Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein) and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy), the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema), and the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) are necessarily absent.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, you remember the day--you will never forget it--January 6. Here we were in this Chamber in the process of certifying the electoral college votes. It was a pretty solemn occasion because this happens once every 4 years. We have documents coming from the States telling us what happened in the election of last year for President of the United States. It is our job to make sure that those reports are documented and that the ordinary process of the democracy proceeds.

This January 6 was not an ordinary day by any means. Before we set about our task here in the Senate and the House, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, held a rally, claiming that, in fact, he didn't lose the election, that he won the last election, and he alleged all sorts of fraud and misconduct on the part of Democrats and others that resulted in this faulty report that somehow or another he had lost the election.

Well, his crowd got so fired up that they decided to march on the Capitol as we were counting the electoral college ballots. I can remember it well. Vice President Pence was sitting where you were, I say to the Presiding Officer. We were going through the regular process, and it was a little after 2 o'clock in the afternoon. All of a sudden, that door opened over there, and people came in in suits I had never seen before and literally yanked the Vice President off the podium and pulled him out that door.

It was only a minute or two later that a member of the Capitol Police--the men and women who guard us and guard the visitors to this Capitol--a member of the Capitol Police stood where you are sitting and reported to us that there was a demonstration outside and that we should remain in this Chamber, in this Senate Chamber, because they were going to make it a safe room in the Capitol. At that time, I noticed staff people were being brought in and lined up along the back of the room itself.

It wasn't 10 minutes later until the same member of the Capitol Police stood up and said: Change in plans; everybody leave as quickly as possible. And we all did, filing out toward the back of the room, every Member of the Senate. Luckily, the Parliamentarian or some other office decided to grab the boxes with the electoral college votes in them to preserve this important piece of history from possible mob action.

As we were filing out of the Capitol, I couldn't help but look out the window and see the mobs coming on the Capitol, converging on the Capitol, carrying Trump signs. We went to a safe location and waited it out and later that evening resumed our activities on the floor of the Senate, counted the votes, and made it official, with the Vice President present.

It was an important part of history. You would think that would be enough of an embarrassment to President Donald Trump that he would drop his claims that the election was stolen. He has done just the opposite. He has intensified these false, malicious claims that somehow or another the vote was rigged or stolen, whatever his term might be--a fraud on the public--despite clear evidence to the contrary.

He pointed to a number of States that he said proved his point, where he just could not have lost--Donald Trump could not have lost these States--so clearly, he argued, something happened there that was criminal or wrong, and an investigation would show it.

Well, one of those States was Arizona. Joe Biden carried Arizona by roughly 10,500 votes. Forty-five thousand Biden votes came from Maricopa County, so it was obviously crucial to his win. So the Republicans in Arizona decided they were going to zero in on Maricopa County and prove once and for all that Donald Trump didn't lose that county by 45,000 votes. Well, they went to great lengths to do it.

First, they gathered all their rightwing groups and Trump's defenders and raised $5.7 million in donations. Then they hired a group with the unlikely name--I am looking for it here; something to do with ninjas. I am sure it will pop up. Oh, Cyber Ninjas. This group has no experience analyzing an election. Yet they turned over all the ballots from Maricopa County to them to recount.

Well, they pursued many bizarre theories, one of which I think was promulgated by the ever-reliable Rudy Giuliani that somehow or another there were bamboo fibers found in these election ballots, and those were an indication of wrongdoing and can connect the conspiracy maybe even to international sources.

The Cyber Ninjas rolled up their sleeves, pulled in the boxes of ballots, and started their count. They were determined to prove, once and for all, that the result that was announced that Biden carried the county by 45,000 votes was wrong. And they proved it. Through all their hard work and all the money that was spent, it turns out the draft report from the company, Cyber Ninjas, found that there were 99 additional votes for Joe Biden, rather than the amount presented by the 261 fewer votes for Donald Trump in Maricopa County, just the opposite of what they had predicted.

Well, you would think that President Trump would at least be quiet or maybe even acknowledge that he was wrong. Come on, you remember him. Here is what he said in a statement after the review was announced. He said the review ``has uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD! Until we know how and why this happened, our Elections will never be secure.''

He just won't quit. And the problem, of course, is that so many Americans are buying it, primarily Republicans, increasing their numbers, believing his Big Lie about the election being stolen

from him. God forbid this man could lose an election. Who would ever dream of that? He can't think of the possibility. And they are joining him in the chorus, despite hard evidence that proves time and time and time again that he lost.

It was a spirited election--Joe Biden and Donald Trump--and when it was all over, the American people made their choice. They accepted the reality of change. Now it is time for Donald Trump and his followers to do the same.

I don't know if the cyber ninja turtles, or whoever they are, are going to go at it again in some other State, pick another State to do some investigation. More power to them. They are building up the majority for Joe Biden--just the opposite of what was predicted.

Debt Ceiling

Madam President, I would like to speak on another topic, if I might.

We are going to have a vote later this afternoon, and it is not an ordinary vote in the U.S. Senate. We are voting on what is called the debt ceiling.

The debt ceiling is the acknowledgement of the government's debt. It looks backward, and it says: Over a period of time since we last expanded the size of the debt, we have incurred more debt, and, therefore, we have to acknowledge the new debt ceiling in order to establish that the United States is going to pay that debt--which, of course, we want a reputation for paying just bills. And, in this situation, these were bills for debts incurred during the Trump administration.

It should be a rather routine thing. In fact, one might make the argument that the Senate and the House should not even be involved in this acknowledgement; it is simple accounting and should be announced to the American people. But for the time being, it is subject to a vote in the House and the Senate, and that is where the problems arise.

Senator McConnell, the Republican leader from Kentucky, is hoping that the American public will not clearly understand the gravity and the importance of this vote. He has announced that he is going to boycott this vote and not a single Republican will vote to acknowledge the true debt of the United States of America.

I don't know if he will be able to keep his word and whether every Republican Senator will march blindly behind him. They did once before, under the American Rescue Plan, when Joe Biden proposed that we do the things necessary to bring this pandemic to an end and get America back on its feet. Not a single Republican would vote for it.

We promised cash payment of $1,400 for every family in America. It was in the American Rescue Plan. The Republicans all voted against it. We passed the money, billions of dollars, so that we could actually administer the COVID vaccine across America. We had discovered the vaccines, but, of course, there is a huge infrastructure needed to make sure that they are safely administered to the American people. That was in the American Rescue Plan, and all the Republicans voted against it.

There was also a provision in there to deal with helping businesses reopen their doors. Saturday night in Chicago, I spoke to a restauranteur who told me about problems he had faced and the debts he incurred to get back on his feet. The American Rescue Plan helped Americans. And every Republican voted against it. Not a single Republican Member in the House or the Senate would support it.

We are getting the same threats that the Republicans will walk out of the room. Resolving the debt ceiling is necessary to pay for decisions made. This is debt incurred during the Trump administration. And lest you think that this fiscally conservative Donald Trump was a good Republican when it came to debt, think again. The greatest increase in America's national debt in any 4-year period in our history, a 36- percent increase.

Let me repeat. Raising the debt ceiling has nothing to do with future spending. We are paying Donald Trump's bills. We are acknowledging what was done by the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats--what was spent and now has to be repaid. This is about paying what we already owe, and it is also about averting an economic catastrophe.

As a candidate, Donald Trump used to brag that he was ``king of debt.'' How about that. ``King of debt'' is what he says. Well, he proved it. His reckless spending as President, with America's credit card, added nearly $8 trillion to our national debt--$8 trillion. This is a third of the entire debt. It was incurred during the Trump administration.

And now the Republicans, his party, refuse to acknowledge that debt and the fact that we have to pay it back. He racked up all that debt in 4 years. Two trillion of that $8 trillion in Trump debt, incidentally, was spent on tax cuts for the richest people in America. Yes, that was the Trump plan, supported by the same Republicans who today are saying they won't even cast a vote to acknowledge that they did it, and it added to the deficit.

By 2027, 83 percent of the benefits of the Trump tax cuts, supported by Senator McConnell and the Republicans, will go exclusively to the top 1 percent of wage earners in America. Republican Senators passed those tax cuts all on their own through reconciliation.

I will tell you this. I didn't vote for it. No Democrats voted for it. What we are doing today is paying the piper, acknowledging that this is a legitimate debt of this country. We can change policy going forward, but since we enacted those tax cuts 4 years ago, it has added to the national debt. And we acknowledge it today, and Senator McConnell and the Republicans refuse to acknowledge it.

During Trump's one term in office, the national debt increased by almost 36 percent--4 years: 36 percent. Our Republican colleagues voted to raise the Federal debt ceiling once and to suspend it twice during Donald Trump. And the Democrats stood with them because we understood that this is just basic requirement 101 of constitutional government. We shared the responsibility not because we agreed with his policies-- we don't--but because we understood that defaulting on the national debt could cause real damage to America.

What would the costs of defaulting on our debt be exactly? According to some economists, we would see an estimated $15 trillion of household wealth wiped out, 6 million jobs lost, and a 9-percent unemployment rate. Every last American would feel the pain. If it continued for any period of time, it would threaten retirement funds, Social Security checks, even job security.

Mark Zandi, a pretty well-respected economist with Moody's, warned that a default on America's debt would trigger ``financial Armageddon,'' threatening America's status as a world reserve currency, all because the Republicans refuse to acknowledge debt they voted for and created under Republican President Donald Trump.

Even toying with the notion of default would have severe consequences. Back in 2011, House Republicans initially refused to raise the debt limit. America's credit rating was downgraded because of it. The result: higher borrowing costs and confidence in American leadership shaken globally.

We will see if every Republican will fall under the dictates of Senator McConnell when it comes to defaulting on America's debt for the first time, and we will also see what the reaction to that is going to be.

This measure we are going to vote on in about 2 hours suspends the debt ceiling to avoid default by the government, and it keeps the government open, just that basic. After all that we have been through and what we are going through with the pandemic, how can the Republicans play with this deadly economic strategy?

Without a continuing resolution, the Federal Government will shut down in less than 4 days. With the Delta variant still taking 2,000 American lives a day, this is no time to shut down the Federal Government. With victims of hurricanes and floods and wildfires desperate for help, this is not the time to close the doors of the Agencies that can help them. With our economy still recovering, now is not the time to damage it, intentionally, for political reasons.

Right now, our No. 1 priority is keeping our Nation's economy on a path to recovery and helping families through a difficult time. We need to come together and fund the government. That is our fundamental responsibility. We need to pay our bills on time. We need to provide financial relief to Americans

who are battling disasters, whether they are in California or Oregon, Louisiana or Illinois, or Hawaii. And we need to grow our economy for future generations, increasing funding for childcare and healthcare and help for working families.

President Biden's Build Back Better plan is a proven investment in our economic future. It includes the largest middle-class tax cut in history.

Do you know what the Republicans call the largest middle-class tax cut in history? Socialism. Socialism. I heard Senator McConnell say it: They just want to pursue socialism. The largest tax cut for working families and children in American history.

Unlike President Trump's tax giveaway to the rich, which Senator McConnell voted for and doesn't want to pay for, the Build Back Better plan will have the corporations pay their fair share.

No one--this is a promise by President Biden to be held to--no one who makes $400,000 a year or less will pay more in taxes. He has been pretty clear on that, hasn't he? So this notion that we are going through some socialist tax-and-spend scheme here just isn't true.

Seven months after he signed his tax cut into law, Donald Trump told the effervescent Sean Hannity of FOX News that: ``When [the Trump tax cut] kicks in, we'll start to pay off the debt like it's water''-- Donald Trump. That was a con.

Now the bills are coming due, and the Republicans are racing for the exits. It is time to stop this ruse and fraud on the American people. We need to pay our bills, act responsibly, and actually help working families.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein) is necessarily absent.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Feinstein) is necesssarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine), and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, it is my understanding we have three rollcall votes left and there is a 10-minute rule on the rollcall duration. Is that correct?

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine), and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine) are necessarily absent.