Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the importance of both the permitting sections and the provision to expedite the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline that are included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

I want to commend Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans for negotiating legislation that makes responsible reductions in government spending while avoiding a government default.

Included in this legislation are key elements of the BUILDER Act permitting reform proposal, which was championed by Congressman Garret Graves and by House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman. The bill represents a positive first step in improving the permitting projects for all kinds of projects.

By amending the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time since 1982, we will help projects of all types whether we are talking about a road, a bridge, a transmission line, a renewable energy project, a pipeline, or a port. Simply put, a project shouldn't take longer to permit than it takes to build, and that should be true regardless of what type of project is under consideration.

This legislation will impose statutory deadlines on the completion of environmental impact statements and environmental assessments.

It will streamline the review process with threshold language that tells Agencies when various levels of review are necessary.

It allows Agencies to share categorical exclusions for similar projects, because multiple Agencies should not have to do the same work twice. It makes sense.

By placing the One Federal Decision policy into the NEPA statute, this legislation will allow project sponsors to work with a single lead Federal Agency.

Most of those listening probably thought that that was what was happening anyway. But, no, all of these different Agencies were giving all individual opinions.

If we want to build things in this country, we should not force project sponsors to bounce back and forth from one Agency to the next, often facing litigation at every step. It is just simply common sense to allow project sponsors to work with one lead Agency.

More work is needed beyond this bill to fix our broken process for permitting projects. Reforms to the judicial review process, timelier Fish and Wildlife Service reviews, and improvements to the Clean Water Act are all very important.

I introduced the RESTART Act last month with a number of my EPW Republican colleagues to address those issues, and I will continue to work in a bipartisan way to see additional reforms enacted into law.

Today's legislation is a positive step on permitting reform. Again, I want to thank Congressman Graves and Chairman Westerman for their efforts to get us to this point.

Mr. President, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is a prime example of an important project that has faced senseless delays, mostly as a result of litigation filed by anti-natural gas activists at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

This project has undergone numerous--numerous--environmental reviews and has received approvals from multiple Federal Agencies both under the Trump and the Biden administrations. These include actions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, better known as FERC; the U.S. Forest Service; the Bureau of Land Management; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection; and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. These are Agencies that have already approved the construction of this pipeline.

Given the multiple actions by Federal and State environmental agencies' approving this project, assertions that this project has not gone through adequate environmental review are just plain wrong. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have expressed support for this project. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm recently sent a letter to FERC endorsing the project.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is 95 percent complete and would be finished today if it weren't for the rulings by the Fourth Circuit that have stayed or vacated multiple approvals granted by Federal and State environmental regulators. The Fourth Circuit has acted nine times with respect to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. On eight of those nine occasions, the court has either stayed or vacated an approval from a Federal or a State agency.

Only once did the court uphold an approval for this project, and that was when the court upheld water quality certifications from the State of Virginia, under section 401 of the Clean Water Act. But, within days of that opinion, the same Fourth Circuit panel vacated similar 401 water quality certifications from the State of West Virginia.

Because certification from both States is necessary to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to issue a required 404 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, vacating certification from one State has had the effect of continuing to prevent the project from moving forward.

We have become all too familiar with the Fourth Circuit's blocking of key projects. The same panel that has rejected nearly all of the State and Federal approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline brought before it took similar actions to vacate State and Federal approvals for the now canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Project sponsors for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline appealed one of the Fourth Circuit's four adverse rulings against that project all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reversed the Fourth Circuit in a 7-to-2 opinion that was written by Justice Thomas and joined not only by Republican-appointed Justices but also by Justices Ginsburg and Breyer. Despite winning at the Supreme Court, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was canceled amid the threat of continuing litigation and permitting challenges.

Activists are using the same playbook at the Fourth Circuit to try to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This is a pipeline that will result in $40 million in tax revenue and $150 million in royalty payments in West Virginia annually once it is completed. The project will open markets to West Virginia's natural gas, providing good-paying jobs not just in my State, and enhancing our Nation's energy security and our own national security.

Given the project's benefits and given approvals from State and Federal regulators across multiple administrations from both parties, I do not believe that a handful of judges should have the final say.

This legislation will ratify approvals issued under the Biden administration from the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, along with approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. These documents will be insulated from judicial review to prevent further delays.

Additionally, this bill requires the Army Corps of Engineers to issue necessary project permits, including that 404 permit I talked about earlier, within 21 days. Both Virginia and West Virginia environmental regulators have issued necessary certifications for this permit, but the Fourth Circuit has delayed further permitting action by vacating West Virginia's certification.

This legislation makes it crystal clear that Congress expects the Mountain Valley Pipeline to be completed, consistent with the previously approved environmental documents.

I have consistently fought for commonsense reforms so that we can actually ensure that we can build here in America, including key projects such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline. It is my hope that permitting reforms--both the provisions that are in this bill and those that we should consider in the future--will allow projects to be approved and constructed in an efficient manner that does not require congressional intervention.

It also should be pointed out and emphasized that this does not mean that any environmental regulation that is put forward is ever shortchanged or overlooked. That is not the point here.

On occasions when the process fails projects of significant regional and national interest, we have the authority and the responsibility as elected Representatives to step in and ensure a project is allowed to proceed.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise in opposition to the Senator's amendment. This Mountain Valley Pipeline is an important infrastructure. It has been vetted numerous times. It has permitting-- all permits that are from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Fish and Wildlife, and the Bureau of Land Management. These are all permits through both administrations--both the Biden and Trump administrations--that have already been offered. They are in a judicial hellhole right now where they can't get out. This is absolutely essential to the eastern seaboard.

It is jobs and tax revenues in the State of West Virginia, and I think this is an opportunity for us to cut through this redtape and move forward with the very essential infrastructure package.

Madam President, I rise today to again speak on the multifaceted crisis that has defined our southern border and how the inaction and misleading rhetoric from President Biden and his administration has only exacerbated the continued fallout our country is experiencing.

Since the beginning of his tenure in the White House, President Biden's trademark has been border chaos with over 6.3 million illegal border crossings under his watch. Actions do speak louder than words, and President Biden continues to prove that his priorities are miles and miles away from the southern border. He has only visited the southern border once since becoming President. He has supported funding cuts to the Department of Homeland Security in his recent budget proposal; and that Department is charged with securing the border.

Our Border Patrol agents deserve needed support from the administration who has laid the crisis they face squarely at their feet. In this past week, according to the U.S. Border Patrol, there have been 67,759 apprehensions, 15,780 approximate ``get-aways,'' 179 pounds of meth, 56 pounds of fentanyl, and 34 pounds of cocaine--all seized at our southern border in just 168 hours.

With our Border Patrol stretched inconceivably thin with little support from the administration, it is hard to fathom the true amount of illegal crossings, human trafficking, and illegal drugs that are currently entering our country through the southern border.

On top of all this, on Sunday, a person on the U.S. terror watchlist was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in San Diego. This further proves the national security implications regarding this border crisis and the message displayed to the world about the State of our ports of entry.

The impact of the unprecedented amount of drugs entering through our southern border is certainly not lost on me either, nor anyone in this body. My State of West Virginia has seen the impact of this crisis directly, and it has created irreversible scars on our communities.

I just mentioned 56 pounds of fentanyl has been seized just last week alone. That is enough fentanyl to kill 12 million Americans. Recent data from the CDC shows that between 2016 and 2021, fentanyl overdoses have risen 279 percent in this country. Those between the ages of 24 through 44 have the highest overdose rates, and those involved fentanyl.

Through conversations I have had on this topic with the Biden administration officials, I have found their answers to be highly insufficient. This is a crisis that is killing a generation, and we know that these drugs are flowing across our southern border. The administration needs a better answer, and they must swiftly act to stop this killer.

Now as the title 42 authority has expired, it has added to the confusion on the southern border. The Biden administration is trying to reset a new normal based on failed policies as an attempt to redefine and hide their border failures. Trust me, the American people are not fooled by the recent victory lap taken by the Biden administration or their effort to claim success or progress. To the Biden administration, what they consider low numbers still far exceed the daily average of the prior administration. In fact, if illegal crossings continue at the levels that the administration is tallying, this White House is on track to break the previous record they set last year for the number of illegal immigrants caught at the border. This is not lost on the American people.

Unfortunately, this is a habit we have kind of seen from this President. We saw similar messaging antics from the administration regarding gas prices when they touted decreases that still put us above the average before President Biden even took office. The same goes for inflation, which saw record increases only after Democrats' supercharged spending. Yes, it came down, but it is still way, way too high.

Mitigating the border crisis is an ongoing effort and one we have to monitor closely. For example, will the administration's actions of the past week create a massive backlog of asylum claims? What does that do to our system? It only adds to the issue of interior enforcement, something the Biden administration has clearly never prioritized.

Despite the President's too-little, too-late action, our border remains open. I know with certainty that once someone enters our country, the chances of them being expelled are very, very low. As we move forward, the situation of the border needs to be tightly watched, and it needs to be tracked over time if it deviates based on many different factors and changes to policies that we are currently experiencing. But above all else, we have to remain committed to policies that do secure the border, policies that protect our communities.

I don't know how these border communities are doing it. I really don't. Policies that support our Border Patrol officers and policies that prevent the unprecedented humanitarian tragedy that has become the custom over the past several years--whether it is the drug influx, the human trafficking, and just the human sorrow that we see that this has generated.

My Republican colleagues and I remain committed to this mission, and I encourage the Biden administration to do the same.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise today to talk on a subject that is of great importance to me and of great importance to employers, workers, consumers, and--really--everyone across this country; and that is, the need for substantive reform of our country's Federal environmental review and permitting process.

Now, this is a subject I have talked about a lot. I have championed efforts to make sure that our environment and economy benefit from a functional Federal environmental review and permitting process, and I am now and once again leading environmental review and permitting reform efforts through the Environment and Public Works Committee, and I am working with my fellow Republican Senator, who is the ranking member over on Energy and Natural Resources, Senator Barrasso from Wyoming, and we are working across the aisle with our counterparts.

Permitting reform is much more than just legislative text. It is more than just updates to laws that have been on the books for years or about replacing counterproductive measures implemented by the Biden administration. It is an essential element in giving our Nation what we need to be successful in the future.

Without permitting reform, American energy will continue to be stalled, jeopardizing our security here at home as well as for our allies abroad. Without permitting reform, communities across America will struggle as they are denied access to the good-paying jobs that they need and are capable of doing.

Without permitting reform, America will not build at all. The same country that mined the coal, that made the steel, and that built the democracy and led the way for industry across the world will be held back by endless review processes, continuous and continuing court challenges, and crippling regulations that limit our ability to be the world leader that we know we are.

In my State of West Virginia, which is synonymous with energy generation, we have long seen the negative effects created by a permitting process that is designed to stall rather than to produce or create. There are multiple real-world examples of how our broken environmental review and permitting process is holding up my State of West Virginia's ability to move forward, and it is impacting multiple sectors important not only to the people of my State but also to our national economy.

In the transportation sector in West Virginia there is Corridor H. Corridor H is a critically important highway that West Virginia needs to help commerce flow and to jump-start the economy in the central part of our State and to encourage our growing tourism industry.

In the manufacturing sector, there is Nucor Steel, an innovative, cutting-edge steel and steel products company that can't, as yet, build their plant as quickly as the Biden administration keeps creating new emissions guidelines.

And, in the energy sector, there is the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 304-mile-long natural gas pipeline that is on the brink of completion-- over 90 percent completed. Yet it is unable to deliver its needed contribution to American energy independence due to the regulatory burdens and endless legal challenges that have gone on longer than the actual construction of the pipeline itself.

These are just three examples in the State of West Virginia. Think about the national impact created by outdated permitting processes, the damage inflicted on our communities and our economy, and the opportunities we are losing because of an administration that champions redtape, feeds frivolous lawsuits, and whose Agencies celebrate delays that lead to the total abandonment of critical--critical--projects.

It just doesn't make sense, quite simply. Even the renewable energy projects and manufacturing efforts central to the Biden administration's Agencies are being held up in permitting purgatory.

President Biden has long pledged that he will build our country back better. Well, news flash, Mr. President. You can't ``build back better'' if you can't build at all.

The fallout created by a broken environmental review and permitting process further strains our sputtering economy, drives up energy prices for consumers, negates good-paying jobs for hard-working Americans, and, really, jeopardizes our ability to build into the future.

Now, as my constituents in West Virginia would say, well, what are you going to do about it?

Well, from conversations we have already started in the EPW Committee, I will soon be introducing legislation, in tandem with my colleague Senator Barrasso, that delivers on the environmental review and permitting process reform that our country needs. This legislation will benefit all projects--renewable, conventional, surface transportation, manufacturing, all of the above.

This legislation will mandate enforceable timelines with clear time limits and predictable schedules for environmental review and consequences when Agencies fail to reach these decisions in a timely fashion.

This legislation will fashion guidelines that process and decide legal challenges to projects expeditiously, instead of creating a sea of endless litigation.

The legislation will actually amend the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and NEPA, and fix the obstacles holding our country back from the prosperity we deserve, while maintaining--of course, maintaining--environmental protections.

I will emphasize, as I have many times in the past, that any tangible, lasting environmental review and permitting solutions must be accomplished through regular order.

Backroom deals will not cut it. In fact, they will only lead to confusion among the American public and buyer's remorse among the participants.

We have forged the blueprint for bipartisan compromise through the EPW Committee time and time again, and this process should be no different.

I encourage my colleagues in both Chambers, on both sides of the aisle, as well as President Biden, to heed the calls from communities across the country on the urgent need for environmental review and permitting reform and to join in our efforts to deliver the modifications that America's employers, workers, and consumers need.

I look forward to the continued debate on environmental review and permitting reform, while always maintaining our shared goal of moving America forward.

With that, I yield the floor, and I see my colleague--who has been very instrumental in all of this, as we worked together with our colleagues--Senator Barrasso.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The

yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is

what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has

reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something

without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously

or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and

with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow

brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United

States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward

the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this

vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should

readily understand why public demonstrations are taking

place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent

frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let

him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on

freedom rides--and try to understand why he must do so. If

his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways,

they will seek expression through violence; this is not a

threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my

people: ``Get rid of your discontent.'' Rather, I have tried

to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be

channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct

action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But

though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as

an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I

gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ``Love your enemies,

bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and

pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute

you.'' Was not Amos an extremist for justice: ``Let justice

roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing

stream.'' Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel:

``I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.'' Was not

Martin Luther an extremist: ``Here I stand; I cannot do

otherwise, so help me God.'' And John Bunyan: ``I will stay

in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my

conscience.'' And Abraham Lincoln: ``This nation cannot

survive half slave and half free.'' And Thomas Jefferson:

``We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are

created equal . . . `` So the question is not whether we will

be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will

we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists

for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of

justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men

were crucified. We must never forget that all three were

crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two

were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their

environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for

love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his

environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are

in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need.

Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I

suppose I should have realized that few members of the

oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate

yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the

vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong,

persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however,

that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the

meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to

it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big

in quality. Some--such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry

Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton

Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and

prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless

streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach

infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of

policemen who view them as ``dirty nigger-lovers.'' Unlike so

many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have

recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for

powerful ``action'' antidotes to combat the disease of

segregation. Let me take note of my other major

disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the

white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some

notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each

of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I

commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on

this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship

service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic

leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College

several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly

reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do

not say this as one of those negative critics who can always

find something wrong with the church. I say this as a

minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was

nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its

spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as

the cord of life shall lengthen.

Mr. President, it is a pleasure to be on the floor today with the chair of our EPW Committee and with my friend from Arkansas, Senator Boozman.

I am going to speak again about another example of the bipartisan work of our EPW Committee, where we have had accomplishments that are real, practical, and positive and result in good change for our country. On the EPW Committee, we have a history of working together, of crafting legislation together, and of getting good policy going. Sometimes it is not easy, but we have been able to do it.

The cornerstone of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which made needed investments in our Nation's core infrastructure, was written and passed out of EPW. With the Water Resources Development Act, it was the same thing. It supports the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on projects across this country. It was passed out of our EPW Committee unanimously, and it eventually became law.

Today, Chairman Carper, Senator Boozman, and I are reintroducing two pieces of legislation that had been previously approved by EPW and the Senate unanimously--both the committee and the full Senate--to tackle another issue in a bipartisan way, which is access to recycling in America.

Not only is recycling something that we have found people really want to do, but it is great for the environment, and it is good for business. It supports over 1 million jobs and generates billions of dollars in economic output every year. But in order to grow these numbers, we need to ensure people who want to participate really can, particularly those in rural and underserved areas, such as areas of my State, so that they can do so.

Mr. President, the first bill we are reintroducing today, the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act, addresses challenges when it comes to recycling for many of our smaller cities and towns.

In the one I live in, we have sort of stopped and started on recycling. Recycling services, including curbside recycling, are just simply not available. These rural areas share common barriers to accessibility: location and proximity to material recovery facilities and the size and density of the population. This is just not available. This has led to low processing yields and high costs in collection and transportation costs, making it difficult for material recovery facilities to operate at a profit.

Our legislation would establish a pilot recycling program to ensure places like West Virginia, Arkansas, Wyoming, or Alaska aren't being left behind. The pilot program would award grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities for improving recycling accessibility in a community or communities within the same geographic area.

Along with improving access to recycling, it is important to fix important data gaps, as the chairman spoke about, when it comes to recycling in America. That is the intent of the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, which is the other piece of legislation we are introducing today. It would improve data collection on our Nation's recycling systems and explore the potential of a national composting strategy. Not only would this give us a better idea of how well States are doing through recycling and composting rates, but it would also help us identify those areas that may be struggling to sustain and grow proper recycling programs.

These are simple steps we can take, supported by both Republicans and Democrats, to improve and expand recycling in this country. Americans in every community--rural and urban, on the coasts or in the heartland--share a desire to protect our environment. These pieces of legislation will help make it easier for them to recycle, to contribute to a healthier planet, and to create jobs along the way.

With Earth Day coming up, it is fitting that we continue our efforts to expand recycling by reintroducing these bills today, alongside Chairman Carper and Senator Boozman, and I thank them both for their work.

Drug Crisis

Mr. President, I informed the Senator from Arkansas, but I need to inform Senator Carper that I am having back-to-back speeches, so I am going to totally change the topic here real quick before Senator Boozman talks about recycling. Thank you for letting me move ahead here.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an issue that is impacting every State in our Nation, an issue that has the potential to impact every community, every family, and every person in the Chamber today, and that is the drug and substance abuse crisis.

My home State of West Virginia knows all too well about the scars that this crisis has created and the devastating toll that it takes. West Virginia, unfortunately, continues to lead the Nation in overdose deaths per capita. It is a sad statistic for us, and although these deaths have been declining, every single overdose death is one too many.

In 2020, we lost 1,197 West Virginians to overdoses. Data from our State health department indicates that over 80 percent of these deaths included an opioid.

Our State's EMS teams responded to over 9,000 suspected overdose calls, and there were 6,916 emergency room visits related to overdoses. These numbers are just staggering and clearly show the continued and urgent need to address this crisis and the many forms that it comes in.

This is certainly an issue that requires immediate attention from every level of government and deserves more than just four mentions in the President's most recent budget proposal.

While I feel the President and his administration lack that sense of urgency, ending the addiction crisis and taking action to save countless lives remains one of my top priorities.

Each time I meet with our northern or our southern U.S. attorneys in West Virginia, the drug crisis is by far the largest topic of discussion. Their offices see firsthand the amount of illicit drugs that are entering our State and work around the clock to remove the threat that these substances create in our communities.

Like I have said in this Chamber before, last October our U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of West Virginia recovered approximately 75 pounds of cocaine, 19 pounds of methamphetamine, and nearly 5 pounds of fentanyl in Wheeling, WV, on one bust.

Investigators found that traffickers had these drugs shipped from the U.S.-Mexican border to Ohio via tractor-trailer and used cash payments to people who flew from California to Pittsburgh to move the cash back and forth. The connection between the crisis at our southern border and the drug epidemic we are seeing at home does not get any clearer than that.

In December of last year, the DEA announced nationwide seizures of over 50.6 million fentanyl pills and more than 10,500 pounds of fentanyl powder. The DEA estimates that these seizures could represent 379 million potentially deadly overdoses of fentanyl. That is enough fentanyl to kill every single American. And these are just the drugs that they found.

With the Border Patrol stretched unfathomably thin, there is no telling the amount of drugs that are getting through undetected. We know that these drugs are entering our country through the southern border, making their way into each and every State and wreaking havoc.

If President Biden would get a little more serious about stopping this, I think he has to get serious about border security. In a crisis this urgent, it is time to act.

I have spoken with the DEA administrator about the support they need and the challenges that they are facing. I have introduced legislation, led letters, and pushed for initiatives that informed the public of the dangers of fentanyl getting in the hands of our youth, that strengthen our investigations on fentanyl trafficking, and that

prevent fentanyl and synthetic drug shipments from being smuggled into the United States through the mail.

Currently, we are working on efforts to crack down on and schedule the illicit drug xylazine, which I understand is also known as ``tranq.'' If you didn't know by now, xylazine is an easily accessible veterinarian tranquilizer that is being mixed with opioids, including fentanyl, increasing the number of fatal overdoses nationwide.

This crisis is ever-changing, which means our approach needs to be multifaceted as well.

I encourage the President, his administration, and all of our colleagues right here in the Congress to stay on this effort and stop the latest modifications before it is too late.

Even in the midst of devastating losses in our State, I have always been inspired, encouraged, and moved by the efforts of people in West Virginia to end the drug crisis and help those in our State during the times when they need it the most. West Virginians continue to be responsible for the most innovative recovery solutions and prevention efforts that we have seen.

The opioid crisis has made a personal targeted impact on communities all across our State, and in turn we have seen success through these community-based solutions.

I have seen in Martinsburg, WV, with a program that is a police- school-community-health-and-education partnership working to prevent substance use disorders from ever happening to our youth. By building strong families and empowering the community, we build resiliency in children and families to help them overcome this horrible addiction.

I have seen this in Kearneysville, WV, where they are building a recovery village so that individuals who are struggling with addiction receive access to family and community they definitely need.

The detailed focus is on housing and workforce development, aspects of recovery that are absolutely critical.

I have seen drug court programs all across our State, where West Virginians are building each other up, holding each other accountable, and giving those who struggle with addiction the chance for a life of recovery.

You know, West Virginians take care of West Virginians, and there is no other issue that requires each and every one of us to work together quite like this one.

So, President Biden, the drug crisis has created a dire situation in communities not just across my State but across the country. We have no time to waste. Every day of inaction results in turmoil and devastation for so many families and loved ones.

We need to secure the southern border; we need to crack down on illicit drug trafficking and new tactics that criminals are implementing; and we need to deliver the tools our communities need to implement Federal programs and develop those community-based solutions that we know work best. We must do this together. We must do it now. Countless lives depend on us.

With that, I yield the floor to my colleague from Arkansas, my fellow recycler, Senator Boozman.

Recycling

Madam President, I want to thank the chair for presenting his side of the argument.

Now I think we are going to hear the other side of the argument on why taking this rule down will pass today--because of the strong opposition to it.

Today, we are going to have the opportunity to bring a divided Congress together, united in rejecting misguided and unnecessary overreach by the executive branch.

In its attempt to regulate basically anything and everything, the Biden administration, once again, overstepped its boundaries in the Waters of the United States rule, or WOTUS, as we have heard, and they did this this past December. It is the third major change in 8 years. The chairman talked about all of the uncertainty. This is the third change in 8 years to the definition of what ``waters'' are and what is a subject of Federal jurisdiction. With this comes more uncertainty, more redtape, and more government for millions of Americans.

It is clear we need to take action in the face of this burdensome rule, and it is exactly why I have introduced the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that we are about to vote on. So let's take a look at the new rule issued by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.

President Biden's new WOTUS rule repeals the 2020 navigable waters protection rule that provided predictability and certainty for our farmers, our ranchers, our miners, our infrastructure workers, our homebuilders, and our landowners such that they can rely on. That 2020 waters rule properly implemented the Clean Water Act by protecting America's waterways through coordination and cooperation between the States and the Federal Government. Who knows their States better than the State regulators?

This new definition, however, drastically expands Federal jurisdiction over streams, wetlands, and private property at the expense of the States and their citizens. It also adopts a subjective ``significant nexus'' test for determining what is and isn't subject to Federal regulation under the Clean Water Act, up to and including dry ditches--it doesn't sound like a navigable water to me--that could fill with rain during a storm event even in the middle of the desert.

To sum it up, the Biden administration's WOTUS rule tells States and individuals that the Federal Government knows best. It is true to form for this administration so we shouldn't be too surprised.

It is also important to note that this is all happening while there is a pending court case at the Supreme Court, right now, that will make many of these same determinations, but they couldn't wait. Of course, they couldn't wait. They had to grow the Federal Government's authority and redesignate waters that had never been designated before.

So let's take a look at the impacts this WOTUS rule would have on farmers and on small businesses.

There are 17,000 small businesses in the small State of West Virginia that will be impacted by this rule and our own ability to build in the future. We should be setting predictable, reliable policy for America's farmers and ranchers. Instead, under the Biden WOTUS rule, if I am a rancher in Arizona or a cattle farmer in Montana or own a family farm in West Virginia, I will literally have less control over my own land. Previously converted cropland and even irrigation ditches may now require a permit under this new regulation.

The American Farm Bureau says:

Farmers and ranchers should not have to hire a team of

lawyers and consultants to determine how we can farm our

land.

Do you know what will happen? They won't hire the team of lawyers. They just won't farm their own farmland. Yes, that is what millions fear from this new ``waters of the United States'' definition.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture says that this rule will ``significantly increase the regulatory burdens and create further uncertainty for state departments of agriculture, farmers, and ranchers across the country.''

Along with those who live and work in rural America, this rule will target employers of all sizes across our country as well. The National Federation of Independent Business writes that the Biden WOTUS rule will ``make compliance a nightmare for small businesses,'' adding, ``If there was ever a time to not impose additional burdensome regulations, that time is now.''

Often the cornerstone of our communities, small businesses need policies that support, not penalize them.

Our Nation's future depends on our ability to build. That includes transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects of all kinds. President Biden knows that our Nation's broken permitting process threatens to undercut some of our own shared legislative accomplishments on infrastructure investment.

Yet, at a time when we should be streamlining our Nation's permitting and review process, the Biden waters rule makes things worse. It comes at a time when we are trying to build here in America. It will require more people and more projects to seek more Federal permits, which is time and money and doesn't improve the environmental oversight. The environmental oversight is there, but it will cause fear that the EPA will take enforcement action at any given moment with eye-popping fines.

The Associated Builders and Contractors writes that the Biden WOTUS rule will ``cause building delays due to regulatory uncertainty, plus increased permitting and mitigation costs, which will make it more difficult and expensive to grow food, produce energy and build critical infrastructure for the 21st century.''

We have heard our Nation's farmers, small businesses, and our builders loud and clear: President Biden's waters rule is bad policy at an even worse time.

Now, I have been asked what a Congressional Review Act resolution would do, and during a recent Environment and Public Works hearing, this issue came up.

If approved by both Houses of Congress and signed into law, this resolution would overturn the overreaching and expansive WOTUS rule issued in December and return to a narrower and more practical definition that was put in place prior to 2015. You may hear that this will leave waters unprotected. That is simply not true. The regulatory authority for waters that are not navigable nor travel interstate will be returned to the States as Congress intended in the Clean Water Act.

Importantly, my resolution would prevent a substantially similar and overbroad definition from being written again. It would not prevent the EPA and Army Corps from issuing a narrower replacement rule that actually is common sense and addresses stakeholders' and elected officials' concerns and seeks to clarify the status quo.

As you have just heard, States and the regulated community, including farmers and ranchers, have been very clear in their conclusion, and I agree: The Biden final rule on WOTUS is a significant expansion--not a narrowing--of Washington's role in regulating land and waters across the country, and it creates more uncertainty than it cures.

The expansion of Federal authority and the encroachment on States' rights and private lands is the precise reason we have seen overwhelming support for my CRA resolution.

When I introduced this resolution of disapproval, I was proud to do so with our friends and counterparts in the House of Representatives. Led by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, the House passed this measure with bipartisan support, including nine Democrat votes. It is important to note that two of these Democrat votes came from the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee and the ranking member of the House Appropriations' Agriculture Subcommittee. These are folks who know the needs of our farmers and rural Americans very, very well and who bravely put the best policy forward ahead of partisan politics. So I thank them for their support in this effort.

It demonstrates, again, that it isn't about party; it is not about party lines. It is about standing up to the needs of those who live and work in rural America. Well, we can stand by them today. We can also give a boost to our future transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects of all kinds across our country.

With this resolution, we are sending a clear message that Congress, even a divided Congress, will defend working Americans in the face of Executive overreach.

With that, I appreciate the support we have received in our effort to place this important check on Executive overreach, and I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on my resolution of disapproval.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the importance of unleashing American energy, the consequences of President Biden's refusal to invest in American energy, the impact this is having on energy States like West Virginia and Texas, and what steps we can take to move forward to fix the mistakes made by the White House and the jeopardy that they have put our country in.

President Biden has made his stance on American energy clear since day one of his administration. As President, his policies and personnel choices have delivered on his campaign promises, and high prices are just part of the bargain. The administration has canceled pipelines, rescinded previously issued approvals for others, and raised barriers to building new ones. They have frozen oil and gas leasing and proposed raising royalties--costs that will be passed on to the consumer. The Biden EPA has continued to layer regulation on regulation, though I am pleased to report that, earlier today, through the congressional resolution, we pulled down the WOTUS rule that the EPA recently put forward last December.

These are just a few of the unreasonable and misguided policy decisions this administration has made that have led to what we are facing today.

Congressional Democrats have not been shy about their stance on an ``all of the above'' energy future. Look no further than the two pieces of legislation that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle boast about the most--the American Rescue Plan and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Just last week, while I was questioning President Biden's head of the Environmental Protection Agency, I was asking him about his Agency's budget. Administrator Regan admitted that, because of the Inflation Reduction Act,

coal capacity and natural gas generation will plummet in the future.

This is the coal capacity with the IRA. It is way down here below 50. If there had been no IRA, it would have been somewhere here, around 80.

Let me say that again.

Through data generated by the EPA and admitted to be true by the head of the administration, coal capacity and natural gas generation will be significantly lower in our country because of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Here is natural gas with no IRA, up here. With the IRA, it will be way down here by 2040.

He went even further--Administrator Regan did--and admitted the misguided policies with the Inflation Reduction Act will lead to the closures of coal and natural gas plants. This will lead to the shuttering of proud energy-producing communities across my State of West Virginia and our country, moving us further away from the energy independence that we desperately need and want. This clearly spells out the priorities of this President and underscores the urgency needed in reversing these policies.

On top of all of this, the out-of-control reckless spending and Green New Deal priorities that are packaged in the American Rescue Plan have caused energy prices to soar alongside record inflation. So let's take a look at the consequences of President Biden's war on American energy by the numbers.

When he took office, the average price for a gallon of gasoline was $2.39. Now the average price is $3.44--a 44-percent increase. And let's not forget what we just lived through 9 months ago when the record was set, when gas prices averaged about $5 a gallon for the first time in history.

High gas costs like this just create a domino effect. In fact, increased fuel costs and shortages have made it more expensive to manufacture goods, to deliver goods, and, ultimately, to provide what we want and need in this country. It has made everything more expensive. This creates additional strain on our supply chains and feeds into the inflation that so many families continue to struggle with.

Think about the cost of food at the grocery store. Add to this the price that Americans paid to heat their homes when winter came on. No matter what utility you used, it went up. Whether it was natural gas, electric, oil, or renewables, all prices went up. Those who heat their homes with natural gas are at the highest disadvantage in paying 25 percent extra this winter just to keep their homes warm. This truly shows that, no matter what, there is no escaping the consequences that President Biden and congressional Democrats have created by turning their heads on American energy.

The good news is we know what we need to do to unleash American energy and move critical projects forward. Republicans and Democrats alike know it. We all know it. We must make genuine reforms to our Nation's permitting and environmental review processes. For example, it should not take 7 to 10 years to permit a mine or a large transportation project in the United States. It should not be typical for endless legal challenges to be filed, one after another, for the sole purpose of postponing and, ultimately, killing key energy projects. Projects that create jobs, that produce energy of all kinds, and that drive down costs should not be delayed or stopped because of burdensome regulations. The current system hamstrings States and employers that are trying to build anything here in the United States, and it needs to change.

We need to provide regulatory certainty to our States. We need to expedite permitting and review processes while ensuring all environmental considerations are completed. We need to codify substantive environmental regulatory reforms and jump-start key projects like, in my State, the critically important Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Together, we should address section 401 of the Clean Water Act. We should streamline the NEPA process with real deadlines for Agency reviews, and we should limit judicial review to avoid endless litigation that delays and sometimes cancels projects.

I want to be very clear when I say ``projects.'' I mean projects of any kind. That means both renewable and conventional sources of energy.

We have made great strides in advancing cleaner energy sources, but without the ability to build and build quickly, we will not capitalize on that process.

Unfortunately, at every turn, the Biden administration has made it harder for any of these projects to move forward. I mentioned earlier the waters of the United States rule, the WOTUS rule. It significantly expands the Federal Government's authority when it comes to water sources across the country, and it will mean more people will have to get more permits and deal with more redtape--many times, on their own private farmland.

Fortunately, we challenged that rule through a Congressional Review Act, and it passed in a bipartisan way in both the House and the Senate, and it will go to the President's desk. It is up to him.

Have you listened to the voices of the American people or will you continue with these tactics that you have been doing?

So what do we need to do? Why do we need to do it? How do we get it done?

I have been saying all along that I believe the best solutions are by going through regular order--bipartisan, through our committees-- through the Environment and Public Works Committee, through the Energy Committee--and through any other committee that has relevant actions toward permitting. It is where we can hear those who know these issues the best. We can formulate solutions, hash out our differences, and compromise. I believe that is the only way that we can get permitting reform across the line, and I am willing to do whatever I can.

I am glad the House is taking the first swing at this and sending us a great starting point for how we can finally address America's broken permitting process and give a boost to energy production right here at home. There is no denying there is growing momentum in the Senate to get real, legitimate permitting reform across the finish line and signed into law. I have had many, many conversations.

I encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to heed the increased call for energy independence and help us deliver that ``all of the above'' solution, which we all say we want, that increases our national security, creates jobs, keeps good jobs at home, and that, lastly and very importantly, lowers the energy costs for American families.

With that, I am proud to be here with my fellow Republican Senators who have the solutions to energy independence.

With that, I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about a constant issue in front of the American people that has haunted, I think, and will haunt this President during his tenure in the White House. It is a subject that my Republican colleagues and I have highlighted in this Chamber--we did just several weeks ago--and this is the continued lack and disregard for border security in our country.

Last week, the White House Press Secretary said that when it comes to the Biden administration and border security:

We're going to secure the border and do the work.

Well, I wonder what it was that has found this newfound urgency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And why has it taken 785 days for the Press Secretary to acknowledge the problem?

Maybe it is the record 2.7 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022. Or could it be the more than 4.9 million illegal border crossings since President Biden took office? Or how about, for the first time in history, monthly apprehensions at the southern border have surpassed 150,000 for 24 consecutive months? Or that in a season when illegal border crossings are typically lower, Customs and Border Protection encounters rose 2 percent last month with heroine seizures increasing 99 percent and fentanyl seizures increasing 58 percent?

Whatever the reason--whatever the reason--I sure would like to welcome the White House to the same page that we as Republicans have been on since day one of this administration.

While my colleagues and I have been sounding constant alarms about the porousness of our border, the Biden administration has, No. 1, stopped making needed updates to our physical border system, leaving gates inoperational and open; they have halted deportations and have been inconsistent in implementing effective policies that kept illegal border crossings under that 150,000 level for 4 consecutive years prior. There is no denying that this crisis is a self-manufactured crisis.

Maybe most encompassing of their priorities regarding security of our country is that the Department of Homeland Security is one of the few Agencies--and they are the ones tasked with this difficult issue--is one of the few Agencies facing an overall budget cut in the President's latest budget proposal. Remember, a budget is your priorities; it is where you want to do your work.

In an age where it seems that the President and the Congressional Democrats cannot spend enough, they decide to make room for more spending and their radical priorities by putting the Agency in charge of defending our homeland on the chopping block first. I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like something an administration that is going to ``secure the border'' should be doing.

Perhaps even more alarming are the comments made by the DHS Secretary regarding their budget allotment. Secretary Mayorkas outlines six priorities in the budget summary that he claims the Agency can work to accomplish with the help of the budget. Toward the top of the list-- this is the Department of Homeland Security. Toward the top of the list, ``invest in climate.'' The second-to-last priority, ``help secure the border.'' That is simply unacceptable, especially as migrant encounters at the southern border in fiscal year 2023--where we are in now--are already outpacing the records set in 2022.

My colleagues and I hear the Biden administration quite clear: Securing the border has not been and never will be a priority for this President or his Department of Homeland Security.

What makes this admission so devastating is that while the administration continues to balk at serious attempts to secure the southern border, countless Americans are dying at the hands of the illicit drugs that make their way into our communities through that same southern border. Last month alone, 2,282 pounds of fentanyl--which we know is lethal in extremely, extremely small doses and small amounts--and 10,333 pounds of methamphetamine were seized at the southern border. That amount of fentanyl is the equivalent to 517 million lethal doses.

Our Border Patrol is stretched unfathomably thin with very little support from the administration. There is no telling how many--the amount of drugs that are getting through undetected. I was just talking about the ones that we got.

Just last month, I spoke in this Chamber regarding a recent drug bust in my home State of West Virginia. As investigators from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of West Virginia recovered cocaine, meth, and fentanyl, they discovered that these deadly substances had been shipped directly through the U.S.-Mexican border to Ohio via a tractor-trailer. The connection between the southern border crisis and our addiction epidemic back home could not be any clearer. I have said it before, and I will say it again: Every State--my State--is a border State.

While President Biden and his administration continue to put confusing and often conflicting words before action, if they even take action, my colleagues and I continue to make it a concerted effort to get to the bottom of this chaos.

Just this past weekend, I joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers to travel to Mexico City where we met--with quite lengthy meetings--with Mexico's President Lopez Obrador. While there, we held meetings on the United States security posture with regard to Mexico, the chaos at our border, the devastating impacts of fentanyl in our communities, and the violence and trafficking perpetrated by the Mexican cartels. All these issues are top concerns to us here in this country.

It is clear that Mexico needs to continue to address corruption at their ports of entry, and the President emphasized this. They need to focus on the fentanyl precursors coming from China that are coming into our country.

I am very excited and happy that we secured a commitment from President Lopez Obrador that their administration will confront China regarding fentanyl precursors being shipped into their country. This is a major step in cutting fentanyl trafficking in the United States at its source and is needed to alleviate the chaos and corruption currently happening at the border between our two countries.

There is no way to deny that both the United States and Mexico--that border has stressed our countries beyond belief. I think we serve as partners with Mexico. We need to be partners--and good partners--with Mexico to solve this problem.

We are facing historic levels of illegal immigration. We must continue to meet these challenges with urgency and a willingness to work together, and we certainly got that message conveyed to the Mexican President and a reciprocal message coming back from him and his administration.

As my Republican colleagues and I will continue to make clear today, Republicans stand for solutions and not just spending. We stand for action, and we also stand for border security.

I encourage President Biden to join us in this effort and work toward bipartisan border solutions that are effective; that support our Border Patrol officers; and that also, in the end, will save countless lives.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the previous issue begin immediately.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I rise today with great concern to talk about the bloated budget that President Biden has put forward and, really, what it says about his vision for the future of our country, because a budget is a vision.

As my Republican colleagues and I will highlight today, this budget is the latest edition in his tax-and-spend agenda. It also fits the standards my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have set by passing inflation-causing, deficit-raising legislation, like the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. This budget has no chance of becoming law. And that is the good news here and great news for our constituents back home because this misguided proposal would saddle American families with more taxes, more waste, more debt, and more government intrusion that our constituents just do not deserve. The bad news is--at least for this administration--that the unveiling of this budget shines a spotlight on the priorities of the President, his administration, and his party.

This should alarm all of us. Case in point, this $6.8 trillion proposal has been released at a time when so many Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, interest rates are soaring, our national debt is climbing at an alarming rate, and small businesses are struggling to make ends meet.

While the Biden administration and our Democrats on the other side of the aisle expect families to make concessions in their everyday lives-- like spending less at the grocery store, putting off buying your first home, or purchasing an electric vehicle to avoid rising gas prices-- they are attempting to spend nearly $7 trillion, with a ``t'', of hard- earned taxpayers' dollars, pile on to our national debt, and massively expand the scope and authority of Federal Agencies, like the IRS, which they massively expanded just several months ago.

What exactly is President Biden's tax-and-spend proposal? Let's dig in just a little bit. President Biden makes his priorities clear with his proposed changes to base discretionary funding for Federal Agencies. That is the baseline.

The Environmental Protection Agency--I have a lot to do with this Agency because it comes right into my Committee on Environment and Public Works--gets a staggering--the most of any other Agency--19- percent increase in funding year to year. But the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation--remember, Homeland Security is the one that deals with immigration and the crisis at the southern border and the flow of drugs and other things--and the Small Business Administration--where in my State, if you don't grow as a small business, you are not growing--they are all facing budget cuts.

The White House priorities could not be clearer. And when it comes to taxes under this budget proposed by the President, Main Street mom and pop businesses would feel strained like never before.

We just lowered the taxes in our State. It is the biggest tax cut ever in the State of West Virginia. Yet we are looking at taxes on small businesses and capital gains taxes. The corporate tax rate goes up. Taxes on American energy would increase. Retirement taxes go up. The Medicare tax would increase, and the personal income tax would go up to the highest level in decades.

What President Biden fails to realize is that the brunt of his tax hikes would be felt by those who own, invest in, or operate small- and medium-sized businesses. Maybe, that is why he doesn't put any extra money in the Small Business Administration.

This is a direct violation of his pledge to not raise taxes on small businesses.

The National Federation of Small Businesses issued a statement last week warning that the tax increase--and it is called the National Federation of Small Businesses. They are small businesses. They say that this ``would further harm Main Street.'' It would ``crush Main Street's ability to grow and create jobs.''

The National Federation of Small Businesses believes that the Biden administration should increase focus on policies that will ``provide certainty and promote economic growth to allow our small businesses to create jobs and raise wages.''

My Republican colleagues and I could not agree more. It is my hope that the President and congressional Democrats will continue working on previously bipartisan tax issues that spur innovation and are pro- growth.

Just last week, as I said, our State passed historic tax cuts that signed into law by our Governor, Governor Justice, in the Mountain State. I wish our Federal Government was following this example. Instead, President Biden has chosen a different path that an analysis from the Tax Foundation found would create negative effects on savings, investments, and have economy-wide repercussions. The analysis continues that this brazen increase in taxes would ultimately harm our workers, international competitiveness, and domestic investment.

We talk about international competitiveness all the time. Why are we trying to move in a direction where our competitiveness would be less effective? In short, moving top tax rates in the United States beyond international norms reduces our economic growth.

You might ask yourself: Does the spending ever stop under President Biden and this budget?

Well, ironically, it does when you look at our own Department of Homeland Security, which secures the interior of our Nation. It is facing a budget cut under this proposal.

The President has consistently said that his budget is a reflection of his priorities. You see millions of people coming across our southern board with no deterrence. But nothing runs more true than that this is his priority--to continue that practice. And the refusal and inability to secure our border and stop the scourge of illicit drugs from entering our communities is not the priority of this administration.

The President's budget requests 350 new border agents, less than a 2- percent increase in our agents, while our border runs rampant with illegal crossings, and policies like title 42 move closer to sunset.

This budget proposes a contingency slush fund--there is nothing taxpayers like better than a slush fund--a slush fund for surge capacity at the border. In other words, give me the money now because I know we are going to have more people coming over, and I want to have the money to pay for it in advance because I don't want to come back to Congress to pay for it because Congress knows we have a problem and they won't give me the money to pay for it in an emergency. So I am going to get it up front.

It would be impossible for DHS to use this funding to mitigate our crisis at the border because, by the time they receive these dollars, these illegal crossings would have occurred.

We all have priorities, and President Biden made his clear. Securing our southern border is just not one of his priorities.

We see, clearly, President Biden's priorities yet again when it comes to military spending. We just had a drone shot down yesterday, I believe, by the Russians in the Black Sea. The President's budget shortchanges defense for more reckless spending. It is just a 3-percent increase--a 3.2-percent increase--in our military and national security. This comes at a time when inflation in the President's economy is high and our dollars are stretched thinner and thinner.

We hear about the supply chain. We hear about different materials we can't get, how much more expensive they are, and how much longer the wait is. So adversaries overseas increase their defense budgets. Now is not the time for us to delay that much needed modernization and reinforcement that we have put ourselves on a pathway for the last several years. Now is the time to invest in the advanced capabilities and the industrial base capacity that we expect and need for future generations and make our national security a priority.

According to the President's budget proposal, our addiction epidemic doesn't seem to be a top priority either. The President's proposed budget summary lacks a sense of urgency around this epidemic and the fentanyl crisis. This is a crisis in my State and in the Presiding Officer's State, as well, and in all States. My State has been disproportionately impacted by this. In the budget summary, fentanyl is only mentioned twice, opioids are mentioned 4 times, and climate change is mentioned 42 times--42.

In 2022, West Virginia lost 1,135 West Virginians to fentanyl overdoses. What we lost to overdoses, many of those were fentanyl overdoses--a large majority.

President Biden, I implore you to put more emphasis on the communities facing our streets every day that deserve to be our national priorities.

This budget proposal from the Biden administration makes obvious the motivations and priorities of the White House and the Agencies. In Washington, clarity comes at a premium price. So I will give them credit for that.

But by touting this budget proposal and claiming that it cuts the deficit by raising taxes shows that, no matter what, the Democrats aren't interested in cutting spending.

I mean, put yourself in the country's shoes, as a family. What do you do when you see your credit cards maxing out and times are getting tough? What do you do? You pull back. You stop spending however you can do that in your own home.

My Republican colleagues and I stand in direct opposition to what the President is doing with his budget. So through my remarks on the floor today and the subsequent speeches by my fellow Republicans, we will continue to highlight the errors in the President's budget. We will also stress the need to strike balance, restraint, and regular order.

What does regular order mean to people who are watching this? That means we go through committees and we compromise, and we talk to Republicans and Democrats and get together.

The Presiding Officer and I are on the Appropriations Committee. She is a chair, and I am a ranking member. We do a lot of talking during this process. That is what we need to do.

I intend to fulfill my obligations on the Appropriations Committee and, hopefully, we can get this to regular order. Right now, we need to set priorities in a budget and spending plan that reflect the real needs we see every day on every street in this country.

Mr. President, I am so glad the Senator from Tennessee is on the floor with H.J. Res. 26. I want to thank him for being insightful to know how important this is going to be to this Congress, to this city, to this country. So I thank the Senator for his steadfast work on this issue, and I look forward to supporting the resolution. We are also going to be talking a lot on the floor about this. So I thank him very much.

I rise today to talk about an issue that I actually came to the floor on 3 weeks ago and that is just very, very relevant, especially today, and that is out-of-control crime and a disregard for law and order that, unfortunately, President Biden has enabled in his own backyard.

Under the Biden administration's soft-on-crime agenda and rhetoric, Washington, DC, the capital of our beautiful country, has seen a 25- percent increase in crime, a 33-percent increase in homicides, a 121- percent increase in sexual abuse, and a 108-percent increase in motor vehicle theft--just this year, and we are just starting.

To make matters worse, in the midst of ongoing crime, the DC Council thought that now was an appropriate time to rewrite the Criminal Code. Instead of enforcing law and order in light of all of these statistics and supporting our police officers and making residents and visitors of the District feel safe, the DC Council found it fitting to lessen the punishment for violent criminal offenses--hard to believe, isn't it?-- and embolden those who dare to break the law instead of heeding local calls for increased safety and policing from their residents.

It really doesn't get any more tone-deaf than that. Believe it or not, when the DC Council originally passed their irresponsible Criminal Code overall,

Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the bill--the Mayor of the city of DC-- claiming that ``this bill does not make us safer.''

She knows. She sees these statistics every single day and talks to her police officers every single day.

Well, Mayor Bowser, my colleagues and I could not agree with you more. It is obvious that the DC Council's legislation is the complete opposite of what is needed to control the out-of-control crime.

Now, I am sure that you have seen that, in the face of an imminent bipartisan and bicameral rejection of their policy, the DC Council, then, has attempted to withdraw their Criminal Code revision legislation. That is a glaring--a glaring--admission by the council that they knew what they were doing is absolutely wrong.

But do you know what? It is simply too little, too late. Regardless of this unprecedented and potentially unlawful move, the Senate is poised to reject the DC Council's sweeping and irresponsible ``Revised Criminal Code of 2022'' on a bipartisan basis. We certainly saw that in the House.

This vote, led by my colleague Senator Hagerty of Tennessee, gives every Member of the U.S. Senate the chance to stand with law and order, the chance to stand with our law enforcement officers, the chance to stand with the people of our Nation's Capital, whose calls for safety have fallen on deaf ears.

You think of all the visitors--springtime, Cherry Blossom Festival-- this is the time everybody is coming to this beautiful, gorgeous city that we are lucky enough to serve in. Our constituents are here. Many of us have our families here. We are here. All the staff and folks that work in and around these buildings every day--in and out of their cars, in and out of restaurants we hope--getting that revival post-COVID that we see. And certainly we see many, many more visitors. Our residents and visitors are living with what could happen. What kind of crimes can they see?

There are a multitude of additional negative factors that impact the city when crime runs out of control and leaders are not held accountable. Often these issues go unseen, but they are just as impactful: factors like the education of our children, factors like the health of our residents--our DC residents--and the strength of the economy.

According to research led by the professors at the University of Illinois, at Syracuse, and NYU, students face declines in standardized test scores following exposure to violent crime. What is that doing to the children of DC? They have to face this every day.

The same decline was observed for students who attend schools that are perceived to be unsafe or schools that lack a sense of community. This study suggests that schools with stronger community bonds can shield students from the negative effects of neighborhood violence and directly show the disadvantages impacting our young people who are coming of age in dangerous communities.

When it comes to health, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have linked violent crime to negative health outcomes--it makes sense--finding that decreased violent crime in communities was significantly associated with a decrease in mortality rates from cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease. Community areas that experienced a similar decline in crime also experienced smaller improvements in cardiovascular mortality.

The study also noted that the stress created by exposure to violent crime is tied with a lower intake of healthy foods and higher rates of substance abuse in a community. These aren't things that I am making up. These are validated in a study from the University of Pennsylvania.

Further, the study noted that continued exposure to high rates of violent crime is associated with several additional negative health factors, like higher body mass index and even elevated blood pressure.

So now let's look at the economics of this in crime. A study by the Urban Institute found that surges in violent crime, especially gun violence, reduced the growth of new retail and service businesses. You see that all over Washington. You see that all over Washington.

It further notes that increases in violent crime slow home value appreciation and can be associated with fewer jobs and lower home values. It makes sense. In Washington, DC, this means surging crime leads to fewer job opportunities, fewer businesses opening, and more businesses closing. I mean we just saw that at Union Station. I think the Starbucks pulled out there because of the crime issue.

The economic indicators of violent crimes are obvious. Walmart just announced it is closing all of its stores in Portland, OR, locations. The Walmart just over here in DC on H Street has announced that it was closing as well. The announcements come shortly after Walmart's CEO warned that stores could close and prices could increase due to, specifically, rocketing retail crimes affecting stores across the Nation.

Each of these aspects pile onto the obvious humanitarian effects of violent crime: the destruction, loss, and sorrow--actually, I think if you are subject to a violent crime and you manage to live through it, it doesn't just affect you that day; you carry it with you the rest of your life--and how each one of these offenses further rips apart the delicate fabric of our communities.

Residents of our States and cities will not stand for the continuing devastation. We saw crime play a major part in Chicago's mayoral election just last week, and it was also a center of debate of the New York City elections in 2021.

So, Mr. President, I am glad that our Nation's Capital and our complex are once again open to the public. It is so great to see the halls filled and the young people coming back, and I have enjoyed welcoming many West Virginians to Washington today and every day to talk about the issues they care about. It is important. Questions have also been raised by many residents about the safety of our streets here in Washington, DC.

So today's vote to reject the DC Council's Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 puts every Member on record. As some of my Republican colleagues highlighted last night and continue to highlight today, we intend to stand on the right side of this issue, and we will continue to heed the calls for increased safety that local officials in Washington are attempting to ignore or reshape and protect the communities that we serve.

With that, I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise today really to take a moment and evaluate the repeated and unfortunately habitual overreach of the Biden administration.

When our Founding Fathers established our Nation, they were certain to build a government that rejected undivided sovereignty, or the rule of a single person. They had the monarchy, and they didn't like it. This structure features three distinct branches of government: the legislative branch, where we are here, to create and pass laws; an executive branch, responsible for enforcing the laws; and a judicial branch to make certain these laws and actions hold just with our Constitution.

Typically, this is a lesson we all learn in high school, but it seems like President Biden and his administration must have missed that lecture on balance of powers because their actions throughout the last 2 years have shown a lot of disrespect for our Constitution--and disregard.

A recent analysis by the American Action Forum found that in just 2 years, the Biden administration has imposed 517 regulatory actions-- 517--creating $318 billion in total costs--a figure that massively outweighs the regulatory costs generated by the last two Presidential administrations.

Executive overreach has become synonymous with the Biden administration and has created a desperate need for oversight from our Republican colleagues here in the Senate, and certainly that is occurring across the way in the House of Representatives.

We have seen overreach from the Biden administration in areas that impact just about everything, whether it is how we heat our homes or whether we are going to have a gas stove or not, how we fuel our cars, how we educate our children, how we move goods across the country, how we spend private investments, how we enforce law and order, even how we define ``water.''

Plain and simple, President Biden and unelected bureaucrats in Washington are continuously overstepping their boundaries, creating hurdles and interfering with how we live our everyday lives.

On top of this, congressional Democrats continue to obstruct critical oversight efforts on these harmful policies, and they are blocking opportunities for the American people to hear directly from the administration about policies that impact us directly every day. It is kind of--it is not ``kind of''--it is very unfair, and it is a disservice to folks across the Nation who want the leaders to be held accountable.

In the face of such rampant overreach, my Senate Republican colleagues and I continue to push back on President Biden's out-of- touch mandates and bring the voices of the American people to the table.

My colleague from Tennessee, Senator Bill Hagerty, has introduced a bill that blocks Washington, DC's dangerous and irresponsible rewrite of their Criminal Code that lessens punishment for violent crimes.

My colleague from South Dakota, Senator John Thune, has introduced a bill to prohibit the President from canceling outstanding Federal student loan obligations due to a national emergency.

Another tool at our behest against this unprecedented expansion of the administrative state is called the Congressional Review Act of disapproval. It sounds kind of bureaucratic, and it is, but it can be very, very meaningful.

As you know, through a Congressional Review Act of Disapproval, or CRA, Congress can vote to overturn rules from the executive branch that are classified as overreach. My colleague from Indiana, Senator Mike Braun, has introduced a CRA that would block a recent Department of Labor rule allowing retirement plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other ESG--or environment, social, and governance--factors in their investment decisions. I don't know about you, but I think most people who are retired or beginning to retire and looking at their accounts that they are going to be living on, they would rather see the returns come in the most

profitable way possible so that they can live out their life. In the end, that is better for all of us.

This effort would nullify the Department of Labor rule and prevent similar rules from taking effect. Actions like these have direct impact on energy-producing States like mine by steering capital away from the American energy sector. We should be investing in our American energy sector.

I, too, have introduced my own CRA in response to a repeated overreach from the Biden administration. Last December, the Biden administration launched its latest round of regulatory overreach through the waters of the United States, which we refer to here as the WOTUS rule. It marked the third major change to the definition of what waters are in this country and which ones are subject to Federal jurisdiction. It is the third time this has changed over the last 8 years. Think about if you are in agriculture or if you are in construction--big impacts.

Like many regulations from this administration, it is very overreaching. It is misguided, and it is just not necessary. Even worse, it places an undue burden of uncertainty directly on America's farmers, on America's ranchers, on America's miners, on America's infrastructure builders, and, quite simply, American landowners.

The Biden WOTUS rule repeals the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule that provided predictability and certainty and protected our waters. Most importantly, it properly implemented the Clean Water Act by protecting our waterways through coordination and cooperation from States and the Federal Government.

You may hear that without this new definition, some waters may go ``unprotected.'' That is not true. It is an insult to our State officials who know their local ecosystems and have jurisdiction over their territorial waters.

So what does the new definition really do? It requires more people to get more permits who can't get permits, and it causes fear of EPA enforcement actions and frivolous lawsuits from environmental groups.

This all comes at a time when we should be streamlining our Nation's permitting and review process. Instead, the administration is using their classic overreach tactics to make more projects subject to Federal permitting requirements and add more bureaucratic redtape.

My CRA gives every Member of Congress the chance to stand with our farmers, our ranchers, our landowners, our miners, and our builders. It is also a chance for us to protect future transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects all across the country.

For this particular rule, CRA, we have seen widespread support both in the House and the Senate in an effort to overturn this rule, and I look forward to having that here on the Senate floor.

As ranking member of the EPW Committee, I have made it a priority to ensure that the historic investments that we have made in infrastructure are being implemented as Congress intended.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act--we call it here IIJA; we have an acronym for everything--that we passed in 2021 and the President signed will benefit all communities by providing our States with the flexibility needed to upgrade, expand, or modernize our Nation's core transportation infrastructure. That is why ensuring that the letter of the law is followed, as we intended it, will be and has continued to be a high priority for me. We do not want to miss this moment.

That being said, the Federal Highway Administration, or FHWA, released a memo a little over a year ago in December that found its way into numerous guidance documents attempting to enact a wish list of policies we--when I say ``we,'' I mean the bipartisan EPW Committee-- intentionally negotiated out of the final law.

I, along with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair, Sam Graves, had announced our intention to formally challenge this rule. The FHWA heard what we were saying and also heard what their State transportation folks were saying. So just last Friday, FHWA released a substantially revised replacement, reversing course from that December 2021 memo.

The new memo removes the policies that Congress rejected--because it is not administrative policy, it is congressional law--and issued a revised memo. And the administration basically admitted that they were wrong in their attempts to undo the flexibility provided to States in the law by establishing preferences for certain policies. Building highways, maintaining highways, creating bypasses, however you want to do your State--it is different in Nevada; it is different in Indiana; it is different in West Virginia--we need to give our States the flexibility.

This is a good example, I think, of the Biden administration knowing they were overreaching, and they actually corrected that. I am grateful for that.

As my colleagues and I highlight the continuous level of overreach this administration has grown comfortable with, I would suggest that the President reference a U.S. history book and leave the legislating to the legislators. Until then, my colleagues and I will continue to stand for the way of life outside the beltway and provide solutions that strengthen our families and communities instead of having setbacks.

With that, I yield the floor.

I see my fellow Member of the Senate from Indiana, Senator Braun, is here to talk on this topic.

Thanks for coming.

Madam President, I rise today to discuss yet another one of the consequences of this President's failed policies, and that is out-of-control crime.

Many Democrats have championed a soft-on-crime agenda that has contributed to soaring crime rates.

According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, since 2019, violent crime is up 26 percent, aggravated assault is up 34 percent, and homicides are up a staggering 43 percent. This is not only unacceptable, it is terrifying. Repeated calls to defund the police, for open borders, and reduced sentencing or bail requirements have led to a crime increase so overwhelming that America's fear regarding crime in their communities is at a 50-year high.

Though President Biden bears ultimate responsibility here, in many ways he is following the direction of his party when it comes to crime. We have seen a lack of leadership from the White House, an overly politicized Department of Justice, and district attorneys who refuse to prosecute crimes.

The Biden administration has insisted on nominating radical, soft-on- crime advocates to Federal judgeships. While this is an utter disregard for law and order, it is deeply concerning, and it is a trend that we have seen over the last 2 years.

Despite previous efforts to defund the police, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are now walking back their claims that less law enforcement makes us safer. As many Democrat-led cities across the country heeded these calls, the United States experienced the biggest rise in murder since the start of national recordkeeping in 1960.

On top of this, we are experiencing record numbers of police officers who are quitting their profession or they are heading for retirement. Seattle has lost more than one-quarter of its police force in the last 2\1/2\ years. Just a short drive from here in DC, in Fairfax County, VA, their police chief declared a personnel emergency and staff shortage last June and installed mandatory overtime to keep their communities protected. Small communities across this country have seen their entire police force quit all at once. And perhaps very alarming, the New York City Police Department saw 3,701 police officers retire or resign in 2022. That is the most since 9/11.

My small State of West Virginia, my home State, is not exempt from these challenges as well. In 2021, the Morgantown Police Department began dealing with a 20-percent reduction in staffing. Our police chief said this was due to the danger associated with being an officer and an overall growing stigma of officers being aggressive or biased. The West Virginia University Police Department is experiencing a similar shortage, with a turnover rate that is still much higher than it was previous to the pandemic.

I live in Charleston, WV. The Charleston Police Department has been offering large financial incentives to attract officers they desperately need. And the pride of West Virginia, our West Virginia State Police, continues to struggle to keep our State troopers.

We rely on our police for a multitude of services and protection, and in this era of out-of-control crime, we cannot afford to see these shortages continue.

On top of all this, the border crisis continues to fuel the fire of crime and spread illicit narcotics in our communities. Last year, we seized almost 15,000 pounds of fentanyl at our border. Well, in this first quarter, we have already seized 12,500 pounds just this fiscal year. That is only in a quarter of a year.

I see the ramifications of Biden's border crisis in my State, which is disproportionately impacted by the fentanyl and addiction crisis. In 2022, we sadly lost 1,135 West Virginians to overdoses. We have the highest rate of overdose deaths per capita of any State in the Union. There were 6,916 emergency room visits related to overdoses, with our EMS teams responding to another 9,205 suspected overdose calls.

Last week, in Wheeling, WV, local prosecutors indicted drug traffickers who served as ``one of the largest suppliers of illicit substances to West Virginia,'' according to our U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District. And I congratulate Bill Ihlenfeld, who is the U.S. attorney in that office.

There was an original drug bust last October that recovered approximately 75 pounds of cocaine, 19 pounds of methamphetamine, and 5 pounds of fentanyl, which is very lethal in very small doses. Investigators found that these traffickers had drugs shipped from the U.S.-Mexico border to Ohio via tractor-trailer or they used cash payments to give to people who flew from California to the Pittsburgh International Airport. The connection between the crisis at our border and the drug epidemic we are seeing at home doesn't get any clearer than that.

Here in our Nation's Capital, amid surging violent crime and police shortages, DC's City Council is attempting a dangerous and irresponsible rewrite of their criminal code. Reducing the penalties for violent crimes--carjackings, robberies, and even homicides--as these numbers rise is incredibly tone deaf to local calls for increased safety and policing. This is happening right in the President's backyard.

So I commend my colleague Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee for introducing a resolution of disapproval to block the DC City Council's dangerous and irresponsible Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 from taking effect. The DC City Council's legislation is the complete opposite of what we need to control this out-of-control crime.

While I have been talking about concerns for the types of crimes we can see, there are also increasing threats from crimes that could be described as unseen. These threats emphasize the vulnerability of our children as recent years have pushed their lives into an increasingly digital space. Because of the pandemic, children are learning digitally and have more access to devices than ever before, putting them at an increased risk for luring, grooming, and exploitation.

The data here is incredibly disturbing. One in twenty children will experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18. That statistic increases for young girls, with one in five experiencing some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18. Ninety percent of child abuse victims know their abusers, and 60 percent of child sexual abuse victims never tell anyone.

Well, I am a mother of three and a grandmother of eight now, and this is incredibly upsetting to me. We must safeguard our children from things that no child should ever have to experience.

So I would tell President Biden: I hope these statistics are a wake- up call.

Now more than ever, American families are asking for law and order in their communities and peace of mind in their neighborhoods. We as Republicans stand ready to continue our push for solutions that make our country safer and a stronger place to live.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise today to discuss yet another of the consequences of President Biden's policies, and that is that prices are going up, the price hikes.

Families in West Virginia and across our Nation are struggling because the policies and priorities of these past 2 years have made essential items and goods seemingly unattainable. Whether it is gas, goods or services, energy prices, utility costs, small business expenses, owning a home, or simply affording to put food on the table, American families are squeezed at every turn.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, prices have risen 13.7 percent since President Biden took office. A recent report from the Heritage Foundation found that because of that staggering rise, the average American family has $7,400 less in their pocket at the end of the year.

This is a timely topic today because the Federal Reserve has just announced the eighth consecutive interest rate hike they have had to deploy in order to curb this administration's 2-year spending spree which is fueling our high-inflation economy. But an interest rate hike--once reserved as a measure that sends a direct signal to policymakers--is just another Wednesday in this President's America.

Chairman Powell warned last August that the continued interest rate increases and inflationary pressures would bring ``pain to households and businesses.'' And, boy, does that ring true today. Meanwhile, President Biden continues to laud small inflation changes and slowed economic growth, but he refuses to recognize his administration's role in the record-high prices that the American middle class is continuing to have to face or the further economic fallout Americans are likely to face--projected by many economists--later this year from interest rate hikes in the past year.

So let's just dive into this a little bit. Whether it is a conversation with Senate colleagues, waiting in line at a store, or a constituent calling my office, the cost of food remains a central topic of concern all across this Nation. According to the most recent reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of groceries went up 11.8 percent from the year prior. You hear about it with meat, eggs, bread, and butter--all the essentials. To add to this, the cost of restaurant purchases is up 8.4 percent. In fact, the price of every food category has continued to grow at a faster rate than its historical average.

A recent PBS analysis also points out that America's rural population is experiencing their cost of living going up faster and lingering longer than those in urban areas, and that is a factor that disproportionately impacts people in my State of West Virginia. In the words of one West Virginian who wrote in to my office, ``How are we supposed to keep our houses warm and food on the table?''

Speaking of housing, it remains unaffordable. Because of President Biden's price hikes, fixed mortgage rates rose from 3.4 percent in January of 2022 to over double, 7.12 percent, in a matter of months. The National Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Index dipped below 100, signifying that average American families do not have enough money to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. In other words, new families and hard-working individuals who made smart financial decisions with the hope of purchasing a home can no longer pursue that dream because it is out of reach; it is unaffordable.

Moving to energy--something that is absolutely central to the proud history and tradition of our State, my State--despite the recent downturn in energy prices, it can't be forgotten that Americans are still paying 30 percent more for energy, and at its peak in June of 2022, it was 70 percent more. With costs

like this becoming more mainstream--actually, gas is going up just recently--American families are having to choose again between keeping their lights on, filling their car with gas, or buying groceries.

This is not only unfair, but it is avoidable. It is avoidable for folks living in a country with as many resources as we have right here in the United States. It also shows the direct impact on our families when leaders turn their backs on American energy.

Additionally, the U.S. manufacturing industry has not been exempt from the economic woes created by this administration. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index--that is a big clump of words there--fell into contraction category in November and December of 2022. Meanwhile, despite this, President Biden has been touting a historic manufacturing boom that doesn't really exist. The reality is, U.S. manufacturers may be on their way to a recession, and the downturn will likely deepen as purchasing power decreases and interest rates continue to rise, as they did today. This further demonstrates how out of touch the administration is from the devastating reality that American businesses are grappling with.

So if you don't believe me--I hope you do, but if you don't believe me, take it from my constituents. Back home, they write frequently to express the middle-class squeeze they are feeling. Erwin from Mercer County in Southern West Virginia said that the current economic condition has created a choice for him between driving to work and feeding his family.

Paige from Buckhannon said something similar. She said:

I have full time jobs and two children. I'm tearful because

I sit here [wondering and] looking at upcoming bills and I'm

having to . . . pay a bill or buy groceries.

Ronald from Cabell County, over in the Huntington area:

How do you propose that I continue to be able to live with

increasing food prices--gasoline prices--and the ever-

increasing utility costs?

Jeremy in Raleigh County told me:

My electric bill at my residence is double the cost of my

mortgage every month. This is not sustainable. I will go

bankrupt just trying to keep the lights on.

But this isn't just impacting Jeremy because Jeremy is a great family man and a great friend, and he is trying to help his friends, neighbors, and family pay their electric bills as well.

So I am continuously inspired by this kindness that I see and the generosity of West Virginians toward one another, but it shouldn't have to come to this.

So my question to President Biden this week is, When is enough enough? Even in areas where we have prices that are decreasing in recent months, President Biden is trying to take credit when, in actuality, prices are still much, much higher than when he took office.

Now more than ever, American families need leadership, not misleading messages and attempts to take credit when it is not deserved. American families are asking for a path out from the hole created by the price hikes my colleagues and I will continue to highlight on the Senate floor today.

With that, I see Senator Hyde-Smith from the great State of Mississippi here to talk about, I am sure, similar issues. She has been a champion of affordability and the middle-class worker to try to help meet these very challenges that I outlined. So I welcome her.