Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen) and the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) are necessarily absent.

Madam President, let me join the majority leader in best wishes to our colleague Chris Van Hollen.

It came as a surprise this morning, but we are heartened by the news that he is recovering, and we hope he will be back with us very, very soon. He is a wonderful Senator, who is representing his State effectively, and he is very close to Members on both sides of the aisle. So we wish him and his family all the strength and recovery as quickly as he can.

Gun Violence

Madam President, this was another weekend of bloodshed and loss in America.

In Chicago, five people were shot dead, including a 16-year-old boy-- killed near ``The Bean,'' which those of us in Chicago know automatically as that sight in Millennium Park where people race to gather and take photographs. It is one of the most popular attractions in our city, and just this last weekend, it was the scene of a murder, with one teenager killing another.

In California yesterday, a gunman walked into a church and opened fire, killing one person and critically wounding four others. That same afternoon, another gunman opened fire at a flea market in Houston, killing two and injuring three.

A weekend in America.

But both of these mass shootings happened less than 24 hours after a White supremacist massacred innocent shoppers at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY. The shooter was wearing tactical gear and carrying an AR- 15 assault rifle--a weapon designed to kill people. He shot 13 people, 11 of whom were Black, in an act of racist violence; 10 of the victims died. Each of these 10 people had left home Saturday, maybe to grab dinner or to buy groceries for the week, and they never returned. Now their families are facing the unimaginable trauma of loss. In an instant, they lost a grandparent, a child, a spouse.

To those families, I say: You do not grieve alone. America grieves with you.

One of the victims was Aaron Salter. He was a retired police officer who was working as a security guard at the grocery store when it was attacked. Officer Aaron Salter was a hero. When the gunman entered the store, Officer Salter didn't flinch; he leapt into action to save the lives of the shoppers and employees, but there was only so much he could do. He was armed with a handgun while the person who attacked the store was wearing a tactical vest and firing an assault rifle. Like so many of our police who risk their lives for us every day, Officer Salter was outgunned.

As we mourn Officer Salter's loss this week, our Nation's Capital is welcoming law enforcement from across the country for Police Week.

To every officer who protects our communities like Officer Salter did so valiantly, we give our thanks.

No officers should ever find themselves in a situation where they are outgunned by an assailant, but that is exactly what happened in Buffalo this weekend, and it happens far too often in cities like Chicago.

For decades, this Senate has failed to pass legislation that would close the gaping holes in our gun laws and reduce the shootings that tear apart law enforcement families and families of all kinds across the country. How many more lives will be lost before we act?

When will the Members of the Senate finally join together in recognizing the role that White supremacy and White nationalism have played in fueling these violent terrorist attacks?

Time and again, I have made my position on violent extremism as clear as I can: The use of violence to advance political goals is always-- always--unacceptable. No matter the ideology, right or left, it is wrong, but we need to be clear-eyed about the nature of the threat that we face. Senior law enforcement and intelligence officials have warned us on numerous occasions that the biggest terrorism threat in America today is homegrown. It stems from White supremacists and violent militia extremists.

I have been sounding this alarm for years. In 2012--2012--10 years ago--I first held a hearing on domestic terrorism after a White supremacist murdered seven Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek, WI. Today, a decade later, the threat is even worse.

FBI Director Wray testified at the Judiciary Committee that the threat of domestic terrorism is ``metastasizing across the country''; and last year, the FBI reported that our Nation experienced the highest level of hate crimes in over a decade. These attacks have targeted Black Americans, who have long been the target of the majority of race- based hate crimes in America, but they are not limited to just our Black American neighbors. They have also targeted Muslim Americans, Japanese Americans, members of the AAPI community, and members of other marginalized communities as well.

They don't happen in a vacuum, and it is clear that influential figures on the right have been fanning the flames of hate. The gunman who attacked the grocery store in Buffalo was an adherent of the great replacement theory--a conspiracy theory that fuels White supremacy and White nationalism. It is the same White supremacist conspiracy theory that inspired those neo-Nazis to march through Charlottesville, VA, chanting: ``Jews will not replace us.'' You will remember that group. President Trump said at the time that he wasn't sure that they were out of line. They have inspired multiple mass shootings, including the attack of Jewish Americans at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, on Hispanic Americans at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019, and on Muslims at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 as well.

This once-fringe conspiracy theory--this so-called great replacement theory--has been dragged into the mainstream by media personalities like FOX TV's Tucker Carlson. According to The New York Times, more than 400 episodes--400 episodes--of Tucker Carlson's news program on FOX TV, which attracts more viewers than any other show in the history of cable news, have alluded to the great replacement theory. Tucker Carlson is a leading ideologue in the White supremacist movement. He has even introduced racist terminology into America's conversation, like the phrase ``legacy Americans,'' which refers to the idea that immigrants aren't real Americans. The phrase was first used on White supremacist forums and websites. Tucker Carlson is right at home with it.

But here is what is the most shocking to me: the number of elected officials who will jump at any chance to get featured on Carlson's show and echo his White supremacist blather--his dark gospel of fear and hate and racism. We don't have to look far to find those elected officials. The third-ranking House Republican claimed in a campaign ad that Democratic immigration policies ``will overthrow our current electorate.''

What will it finally take for the Republican Party to condemn this hate once and for all, and what will it take for Members of the Senate to join together in rooting out White supremacist violence?

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will soon hold a hearing on domestic terrorism, and the ideologies like the great replacement conspiracy theory that inspired the acts of hate will be expounded on at that hearing by experts.

We will also examine a piece of legislation that I introduced 5 years ago, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which would strengthen Federal efforts to prevent and address White supremacist violence and other forms of domestic terrorism. This legislation is an opportunity for the Members of the Senate to stand united against hate. By passing it, along with commonsense gun safety measures, we can finally address the scourge of hate and violence that has claimed far too many American lives.

Many Americans will be tuned in this week to Tucker Carlson's show to see if he has any reaction to what happened in Buffalo. Could it be that, for one shining moment, he will finally realize his complicity in what happened after 400 shows of spewing fear and hate and in subscribing to this great replacement theory, resulting in hatred across this country which is visited on communities every single day?

Ten people died in Buffalo. Will Tucker Carlson take 10 minutes to say he is sorry for any role he might have played in that outcome?

We will see.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen), and the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) are necessarily absent.

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

Madam President, 1 million deaths--unbelievable. But this week, it became very, very real. One million of our fellow Americans now have died from COVID, 1 million parents, grandparents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors. That is more Americans who lost their lives than the casualties in World War I, World War II, or the Civil War. That is the size of San Jose, CA, the 10th largest city in our Nation.

But behind those 7 stark figures are real people, including more than 33,600 in my home State of Illinois. One of those was a woman named Maria Elena Sifuentes. Maria lived in Chicago, where she worked at Communities United and organized for housing and education equity in her community. She had received her first COVID shot when she contracted the virus last summer. She passed away on June 10 at the age of 57 and left behind five children.

We also grieve the loss of Sergeant Ken Thurman and Officer Brian Shields, two 51-year-old veteran police officers who worked in Aurora at the police department. They succumbed to COVID infections last year, both within the same week.

When the pandemic first hit, this degree of loss was unimaginable. Some people dismissed COVID-19 and said that it was just like the ordinary flu

and that it would go away and mysteriously disappear. But now that we have crossed this tragic threshold, we must take stock of where we are and where we are headed.

More than 2 years into this pandemic, COVID is still a threat to America and the world. In fact, infections nationwide are up 50 percent over the past 2 weeks. Hospitalizations are up 20 percent. That is the case in Illinois as well as our neighbors in the region. The Commonwealth of Kentucky, home of Minority Leader McConnell, had the highest COVID death rate in the country over the past week.

The one thing worse than being swamped with another wave of COVID cases is being caught unprepared. Right now, we are sleepwalking into the next potentially deadly wave, and we know the virus will continue to mutate and pose threats. We need to learn from our 2 years of experience with Delta and Omicron and act now and be ready, be prepared.

Over the weekend, the Biden administration warned that new subvariants could fuel a wave that is forecast to infect 100 million Americans--almost a third of our population--over this fall and winter. Yet last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee: ``[B]ut in order to be ready for that, we have to start purchasing today.'' That is what Secretary Becerra said. If we wait for the surge to hit, it is too late.

Last week, it also was reported that the administration will run out of COVID vaccines by September 1 if the FDA authorizes second boosters for all adults. How can America be caught in this situation again--even with vaccines--unprepared?

Because Federal funding has dried up to reimburse hospitals and health centers for testing, we don't have a complete picture of how many new infections are actually showing up. The University of Washington estimates the true number of infections is five times higher than official reports.

So the alarm bells are ringing, and a looming vaccine crisis is right around the corner. Other countries in the world get it. They understand it. They are racing ahead of us to secure supplies of vaccines, but because of resistance from Republicans in Washington, we are not doing that.

So why won't the Senate act to pass this COVID legislation--obviously necessary legislation--right now? It was more than a month ago that Senators Schumer and Romney, together with half-a-dozen bipartisan Senators, announced a $10 billion emergency COVID package. It is not everything we want; it is not everything we need; but it is an urgent measure that seeks to address the crisis.

Instead of just getting this done, politics were inserted. There were demands for amendments or else. The process broke down. Instead of getting the job done, Republicans are playing politics. They are demanding poison pill riders on issues unrelated, like immigration.

With summer approaching, Americans are eager to keep the face masks off for good and move past the pandemic. I get it. Everybody wants the kids back in school. They want them home for vacation. They want to take family vacations. They want to go out to dinner--all things that are part of the joy of life. I share the sentiment, but we have to deal with the reality of this virus. It is changing every day, and it has surprised us so many times before.

Even the most persuasive political speech isn't going to change the course of this virus. Rather than reacting to whatever deadly curve ball gets thrown at us next, we must be ready beforehand with the right tools to keep us moving in the right direction. I don't want to come to the floor to mark 1\1/2\ million dead Americans or 2 million dead Americans due to the virus.

The time to provide additional funding is not now; it was weeks ago. It is incredible to me that, after what this Nation has gone through--1 million dead Americans--we are still debating over whether we should be prepared for the next stage of the virus. Shame on the politicians who are inserting politics into a life-and-death debate.

Without this funding, we could very well lose the progress we have made in containing COVID. We cannot tolerate that sort of setback, especially at this pivotal moment where continued progress puts us on the cusp of what we dreamed of 2 years ago: finally putting an end to this pandemic, finally returning to normal.

While Senate Democrats and the Biden administration have taken tremendous strides with getting shots in arms, supporting local businesses, and getting our kids back in school, we still have a lot to do.

To my Republican colleagues: Drop the political antics. Join us in making this responsible investment to save lives and prevent the pandemic from once again spinning out of control. We know a new wave could be coming, and we need to sit down and face this public health issue for the reality that it is.

Let's not waste time with irrelevant, anti-immigrant rhetoric. Let's do something that helps the American people and work together to drive America's recovery forward.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, last week, Americans woke up to the news that was perhaps not unexpected but still stunning.

It appears that in a matter of weeks, we may soon live in a country where women have fewer constitutional rights than their parents or grandparents.

In one bold move, the ultraconservative, activist majority on the Supreme Court appears poised to erase the constitutional right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term.

I want to be clear: The leak of the majority draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization is an unprecedented breach of the Court's confidential deliberations. It may harm the trust the Justices have with one another, as well as the public's trust in the Court.

Still, one must wonder, Why is it that our Republican colleagues have been focused so exclusively on the leak of the draft opinion rather than the substance of the opinion itself? And why do we hear in the last few days a continued reference to the security of Supreme Court Justices without a real discussion of where the proposed opinion will take us?

Let's make it clear--unequivocally clear--in a bipartisan fashion: Violence is never acceptable. Violence is never acceptable against Supreme Court Justices, their families, their staff, or anyone associated with that branch of government.

Nor is violence acceptable on January 6, 2021, in this Chamber, when the mob--the insurrectionist mob--leaving a Trump rally came here and tried to stop the business of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and we left as fast as we could move out the back door to try to escape that. That was violence which led to five deaths and the assaults on 150 members of law enforcement. That violence is unacceptable as well, and I hope my friends on the other side of the aisle, who vetoed an effort for a bipartisan commission to investigate the violence of January 6, will step up now and say they were wrong.

Violence against a Supreme Court Justice, violence against a Member of the House, and a Member of the Senate--none of those is acceptable, period. Unequivocally. Period.

I am in favor of protecting the Justices, of course. I have been party to efforts in my home State of Illinois, after a tragic incident over 10 years ago, when a disgruntled client ended up killing a Federal judge's mother and husband in their home.

Since then, I have called for more security, and I am glad to add my name to this effort now to provide security to this Court and all the members of the Court, their families, and the staff who are involved.

It is unacceptable. Violence, either in this building or across the street, is unacceptable.

But I would like to speak as well to the substance of the statement just made by the Senator from Texas.

He recalled the case of Kermit Gosnell, a case where a doctor in Philadelphia was convicted, virtually of infanticide--repeated cases of infanticide--and he was sentenced, ultimately, to life in prison, where he still spends his time serving that out, with no chance of parole, nor should he ever have a chance at parole.

I struggle to get the connection between the crime of infanticide and the debate we are having, because there is nothing in the bill coming to the floor by the Democrats which is going to change that basic finding in the case in Pennsylvania.

That doctor, now removed from his profession and serving time in Federal prison, was guilty of a crime, and the bill before us on the floor of the Senate will not change that reality at all. I don't know if that was the inference, but I took it to mean that. I hope I was wrong.

We need to acknowledge the basics that a critical constitutional right may be removed by the Supreme Court.

I am an amateur historian studying the history of this country. I can't think of another time when a constitutionally guaranteed right by Supreme Court opinion of over 50 years has been removed by the Court. But that is what we face now--on the right of Americans to make the most basic decisions about their health, their lives, and their future.

Sadly, many Republicans are desperately trying to deflect from this ruling and what it means for every single American.

If the legal reason in the Court's draft opinion becomes final, that decision in Dobbs will end a half-century guarantee that the right to abortion is protected in our Constitution.

Republicans know that overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating access to a woman's healthcare is extremely unpopular.

When asked point-blank whether we should do it, only 28 percent of Americans say that they agree.

In a world without Roe, Americans would not only be denied healthcare services they are entitled to, it is possible--it is possible--that some will be prosecuted.

Far-right lawmakers have been feverishly anticipating this moment. Over the past week, some of these same officials have introduced legislation around the country designed to punish women for making the basic decisions about reproductive health.

State legislators in Louisiana introduced a bill to allow prosecutors to bring murder charges against a woman who undergoes or anyone who provides an abortion.

The same Louisiana bill would seemingly call into question the legality of in vitro fertilization, as well as IUDs, the morning after pill, and other forms of emergency contraception.

I am glad I was on the floor a few minutes ago. My colleague, Senator Duckworth, talked about her two little girls--cutest kids you can imagine.

I remember those kids from the earliest time. When I was in a car driving in the State of Illinois to an event in Bloomington, the phone rang and it was Tammy Duckworth. She was my colleague in the U.S. Senate and--she was going to be my colleague in the U.S. Senate, and she was a Member of the House of Representatives, and she told me that she was going to have a baby. I couldn't believe it.

Tammy and I have known one another since a few weeks after her, I should say, terrible crash of the helicopter in Iraq. I had known what she had gone through, surgeries and recovery, and I was the one who encouraged her to run for office, and I am sure glad I did. She has become the voice of the military, the voice of veterans, and one of most powerful voices in the U.S. Senate.

And when she told the story about those two little girls, born through the process of in vitro fertilization, it struck home.

I am fortunate enough as a grandfather to have two in vitro grandbabies. I love them to pieces, and I thank goodness that there was a science achievement available to help my daughter deliver those beautiful kids.

A Republican lawmaker in Idaho said he is open to banning certain forms of birth control if this decision goes forward at the Supreme Court. He wanted to include plan B emergency contraception and IUDs.

Think about that. State by State, legislator by legislator, will decide what is acceptable when it comes to contraception.

Now, some people are going to think: Durbin, you are exaggerating. Democrats are at it again exaggerating.

But I am old enough to remember before Griswold, the regulation of contraception in those days when it was virtually, in many States, even illegal to buy a condom.

And so you think I am exaggerating? We lived at that time.

It wasn't until Griswold v. Connecticut, decided by the Supreme Court, that established a right of privacy under our Constitution, which then led to Roe v. Wade. That was America. It was an America which, sadly, many Republican lawmakers long for.

A lawmaker in Missouri introduced a bill that deputizes bounty hunters to sue anyone who helps a woman seeking an abortion outside the State of Missouri.

I wanted to remind my colleague from Texas, who spoke just before me, it was the Texas bounty hunter's law that started this conversation in earnest.

In Texas, they decided that there would be a civil penalty that can be charged against those who were engaged in an abortion, and the person could claim that penalty if they disclosed that to the public.

Just a few days ago, the Republican leader in this body, Senator McConnell of Kentucky, said that a national ban on abortion could be ``possible''--a national ban if Roe is overturned and the Republicans take control of the Senate.

Leaving it up to each State to decide a woman's reproductive rights is creating a patchwork quilt of uncertainty. Your constitutional rights would depend on your ZIP Code, but that is exactly the future we are facing.

To be sure, Democratic State legislatures will continue to protect access to abortion unless, of course, Republicans in Congress enact the national ban that Senator McConnell said is possible.

In the absence of a national ban, if you can afford to travel, you will be able to access reproductive care in States like Illinois and Connecticut. But what about everyone else? If the right to have an abortion now depends on where you live or how much money you make, millions of women, many from historically marginalized communities, will face even greater hurdles in obtaining an abortion.

America already has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world. Drastically restricting access to abortion or banning abortion altogether will make those rates worse.

Republicans and anti-choice activists are trying to minimize the impact that erasing Roe would have. They talk about other times the Supreme Court has overturned precedent, and they argue--disingenuously, I think--that this is how the Court has always worked. It corrects its own past mistakes.

They claim that overturning Roe is no different than the Supreme Court overturning Plessy v. Ferguson--a decision which gave us the odious fiction of ``separate but equal'' that was later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education. But there is a profound difference. It appears that never before in the history of America has a Supreme Court decision to abandon settled law made Americans less free--never. In the past, when the Court has taken the serious step of overturning settled law, it has done so to expand freedom, expand opportunity, not eliminate it. What the activist, anti-choice majority on this Court will do is unprecedented, radical, and dangerous.

Here is another fact that Republican lawmakers are hoping you will not notice: It is not just the right to abortion that is in jeopardy; Justice Alito's draft opinion in the Dobbs case questions the very existence of the right to privacy. It argues that unenumerated rights-- that is, rights not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution--must be deeply rooted in U.S. history and tradition in order to be recognized as a constitutional right. Who decides what is deeply rooted in history and tradition?

The Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision established marriage equality only 7 years ago. Will the Court's reactionary majority put that next on the chopping block?

What about the right to contraception, as I mentioned before, established by Griswold v. Connecticut 11 years before Roe? A Republican Member of this body recently criticized that decision establishing the privacy right of every individual to choose the contraception

right for their family. He described this as ``constitutionally unsound.''

Rather than settling the debate on abortion, the draft Dobbs opinion would further divide our fractious Nation and set the stage for a radical majority in the Court to erase even more constitutional rights. It would give government the power to dictate your rights and dictate your future. That is why we must take action to protect women's productive rights.

Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on the Women's Health Protection Act. This bill will codify the right to provide or obtain an abortion free from medically unnecessary restrictions. The American people deserve to know where their Senators stand. I will not stop fighting for the right of every American, especially the women of America, to have these rights as established for over 50 years.

For years, the Republicans have claimed they are the party of families, the party of family values. Yet they have spent decades ignoring the needs of working families. Republicans are willing to force women to carry unwanted or unexpected or even dangerous pregnancies to term, but they are not willing to help them raise their children.

There are aspects of their voting patterns in the Senate that make it clear that when it comes to helping families with the basics, such as tax credits for children, making sure that families have paid medical leave for their newborns or other family members--all of these things are family friendly and family values. Unfortunately, they are not supported by many, if any, Republicans. That would be a demonstration that they truly care for families.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) is necessarily absent.

Pursuant to S. Res. 27, the Judiciary Committee being tied on the question of reporting, I move to discharge the Committee on the Judiciary from further consideration of the nomination of Charlotte N. Sweeney, of Colorado, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to discharge the Sweeney nomination occur at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, May 11, and that the cloture motions filed during yesterday's session of the Senate ripen following disposition of the motion to discharge; further, that if cloture is invoked on the Bedoya nomination, all postcloture time be considered expired at 2:30 p.m.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 552.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution being agreed to; that the Murphy amendment at the desk to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 594.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 627, submitted earlier today.

I know of no further debate on the resolution.

I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 628, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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

Madam President, this last Friday, we learned that U.S. employers added another 428,000 new jobs in the month of April. The unemployment rate is down to 3.6 percent, which is just about what it was before the pandemic struck. April marked the 15th consecutive month of job growth under President Biden, and the United States has now recovered more than 90 percent of the jobs that were lost during the coronavirus pandemic. To put it into context, when President Biden took office, 20 million Americans relied on unemployment benefits just to get by. Now that number is down to slightly more than 1 million--from 20 million to 1 million.

This historic progress shows the resilience of American workers and small businesses that battled through more than 2 years of this unprecedented health crisis. This is truly an American success story. It is also the result of bold and decisive economic actions taken by the Democrats in Congress and President Biden.

The American Rescue Plan you will remember well. It passed without a single Republican voting in favor of it last year. That plan helped us get shots in the arms, and it provided economic relief to small businesses and unemployed Americans when they needed it the most.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and JOBS Act represented a historic investment in America, in our Nation's infrastructure-- everything from roads and bridges to expanding broadband and access in underserved communities. This legislation is creating jobs. We see it in the report. It is helping America stay connected at

home, at school, and with their doctors, and it is allowing us to meet 21st century demands like climate change and cyber attacks.

Even with last Friday's good news, we still have more work to do to make sure we have an economy that really works for everyone. Too many American families are still struggling to pay the bills and afford the basics amid global inflation caused by President Putin's unprovoked war in Ukraine and rising COVID cases in China that are disrupting our supply chains.

Last week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point. That is the biggest rate hike in 22 years. They are trying to tamp down this inflationary pressure. We know, for many American families, a break in rising prices can't come soon enough, but we also know that the root causes of this challenge are complicated and that it will take a global effort and some good fortune for us to address it successfully.

Democrats are committed to taking action to lower household costs and combat rising prices, get kids back to school, and workers back to work. We need to give families a helping hand when it comes to the basics: medication, housing, gas for your car or truck. We need to think ahead and begin preparing and investing now for future COVID surges so we can save lives and minimize the potential disruption to our supply chains and the economy.

It is incredible to me, after what this Nation and world have gone through and continue to go through with over a million Americans having died from COVID, that we still are in a fierce debate over whether we ought to prepare for the possibility that it could come back. We know it will. Sadly, it will. I hope it is in a manner that we can control. We believe, on the Democratic side, that we should ``be prepared.'' We weren't prepared when it hit initially. With the statements by the former President that this was some sort of a hoax and that it would all disappear someday, we just lulled ourselves into thinking it wasn't serious. Well, a million American lives have been lost to prove just how serious it has been. We need to support workers and families-- healthcare workers, too--and small businesses, like restaurants, that are the lifeblood of our economy.

I urge my Republican colleagues to sit down and get real. We ought to face this public health issue for the reality that it is. We ought to face this economy with the challenges we face. We need to boost American manufacturing and jobs. We need to lower costs for families, and we need to insulate our economy against future COVID.