together.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is beyond qualified, and I am beyond thrilled to speak for Georgia in voting to confirm her to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I yield the floor.

Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up

with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at

Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched

the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across

the pages of history, we were here. For more than two

centuries our forebears labored in this country without

wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their

masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful

humiliation--and yet out of a bottomless vitality they

continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible

cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now

face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the

sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are

embodied in our echoing demands. Before closing I feel

impelled to mention one other point in your statement that

has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the

Birmingham police force for keeping ``order'' and

``preventing violence.'' I doubt that you would have so

warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs

sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt

that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you

were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of

Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them

push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if

you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young

boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two

occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to

sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise

of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of

discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they

have conducted themselves rather ``nonviolently'' in public.

But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of

segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently

preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must

be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make it clear

that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends.

But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps

even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.

Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather

nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany,

Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to

maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T.S. Eliot

has said: ``The last temptation is the greatest treason: To

do the right deed for the wrong reason.''

I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and

demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their

willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the

midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize

its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the

noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and

hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that

characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old,

oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two

year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a

sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride

segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical

profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: ``My

feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.'' They will be the

young high school and college students, the young ministers

of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and

nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going

to jail for conscience's sake. One day the South will know

that when these disinherited children of God sat down at

lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is

best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in

our Judeo Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation

back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by

the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution

and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it

is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you

that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing

from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is

alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters,

think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the

truth and indicates an unreasonably impatience, I beg you to

forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the

truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to

settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to

forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also

hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to

meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights

leader but as a fellow clergymen and a Christian brother. Let

us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will

soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be

lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not

too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and

brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their

scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I rise today to extend my most sincere gratitude to Rima Khabbaz, MD, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Dr. Khabbaz is retiring after spending 38 years at NCEZID, where her work focused on fighting the spread of infectious diseases.

For the past 5 years at NCEZID, Dr. Khabbaz has led staff who monitor and work to control dangerous pathogens in the United States and across the world. Her time as NCEZID director concludes three decades of leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is headquartered in the great State of Georgia, beginning with her role as chief of the Human Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit in CDC's Hantavirus Task Force in 1993 and 1994.

Dr. Khabbaz began her career at CDC as an epidemic intelligence service officer in CDC's Hospital Infections Program from 1980 through 1982. She returned to CDC in 1986 and a year later became a medical epidemiologist in the Retrovirus Diseases Branch. She quickly took up leadership roles in historic outbreak responses, including those for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, anthrax, SARS, monkeypox, Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19.

Over the past two decades, Dr. Khabbaz has led CDC's infectious disease activities through some turbulent times and at the highest levels. She was CDC's deputy director for infectious diseases and director of the Office of Infectious Diseases from 2010 to 2017, where she also temporarily served in dual roles as interim acting director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and interim acting director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.

Previously, she has served as director of the National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases; director, acting director, and associate director for epidemiologic science in the National Center for Infectious Diseases; and deputy director and associate director for medical science in NCID's Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases.

Dr. Khabbaz's departure from NCEZID marks the end of a truly distinguished career. She will be especially missed by her colleagues, who unfailingly describe her as an exceedingly insightful and caring leader. Dr. Khabbaz's contributions to the health of the State of Georgia, the United States, and the world are greatly appreciated. I wish her a restorative and gratifying retirement following her nearly 40 years of government service.

Mr. President, I rise today to reflect on a dark day in Georgia's recent history.

One year ago today, a hateful act of violence shook Metropolitan Atlanta and reverberated across our State, our country, and indeed the world. In the span of just a few hours, our sense of safety and sanctuary was pierced by bullets of hate and fear. Eight precious people lost their lives--eight people who were loved by their families, their friends, their children; eight people with their own successes and struggles, hopes, and dreams.

We speak their names: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun Gonzalez, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng.

My heart aches for these Georgians and their families for whom I am sure the wounds are still fresh. They were the victims of unconscionable, senseless hate.

As a pastor, I believe in the sacred worth of every human being--that we are a strange admixture of dust and divinity, of sod and sky, of beauty and possibility.

So I will ask now for all of my colleagues and everyone who can to join me in taking a moment of silence to remember these eight Georgians and to pray, each in our own way, for their families.

(Moment of silence.)

Thank you.