Floor Statements

Mr. President, it is hard to believe that it has been 5 years since February 14, 2018--the tragic day that the world witnessed a senseless attack and the loss of 17 innocent lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

Today, I again come before the Senate to introduce this resolution to honor the 17 beautiful lives that were stolen from us that day. I think of them often. I talk to their families. They were sons and daughters, parents and partners. Some were educators, athletes, musicians; many of them, just kids with a life full of promise ahead of them. My heart breaks knowing they never got the chance to pursue their dreams and that their families will forever have a piece of their heart missing.

While we can't bring back the lives lost on that tragic day 5 years ago, I will always work to honor them and do everything in my power to protect our students and educators and ensure they have a safe environment to learn and succeed.

As in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 60, which is at the desk.

Mr. President, 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.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask that the previously scheduled rollcall vote start immediately.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1437 with amendment No. 6540.

Mr. President, everyone in this Chamber spoke about the pain American families are feeling as they deal with the raging inflation brought on by Joe Biden's reckless spending, so it was shocking to many of us when Senate Democrats approved $70 billion to supersize the IRS with 87,000 new agents. That means more audits on families and small businesses just as they struggle to get by thanks to skyrocketing prices.

What is worse, the Biden administration is also changing IRS standards to begin tracking financial transactions Americans make in excess of $600 to vendors like Cash App and Venmo and PayPal. It is an outrageous violation of Americans' privacy. It is stuff we see in communist China.

That is why I filed an amendment to strike the funding for the new IRS agents to prevent the IRS from spying on your bank accounts.

I urge my colleagues to protect Americans' privacy, stop the ridiculous audits on families, and support my amendment.

I yield back my time.

I yield back.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I would like to thank my colleague from South Carolina for all of his work to promote school choice. I have been proud to partner with him each year to cosponsor the National School Choice Week resolution and promote the maximum amount of educational choice for parents.

Since I have been in Washington, I have noticed how many different school options are available for families in the area: public schools, charter schools, private schools, religious schools, home schools, co- ops. There are all kinds of options for parents and their children here.

DC is an example of a place where school choice has helped everyone, as government-funded schools have generally failed.

Of course, Washington, DC, is also where our Nation's political elite and their children reside. It is where diplomats from around the world come and send their kids to the school of their choice. Bureaucrats, politicians, and wealthy parents have all the choice in the world to send their kids to get a great education. But why should that choice only be available to the elite political class? Why is it that teachers unions and Democratic politicians want to fight school choice and keep students from middle and lower income families in failing schools?

It is a perfect example of how the swamp works: They will give every advantage to their own kids, while pushing the working class down. The elites have always had school choice, and like my colleague from South Carolina, I simply want to extend that choice to every family.

During my 8 years as Governor of Florida, I was a proud champion of school choice and charter schools. I have long believed that parents, not the government, know what is best for their children.

Near the end of my time as Governor, Florida had 653 charter schools operating across our great State. More than one in four K-12 public school kids in Florida chose a school other than the one that they were assigned to.

We were ranked third in the Nation for our number of charter schools and the number of students enrolled in our charter schools. That competition helped everyone, including our public school system. When I was leaving, we ranked fourth in the Nation for K-12 student achievement. In other words, our push for maximum choice helped their students in all of our schools get ahead.

That didn't happen overnight, of course. But we had to work at it. For example, I worked to expand access to Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship Program. This tax credit encourages voluntary contributions from corporate donors to scholarship funding organizations. These organizations then award scholarships to students from low-income families so they can attend private schools or get help transporting them to a public school in another school district.

During my 8 years, the number of kids benefiting from that scholarship program grew from 40,000 to 108,000. Sixty thousand more students were able to attend a school that better met their needs because we gave them that choice.

Similarly, I signed legislation creating open enrollment in Florida. That bill allowed more than 280,000 students to attend any public school in the State regardless of their ZIP Code.

I also signed legislation to expand access to scholarships for students with disabilities so they could attend a public or private school of their choice.

I also signed a bill creating the Schools of Hope Program. It established high-quality educational options for students attending persistently low performing public schools.

Instead of attending the lower performing school, we drew in charter school networks that had a proven track record for operating high- performing charter schools in underserved communities. Because we offered them increased autonomy and flexibility and gave them access to grants and low-interest facility loans, these charter schools were better able to serve Florida's neediest students.

Add to that, I signed legislation to give every student access to virtual learning, with 428,000 students taking advantage of that program in the 2017-2018 school year. That number was up by 312,000 students compared to 10 years earlier.

Parents could use Florida Virtual School to supplement what was happening in person at school, and they could use a hybrid setup with home school or do completely online learning--whatever best suited their child's needs.

In Florida, school choice isn't just for the elites, it is for everyone because every family deserves the chance to send their child to the school that best meets their needs. Whether it was virtual school, a private school, a religious school, home school, a charter school, or a public school in a different district, I fought to give the kids the best opportunity to get a quality education.

And the best part about it, this kind of choice and competition among schools benefited everyone. It helped all of our schools, including our public schools and neighborhood schools, to improve.

In October, a team of researchers from Northwestern University, UC Davis, and Emory studied the outcomes of Florida students who remained in public schools in the 2016-2017 school year--the same time we were continuing to expand school choice.

I will read you what they concluded.

We find broad and growing benefits for students at local

public schools as the school-choice program scales up.

In particular, students who attend neighborhood schools

with higher levels of market competition have lower rates of

suspensions and absences and higher test scores in reading

and math.

And while our analysis reveals gains for virtually all

students, we find that those most positively affected are

students with the greatest barriers to school success,

including those with low family incomes and less-educated

mothers.

In other words, school choice helps students of poor and working class families, like the one I grew up in. I was born to a single mom with an 11th grade education and never met my birth father. My adoptive father never had more than a sixth grade education. We were poor and didn't have much to brag about. We lived in public housing and moved around a lot. But my mom pushed me to work hard in school and get a good education. And by God's grace, I was able to live the American dream. That is why I am here--because school choice shouldn't only be for the elites, it should be for everyone.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, let me begin with a simple question: When are we going to say enough?

The American people are saying it. Heck, even traditionally liberal, mainstream news outlets are getting there.

But here in Congress, it is nothing but business as usual. We just keep letting it pile up month after month, year after year. Now it is burying our country.

The ``it'' should be obvious. I am talking about America's massive Federal debt, now more than $31 trillion. It has grown by nearly $5 trillion since President Biden took office, and it was growing like a weed before that too.

We should all be disgusted with the reckless spending in Washington that has caused this massive debt.

Just look at what it is doing to our country. Historic inflation is raging across America, hurting families and businesses, and pushing the American Dream out of reach, as prices skyrocket and interest rates follow closely behind.

Reckless spending approved by this Chamber and our colleagues in the House has caused this.

I have been in the Senate for almost 4 years. In this time, I have talked a lot about my childhood. Maybe you have heard my story of someone who was born to a single mom, grew up poor, and lived in public housing.

It is a hard place to start your life, and, today, folks in the same situation are struggling more than ever to get by and make ends meet as they deal with sky-high inflation. In most places across the world, people who grow up like me have no hope of being anything but what they were born into--for me, that was poor and watching my mom struggle every day to get by. That is untrue in America.

This is the greatest Nation on Earth because a kid who grows up watching their parents struggle and living in public housing can work hard and be anything.

But that promise isn't guaranteed. We have to protect that by being responsible with taxpayer money and not allowing inflation and debt to ruin us.

Throughout my life, I have run businesses big and small, from a couple of hundred employees to hundreds of thousands of employees. Here is one thing that doesn't change no matter how big you get: If you don't live within your means, you fail. Same goes for any family. No family or business in any of our States gets to burn through money with no consequences. The only place that has become acceptable is here in Washington. Why? Because Congress stopped doing what it got elected to do.

As I said, I have been in Washington for about 4 years now. One thing I have learned is that in Washington, compromise means everyone gets everything so nobody has to make a tough choice. The result is gross fiscal mismanagement and unsustainable debt. Instead of standing up to this broken status quo in Congress--something I think most of us ran on--too many people get elected, come to Washington, and become a rubber stamp for more spending.

So here we are again, just days away from a government funding deadline. Some of our colleagues are again pushing a massive omnibus-- what we are calling the Pelosi-Schumer spending bill--which keeps this inflation-bomb deficit spending going.

I asked earlier: When are we going to say ``enough?'' Will it be when the deficit hits $35 trillion, $45 trillion, $50 trillion? Can you imagine $50 trillion worth of debt? No. The answer has to be now. We say enough is enough today. And we should start by saying no to a massive omnibus spending bill and approving a simple continuing resolution being offered by my good friend Senator Lee of Utah.

Doing this allows the new Congress to put together a real budget that is balanced, which is what we should be doing anyway.

I don't like continuing resolutions any more than I think anyone here does. Since my first day in the Senate, I have been vocal about needing to pass a budget--a full budget--that is balanced and gets America's finances in order. But that is not going to happen in the next 3 days or before the next Congress begins, for that matter.

So the thought of passing a Pelosi-Schumer spending bill now, just weeks before a new Republican majority takes power in the House, is insane. It is as bad an idea as I have heard of up here.

It also goes against decades of precedent. As Senator Lee has said, since 1954, control of the House has changed five times, and there has never been an instance of Congress passing an omnibus spending bill before a new House majority takes power.

Given that America is now in more debt than ever before and inflation is the highest it has been in 40 years, why should we choose now to break precedent and green-light more reckless spending?

And let's not forget what Democrats wish to do with the hard-earned tax dollars of American families. The last time Democrats passed a spending bill, they approved $80 billion so that the IRS can hire 87,000 new agents to target working families and small businesses. Worse still, Democrats are now

forcing every American to report any transaction of $600 or more to the IRS, giving the Federal Government unprecedented access into the personal finances of American families. We can expect more of the same from them now.

Maya Angelou was right when she said:

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first

time.

Now, we just heard what our Democrat colleagues are saying in objecting to this commonsense solution to avoid a government shutdown. They are saying that our proposal will cut services. Passing the CR into next year will not result in any cuts to funding or services; it will simply continue government operations just as they are today.

Here is the deal. For too long, the failed and ridiculous thinking in Washington has been that budgets don't matter and inflation doesn't matter because voters will never tie wasteful spending to inflation. The only way to get some things done is to shove them into a giant spending bill negotiated in secret and pass it before anyone has any time to read it. That is wrong, and the American public is disgusted with this. It is not how any family or business operates.

In the real world, you make plans, you meet deadlines, you make choices and live within your means, because failing to do so means failing to survive and prosper.

Congress shouldn't be treated any differently. Congress has been broken and unaccountable for too long.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, have you ever gone out to eat at a restaurant with a group of people, but your order was cheaper than everyone else's? Maybe you weren't as hungry or the restaurant the group picked was more expensive than you could afford so you were selective about what you ordered. Then, when the check comes, someone suggested the group split it evenly.

Now, what is your immediate reaction? You are upset, of course, because you ordered the salad not the filet mignon or you drank water, not the expensive bottle of wine. You ordered what you wanted, and they ordered what they wanted; you shouldn't be on the hook for their cost.

Sadly, this illustration is far too real, as last month, Joe Biden announced that he would cancel billions of dollars in student loans.

Now, let's be clear. He isn't canceling student debt. No, he is transferring that debt to every American taxpayer. Now a construction worker in Florida is having to foot the bill for the loans of a Harvard grad, which they voluntarily accepted for an education they received.

So here is what Democrats are trying to say to that construction worker: You didn't go to college; Democrats don't care. You will pay the debt of lawyers and doctors, and you will pay for those who want Ph.D.s in poetry. Talk about poetic injustice. You went to community college or a State school and worked to graduate debt-free. Tough luck. Joe Biden wants you to pay for the advanced degrees of the privileged few. Your tax dollars are now the money pot for other people's student debt.

Of course, Joe Biden's plan doesn't even begin to address the real reason for rising higher education costs. That is universities' decades-long practice of unnecessarily raising tuition.

As Governor of Florida, I addressed that problem and challenged our universities to keep education affordable.

Look at the University of Florida. Undergraduate tuition and fees for this academic year are less than $6,500. It is the fifth best public university in the country. You will get a fantastic education there. Meanwhile, at Harvard, tuition fees for an academic year cost more than $57,000.

There are ways to make education affordable, but the Democrats and elites aren't interested in those solutions. That is why Joe Biden is engaging in this reckless move even though it doesn't solve the real issue and even though he lacks the proper constitutional authority.

Everybody knows this. That is why, in July of last year, Nancy Pelosi herself denied that the President had such power.

She said:

The president can't do it . . . That's not even a

discussion.

Yet now the Department of Justice is engaging in

interpretive gymnastics to co-opt legislation that was passed

to help our servicemembers in the aftermath of 9/11. It is a

desperate attempt to stretch a good law well beyond its

intent so that Joe Biden can give handouts to his liberal

voters and Harvard pals.

Biden wants to spend money that Congress has not appropriated for a loan forgiveness that Congress has not authorized. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is a gross abuse of authority, and I won't stand for it. Congress must assert its authority here. We have the power of the purse, not the President.

That is why I have introduced the Debt Cancellation Accountability Act. My bill would require the Department of Education to get an express appropriation from Congress before they could propose waiving, discharging, or reducing student loan debt to two or more borrowers in an amount greater than $1 million. If we want to transfer the debt of some and make everyone pay for it, then Congress has to make that decision.

We should simply put it up for a vote. Of course, the Democrats here in the Senate won't do that. Surely, they could have passed a bill by now if they had really wanted to, but they wanted Biden to do it alone. It is easy to see why. In just the past few weeks, we have heard families from across the country speaking out against Biden's unfair and disastrous proposal. I am hearing about it from Floridians every day, and I know my colleagues are too.

I would like to thank Senators Barrasso, Lummis, and Braun for supporting my Debt Cancellation Accountability Act and for choosing to stand with me against Biden's overreach.

Let's pass this bill today to reverse Joe Biden's unlawful decision and force Congress to decide this issue.

Before I ask for unanimous consent, I would like to turn to my colleague Senator Braun from the great State of Indiana.

I am so thankful for Senator Braun's support on this bill and for all of the work he has done to raise awareness about Biden's reckless spending agenda and to stand for fiscal sanity.

Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 4483 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, so let's remember what we are talking about here. We are not canceling debt; we are transferring debt. We are transferring the debt because this obligation doesn't go away. Somebody still owes this money.

What we are saying is, people who decided--they made the choice--to go to college or go to some higher education, they are not going to have to pay their debt. And people who didn't and already paid off their debt, they are going to pay for it.

My colleague from Massachusetts never acknowledged the example. We all remember when we went out to dinner and we didn't spend the most money and how somebody suggested that, oh, let's just share it. So we paid for the expensive wine, and we paid for the expensive meal. That is not fair.

When you talk to Americans around the country, and they say: Would you like to forgive all the debt? Absolutely. Free is great.

But when you say: You are going to pay for it, they say: Absolutely not. Why would I pay off the debt for somebody else?

Let's remember just what my bill does. It doesn't say we can't forgive student loans; it says that Congress ought to decide if we do it. This is going to cost up to $1 trillion.

I don't think we ought to, so-called, transfer this debt, but my bill will at least give us a chance to have a debate on it. But that is not what my colleague wants to do.

I hope my colleague understands that her objection is absolutely a slap in the face to all those workers in Massachusetts and around the country who didn't go to college: construction workers, small business owners, chefs, flight attendants, firefighters, landscapers, and so many other groups of people who have made the decision not to pursue a higher education for whatever reason.

There are many others who worked hard to get scholarships or those who worked part time to afford college or plenty others who took the time to pay off their loans. I am going to stand with those people, working-class people--people who are responsible, hard-working Americans who absolutely are willing to pay off their obligations.

I think about people like my dad. My dad had a sixth grade education. He was a truckdriver. He worked his tail off. I can't imagine what he would think about working hard every day, then being forced to pay for some other person's degree as a doctor or a lawyer. He would be beside himself. He would think it was so unfair.

It is not how the real world works. It is a Democrat fantasyland that Joe Biden is trying to turn into reality.

People used to take pride in paying off their debts and working hard to see their commitments come through. Democrats want to destroy that and destroy ideas of fiscal responsibility. They want to forget that we are $30 trillion in debt. They want to forget that we still have record-high inflation as a result of wasteful spending.

My colleague wants to pretend that we are in this fantasyland because objecting to my bill is an endorsement of Biden's reckless plan and his unconstitutional debt transfer, from the overachiever, to the Harvard grad, to the working class.

As Members of Congress, we should be interested in checks and balances and the separation of powers. We should guard the powers of the Constitution that is especially reserved for the legislative branch. Spending a trillion dollars with no congressional oversight is wrong. That is not exactly how our Constitution was set up. This shameless decision to block my bill is just another example of how far Senate Democrats will go to appease the radical left.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, first off, my colleague never addressed the issue that this is a transfer of obligation. I mean, you can have a conversation about what we should have done with regard to tax cuts in the past, but this is a transfer of obligation. This is a transfer of obligation of people who decided to go to school.

We should do everything we can to help people, but we are not addressing the problem here. I addressed it when I was Governor. When I became Governor in January of 2011, tuition in Florida was going up 15 percent a year, plus inflation. I stopped it. We didn't see tuition increase while I was Governor, and we became the No. 1 higher education system in the country according to U.S. News & World Report.

We solved the problem of the cost of higher education to make sure people could afford education. We did it because we invested, we kept tuition low, and we paid our universities based on three things: do you get a degree, how much money you make, and what does it cost to get a degree. So, guess what, all of our universities became more efficient and more accountable.

That is how you fix the problem. This does not fix the problem. This does nothing to reduce tuition. This does nothing to hold our universities accountable. This does nothing to stop our universities from raising tuition. This does nothing to require our universities to make sure our kids get a job. This does nothing to make sure our kids get good-paying jobs.

So I am very disappointed in my colleague in that she would still not address the issue that that is a complete transfer of obligation from some people who decided to go get a higher education to people who decided not to.

I yield the floor.

I yield the floor.

Are you finished?

Absolutely. I did everything I could to make sure all of our students had the opportunity to go to school. We made sure that they could afford to go to school.

What I have said in my bill today is this ought to be done by Congress. And let's don't just do some blanket transfer of obligations here. Congress should be doing this. This is going to cost us up to $1 trillion, and we are going to have people like my dad, if he was still alive--a truckdriver with a sixth-grade education--pay for some Ivy League kid to go to school, and that is wrong.

Mr. President, I am not suggesting you shouldn't borrow money, but what I am suggesting is, if you do borrow money, you made that decision, all right? You shouldn't transfer it to somebody like my dad, who had a sixth-grade education, couldn't afford to go to school, didn't go to school. There shouldn't be a transfer to make sure they pay off your debt. That is a decision you make. You should pay it off.

Now, if you have an issue because you can't pay it, let's deal with that issue. That is not what this does. This says, whatever your issues, Joe Biden says, by himself, without any act of Congress--he gets to make a decision by himself: Poof, your debt goes away; somebody else picks it up. That is not right.

Mr. President, well, first off, let me make sure my colleague from Vermont knows my background. I actually grew up in public housing, born to a single mom. I do care about people, making sure you can get an education. That is why I did exactly what I did in Florida. I made sure people had the opportunity to get ahead.

The 4 years before I became Governor of Florida, the State lost 832,000 jobs. By cutting taxes and reducing the regulations and streamlining things, we added 1.7 million jobs so people all over my State could get a job. That is how people get ahead. You don't get ahead by just somebody transferring obligations from one person to somebody else. That improves a few people's lives, but that is completely unfair. That is not how this country was set up, that some people are going to pay for somebody else's obligation that they decided to pick up, and that is all I am talking about.

Mr. President, I think who paid for Jeff Bezos's yacht is all the people who bought packages from Amazon. And by the way, if you do get one that says ``Made in China,'' I hope everybody will send it back.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, last month, in a completely partisan process, Senate Democrats pushed through their progressive and deceivingly named Inflation Reduction Act. That bill was a disaster, as it was full of reckless tax increases and spending.

Perhaps the worst part of it was that it authorized $80 billion in new funding to the IRS--$80 billion. For reference, that is about the same as what we allocated for Florida's entire State budget when I was Governor, and Florida is the third largest State in the Nation. Even though the IRS does a poor job with the resources it currently has, the Democrats opted to supersize the IRS so they could fund 87,000 new IRS agents, some of whom will be armed and willing to use deadly force to carry out their duties.

So, while the Democrats are calling to defund the police and are leaving our Border Patrol agents without the tools they need to secure the southern border, they are happy to enlarge the IRS. We don't even have 20,000 Border Patrol agents--a quarter of the number of new IRS agents the Democrats want; yet they have now approved 87,000 additional IRS agents. That is insane.

That many agents under the direction of President Biden should concern every American. We all remember that when Joe Biden was Vice President, the IRS went after conservative groups and Tea Party organizations. Now, armed with tens of billions in new funding and tens of thousands of new agents, what is stopping Joe Biden from directing the IRS to go after groups he doesn't like? What about pregnancy resource centers or Second Amendment groups?

Here is what the Democrats are doing: They are turning the IRS into a super Agency to audit more Americans so they can fund even more of their reckless tax-and-spend agenda. Let's not forget that last year, the Democrats wanted the IRS to spy on nearly every American's bank account and track one's everyday transactions. American families can see straight through Biden's plans, and they are furious. We all should be furious.

Without a single Republican vote, the Democrats authorized 87,000 more IRS agents--doubling the size of the Agency--all to pull as many dollars as they can away from hard-working families and small businesses so they can fund liberal projects and appease their radical base with more government bailouts.

Case in point: Biden's illegal order to transfer student loan debt from borrowers to taxpayers. Someone has to pay for the hundreds of billions of dollars of debt that these borrowers voluntarily took on. Now, instead of the borrowers paying for their own educations, that burden is now borne by every American taxpayer. You didn't go to college? The Democrats don't care. You will pay the debt of lawyers and doctors. Have you already paid off your loans? Biden doesn't want to hear it. Tough luck. Your taxes are the money pot for other people's student debts, and if Democrats are going to keep declaring everything to be free, Biden is going to need a lot more taxpayer money.

That, my fellow Americans, is how we get full circle back to the supersized IRS. It is a vicious cycle to fund a radical, socialist agenda. We have to stop it now.

I am here to do what countless Floridians have asked me to do--strike this terrible policy from law. It is time to rein in the Federal Government, and that work begins with putting a stop to Biden's IRS army. My bill would simply repeal this disastrous IRS expansion, and I ask all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4798. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I agree with my colleague that if you owe taxes, you should pay your taxes, but what is inconsistent with what my colleague just said is that we had an amendment vote that would say that none of these agents could go after anybody making less than $400,000 a year. Every Democrat, I believe, in the Senate voted against that. So the goal is, absolutely, we should make sure that wealthy taxpayers pay everything they owe, but we had an amendment that would make sure this was focused on wealthy taxpayers--this was during a vote just before we left on recess--and every Democrat voted against that.

For all of those who are watching, here is what you are going to see: The Democratic Party has created a platform to audit more Americans-- not just wealthy Americans but all Americans. This isn't about fairness; this is about power. The Democrats want to spy on your bank transactions, and they want to send 87,000 more IRS agents on the streets to collect the bill for their reckless spending.

Joe Biden has pitched his provision in the image of Robin Hood taking from the rich, but in reality, this expansion is in the image of the Sheriff of Nottingham stealing from the poor and the working class.

None of us should be surprised the Democrats are doubling down on the radical IRS expansion policies. We all should be pretty mad. When the Republicans take control of Congress in January, you can expect that we will do everything in our power to repeal this terrible policy.

I yield the floor.

The easiest way to solve my colleague's issue would have been to propose an amendment to make sure that we didn't go after taxpayers making less than $400,000 a year, but not one Democrat did that. All they did was just vote against this and then after the fact say: Well, it was a language issue. If it were simply a language issue, we could have solved it that night.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I have a motion at the desk.

Madam President, I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

[Mr. Scott of Florida] moves to commit the bill H.R. 5376

to the Committee on Finance of the Senate with instructions

to report the same back to the Senate in 3 days, not counting

any day in which the Senate is not in session, with changes

that--

(1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and

(2) would prohibit the hiring of any additional Internal

Revenue Service agents pursuant to section

10301(a)(1)(A)(i)(II) until such time as at least 18,000

additional agents (over the number of such agents employed as

of the date of enactment) are hired by the United States

Border Patrol.

Madam President, the historic crisis that the Biden administration has created on the southern border by failing to enforce our laws is threatening the national security of the United States every day.

Savage cartels own our U.S. border now. This fiscal year, more than 2 million people have illegally entered the United States. Drugs are pouring into our communities and killing thousands and thousands of Americans. It must end now.

Sadly, Democrats are still doing nothing to support the Border Patrol or actually securing the border. Instead, they want to supersize the IRS and add 87,000 more agents to hunt down and audit even more families and small businesses.

My amendment says that before one additional IRS agent is hired, we must give Border Patrol the support it needs and double its forces with 18,000 more Border Patrol agents. It is time to first secure the border and second, stop the Democrats from supersizing the IRS.

I urge my colleagues to vote for my commonsense amendment.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the work of a wonderful Floridian, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa.

Born in Camaguey, Cuba, Commissioner Sosa and her family escaped the island following the Communist Revolution and fled to Puerto Rico, where she grew up. She received her bachelor's degree in secondary education from the University of Puerto Rico, before earning another degree in elementary education from Saint Thomas University in Miami Gardens. She has been an educator for more than 30 years and is currently a teacher-trainer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Since 2001, Commissioner Sosa has also served on the Miami-Dade County Commission as the District Six commissioner. In 2012, she was elected by her colleagues as chairwoman of the county commission, where she served a 2-year term. Before her time on the county commission, she spent 7 years serving as the mayor of the city of West Miami.

Commissioner Sosa has spent her career working to improve the lives of Floridians living in the city of Miami, Coral Gables, West Miami, Hialeah, and Miami Springs. Having fled Cuba, she understands the value of freedom and has sought to create a community in Miami-Dade County that promotes opportunity and prosperity.

In her decades of public service, Commissioner Sosa has done immense good for the residents of Miami-Dade County.

As mayor of West Miami, she helped the city recover from a 52 percent budget deficit and secured more than $5 million in grants for capital improvement projects and improvements to the city's drainage and park systems.

As a county commissioner, she supported transportation projects as she championed Port Miami, signed a sister port agreement with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority, and worked to increase the number of international flights out of Miami International Airport. Commissioner Sosa has also used her position to help improve care for Florida's seniors by creating the Elder Affairs Advisory Board and sponsoring legislation to form what would become the Elder Abuse Task Force. Additionally, her work to protect Florida's environment has been recognized by many, and her successful efforts to secure funding for community projects and parks has improved the lives of Floridians throughout Miami-Dade County.

What is more, as a member of the Cuban diaspora, Commissioner Sosa has used her position to fight for democracy and human rights in Cuba and to stand against the abuses of the illegitimate communist Cuban regime. Last year, she led the county commission to unanimously declare July 11, 2021, to be ``Patria y Vida/SOS Cuba Day'' in Miami-Dade County.

And all along the way, she has sought to improve the economic conditions of Miami, and to support small businesses owners and create jobs for Florida families.

I want to recognize Commissioner Sosa for all of her work to support Floridians living in Miami-Dade County and thank her for friendship and decades of public service. Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida are better off because of her service to the community and to the State, and Floridians wish her the best of luck as she leaves the county commission.

Mr. President, Florida families hear a lot of talk up here in Washington about inflation. Right now, inflation is raging over 9 percent across America.

I was warning about the coming inflation crisis back in February of last year, but now basically everyone in the Senate--Republicans and Democrats alike--have joined me in talking about just how horrific this is for families in each of our States.

In Florida, inflation is costing families nearly $800 more every month. Imagine being a family on a fixed income and having to pay double rent each month or adding a luxury car payment to your monthly expenses. That is essentially what families in my State are dealing with since Joe Biden took office.

It is a new tax on families at every income level, a tax created by the sheer incompetence of Joe Biden. It hurts our poorest families-- like mine growing up--the very most.

Now, we know what causes this inflation. It is reckless government spending. On this side of the political aisle, we aren't afraid to tell this truth, but our Democratic colleagues, with the exception of one or two, won't do it.

It is fine. You would probably imagine that, in a 50-50 Senate, we would still be able to hold the line and stop reckless spending in its tracks. Nope, not in broken Washington. Here in Washington, the only thing we can seem to get bipartisan consensus on is digging America deeper and deeper into debt. It happens again and again. And with each dollar of debt and each new round of reckless spending, we throw gasoline on the raging inflation fire burning across America.

As I speak here now, it is about to happen again. This week, the Senate will very likely pass the so-called China bill that spends $280 billion we don't have. We are not burning our savings here; we are borrowing $280 billion to do this.

This is why the American people hate Congress. They see politicians stand up in their neighborhoods and pledge to fight the waste in Washington and then watch as those same politicians become the very problem they vowed to fix. It is disgusting, and it is happening up here all the time.

So let's talk about this bill that we are set to vote on this week. Democrats and some Republicans will suggest that it will help combat the threats we face from Beijing. There is just one problem. This bill doesn't help us combat communist China at all.

On Monday of last week, this bill cost $76 billion and was 73 pages long. Two days later, Senator Schumer turned it into a $250 billion version. Now it is more than 1,000 pages, a $280 billion monster chock- full of reckless spending and bad policy that gives Joe Biden a wide- open door to push his radical policies.

The bill ballooned in size and price because Chuck Schumer--Senator Schumer--inserted massive slush funds for the National Science Foundation. This same entity has burned billions of taxpayer dollars on insane projects like creating a towel-folding robot or studying how shrimp run on treadmills. I wish I was making this up, but I am not.

This bill doubles the National Science Foundation's budget over the next 5 years and gives millions to universities that already have a problem with spies from communist China stealing intellectual property and data. Does the bill increase protections to stop this or better protect tax dollars? No.

No wonder the debt is surging over $30 trillion and inflation is over 9 percent. Washington is broken. It just can't stop wasting your money.

So what else does this bill do? A huge part of it is a massive giveaway to chipmakers like Intel. You know Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker that saw $20 billion in profit last year and paid its CEO $180 million. They are not exactly struggling these days, but politicians in Washington want to give them billions of your money with no strings attached.

There are no requirements to see a return on investment. There are no provisions to claw back dollars if they don't do what they are supposed to do. There is nothing for accountability.

What is worse, these large chipmakers have lobbied hard to weaken the bill so they can keep doing business in communist China. And--guess what--Washington caved, and they got exactly what they wanted. Massive, multibillion-dollar corporations like Intel will get Americans' hard- earned tax dollars to build manufacturing plants, get tax writeoffs for those plants, and get a tax credit. These chipmakers are getting paid three ways with your tax money, and they will still be allowed to work and expand in communist China.

There is nothing stopping them from moving funds around to increase their business in communist China or any other market, for that matter. There is no requirement for them to build a certain number of plants here in the United States. There are no quotas that they need to hit so Americans can be sure we never have to rely on risky supply chains.

And even if communist China invades Taiwan, which supplies nearly two-thirds of all the world's semiconductors, the companies that get your tax dollars in this bill will still be allowed to operate in communist China while receiving your money.

This bill isn't anti-China; it is pro-China. It is going to cause more inflation, more debt, and create more deficits. There is absolutely no accountability. It doesn't make any sense.

Now, there is a heck of a lot we can do to reshore our supply chains and ensure Chinese spies don't steal our technology, all things this bill purports to do but doesn't.

For more than a year now, I have been fighting this bloated bill while at the same time introducing other legislation with my colleagues to economically decouple from communist China, strengthen our defense networks, and stand up to Xi Jinping's abuses.

We all want to solve problems. I want to solve problems. I am open to good investments. They have to be done with accountability to the American people. That is why I introduced an amendment to this bill to ensure that no tax dollars are going to go to benefit communist China.

My amendment would do four things. First, my amendment would eliminate all the exemptions that are currently in the bill that allow semiconductor companies who take U.S. taxpayer dollars to expand and continue their operations in communist China. Money is fungible, and we should make perfectly clear that these American tax dollars should only be benefiting Americans.

Some have called this a national security investment. If that is true, then we should make sure it builds up American security, not communist China's.

Second, my amendment will require the Secretary of Commerce to certify to Congress that the Department has completed a return-on- investment analysis of a proposed grant. That announcement must show the grant will be a net positive for taxpayers and prevent distribution of that grant until the Secretary certifies the analysis and makes it public.

In business and in government, I have made countless deals. I never want to make an investing deal when I am unsure whether I am getting a return on my money. Americans understand this. If we are going to be investing taxpayers' dollars, we need to make smart investments that will get a real return.

Third, my amendment will require companies receiving funds disbursed from the CHIPS Act to enter into a

three-part agreement with the Commerce Secretary specifying that they will, one, not engage in any transaction involving the expansion of chip manufacturing capacity in communist China; two, refuse to cooperate with the Communist Chinese Government moving forward; three, commit to immediately ceasing all operations in communist China if it invades Taiwan.

As I mentioned before, the bill in its current form does nothing to stop chipmakers from expanding operations in communist China and has loads of exceptions specifically allowing these companies to keep working there. That is insane. We should not allow it.

If people want to call this an anti-China bill, then let's make it an anti-China bill and stop doing business in communist China.

Fourth, my amendment will ensure that all U.S. tax dollars are clawed back if any company breaks that three-part agreement with the Commerce Secretary, and it would require the Commerce Secretary to ensure that the company will repay the money if they break the agreement. If you break a contract, there are consequences. Everyone knows this, and it is crazy that this bill doesn't already have those provisions in it.

If we don't change this bill, a vote for this bill is a vote for higher inflation. It is a vote to help communist China and a vote to add to our already $30 trillion debt.

My amendment isn't controversial. This is commonsense stuff. It will improve the bill and add the kinds of safeguards Americans should expect from legislators handling their hard-earned tax dollars. We are a fiduciary for the American taxpayer.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the Democratic majority leader is interested in having a vote on my commonsense amendment, but that shouldn't surprise the American public. They have come to expect this sort of dysfunction under Democratic leadership.

The Democrats love to pretend that they are fighting against corporate special interests, but what the majority leader is pushing forward right now is one of the grossest gifts to corporate America I have ever seen. The families in each of our States deserve and expect better than what this delivers.

Our Nation is in the midst of a historic inflation crisis that is destroying the dreams and hard-earned savings of millions of families across our country. Our answer to that crisis cannot be to throw gasoline on the fire and walk away. We can and must do more to combat the threats posed by communist China.

Members of this body, on both sides of the aisle, have great ideas that can do that, but this bill isn't one of them. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill or, at a minimum, join me in demanding that my amendment be adopted so we can better protect the massive amount of tax dollars being spent here.

I also urge my colleagues not to turn a blind eye to the new debt this bill creates. As I said earlier, this bill borrows $280 billion we don't have. We have to stop this.

That is why I am raising a budget point of order. When we keep borrowing and spending money we don't have, it is terrible for our country and our families. A vote to waive my point of order is a vote to approve more debt, which means more inflation.

Point of Order

Mr. President, the pending measure, Senate amendment No. 5135, violates section 404(a) of S. Con. Res. 13 of the 111th Congress, the fiscal year 2010 budget resolution, as amended by S. Con. Res. 11 of the 114th Congress, because it would increase the short-term debt by more than $10 billion in one or more of the fiscal years that comprise the current budget window.

Therefore, I raise a point of order against this measure pursuant to section 404(a) of Sen. Con. Res. 13, the fiscal year 2010 concurrent resolution on the budget.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of S. 3086 and the Senate

proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President.

Across the country, American families are fighting harder every week to make ends meet as they deal with President Biden's raging inflation crisis. Food prices are up. Gas prices remain at unbearably high levels, and too many families are having to make the impossible decision of whether to put gas in the tank or food on the table. It is so tough to be a family in that position.

I know all too well how this feels and the impacts these high prices have on families. I grew up in a poor family, with a mom who worked long hours at her job and also picked up odd jobs just so our family could get by. We never had any extra money, so when prices went up, we had to go without.

Families all across the country are in that same spot. People who have never visited food banks are having to turn to them to feed their families. Folks are being forced to pawn their things just to afford gas. It is heartbreaking and makes me furious. Reports are showing it is happening across America--in Reno, NV; Macon, GA; Yakima, WA; and the cities in my home State of Florida, like Pensacola and Fort Myers. These people have to turn to their local pawn shops as they see their monthly bills grow higher and higher. When President Biden said that we are going through ``an incredible transition,'' is this what he meant-- Mom and Dad having to sell Bobby's PlayStation and Suzy's doll collection just so they can afford to take them to school?

Since day 1, President Biden has led a campaign against energy independence. The White House, EPA, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy have done everything in their power to make life more expensive for American families. They have implemented one policy after another to raise the price of gas and make life tougher and tougher for hard-working families.

The American people deserve transparency into Biden's Green New Deal agenda and ought to know why these prices keep going up. That is why I introduced the GAS PRICE Act last October. Even then, far before the horrible war in Ukraine began, gas prices were surging higher.

My bill is pretty simple. It would require the Energy Information Administration to report to Congress on any Federal Agency policies or regulations that it determines will cause energy prices to rise. All it does is ask a Federal Agency to provide information to Congress with a statement of facts on what is causing rising energy prices. Then we can take this information, see what needs to be fixed, and help the American people.

I want to thank Senators Marshall, Lummis, Capito, Johnson, Moran, Blackburn, and Kennedy for cosponsoring this legislation. I also want to thank Senator Sullivan and Senator Lee for joining me here on the floor today to talk about the energy inflation Joe Biden is imposing on Americans.

Considering that we, as Senators, are trusted by the people of our States to enact policies that improve their lives, I cannot imagine why anyone would oppose this legislation. Sadly, when I came to the Senate floor last year to pass this bill, Senate Democrats opposed it.

At that time, I noted that the national average cost was $3.36 per gallon. Sounds like a bargain today. Since then, the price of gas has risen dramatically. The average has increased to $4.46. In 15 of the 17 months Joe Biden has been in office, the price of gas has risen.

When I introduced my bill in October, President Biden said he didn't ``have a near-term answer'' for reducing gas prices. Well, clearly not--his answer was to raise prices and continue his radical Green New Deal agenda.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, do have a plan and have offered solutions. I have introduced the FREE American Energy Act to expedite the Federal Agencies' review process of applications for permits, waivers, licenses, or other authorizations related to energy production. But we can take a simple first step today by giving ourselves more information on rising energy prices and pass my GAS Price Act.

For the sake of American families, we need to figure out what the heck is going on. So while my colleagues on the other side of the aisle blocked my bill from passing last year, my hope was that, as they have watched their constituents suffer for months now under Biden's leadership, they would have a change of heart. Sadly, that is not what happened today. It is an absolute shame what has happened in this Chamber.

I came here with my Republican colleagues to promote and pass legislation that would improve the lives of American people and make America less dependent on foreign oil. We came here asking for answers into Biden's Green New Deal agenda. We are here responding to the pain American families are facing at the gas pump and trying to solve problems.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have come here to obstruct and blame shift. They didn't come here to solve problems. They didn't come here with a different proposal that would alleviate gas prices and ensure long-term energy independence and sustainability. They came here to make the problem worse. They want to emulate the policies of Germany and California, where rolling blackouts and energy rations are a looming threat and where gas has spent most of this year at over $6 per gallon.

This is not the way forward. The Senate need leaders who are going to come in and put Americans first. I am grateful for colleagues like Senator Sullivan and Senator Lee, who are here to do that. But I hope the American people have been watching what has happened today and see who it is who really cares about the problems they are facing.

I yield the floor to my colleague from Utah.

Mr. President, on July 11, 2021, in an act of incredible bravery, thousands of freedom-loving people in Cuba collectively stood together to demand freedom from the oppressive Cuban dictatorship.

They stood outside the headquarters of the Cuban Communist Party demanding liberty. They shouted ``Patria y Vida,'' which means homeland and life.

In cities across the island, Cubans young and old showed they are not afraid of the regime. It was a sign that freedom, liberty, and human rights are not merely American ideals but universal rights given to all by God, not any government.

In response to the peaceful protest, the Cuban Communist Party, an illegitimate and brutally oppressive regime deployed a wave of terror throughout Cuba by unleashing its secret police and military forces on peaceful protesters and democracy leaders.

The regime's thugs and security forces unlawfully detained more than 1,400 demonstrators, including leaders from Cuban civil society groups such as UNPACU, the San Isidro Movement, the Ladies in White, and targeted religious and Afro-Cuban leaders.

In the aftermath of the demonstrations and the government crackdown, crowds of Cubans and supporters of the Cuban people gathered here in Washington urging Joe Biden to act.

They gathered in front of the White House. They protested in front of the Cuban Embassy. I heard their cries asking the American Government to show its support. I joined them in front of the White House and in front of the Capitol.

We know Joe Biden has the power to join the Cuban people to call for the Cuban Communist Party to change. But aside from a couple statements he made last year, Joe Biden has not taken one action to support the Cuban people and their fight for freedom.

He has done nothing to provide them with internet connections or to support the democracy movement on the island.

I want to be clear: The President of the United States is known both here and around the globe as the leader of the free world. Our President, regardless of who it is, has immense power to rally our democratic allies and the freedom-loving people of the world to put pressure on oppressive regimes like the one occupying Havana and throw the full support of the global community behind the Cuban people's movement for freedom.

Anyone who denies this is ignoring history. But Joe Biden hasn't done any of that. He hasn't even tried. Instead, he and his administration have bowed to the demands of Cuba's murderous Castro and Diaz-Canel regimes and chosen not to stand for democracy and human rights.

And just weeks ago, he chose to prop up the oppressive regime with pathetic appeasement policies and sanctions relief. These actions bring shame to the United States. They do nothing to help the people only help line the pockets of the regime, its thugs, and its evil partners in Russia, Iran, and communist China.

This failed President has done more to unite America's enemies than bringing together the world's democracies for a common cause. Biden's appeasement is horrible for U.S. national security, a threat to stability in Latin America, and a danger to the power of democracy across the world.

Six months after the demonstrations started, the Senate unanimously passed my resolution that supported Cuban democracy activists like Jose Daniel Ferrer, and condemned the brutal torture, unjust imprisonment, and severe oppression that the illegitimate communist Cuban regime is subjecting innocent Cubans to every day.

Last week, we honored the 1-year anniversary of the action of the brave Cuban people, and we remembered the horrific images of violence and oppression we saw as the illegitimate communist Cuban regime, terrified of the freedom movement, viciously cracked down on the people with mass jailings, beatings, and even murder.

Well, most of us remember. Joe Biden could not be bothered to even make a statement. His silence on this issue shows he doesn't care about the consequences of his actions. He doesn't care that he is playing into the plans of Castro and Diaz-Canel.

Meanwhile, the Cuban people get nothing in return, and the security situation in the region worsens. When Biden doesn't stand up to Castro and Diaz-Canel, we are left with a destabilized hemisphere that is less peaceful and puts our homeland security at greater risk.

They are murderous, illegitimate dictators. Appeasement is the worst move imaginable. And you better believe that Iran, Russia, and communist China love it when Biden is nice to their friends in Latin America.

So in the midst of this 1-year anniversary of the July 11 historic and peaceful demonstrations, I am asking Joe Biden to call for the immediate release of the hundreds of pro-democracy activists, including children whom the regime is unjustly detaining and subjecting to physical and psychological torture.

I hope someone in the White House is paying attention. Unfortunately, we know Joe Biden isn't. Children are locked away in jail, kept away from their families. These are kids. Some are just 14 years old. What is it going to take for Joe Biden to grow a backbone and do something?

Now, I am sure the administration will say that they have spoken out. Sure, we have seen statements and tweets, but that is not enough. Where is Joe Biden?

The White House can try to hide behind the words of the State Department and claim false leadership, but statements from bureaucrats and tweets from an embassy that shouldn't even exist will never be enough.

Sadly, that is all we can expect from this weak and incompetent President. It is essential to the national security of the United States as well as our efforts to support freedom, democracy, and human rights that Joe Biden reverse the foolish actions he has taken and not allow totalitarian dictators in our hemisphere to go unchecked.

I am also calling on Joe Biden to support the DEMOCRACIA Act, legislation I introduced last year with Congressman Byron Donalds. Our bill would hold the illegitimate communist Cuban regime accountable through severe sanctions, actions, and unprecedented

financial pressure, and put safeguards in place to ensure those sanctions are not wrongfully lifted.

It would also require the President to establish a task force to develop long-term solutions for providing reliable internet service to the people of Cuba that is not censored or blocked by the Cuban regime.

As the Cuban people's fight for freedom from the oppressive and illegitimate communist Cuban regime continues, the United States must stand for the Cuban democracy.

We can never bow to dictators--never. It is time for Biden to lead and to oppose those genocidal dictators and support human rights.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I am here today, along with my Republican colleagues, because American families are suffering. Florida families are suffering at the hand of the Biden administration's war on energy independence.

Last month, I heard about a church in St. Petersburg--just south of Tampa--that makes hot meals for those who have fallen on tough times. Like many other churches across the country, they started making the meals for Thanksgiving, but this church decided to keep it going, and since, they have made thousands of hot meals for families. Here is the problem: Fewer people are coming because those families who need the food now can't even afford to make the trip because gas is so expensive. The poorest families in my State are having to make the impossible choice of sacrificing a hot meal because they can't afford to put gas in their cars.

I want to reiterate this point because I want my Democrat colleagues who, like Joe Biden, think inflation is a ``high-class problem'' or some ``incredible transition'' to understand the gravity of this administration's inflation crisis. Families in my State of Florida are having to turn down an opportunity for a free hot meal because they can't afford the gas to get over to the church and get it.

It makes me furious to see this happening in my State and all across our country, all the while, while Joe Biden does nothing to fix it. He has done nothing.

As of today, the average price of a gallon of gas is $4.63. The day Joe Biden took office, gas was averaging $2.37 per gallon. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 15 different months of Joe Biden's Presidency, the national average for gas prices has risen. But the Democrats up here don't seem to care.

You all remember how last month the senior Senator from Michigan explained during a hearing of the Finance Committee that, unlike her constituents, she doesn't worry about gas prices because she has the means to afford an electric car. She actually said that. Then, when she gets to work in Washington, she gets to charge her car at the Capitol for free, while taxpayers foot the bill. Good for her, but that is not a realistic solution for the millions of Americans suffering under the Biden administration's failed energy policy.

Democrats in Washington know the effect these high prices are having, and they are celebrating because their radically progressive campaign against energy independence is working. But Americans are not celebrating; they are struggling.

Unlike the liberal elites running our government, I am not going to stand for it. That is why earlier this year I introduced the FREE American Energy Act, to expedite the Federal Agencies' review process of applications for permits, waivers, licenses, or other authorizations related to energy production. It is why I have introduced the GAS PRICE Act. It would direct the Energy Information Administration to report to Congress any policy or rule set by the Biden administration which raises energy costs for American families. I even asked the Senate to pass the GAS PRICE Act by unanimous consent this past October, but Senate Democrats blocked its passage. It is as if they want to keep Americans in the dark on why energy prices are rising.

We also need to speed up the approval process for oil permitting, and Americans need to know that this administration is purposely trying to make life more difficult and more expensive. We have the resources within our borders to be energy independent and for everyday life to be affordable.

While we are ramping up American production, we need to completely halt sales of U.S. oil to communist China. That is right--while gas prices remain sky-high here, the Biden administration is still giving a green light for American oil to be sold to our enemies, like communist China. That is hard to believe.

I was proud to join with my friend and fellow Floridian, Senator Marco Rubio, to introduce the China Oil Export Prohibition Act last month to stop these sales. We shouldn't be helping our enemies or asking foreign nations to increase supply. We should be increasing our American supply within our borders. We did it during the Trump administration, and we can do it again.

Joe Biden can roll back the countless regulations he instituted that are hurting our domestic production. The White House, the EPA, and the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy can end their campaign against American oil producers and start working to create an agenda of energy independence.

Congress can pass my legislation to make oil permitting faster and give greater transparency into the impact legislation from Congress has on energy prices. We don't have to throw up our hands and do nothing and give up. Joe Biden and the Democrats who control Washington can and must take real action to start producing energy within our borders safely once again. Our future is bleak if we don't.

I yield the floor.