Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I will be brief. I know we are coming up on a vote.

I just wanted to come to the floor and thank my friend and fellow North Carolinian, Louis DeJoy, for his service as Postmaster General. He announced a few weeks back his intent to resign, and that has been accelerated. Hopefully, he will come back and continue to provide advice on a transition plan for the U.S. Postal Service that is unlike any transition in the Postal Service's modern history.

Louis DeJoy is a very successful businessperson who many people believe was appointed to Postmaster General because he has also historically been a big supporter of President Trump, but the reality is that Louis DeJoy was identified by the Postal Service Board through a nationwide search as one of the most capable people in the United States to be Postmaster General. That is because he had built an idea around a kitchen table of an enterprise that ultimately became a business that, when it was sold, was nearly worth $1 billion, in transportation and logistics.

Louis came to the Postal Service a little less than 5 years ago and really shook things up, but in the process of doing that, I believe he has created a plan that is a best practice for what we are attempting to do with the Department of Government Efficiency. He has gone across the Nation. He has listened to the concerns of Members of Congress and of Members of the Senate. He has been to Alaska. He has gone out in the rural areas. He understands the unique mission of the U.S. Postal Service.

Many people may not realize that it was designated in the Constitution, at the urging of Benjamin Franklin, to do something very different: to have a constitutional mandate to make sure that every household in the United States of America could be visited if, in fact, they had somebody with a post that needed to get to them. That is extraordinary.

In North Carolina, we are a 50-50 State--about 50 percent urban, 50 percent rural. So you can make, maybe, the numbers and logistics work there. But when you go to States like Alaska, Montana--some of these large, expansive, rural States--the U.S. Postal Service is the only way to touch those communities. The postal package carriers can do a little bit of it, but it makes no economic sense for them to go there.

So Louis inherits this very complex and efficient organization and puts together a transformation plan that is only beginning. And he is going to be leaving the Postal Service, but I just wanted my friend and what I consider to be one of the best Postmaster Generals in modern times--I don't want his work and the impact that he is having to be lost on anyone. I do hope that this administration recognizes the work that has been put into that plan and that we have to carry it through. It is great work.

As for my friend Louis DeJoy, I am going to miss talking with him on postal matters, but what I will miss in that I will gain in having him back in North Carolina. I just wanted to state for the record that I appreciate his dedication and the sacrifice for this job. He certainly had many other opportunities, and I think that the American people owe him a debt of gratitude.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I come here to speak briefly about the status of the peace talks led by the United States and President Trump involving both Ukraine and Putin.

First, I want to thank President Trump for--there is one thing that President Trump has been consistent with: He hates war, and he tries to do everything he can to bring peace.

We attempted--he has attempted that across the globe. He is working right now on trying to settle the situation in the Middle East, and we are trying to address the situation in Ukraine.

Now, the response from Ukraine, after President Zelenskyy--let's keep in mind that President Zelenskyy, over the past week, has withstood attacks in Ukraine that have killed more people than are sitting up in the Gallery right now. So that is over the past couple of days, killed roughly twice as many people that are in the Gallery right now. Many of them civilians. I am not even counting any of the losses on the battlefield.

Now, Vladimir Putin says he needs a little bit of time to assess to see. What part of a complete cease-fire is difficult to understand, right? Stop killing people. Ukraine said that they would. They are ready to sign a 30-day cease-fire now.

Why do you think Putin's not ready to sign it right now? They have got to examine what a complete cease-fire means. It is because this liar and this murderer is trying to find ways to get an angle before they agree to any peace agreement.

He would probably like a partial one because then he could lie about his orders to kill people and destroy Ukraine's infrastructure under the auspices of a limited cease-fire. If Vladimir Putin comes back with a proposed limited cease-fire, then you know he is looking to kill and destabilize Ukraine, Moldova, the West Balkans. It will be interesting to see how he weighs in on the vote today in Srpska where their parliament is voting to separate from BiH, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and create a Russian separatist state in BiH.

So my guess is he doesn't want to sign up to a cease-fire because he hasn't moved all the pieces around to make sure that he can still murder as many Ukrainians as possible during the supposed limited cease-fire.

So I would say to the Ukrainian people and President Zelenskyy: Thank you--in spite of the fact that dozens of people have died this week, including civilians, at the hands of decisions made by Putin--thank you for being willing to lay down your guns and try to get to peace there.

But the American people need to know Putin is a liar. He is a murderer. He hates democracy. He is not trying--the reason that he is in Ukraine now is because Ukraine is finally, after about 20 years of wasted time, that is in part because they had Russians and thugs preventing Ukraine from moving forward on the democratic reforms they know they need to do.

Well, over the past 7 or 8 years, they started taking that seriously, and they are starting to make democratic reforms. They are starting to talk about maybe accession into the E.U., and that scares the hell out of Vladimir Putin because the last thing he wants is a successful former satellite of the Soviet Union demonstrating that democracy works and communism never has. That is what he is worried about. That is the provocative act that he used as a predicate to invade Ukraine and kill tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of thousands of his own soldiers. He is afraid of democracy proving to work in a society that was under the yoke of communism for decades.

That is what this is about, folks. This is about good versus evil. This is about totalitarian versus this messy thing we call democracy.

So if Vladimir Putin can't understand what an unconditional cease- fire means, it is because he doesn't want to. It is because he still wants to find a way to murder and undermine democratic reforms and the people of Ukraine being finally free.

So I do want to thank President Trump for taking the initiative, for showing Ukrainians a path. But I also want to make sure that this administration and everybody in America knows that Putin will not rest until his vision of communist fiat throughout this world is realized.

We have to help Ukraine be free. We have to make Putin lose in Ukraine.

We have to recognize that North Korea, China, Iran are just chafing at the bit to see Putin succeed there so they can export their brand of terrorism and communism throughout the world.

There is nothing redeemable in Vladimir Putin. He is an evil man responsible for the murders of hundreds of thousands of people, nearly a million in the last 3 years in Ukraine alone. We all need to go in open-eyed and understand that this is the true nature of Vladimir Putin. And he cannot succeed in Ukraine.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, last night, I had someone reach out to me and say they heard I was going to speak again on Ukraine on the floor, and they asked me what I was going to talk about. I said to reinforce that Ukraine needs our help, that Europe needs to step up, and that Vladimir Putin is the personification of evil. I am going to try to accomplish all of that in less than 10 minutes so we can get on with the vote.

Everybody needs to remember how this war started. Just to show you-- you can believe me when I tell you that you know when Putin is lying: when his lips are moving.

Let's go back to October, before the invasion in February. He said he was just putting troops together on a training mission--thousands of troops just coincidentally near the Ukrainian border but a training mission. Then it became a military exercise. Now it has become an illegal invasion of a sovereign, democratic nation that has experienced 80,000 dead servicemembers, more than 13,000 dead civilians, 400,000 wounded servicemembers, and 30,000 injured civilians.

Let me tell you a little bit about those civilians. They are 16-year- olds who had their legs blown off because Vladimir Putin ordered the launching of dumb bombs into residential areas. He allowed drones to hit children's hospitals that we visited.

This is the carnage that the Ukrainian people are experiencing every single day--24/7, 365--since the invasion 3 years ago.

Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He has not only allowed his servicemembers--some estimated 800,000--lose their lives on the battlefield, but he has gone so far as to engage mercenaries--the Wagner Group that he had down in Africa--in Ukraine, murdering indiscriminately anybody who moves.

If you want to see the best example of that, you need to go to Bucha and hear the story we heard when we were there. Bucha is a community of a couple of hundred thousand people just outside of Kyiv. Shortly after they invaded and it was clear they weren't to achieve their objectives, they decided that they were going to invoke terror in the minds of those who were fighting and the civilians in Ukraine, so they decided to go into a community that would be similar to going to Northern Virginia. So imagine Kyiv is Washington, DC, and they go out in Northern Virginia, and they just indiscriminately start murdering people. They killed over 500 people in 33 days, all of them civilians. This isn't like urban legend; this was caught on video--people riding a bicycle, walking a dog, being murdered. Vladimir Putin ordered that. Vladimir Putin allowed that.

Ladies and gentlemen, the surprise to Vladimir Putin was that he had no earthly idea of the strength democracy and freedom have in the hearts and minds of human beings. The Ukraine people, in spite of overwhelming odds--numbers and weapons--they defended it. They have been defending it for 3 years. So we have to help them.

There is good and evil here. There is no kind of ``Putin is just misunderstood.'' This man is a murderer. This man is a rapist. He is a rapist by virtue of allowing systematic rapes to happen in places that he invades. That is how he operates. He is evil.

Ukraine needs help. Before I talk more about that help, I want to talk about Europe having to step up.

I really appreciated what Senator Collins put together in terms of the contribution to the Ukraine effort. I know, Senator Shaheen and I-- and I thank Senator Shaheen for having this colloquy today--spend a lot of time tracking NATO countries. Let's make sure that, on one hand, we thank Europe for stepping up and doing its part in supporting this effort, but let's not forget that our NATO partners have come up short in satisfying their obligation in NATO to the tune of over $2 trillion over the last 20 years.

The mind races. What would have happened if all that money had been spent and that our NATO alliance was even stronger if everybody had just met the bare minimum for NATO support? Two more trillion dollars would have been spent over the last 20 years.

Would that have been enough to possibly dissuade Putin from invading Ukraine? We will never know. But what I do know is that I want Europe to not just get credit for supporting Ukraine, but Europe also has to shoulder some responsibility for NATO being more vulnerable by not living up to their commitment over the last 20 years.

Let's just get that right, folks, so that we don't have the distraction and the American people get confused between NATO members not stepping up and doing their fair share.

So why are you asking for more money for Ukraine?

The reason we are asking for more money for Ukraine is because Vladimir Putin has a plan, and we could play right into it. People need to understand: Ukraine is a doormat to Europe. It is how he gets from Russia into countries that are trying to democratize and come closer to the West. If he succeeds in Ukraine, he will move into Moldova. He is already actively causing problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As a matter of fact, Senator Shaheen, I don't know if you are aware, but tomorrow the Republika Srpska legislature is going to consider a resolution to separate from BiH. That is Bosnia and Herzegovina. That has got Vladimir Putin all over it. He is already getting his chess pieces around the board. If he feels like he can get some level of success in Ukraine, he is going to march right through there, folks. It is going to happen.

And then, finally, I had somebody ask me: Why are you so animated over Ukraine? Why are you so concerned with Russia?

I give them a one-word answer: China. China is supporting Putin, at

least economically. There is even an argument that ammunitions and other things are going their way.

Does anybody really believe that North Korea would send people to the battlefield--they have lost a few thousand since they have been there-- unless China was OK with it?

And then we have Iran. Iran is sending drones to Russia to kill innocent civilians and military personnel in Ukraine.

They are the ``axis of evil,'' and now they have regenerated themselves. We can't let Putin have a win in Ukraine, ladies and gentlemen. We have to step up and make sure that the American people know that it is in our national interest to support Ukraine.

And we also have to let Vladimir Putin know that we do owe him thanks in one way: Thanks for waking up Europe in understanding the grave, existential threat that he represents. Thanks for actually getting Finland and Sweden into NATO and adding 800 miles of border on the Russian border. Thank you for that.

And now I want to thank him for receding back into the cave that he should live the rest of his life in and let democratic nations be free--and free from his threats. And until we are sure of that, we should not relent.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, I rise to celebrate the Association of University Technology Managers' 50th anniversary.

The Society of University Patent Administrators, known as SUPA, was first formed in 1975 to focus on how best to advance discoveries from university labs into the marketplace. In the decades since, SUPA was renamed the Association of University Technology Managers and now is known as AUTM. They championed the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which allowed universities and inventors to retain the intellectual property rights of discoveries made using Federal funding and helped technology transfer blossom.

Technology transfer has had a profound effect on the American economy and is estimated to have created more than 19,000 startup companies, up to 6.5 million jobs, and $2 trillion in economic impact since 1996. Technology transfer, via AUTM and the many inventors that they assist, help ensure that the United States remains the world leader in innovation. Therefore, on behalf of myself and Senator Chris Coons--my longtime partner on the IP Subcommittee--I recognize AUTM's 50th anniversary and commend the many technology transfer professionals on their successes to make our Nation safer, more vibrant, and healthier.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Members and staff and spectators in the Gallery be allowed to applaud for a period not to exceed 30 seconds.

I want to thank Senator Shaheen for, actually, a long- term friendship and vision that she had back in 2018 when she came to me and wanted to reconstitute the Senate NATO Observer Group. It could not have been a better time for us to pay more attention to this very important alliance.

But it is also, right now, today--4 days away from the 3-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine--very important to talk about the nature of Vladimir Putin and the tactics that they use to terrorize populations.

President Putin, in October, prior to the invasion in February, said that he was sending troops to an area to do a training exercise. While we were getting intelligence that it looked like more than that, he was already lying to the world by saying: We are just going to train up our soldiers a little bit more.

Then after the first part of the year going into January, he said: Well, we are doing the training exercise that just, coincidentally, happens to be along the Ukrainian border, but it is just a training exercise.

And then he creates any number of pretext to then talk about how provocative Ukraine is operating a democracy within their borders. And he creates the pretext for a ``special military operation,'' invading Ukraine, trying to finish what he started when he invaded Crimea back in 2014.

Vladimir Putin is a liar, a murderer, and responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. And that is bad by itself. But you know what is worse is when you employ tactics that intentionally terrorize a population.

Senator Shaheen talked about the power grid. I was in that meeting she was talking about. Let's talk about systematically how his mind works, the mind of Vladimir Putin, the leadership of Russia. It is very cold in Ukraine--very, very cold in the wintertime. And they have tried to systematically deny them heat over the winter to freeze them out. They have had to spend millions of dollars hardening substations just to prevent families, hospitals, critical businesses, first responders from having power. That is how this man thinks.

But that is not bad enough. Shortly after they invaded Ukraine and they got the surprise of their life that the Ukrainian people were willing to fight and die for their country--and they have done it in a way that Putin could not possibly have imagined. Putin should be embarrassed. A so-called world power got repulsed by what now is the largest army in Europe--standing army. It wasn't when the invasion occurred.

Just with our help through materiels, they have held off Russia for 3 years. Putin probably understood at some point that he wasn't going to be able to win it through conventional tactics. So what does he go to? Terrorist tactics--the same sort of tactics he uses in Africa with mercenaries, terrorizing populations, indiscriminately killing people. That is what Vladimir Putin does every single day, 24/7, 365 around the globe.

Now let's get back to Ukraine. He decides to allow, under orders, Russia military to go into a community of about 200,000 people. That is roughly the size of the community I live in North Carolina, just north of Charlotte. Imagine what they are doing. They are going through the city and indiscriminately, when somebody walks past them, shooting them, sometimes with 50-caliber weapons and tank armor, murdering them, stacking them up in mass graves.

I went to this site. I saw it firsthand. This is how he is trying to win the war because he can't win the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people. He destroyed the hopes and dreams of anybody who has lived in the Soviet era. He wants that to reemerge. He is willing to do anything, including terrorizing innocent civilians to break their will.

But, thank God, the Ukrainian people are the brave people that they are because this hardened them. This made them go onto a battlefield and live in trenches 24 hours a day repulsing the Russian invasion.

There is no moral person on this planet who can consider Putin to have a legitimate reason to affect this sort of carnage. And I saw it firsthand. I will never be able to forget it. And what the American people and the world population will never be able to forget either is the aftermath of appeasing Vladimir Putin.

Ladies and gentlemen, China is already helping Russia. North Korea has sent thousands of troops. And North Korea doesn't really care about life. They have allowed 4,000 to 5,000 of their soldiers to die on the battlefield within 6 weeks of getting on the ground. They are throwing body after body trying to kill and break the will of the Ukrainian people. It is just unacceptable.

Look, I am a Republican. I support President Trump, and I believe that most of his policies on national security are right. I believe his instincts

are pretty good. But what I am telling you, whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin and the future of a stable globe better go to Ukraine; they better go to Europe; they better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime. And it will be a cancer that spreads into the South China Sea, into Taiwan, and metastasize across the globe.

Ladies and gentlemen, when I tell you that Vladimir Putin is a liar, a murderer, and a man responsible for ordering the systematic torture, kidnapping, and rape of innocent civilians, believe me because the evidence is a mile high.

So for those of us who have invested the time to understand this, believe me when I tell you this is important to every single one of you. If you believe that Ukraine is a country an ocean away and not relevant to our national security, think again. The world is small. The world is watching. The strength of our alliances are on the line and the future of democracy in the world is on the line if we do anything less than defeat Vladimir Putin.

Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. We should ensure that all law enforcement have the necessary equipment, training, and resources to keep our communities safe and thoroughly investigate crimes committed against all people. I have come to the floor and have spoken on this many, many times in the 10 years that I have been here.

Securing the border must remain the top priority in reducing crime, and this amendment does not adequately support necessary safety improvements. So I urge you to vote no.

Vote on Amendment No. 699

Mr. President, today I rise to recognize the remarkable career of Raleigh chief of police Estella D. Patterson, a law enforcement officer who has dedicated nearly 30 years of her life to protecting and serving her communities.

Her journey in law enforcement began in 1996, following her graduation from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Since August 2021, Chief Patterson has been the Raleigh chief of police, leading a team of over 900 sworn and civilian employees who share her unwavering commitment to the safety and security of Raleigh's residents.

During her renowned tenure in law enforcement, Chief Patterson led the implementation of the Greenway Unit and leveraged technology to develop the Raleigh Intelligence Center into a Real Time Crime Center. Her advocacy for safe communities also led to the city of Raleigh being selected to join the Public Safety Partnership City, a national designation which brings a wealth of resources and technical assistance for crime prevention.

From 1996 to 2005, Chief Patterson honorably served in the U.S. Army Reserve. Her service included combat tours to Kosovo in support of Operation Joint Guardian and to Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Furthermore, Chief Patterson also served for 25 years with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in multiple positions prior to joining the Raleigh Police Department.

Chief Patterson's career has been marked by a deep love for public service and her community. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Chief Patterson for her ultimate dedication to law enforcement and our country. I wish Chief Patterson and her family the very best as she retires and begins this new chapter of her life. Chief Patterson embodies the very best of law enforcement. The city of Raleigh is proud of her and forever grateful for her service.

Mr. President, this week has been interesting, as I have seen from some of my friends on the other side of the aisle, a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth and all the horrible things that are going to come before us. And it reminded me of a book that I used as a basis for management consulting training back in 1998. It was called ``Who Moved My Cheese.'' It is a story about two mice and two small people in a maze. The mice are named Sniff and Scurry, and the two little people are Hem and Haw. And it is only about a hundred-page book. But the premise of the book is the cheese was moved in the maze, and the challenge was to figure out where the food source was.

Well, Sniff and Scurry, the mice, actually did a pretty good job, fairly quickly, to kind of move where the cheese was and deal with the status quo. But Hem and Haw really had more challenges.

And I think we have some hemming and hawing going on here in Washington right now because they just don't understand business practices that we are trying to apply to government that have never been applied at scale before.

And I decided that I would give you an idea because a lot of people think that Elon Musk is off the chain and causing all kinds of havoc. I haven't seen that yet. As a matter of fact, if time allows, I am going to talk a little bit about the narrative this week over the payment system and all the detailed payment data that supposedly got out--which is patently untrue, contrary to what press reports have said.

But I thought I would start with the story of SpaceX. When Elon Musk decided to invest in and create SpaceX, he did something that has never been done before in this industry. He decided that instead of doing what the old players do--which is to be perfect, never launch a rocket until you are absolutely certain that that mission can be accomplished--he decided that you can learn from failure.

This is actually a social media post of one of his first launches where the booster failed to come back to Earth. His immediate response--whether it was either his instincts or really good communications people--his immediate response was a social media post

that said: ``Great launch, unscheduled RUD''--R-U-D, which is rapid unscheduled disassembly.

So he was telling his shareholders and the people that have invested in SpaceX, that what happened, on its face, looked like a disaster. But, in fact, it was being willing to fail--provided that human life was not at risk--that being willing to fail was how you accelerate and you bypass everybody who has a partnership with the Federal Government. You get through all of that, and now you have the premiere launch platform, while all the other competitors have been working on it for years or decades, because he understands the concept that I understand in business, where I spent most of my life, that you learn from failure, if you know how to measure it and you are responsive and resilient.

Now, when I advised clients on enterprise transformation, we would push the envelope. We would pull back if we thought it was a market reputation risk or a center business risk.

So I believe that we need to do more of that, but we need to have guardrails, clearly.

Now there are just people that they just can't figure out where the cheese is. Now, if I just go back to the one area on payments, I have to admit, when I first heard about the payments information with read- only access being provided to someone who may be technically a government employee, but not a career government employee, it did give me concern.

So I had my staff dig into it. And since then, the administration has put out a fact sheet that anybody who is concerned about what is happening in the payments platform should look at it.

They are not looking at detailed payment data. What they are looking at is the way payments are processed to determine whether or not there is an opportunity to do it more efficiently, more cost effectively, and leave more money in the U.S. Treasury as a result--maybe more money that we can use to retire our debt. That seems like a reasonable thing to do.

People said they are getting top secret information and confidential information they shouldn't have.

I asked the specific question. I have been assured that if there is classified information, that the only ones who are going to see it are people that already have the appropriate clearances. And I have also been assured that there is no confidential information being passed.

So I would defy those in the press or maybe some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I am all about facts here. If I have established no reputation in the U.S. Senate, it is that I am tedious and I complete my due diligence.

I went to the administration. I asked these questions, and I believe we are dealing with a false narrative because people don't want to know where the cheese has been moved. They have got to get used to change.

I have been in the U.S. Senate for 10 years. I am sick of saying: Medicare has to get better. I am sick of saying: Medicaid has to get better. I am sick of saying: We are not getting people more healthy on Medicaid today. I am sick of hearing people say that on both sides of the aisles, folks.

So if we don't take some calculated risk, then we are going to be talking about the same sort of vexing issues 10 years from now.

And so I want to ask everybody to reject this narrative that we are going too fast, too soon, too many things on the line, and let's get to specific examples.

I have used the example that has dominated the press this week to determine most of what is being said is a red herring to take the President and, in this case, Elon Musk, off of the trail of trying to find efficiencies.

You have facts to dispute that? Come to the Senate floor; I can learn from it. But stop creating a false narrative because you don't want to go through change because you want to continue to establish and follow the status quo, which is failing the American people and failing to fulfill promises that I have heard people make for the last decade.

Mr. President, I come here to say--I also shared a story. I had a friend of Greek ancestry call me this week and say: What is going on with Mr. Musk?

I will say, Mr. Musk has put out some social media posts that are incorrect. He actually is one of the reasons why we are having to complete this due diligence because he was talking about looking at payment data versus having professionals who--some of them are career personnel looking at source code to figure out how to make it better. He probably needs to tighten it up.

But my Greek friend told me--when I thought about all this stuff, I said: I think the President has enabled Mr. Musk and other people a lot like Icarus's father provided him with wings. They were made of wax and feathers. If you know mythology, the idea was for Icarus to fly and never go so low as to drown in the sea but never go so high as to have his wings melted, his feathers float away, and ultimately drown in the sea.

So to those who are looking at all of this in the way that I am, I want that sweet spot. I want those who are looking at government efficiencies to understand the rules. They need to understand confidentiality, national security, and when lives are on the line.

When we are talking about DOD, the intel community, the Foreign Service, you need adult supervision in the room to make absolutely certain we don't compromise or put those men or women in danger. But in the meantime, if we really want to force change, if we really want to fulfill the promises that we made to the American people when we took control of Washington, we have to get people comfortable with change. We have to start fulfilling promises--some of the big promises that for the 10 years I have been here, I heard it every year, and we haven't made appreciable progress.

Look, the American people are patient. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will present facts, not innuendo that could be politically motivated at best or just bad information at worst, then we can get through this, and we can do right by the American people as a result.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to share a little bit of maybe a reflection on the pardons of last week.

Part of the reason why I do, after the President issued the pardons for all of the January 6 protesters, I had a friend of mine call me up because I had said that some of the protesters probably got swept up in the events of the day. But some of those protesters harmed police officers, and I can't support that. I said, when I say I wear this pin almost every day and when I say I back the blue, I back the blue, period.

I back them when they are beaten by people who came into this Capitol on January 6. I back the blue because I am endlessly--over the last 10 years, I have been to this floor numerous times to mourn the loss of more than 80 police officers in North Carolina alone who died in the line of duty. I do this time after time after time.

The Republican Party is the party that stands for law and order and law enforcement, in my opinion. I have seen people excuse the protests in Kenosha and Portland as just mostly peaceful protests. The amazing thing was, when you see this on TV or you see it in the papers, they are saying mostly peaceful protests in Portland and Kenosha, and there is a building on fire in the background in and around a police precinct.

And in Washington, Federal agents were injured by law enforcement officials during the Biden administration. Every single one of us said that is inappropriate and those people need to be brought to justice.

Now, on January 6 of 2021, I was standing right over there in the middle of that aisle. My seat was right there. So when we were doing the certification of the election, you could hear people had breached the building. They were running around the Capitol. They were banging on doors. And, finally, my chair being right next to that door, we heard a loud crash. And I saw Capitol Police officers say, ``Secure that building,'' and run up there to protect the Members who were in the Chamber. And we were all here.

I saw some people immediately go to the Capitol Police so that they could take them to safe refuge, and they are the same people who have fundraised on a website that is called ActBlue. Fortunately, it has been taken down because I ranted enough. After a year, they finally did it. But they had a run for justice, 13.12. The alphabetic analog is ACAB, which translates into their slogan: ``All Cops Are Bastards.''

How does this relate? They raised money on it. In fact, they even encouraged people to do their 13-mile run around police stations to disrupt and intimidate police officers.

Now, how does this relate to everything that is going on here? I was the last Senate Member out of this Chamber on that day. In fact, it was one of the Vice President's details whom I happen to know that came back to me and said, Now you have really got to go. I walked through that hallway, down the stairwell that is over there, into the train tunnel, and what I saw were police officers who were bleeding; they were bruised; and they were beaten down.

The people who did that were pardoned last week. To those people--and I will give the President the benefit of the doubt. I support pardons for people who should have never come into the building. I don't know if I were President, if I would have pardoned them. But I can actually, at least, understand the rationale for those. But I think if you back the blue, there can be no equivocation on any exception for someone who assaults or murders a police officer.

The funny--not funny thing. The tragic thing is I just filed two bills that would increase the penalties for assaulting a police officer and increase the penalty for murdering a police officer as a Federal crime up to and including the death penalty. I want to send a message to those folks in blue that I, as an elected official and Member of the U.S. Senate, will never equivocate when it comes to backing the blue.

I would argue that if anybody has a problem with them, then call 911 and tell them you never want them to show up to your door when you are in trouble because most people know that the police officers who serve us and protect us in this building are great people.

I have this ask to those who have been pardoned--the QAnon Shaman who sat in that chair that the gentleman from Indiana is sitting in now and boasting over how he came into this Chamber, do you know what his social media tweet was when President Trump gave him a chance and gave him a pardon? Now I am going to go buy me some F'ing guns.

For the others who have been pardoned, be like a handful of some who have refused the pardon because they felt like they deserved the punishment.

For those who have received a pardon, view it as the gift that it is. Apologize to these police officers for what you did to them. If you do that, then I will feel like maybe President Trump gave you a chance to redeem yourself.

But if you come and spike the football in this Capitol Building and you pretend like what you did was right, righteous, or justified, please do not come anywhere near me.

It is important, for the past week I have told the police officers when I entered the building, I thought the pardons of those who assaulted police officers were wrong. I told every one of them. I said, I know you shouldn't react to it because you have to be apolitical. But I am a political person. I can say whatever I want to and then answer to the people of North Carolina.

But I thought it was important for me to come to the floor and record this in the Congressional Record: Particularly, the challenge to the people who assaulted police officers, show that you are remorseful. Demonstrate that you were wrong. Don't pretend that that pardon means that what you did was right.

For that reason, I felt compelled to come to the floor and make this statement because where I come from and where I have been my entire public service career, I will never stop backing the blue.

Mr. President, this weekend, I was thinking about all of the criticism President Trump is receiving right now from some in the liberal media and from some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle as they kind of look down their necks with: I am smarter than you. You are all wrong. You silly person. These sorts of narratives are going on all over the place. As I heard it this weekend, it reminded me of a book that I read back in the nineties about President Reagan. It was a biography--``Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader.''

If you will remember back then--I was relatively young, but I remember people saying that Ronald Reagan has got this idea of Star Wars--they called it Star Wars--because he felt he had an obligation to protect the American people by having some sort of a shield against missiles. Now we call that HIMARS, and Israel calls it the Iron Dome. We have technologies deployed in space that are effectively a realization of that vision, but he was a silly actor from California who didn't know anything. What he did know was vision, what he did know were adversaries, and what he did know were other countries that were failing to do their part in defending and protecting democracy.

How does that relate to President Trump? President Trump, over the past couple of weeks, has said things--and you have to admit, when the President talks, he talks in big, beautiful words. He said something about Canada being the 51st State. He said something about Greenland maybe being a territory of the United States. He said he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the ``Gulf of America,'' which he did through an Executive order, because of his frustration with Mexico. He also talked about the Panama Canal.

Now, if you are a member of the liberal press, you are just going to look down your nose at him and say he is a silly guy and he is just saying dumb things. If you are somebody who lived through those criticisms of Ronald Reagan, I have a little bit different take on it.

Let's start with Canada. Why is President Trump frustrated with Canada?

If you were to total up the shortfall of the Canadian Government's contribution to NATO over the last 24 years, they have fallen short by a third of a trillion dollars. Almost $300 billion for our mutual defense they have decided not to pay into. Because why? Because they happen to have the world's strongest, greatest enduring democracy right to themselves. They know the United States would prevent anybody from invading Canada, and they are taking it for granted.

President Trump is tired of being taken for granted. I don't care if he uses language like ``Trudeau is the next Governor''--whatever gets the Canadian people's attention. It is to let them understand that we have a serious problem with our mutual defense in North America, and Canada needs to pay attention. Canada needs to end their unfair trading practices when it comes to beef, when it comes to milk, and when it comes to the way they benefit from value-added transfers in the automobile industry. All of those are legitimate criticisms by President Trump, and I am glad he has had the courage and the insight to call them to account.

Now let's move to Greenland.

I am going to go back--and by the way, I take this personally because I am the Republican leader of the Senate NATO Observer Group and have been since 2018. I have spent a lot of time with our allies, and I believe that the NATO alliance is the most important treaty that has ever existed, and it is why we have free democracies today in the Western World.

When he is talking about Greenland, he is also trying to say: Folks, wake up. Russia and China, for the first time in history, had joint military exercises in the Arctic. Many people may not know that. We do. China is flexing its muscles, and Russia is flexing their muscles. They are in our space in the Arctic. We should take that seriously.

He is sending a message to Europe to say: Take care of our mutual defense. Project power in the Arctic. Check up against what we have already seen over the last year between China and Russia.

So, yes, if he wants to use the language that he uses, he is communicating a very important point: We need to project power in the Arctic in a way that we haven't before.

So those are the crazy comments about Canada and Greenland. Now let's go to Mexico.

Mexico currently has, right now, an additional coequal branch of government. They call them the cartels. If you go to the southern border, you will see the cartels in action. They have these things called plazas. So the cartels have decided that they are going to break up the geography on the southern border. They are going to charge people a premium to come across the border illegally--anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. In plain sight, they let China import precursors in their ports. They transport them to factories where cartels manufacture fentanyl that they carry across the border and kill over 100,000 people a year here. The vast majority of that comes from Mexico.

So of course the President should threaten tariffs, and of course the President should say: You should get organized crime out of the decision-making process in Mexico. And if it takes the United States referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the ``Gulf of America'' to get the Mexican Government and the Mexican people's attention, I am fine with that.

They need to work with us on sealing the border. They need to focus on the southern border. They need to wake up because we have a new administration that is going to treat them like adults and not like what arguably sometimes can be petulant children. They have safety and security because of where they are on the globe and in their close proximity to the United States.

We expect both Canada and Mexico to be good partners, and I thank President Trump for taking them to task.

Lastly is the Panama Canal.

When President Carter agreed to transfer ownership of the Panama Canal, we made a mistake--and rest President Carter's soul. But the mistake we made was in not making sure that the governance and the protection of the Panama Canal could never come under the control of a communist nation. Now we know that China has actually business contracts on either end of the Panama Canal with the ports. They basically control the ingress and the egress to the Panama Canal.

Now, people will say: Oh, he is so silly. He said they control the canal. That is just not right. I saw that on CNN.

Here is what they didn't tell you: They control--they have contracts at either end of the Panama Canal, folks. We have to wake up. The President gets it. It is the most strategically important waterway in the world.

So I am going to wind up my remarks so that the Senator from Florida can

speak, but I believe that President Trump--you can criticize him for his rhetoric, but you can't criticize him for the truth when you tease through that rhetoric. Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Panama all owe in large part their independence and their ability to be democratic nations to the United States. I think it is fair to suggest that they act like partners and treat the United States with respect.

I, for one, appreciate--although I wouldn't necessarily always use the words that President Trump does, I don't disagree with his objective, and I hope he keeps his foot on the accelerator.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the service and sacrifice of Greensboro Police Officer Michael Horan.

On Monday, December 23--2 days before Christmas--Officer Horan was the first officer to respond to a call of a man with a firearm at a Food Lion supermarket in Greensboro, NC. As Officer Horan entered the store and confronted the suspect, the suspect engaged in a struggle that eventually led to Officer Horan being shot and killed. The suspect fled the scene and led law enforcement on a multiple-county chase. The brave men and women from various law enforcement agencies eventually apprehended the suspect on Interstate 40.

Officer Horan personified the very best of law enforcement. Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson stated that Officer Horan was ``a valued and respected member of the Greensboro Police family.''

He worked for the Greensboro Police Department since 2017 and had a distinguished record of service with the U.S. Coast Guard. As a U.S. Coast Guard member, Officer Horan served as a law enforcement officer, tactical fast boat instructor, and search and rescue operator for the safety and security of the United States.

Even when he was off duty, he exemplified valor. In 2019, Officer Horan received a lifesaving award from the Greensboro Police Department for saving a father and son who had been caught in a rip current at a beach at Emerald Isle.

As impressive as Officer Horan was for his exemplary work, it was his job as a family man--a loving husband, father, and son.

One of his colleagues noted:

One of the main things most people would know about officer

Horan, is how much he loved his family.

He loved his daughter. If you ask anybody in the department

to describe him--

One friend said--

I feel like his daughter would be in the conversation.

He loved his family, and he included it in virtually every conversation he had with his colleagues.

He upheld the oath to protect and serve his community and his country. He exemplified what it means to be an extraordinary public servant, and he made the ultimate sacrifice.

My deepest condolences go out to Officer Horan's family for their tremendous loss, and my condolences go out to the community of Greensboro, which lost one of their finest, most decent public servants. We will never forget his service.

Mr. President, Officer Horan actually passed away a year ago last December. We were not in session at the time, so I thought it was appropriate to recognize the anniversary of his death, but I want to talk a little bit more.

(Mr. BUDD assumed the Chair.)

Law Enforcement

Mr. President, since 2015, when I first took office as a U.S. Senator in my home State of North Carolina, we have tragically lost far too many law enforcement officers. In fact, we have lost 85 in the time that I have been a U.S. Senator, since 2015. This includes deaths related to law enforcement assaults, gunfire, vehicular pursuits, and duty-related illnesses.

These officers took an oath to protect and serve our communities. These heroes made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to protect their communities. I will not get into all the details about each officer. What I would ask is unanimous consent to provide a list of the following officers since I have been a Member of the U.S. Senate to be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, as we start the 119th Congress, my colleague from North Carolina, who is currently presiding--I think we both agree that we want to emphasize that Congress has a role in supporting and protecting our law enforcement officers across this country.

According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, in 2024, 342 officers were shot in the line of duty. Of those officers, 50 officers were tragically killed by criminals.

Unfortunately, over the past few years, we have seen shameful behavior from certain--and I hope and I pray that it is a minority of our society, but we have people out there raising money for fundraising runs called the 13.12-mile run. Mr. President, ``1312'' translates into ``ACAB,'' and on their website, they proudly proclaim that ``ACAB'' stands for ``All Cops Are Bastards.'' Let that sink in.

It is appalling to hear this kind of rhetoric, and it has to stop. These dangerous statements not only create distrust and disdain for our brave men and women in blue--the vast majority of whom are good, hard- working people that we all know in our communities--but it has made their job to protect and serve more difficult and more deadly.

We have to do better. We have to protect law enforcement. That is why I plan to reintroduce multiple pieces of legislation in the coming weeks.

First among them is going to be the Protect and Serve Act. It makes it a Federal crime for anyone who knowingly causes or attempts to cause bodily harm or injury to a law enforcement officer. It is amazing it is not a crime already. I hope to do so with strong bipartisan support when I file the bill and get it passed in this Congress.

We also must act to punish criminals who intentionally murder law enforcement. That is why I will also be introducing the Justice for Fallen Law Enforcement Act. This legislation would create a criminal penalty for the murder of a local, State, or Federal law enforcement officer, punishable with the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole.

I urge all Americans listening to contact your Senators and Representatives and tell them that you want to protect law enforcement officers and support enhancing penalties for those who would do them harm.

The men and women in blue are heroes. They deserve our support. We need everyone in our communities to stand up to these people who would not want them in the community, who would not want them to respond to a 9-1-1 call. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine our communities if the logical conclusion of these people, who hate law enforcement officers so much that they proudly profess that all cops are bastards, publicly to raise money?

We need to increase awareness, and we need to make absolutely certain that every man and woman in blue knows we have their back.