Floor Statements

Madam President, a week from today, we will be celebrating Memorial Day. I know folks back home probably have some fun things planned for the long weekend--cookouts, family gatherings, maybe even a trip to the beach.

But while Memorial Day is a joyous, carefree weekend for many families, it is a reminder of what they lost--a father, a mother, husband, or a wife, a son, daughter, brother, sister, a family member, a friend that cannot be replaced.

Our Gold Star families have given a great sacrifice to our country. I have been there myself. My father served in World War II, driving a tanker across Europe. He earned five Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. After the war, he died on Active Duty.

And I still miss him today. I am forever grateful that he, like so many folks from his generation, put on that uniform. They enlisted, not knowing whether they would ever come home. Many of them--hundreds of thousands--did not.

But they knew what they were doing was worth the danger. They knew the United States of America and all she stood for was worth defending. They earned the title of the ``greatest generation.''

I will be introducing a resolution this week honoring the immense sacrifice of the ``greatest generation'' and not just those who put on the uniform. This resolution recognizes the millions of Americans who worked in the factories, bought war bonds, and donated their pots, pans, and more to a war effort. We owe the ``greatest generation'' a debt we can never fully repay.

I want to take a moment to thank Mr. Sam Romano from Vestavia Hills, AL, for advocating on behalf of the ``greatest generation'' and his contributions to this resolution.

Today, we have more than a million Active-Duty service men and women who continue to defend our freedoms. They, too, stand ready to answer the call when evil threatens America. They, too, stand ready to give their lives to defend their country, if need be.

The United States stands on the foundation of generations of service men and women who gave their lives to defend their country. Their sacrifices created the most free and prosperous country in the history of the world.

We are not perfect, far from it, but our unique system of government is distinguished from any other--``of the people, by the people, and for the people.'' That is why I stand for the flag and for our national anthem because for the last 250 years, men and women have given their lives for all this flag represents. They gave their lives to defend our right to make our country better.

The continued service of our military allows us to have that barbecue this weekend. Their service allows us to gather freely with family and friends, to think, to worship, and live how we want to. Memorial Day reminds us that our freedom and prosperity comes at a cost.

So for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, I would encourage all of us to take a moment to remember what we are celebrating: the brave men and women who laid down their lives for ours. Let's honor our soldiers' sacrifice by keeping our country strong and upholding the values they gave their lives to defend.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I spoke recently about how the President's ``skinny'' budget is disappointing, dangerous, and a disservice to our men and women in uniform. China actively seeks to outpace the U.S. military, and in some cases, they are succeeding. This isn't a 5- or 10-year problem; the threat is right now, today.

Unfortunately, the military is not the only area facing active challenges by China. Today, I am going to discuss a few at-risk areas that are critical to the stability of our Nation.

It is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, wants to replace the United States as the world's top power. The American people need to be aware of how the Chinese Communist Party is coming after us, not just with missiles and military might but with plans to subdue the American spirit.

The repressive CCP uses economic espionage to advance its agenda to weaken our arsenal of democracy. A significant part of what has made the United States a global powerhouse is the strength and resilience of our private sector companies. Whether it is in the technology, healthcare, or energy sector, American innovation is unrivaled. It is what has made us the greatest economy in the history of the world.

China's leaders know this, but rather than go head-to-head in honest competition, they have settled for stealing our intellectual property. Chinese businesses, at the instruction of their government, lure American companies in. They offer cheap labor. They promise

an ``exchange of ideas,'' but they really want to steal our valuable intellectual property.

As President Trump's Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said, China's strategy is to ``rob, replicate and replace.'' China robs American companies of their intellectual property, they replicate our technology, and then China replaces U.S. firms in the global marketplace.

This theft isn't exclusive to just one industry. They will go after whatever they can to get their hands on it--wind turbines, airplane designs, underwater drones, chemicals, or artificial intelligence technology. According to the Department of Justice, between 2011 and 2018, more than 90 percent of the Department's foreign economic espionage cases involved China.

By stealing this critical knowledge, the Chinese have given themselves a leg up on other nations. They are using it to expand their military and economic power. Their goal is to surpass the U.S. economy and gain monopoly control over every major industry. We cannot allow that to succeed.

Even more alarming is what China is doing from within our own universities. The American people may not be familiar with Confucius Institutes, but they should be. Confucius Institutes currently operate at 55 American colleges and universities. While they claim to harmlessly promote Chinese language and culture, they actually serve as a beachhead for the Chinese Government within America's research institutions. Often, just the presence of a Confucius Institute on campus will enable Chinese officials to stifle any criticism of the Chinese Government at that university. The institutes also allow the Chinese Government to harvest valuable data from research being conducted at our country's world-class institutions. Who knows what else they could be up to.

I was very proud to cosponsor Senator Blackburn's Transparency for Confucius Institutes Act, which would provide needed transparency to these dangerous organizations. I was also glad to see Alabama A&M, a public land-grant and historically Black university, make the decision to close their Confucius Institute just last month.

Congress has made clear that American institutions of higher education that host Confucius Institutes could lose their Federal funding.

I hope any remaining colleges and universities with these CCP satellite organizations follow Alabama A&M's leadership.

The United States and the entire Western World have given China valuable concessions for decades. We gave China a seat at the table thinking they would change, but they have played their hand ruthlessly. The hope was that by facilitating economic growth through open markets and giving them leadership roles in the international institutions, China's Communist regime would finally embrace democracy, human rights, and free market values. It is past time we recognize that despite all its good intentions, this strategy has failed and miserably.

The Chinese Communist Party has continually spied on its citizens, violently suppressed dissent, and systematically persecuted religious and ethnic minorities to the point of genocide.

President Trump stood up to China. He was the first U.S. President to do so in decades. And he made great strides, but he didn't have enough time in office to finish the job. I sincerely hope President Biden will continue to build on the Trump administration's momentum in pushing back against China's aggressive rise.

The United States must address the challenges posed by China. I have shared a lot of concerns today, but I am not one to offer criticism without a commonsense solution. Here is one commonsense step Congress can take immediately.

The TSP, or Thrift Savings Plan, is the 401(k)-style investment plan that over 6 million Federal and government employees, both military and civilian, use for their retirement plan. The plan manages more than $700 billion in assets.

Back in 2017, the Board that governs the TSP decided to invest billions in companies with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party. They wanted to send government employee dollars--the retirement savings of our military and civilian public servants--to Chinese companies, including mine and everybody's here in Congress. These companies are tied to a government that openly committed genocide against its own people. Well, with me, that dog doesn't hunt.

Thankfully, President Trump put a stop to that plan before it was implemented, but now with President Biden in the White House, the Board could decide to push through this decision. We need congressional action to make President Trump's decision with the thrift savings plan permanent. I bet if you ask the folks who work in these buildings or who served the United States overseas if they want their retirement savings going to Chinese companies, you would hear a loud no.

I will be offering a solution on this tomorrow to protect our national security and safeguard the retirements of those who have served our country with honor and distinction.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, you know, if there is one thing I have been hearing from my constituents lately it is this: We have to get people back to work so our economy can thrive and our people can make a living.

This isn't a new sentiment. I have heard this for months as I have traveled around the State. But what is new is the fact that we can't find people to work, and that is what I am here to talk about today.

Before the pandemic hit, we had the best economy in decades. The unemployment rate in January 2020 was 3.6 percent. Wages were up. Blue- collar wages were rising faster than white-collar wages for the first time on record. Unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans was at the lowest rate recorded, all thanks to President Trump's pro-growth policies and Republicans' tax reform law.

There is no debating that the coronavirus pandemic hit our economy very, very hard. Many companies and businesses in Alabama, including family-owned small businesses, have spent the past year hanging on by a thread as the pandemic held its tight grip around the country.

Some States opened with a skeleton crew, making the decision to lay off workers in order just to keep operating, and some were forced to shut down entirely. Either way, American workers lost out. A few industries were spared, and unemployment numbers shot sky high.

But a year later, as vaccines became widely available and we better understood what we needed to do to keep Americans safe, many job creators thought: OK, this is when the tight grip loosens, and there is the light at the end of the tunnel.

As more and more people are feeling safe--safe to go places they used to go and do things--businesses are eager to open and respond but, today, even as vaccinations go up and cases go down, the Biden administration is incentivizing people to sit on the sidelines, instead of encouraging them to join the workforce.

It is the opposite of what the Federal Government should be doing: Do the right thing now. And it is the opposite of what job creators want to do for millions of American workers. There are roughly 8.1 million job openings around our country, as we speak, but the Democrats would rather discourage folks from seizing the opportunity to go out and earn a living. That is exactly what the current unemployment payments do.

As part of their partisan stimulus bill, Democrats extended the $300 a week Federal unemployment benefit, a weekly payment, in addition to the State benefit that folks already get.

In Alabama, people could choose to receive, with no strings attached, up to $678 per week. That comes out to $16.95 an hour, which is even more than our Democrat colleagues' job-killing $15 minimum wage proposal just a few weeks ago. The result has been disastrous for small businesses across my State and throughout the country that are already ready to hire to meet the boom and demand for products and services.

On the national level, here is what the National Federation of Independent Business reported: ``Unfilled job openings continue to mount, as April is the third consecutive month setting a record high reading of unfilled job openings.''

On record job openings, April job numbers released last week weren't much better. The unemployment rate went up by 0.1 percent. Economists thought we would add 1 million jobs, but we only added a quarter of that amount.

Small business owners all across Alabama have been able to reopen, and customers are coming back. Now they

need people to fill the jobs to keep the doors open.

Across America, businesses are no longer competing against other businesses. Now they have to compete against the government--government versus the private sector--and the government is stacking the deck against our small businesses and manufacturers. Businesses in Alabama are no exception to anybody else across the country.

Case in point, Al Cason is the President of Bud's Best Cookies in Hoover, AL. His father Bud owns the company and has been in the industry for 65 years. Normally, they have four production lines with two shifts, but because so many--so many--of their would-be workers are staying home, they can only run two lines, and they are cutting their production in half. We can't get enough to come to work, Al wrote me. The government is taking away workers from our business, and it has been in business for 65 years.

Wesley Averett from Enterprise Health & Rehabilitation Center in Enterprise, AL, wrote that his long-term care facility is ``unable to find the help [they] need'' due to the ``severe negative impacts stimulus and unemployment payments are [having] on the Alabama workforce.''

And then there is Sandra Walker from Lake Haven Assisted Living in Luverne, AL, who said:

Our salaries are competitive, but we can't compete with

stay-at-home . . . no strings attached hand outs. . . .

Business is back open but we can't survive without our

workers returning to work.

These are both health companies, mind you, and they are the ones helping some of our most vulnerable citizens.

And here is what Anita Hilliard in Courtland, AL, told me. The company she works for employs people in convenience stores throughout northwest Alabama. She wrote: ``We have had to shut down some of our shifts'' just because we can't get enough people to work, and sometimes we have to shut down completely.

But here is what really stuck with me in her letter. She said: ``I am working and paying taxes to pay others more than I make myself.'' That is sad. This must end or we will lose the America that we have grown to know and love.

I couldn't agree with Anita more. America was built by hard workers, people like Al, people like Anita, people like Wes, Sandra, and millions more across the United States. But we will never jumpstart our economy if we keep going with this bad policy of incentivizing people to stay at home and sit and not work, rather than take employment opportunities when they are offered to them.

Our businesses need workers to meet customers' demands. This is truly a great thing after such a hard year. Our job creators have started to hope and see opportunity again. They have hung the ``now hiring'' signs on the door. They have posted the job openings. But we need to encourage folks to rejoin the workforce and to get back to work. Job creators are creating the opportunity. We just need folks to reach out and take it.

It should be easy for us to offer encouragement to folks to fill open oppositions. All we have to do is kick the ball through the uprights this time around. But Democrats in DC wanted to go it alone. They wanted to go it alone a few weeks ago. And with the recent stimulus bill that we passed we ended up with a workforce shortage due to the inflated unemployment benefits in an economy on the cusp of recovery that needs available workers.

Getting these folks back to work isn't just about the now. It is about helping them to see the future again. It has been more than a year for many who have been out of work. Taking the leap to get back in sometimes is scary, but we have to help the people take that leap. If we wait, these businesses and jobs they are now offering right now may not be there in September. Companies and small businesses are going out of work and going out of business.

That is why I joined my colleagues, Senator Crapo and Senator Risch, to sponsor the Back to Work Bonus Act. This bill would give back-to- work bonuses to workers who are able to safely return to work. This would be a one-time payment of $1,200 for those returning to full-time jobs and $600 to those returning to part-time jobs. Employers would verify the earnings and hours of those receiving the back-to-work bonuses. That sounds much more like an actual stimulus to me.

The Back to Work Bonus Act is a win-win-win--good for workers, good for employers, and great for our society. I am sure each of my colleagues has received similar pleas from small business owners across their State.

The Biden-backed unemployment benefits are crushing their hopes of getting back to a prepandemic high. We are even seeing some States take matters into their own hands. Earlier this week, I was glad to see Alabama be one of the first States to announce plans to stop accepting enhanced Federal unemployment benefits. As of today, at least 16 States have announced they won't accept the benefit to help employers and encourage folks to get back to work. This is a commonsense move to encourage folks to take the many job opportunities available.

Well, I, for one, think we should listen to the folks on Main Street. We can help them, and we can help millions of the unemployed. One way to do it is by passing the Back to Work Bonus Act.

I urge my colleagues to support this practical bill and get our country back to work. We need to remember: Opportunity through work is the foundation of our country.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I join my colleagues today during Police Week to honor the work of our Nation's law enforcement officers.

Being a law enforcement officer is one of the toughest jobs that there is, but it is also foundational to a functioning society. We rely on these brave men and women to protect and serve our country every day.

Unfortunately, many officers are being driven out by a wave of anti- police rhetoric on the heels of bad actors who operated outside of their training. We need to have trust between law enforcement and citizens. Without it, our society frays and decays.

Over the course of this week, my colleagues are sharing many stories of law enforcement officers stepping up to help their fellow citizens in times of need and build trust with the communities that they serve.

We are lucky to have many brave and honorable officers in Alabama and around this country.

I think about Officer Jonathan Espino from the Decatur Police Department. Last year, Officer Espino responded to a medical call. A man was trying to bring his mom back to life, trying to perform CPR. Officer Espino took over for the man after he arrived and began CPR. Just before medical personnel arrived, the woman's heart started beating again, and she was gasping for air. He saved her life.

I think of Officer Wesley Harrison from the Abbeville Police Department. Officer Harrison received a call that a woman was in a burning building. Officer Harrison arrived on the scene minutes later and was able to carry the elderly woman out of the structure, with the help of another investigator.

These police officers went above and beyond the call of duty, and lives were saved because of their heroism. But we know such an important job comes with great risk. Just last week, Alabama honored the 11 law enforcement officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice the last 2 years. In the last 2 days alone across the United States of America, four law enforcement officers have been killed. We are forever grateful to each of these officers who have laid down their lives in service for their community.

How would you like to every day wake up, put a uniform on, a badge on your chest, a gun on your side, leave your family, walk out the door, knowing it might be the last time you ever walk into that home or see your family? That is what happens to these law enforcement officers every day of their career, which is why I firmly believe we need more support for law enforcement, not less.

They need more training so they can be better at handling difficult situations. This is especially true as we see an uptick in mental health issues all across this country. They need targeted resources so they can recruit the best and brightest for these important roles in the community and across our country. Let's invest in the resources that they can ensure all law enforcement officers are a true force for good for all people across their State and across this country.

Part of keeping communities safe is making sure our law enforcement officers have the authority they need to enforce compliance with our current laws. This is especially necessary as we see a flood of immigrants coming into our country illegally.

Right now, unless State and local law enforcement agencies have an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if an officer encounters an illegal alien in the course of performing their normal duties in their hometowns, they cannot arrest or detain that individual for immigration purposes.

Right now, ICE arrests are low, even while illegal border crossings are historically high. Under President Biden's enforcement of our immigration laws, which has fallen dramatically, arrests by ICE for the last 4 months have fallen 66 percent. Under the Biden administration, ICE has released at least 3,700 inmates. Alarmingly, 1,800 of those were charged or convicted of crimes including homicide, rape, assault, child abuse, and more. Secretary Mayorkas recently limited the places where ICE and CBP can enforce the law. Many Federal law enforcement officers fear that the Biden administration will further restrict where they can do their jobs.

If the Federal Government will not enforce the immigration laws, our State and local law enforcement should be empowered to do so. That is why today I introduced the Empowering Law Enforcement Act, which grants inherent authority to State and local officials to enforce our Nation's immigration laws.

Additionally, my bill will give Federal authorities the flexibility to extend the amount of time they can detain criminal aliens. If a State or local law enforcement entity is detaining an alien, this bill would require Homeland Security to take that illegal alien into custody upon request from that entity.

The bill ensures that State and local authorities can get reimbursed for the cost related to the incarceration and transportation of the alien.

The Empowering Law Enforcement Act is about common sense. If the Biden administration won't enforce the law, let's empower those who will. I urge my colleagues to support this practical solution to a very real and very serious problem.

Mr. President, I join my colleagues today during Police Week to honor the work of our Nation's law enforcement officers.

Being a law enforcement officer is one of the toughest jobs that there is, but it is also foundational to a functioning society. We rely on these brave men and women to protect and serve our country every day.

Unfortunately, many officers are being driven out by a wave of anti- police rhetoric on the heels of bad actors who operated outside of their training. We need to have trust between law enforcement and citizens. Without it, our society frays and decays.

Over the course of this week, my colleagues are sharing many stories of law enforcement officers stepping up to help their fellow citizens in times of need and build trust with the communities that they serve.

We are lucky to have many brave and honorable officers in Alabama and around this country.

I think about Officer Jonathan Espino from the Decatur Police Department. Last year, Officer Espino responded to a medical call. A man was trying to bring his mom back to life, trying to perform CPR. Officer Espino took over for the man after he arrived and began CPR. Just before medical personnel arrived, the woman's heart started beating again, and she was gasping for air. He saved her life.

I think of Officer Wesley Harrison from the Abbeville Police Department. Officer Harrison received a call that a woman was in a burning building. Officer Harrison arrived on the scene minutes later and was able to carry the elderly woman out of the structure, with the help of another investigator.

These police officers went above and beyond the call of duty, and lives were saved because of their heroism. But we know such an important job comes with great risk. Just last week, Alabama honored the 11 law enforcement officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice the last 2 years. In the last 2 days alone across the United States of America, four law enforcement officers have been killed. We are forever grateful to each of these officers who have laid down their lives in service for their community.

How would you like to every day wake up, put a uniform on, a badge on your chest, a gun on your side, leave your family, walk out the door, knowing it might be the last time you ever walk into that home or see your family? That is what happens to these law enforcement officers every day of their career, which is why I firmly believe we need more support for law enforcement, not less.

They need more training so they can be better at handling difficult situations. This is especially true as we see an uptick in mental health issues all across this country. They need targeted resources so they can recruit the best and brightest for these important roles in the community and across our country. Let's invest in the resources that they can ensure all law enforcement officers are a true force for good for all people across their State and across this country.

Part of keeping communities safe is making sure our law enforcement officers have the authority they need to enforce compliance with our current laws. This is especially necessary as we see a flood of immigrants coming into our country illegally.

Right now, unless State and local law enforcement agencies have an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if an officer encounters an illegal alien in the course of performing their normal duties in their hometowns, they cannot arrest or detain that individual for immigration purposes.

Right now, ICE arrests are low, even while illegal border crossings are historically high. Under President Biden's enforcement of our immigration laws, which has fallen dramatically, arrests by ICE for the last 4 months have fallen 66 percent. Under the Biden administration, ICE has released at least 3,700 inmates. Alarmingly, 1,800 of those were charged or convicted of crimes including homicide, rape, assault, child abuse, and more. Secretary Mayorkas recently limited the places where ICE and CBP can enforce the law. Many Federal law enforcement officers fear that the Biden administration will further restrict where they can do their jobs.

If the Federal Government will not enforce the immigration laws, our State and local law enforcement should be empowered to do so. That is why today I introduced the Empowering Law Enforcement Act, which grants inherent authority to State and local officials to enforce our Nation's immigration laws.

Additionally, my bill will give Federal authorities the flexibility to extend the amount of time they can detain criminal aliens. If a State or local law enforcement entity is detaining an alien, this bill would require Homeland Security to take that illegal alien into custody upon request from that entity.

The bill ensures that State and local authorities can get reimbursed for the cost related to the incarceration and transportation of the alien.

The Empowering Law Enforcement Act is about common sense. If the Biden administration won't enforce the law, let's empower those who will. I urge my colleagues to support this practical solution to a very real and very serious problem.

Madam President, President Biden promised unity to bring the country together during his inaugural address. I was there with my 26-year-old son Tucker. We listened together and hoped that President Biden would live up to his words. I assumed that when he said he would be a President for all Americans, it also included the 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump.

I was ready, and I still am, to work with President Biden in good faith to find commonsense solutions to problems facing the country and to ensure the voices of Alabamians are heard. But, so far, the President has neither united nor reached across the aisle. His actions have shown that he is fine to play along with the divisive tactics of the progressive left, rather than unite a large and diverse country.

President Biden is acting like he is the President of New York and California, not the United States of America. The progressives can barely contain their excitement. The President received glowing reviews from leading progressive Members of Congress, saying the President has ``exceeded expectations.''

The left have been waiting a long time for an administration to implement their vision. They need to use a Trojan horse to put that vision into practice because it is remarkably unpopular with a majority of the American people.

Their vision is unpopular because it centers around a core belief of imposing their vision on everyone. But to achieve this, that means taking away your freedom--freedom to think differently, freedom to worship differently, freedom for you and your family to live differently, freedom to spend your hard-earned money the way you want to spend it.

Taking away those freedoms--freedoms that are the foundation of America--is not progress. It is called socialism.

When progressives talk about equity, they mean equal outcomes, not opportunities. They want a government that is so powerful it owns everything and chooses how wealth is distributed to ensure equal outcomes. That, in essence, is socialism, and the folks promoting this vision are channeling the same energy as the Marxists and communists of the 20th century.

Well, so far, President Biden has been a more willing partner to champion the progressive vision and export it from New York and California to every corner of the entire country. Just look at what has happened lately. One of President Biden's first moves was to signal to the world that America's borders are open. The result? Absolute chaos. And the administration shows little interest in fixing it. We cannot have a country without borders. That is common sense.

Democrats were so eager to undo all the work President Trump did at the border just because President Trump did it, not because there was merit in rolling back these policies. Because of this insane, open-door policy, the American taxpayer--not the Biden administration but the American taxpayer--is footing a $60 million bill a week--$60 million a week--to cover the cost of housing unaccompanied minors at the border-- 60 million.

In the same rush, Democrats are working to undermine the integrity of the election process through H.R. 1 and S. 1, the Federal Government takeover of our elections.

They are working to force millions of workers to join unions. They all want to strip States of their right-to-work laws, called the PRO Act.

Democrats are using things Americans desperately need, like traditional infrastructure, as a smokescreen for things Americans desperately don't want, like the fantasy Green New Deal.

And now Democrats in both Chambers have introduced legislation to expand the Supreme Court. And because they don't have the votes to ram this through the Senate--such an extreme agenda--many Democrats want to eliminate the filibuster, despite the fact that many wrote a letter asking to keep the filibuster just a few years ago, when they were in the minority.

The bottom line is that the Democrats want to change the rules so they can get their way, because they are to the point where they want to transform our country, so said some of our leaders.

As concerning as each of these actions have been, even more alarming are the progressives' efforts to indoctrinate our children by favoring fringe theories over actual learning. For example, the California Department of Education is considering using a curriculum that says: ``The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false.'' Their goal is to ``dismantle racism in mathematics.''

Apparently, two plus two does not equal four anymore because it is not

politically correct. And just last year, the United States ranked 37th in the world in math--what a disaster.

But here is the worst of all. The U.S. Department of Education recently introduced a rule that would direct millions--millions--of taxpayer dollars to schools that promised teaching critical race theory and the 1619 Project for American history and civics.

Put aside for a minute that these theories have been routinely debunked by historians and actively seek to divide Americans on strict racial lines. Critical race theory's central belief is that the law and legal institutions of the United States are inherently racist--so racist, they believe, that these institutions cannot be redeemed and must be completely replaced. The goal should be to have better laws and better application of those laws, not to tear them down.

For pushing this, it is not about uniting our country, it is about fanning the flames of the unfortunate human tendency to divide and separate into different tribes instead of uniting us around a set of common morals.

Shouldn't we be fighting that impulse to divide into groups against each other? I think we need to do more uniting, and that should start in our schools, which is why I cannot believe that the U.S. Government is spending taxpayer dollars to teach our kids to dislike our country. How low have we sunk? These ideas are designed to drive a wedge between Americans based solely on their skin color. They openly reject the goal of the United States of liberty and justice for all.

Our schools should be places that encourage the open debate of ideas and teach important morals to our young people so that they know right from wrong. That is why I joined Leader McConnell and 38 of my Republican colleagues to send a letter to Education Secretary Cordona, urging him to withdraw these divisive grant programs. Part of our letter reads:

Families did not ask for this divisive nonsense. Voters did

not vote for it. Americans never decided our children should

be taught that our country is inherently evil.

Secretary Cordona should redirect these grant dollars to American history programs that teach the ideals and morals that have made the United States the greatest force for good in human history.

I spent my career in education--40 years. I have seen firsthand how a quality education can put a kid on the path to success in our great country, regardless of their race, religion, or economic background. When done right, education is the key to freedom. But the education we see in many schools today is just cementing existing inequality rather than giving kids the chance to escape it.

We have got a clear trend here: undermine border security, undermine the election system, undermine the Supreme Court, undermine the Senate, undermine our education system, undermine our country. If your goal is to deconstruct and completely reshape a country, these are the steps that you would take.

Our country is not perfect. There is a lot we have got to work on. But here in the United States of America, citizens have freedom and opportunities, and that is what we need to be focused on, not giving handouts, not dismantling our institutions but creating opportunity.

We have the ability to make it better. We have the rules to do so. Those rules are in place so that all of us can respect, if not always agree with, the changes that are made to make this country better. That is called democracy. But changing the rules to force one's vision on everyone isn't democracy; it is tyranny. My Republican colleagues and I will continue to stand against that. That is what America was founded on, after all, and it is what America needs now.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, you know, there is a lot that we do not agree on here in the Senate, but I think everybody, including the Presiding Officer, can agree that we need to secure our country. We need to be safe. Our citizens need to feel safe. Our job as elected officials is to make sure that those who have stepped up to defend our country have the resources they need to do their job and do it safely.

The President's recent budget proposal for the Defense Department does not, and I repeat, does not give our men and women in uniform the tools to do their job properly. It is clear that President Biden thinks we don't need further investment in our military. It is clear he thinks it is OK to ask our men and women to do more with less, and that is impossible. This should alarm the Members of this body and all American people.

The world has changed a lot in 50 years. When President Biden first came to Washington in 1972, there were two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Back then, we spent 6.5 percent of our Federal budget on national defense--6.5. Today, we spend less than 3.5.

In 2021, we are facing different but very, very serious threats. Secretary Austin has said that China remains the top ``pacing threat'' for our military. It is much, much more than that. China isn't just trying to dominate Asia and its neighbors; they are trying to dominate much of the world through its growing military and economic influence. Simply keeping pace with China is not enough.

We have got to outpace all of our adversaries, but doing that requires smart, substantial, and strategic investments in our military--much more investment than the President and many people here in Congress publicly propose.

Let me walk through some of the ways that a supposedly flat defense budget hurts our national security.

President Biden says he wants his administration to trust the experts on things like COVID, but this defense budget shows he doesn't apply the same principle to the Pentagon. Unlike the President and some of my Democratic colleagues, I think we should take seriously the advice of our commanding generals, for they are the experts in this purview.

Here is what ADM Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, who is over our nuclear capabilities, said in last week's hearing to the Senate Armed Services Committee:

I have what I need today to deter. . . . but I need it

modernized. . . . There's no remaining margin.

His warning is clear. We must modernize our greatest deterrent and keep peace among our adversaries with our nuclear arsenal. That means updating all three legs of the nuclear triad: submarines, bombers, and intercontinental ballistic missiles. It is necessary to do so, and it is also possible. As former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, ``America can afford survival.''

The Russians have made modernizing their nuclear arsenal a priority. The Chinese have made growing their nuclear stockpile a matter of national pride. But the United States? Each day we rely on nuclear weapons that, in many cases, were designed by an analog mechanical computer. The free world, meaning the United States, works and sleeps under a nuclear umbrella that hasn't been updated to the digital age.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are fielding hypersonic missiles, which are missiles that go into space and then return to their target. Ours are still on the drawing board.

China's arsenal of ground-based and medium-range missiles continues to grow. They are pointed right at our forces in the Pacific and our allies in the region. We need investment to maintain our missile defense systems so we can protect our people and deter the Chinese from attacking our allies

We are also in a new space race, and it is a race we must win. Americans may not realize how much we rely on space for our daily lives. Our satellites allow us to get GPS for our phones or even watch football games on television, but the Chinese want to weaponize this new frontier of war, and we are falling way behind.

Right now, the Chinese have set up satellites over Taiwan as they continue to ramp up their threats on this democratic neighbor. It is unbelievable. I heard about the growing gap between us and the Chinese when I visited Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal a few weeks ago in Huntsville. These folks shared with me how desperate we need to modernize our space-based systems that contribute to our missile defense.

The U.S. Army is the largest consumer of space products, and our military relies on Materiel Command to provide the resources to train our soldiers for research, development of new equipment, and defend our Nation. They should not have to beg the President of the United States for the money to invest in the capabilities that we need.

The United States must ensure secure and reliable access to space. Our budget needs to demonstrate commitment to defending our existing space assets and developing new technologies so we can win this next theater of conflict. We also need to invest in the safety of our service men and women, especially in aviation. Currently, the average age of an airplane in our military is older than the pilots flying them--older.

According to a recent report by the National Commission on Military

Aviation Safety, the military had more than 6,000 noncombat aviation accidents since 2013, destroying 157 aircraft, at a cost of $9.41 billion. Even worse was the human cost. There are 198 souls that have been lost in these tragic accidents, affecting hundreds more spouses, children, family, and friends.

When asked why these causes occurred, servicemembers pointed to inadequate training programs, risky maintenance practices, and spotty funding, among other reasons. Alabama is home to Fort Rucker, where every Army helicopter pilot comes to get their training. When I visited the folks at Fort Rucker, they told me about the very real need for increased flight training hours for our pilots, which requires more investment and prioritization in the defense budget.

This last week, two pilots were injured in a helicopter crash at Fort Rucker during flight training. I am sure General Francis and the U.S. Army safety center will do a thorough investigation and provide feedback on the improvements needed to ensure that this does not happen again. The safety of our flight program must be a top priority. We must listen to our men and women in uniform and invest in the proper training and safety measures that will prevent these crashes.

Alabama stands ready to continue to build our military so we can maintain our status as a preeminent fighting force in the world. We have got hundreds of contractors and more than 200,000 employed in the defense sector across the State of Alabama. These topnotch men and women support our military installations from shipbuilders in Mobile to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, and many places in between. As Winston Churchill said, ``Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.''

We are willing and able, but those tools require sustained funding from the Federal Government. Telling our forces to fight a war with outdated tools is like giving a football team some leather helmets and decades-old poorly fitted pads and expecting them to compete against modern equipment. But that is exactly what President Biden's defense budget is asking our military to do. Frankly, it is a huge disappointment, coming from our Commander in Chief. We cannot let our men and women down.

Thankfully, it is Congress--not the President--which has the power of the purse. And, really, this should be our first order of business every year. It is that important.

In the coming weeks, I will be working with my colleagues on the National Defense Authorization Act and budget that will enable our military to do the job better today and prepare for all the challenges tomorrow. This debate is ultimately about whether or not we have the willpower to fight to defend our way of life and our great country.

Well, I am willing to keep fighting for the United States by investing in the men and women who keep us safe. I urge my colleagues and President Biden to do the same.

Mr. President, you know, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy serves as the national security advisor to the Secretary of Defense. This position requires even temperament, sound judgment, and a willingness to work with both sides of the aisle to protect and advance our national security.

As many of my colleagues have noted, President Biden's nominee for this important position severely lacks these qualities.

Colin Kahl has promoted conspiracy theories on social media. He makes outrageous claims against those who disagree with him, like when he called Republicans ``the party of ethnic cleansing.'' And he views the threats of our Nation solely through the lens of partisan politics.

Dr. Kahl blatantly downplayed the threat of Russia when our colleague Mitt Romney highlighted it during the 2012 Presidential campaign but then promoted numerous lies about President Trump and Russia after the 2016 election. This is not--and I repeat--not the kind of person who should serve in the Pentagon's No. 3 position.

But today I want to address another issue. Dr. Kahl presents himself as an academic, but he often makes claims that are not grounded in data. That is especially true when it comes to the situation along our southern border.

As everybody knows, the illegal migration crisis is not new. As of 2017, according to the Pew Research Center, there were an estimated 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in this country. And according to Pew, over 77 percent of those unauthorized immigrants came from within the Western Hemisphere. President Trump came into office in 2017 promising to do something about this challenge: enforce our immigration laws and reinforce southern security along our border. Dr. Kahl disagreed with his policy, and that is certainly his right, but rather than explain why he disagreed, he promoted baseless lies.

In October 2018, a migrant caravan surged toward our southwestern border. President Trump deployed approximately 5,000 U.S. members of our service to support the Department of Homeland Security at the border. This was not, as some in the media claimed, a ``show of force.'' This was the defense support to civil authority's mission, the type of mission that the DOD also does to support FEMA during hurricanes.

Dr. Kahl has served previously at the Pentagon. He has served as National Security Advisor to the Vice President. He knows what defense support to civil authority is and what these missions entail. But rather than explain any of this to his many thousands of Twitter followers, Dr. Kahl told them that the deployment was a ``stunt.'' This was a terrible insult to the men and women in uniform who were supporting DHS at the time. But more to the point, it was also a blatant lie.

A few months later, Dr. Kahl called the situation at the border a ``fake crisis'' and also tweeted that ``Trump's claims of a border crisis are bogus.''

To justify his claims, Kahl cited data showing a decrease in arrests at the southern border. But there was one problem with his data: arrests along the border always decline when border enforcement is lax.

Well, as we know, President Trump stepped up enforcement at the border, and it worked. As a result, arrests at the border surged through the first half of 2019. More border security means more arrests, but it also deters future illegal migrants, and that is why illegal border crossings fell dramatically in the second half of 2019.

Far from being a ``fake crisis,'' as Dr. Kahl would have it, this was a crisis that was not being properly addressed until President Trump took action. Today, we have another crisis at the border. We have seen a record number of illegal crossings and arrests in recent months as illegal migrants anticipate a more welcoming environment under President Biden's administration.

The Biden administration has made detrimental changes to our border policy, including ending the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. But it is worth noting what has not changed: U.S. troops are still deployed in support of DHS along the border. They are still there. Anyone who has taken the time to visit our southern border, as I was there just a few weeks ago, understands that if our

troops were not in this region, the crisis at the border would only grow worse.

Colin Kahl saw the deployment as a ``stunt'' under President Trump. I suspect he sees it a little differently under President Biden. And that is exactly the problem: Colin Kahl's judgment is often based on partisan politics, not data.

We cannot accept the risk of having someone so partisan in the Defense Department's No. 3 position. This position requires someone who bases his recommendations on data and not on the top trending hashtag. I urge my colleagues to vote against the motion to discharge.

Let Colin Kahl keep tweeting and let the administration send us another nominee.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, today, I want to talk about two very important topics to America and to the folks back home in Alabama: President Biden's so-called infrastructure proposal and his proposed budget for the Department of Defense.

Now, I know infrastructure and defense aren't exactly the peanut butter and jelly of issues, but let me tell you how they go together. With these two proposals, the American people can plainly see just how out of place President Biden's priorities are.

I have traveled every corner of Alabama, from Mobile to Muscle Shoals, to our State's rural communities and urban centers. All the time, I hear that we need improvements to our transportation and infrastructure, and I have seen it with my own eyes. There are over 100,000 miles of public roads and 16,000 bridges in Alabama. More than 1,000 of those bridges have been condemned. Driving on poor roads costs Alabama drivers a total of $4.2 billion annually due to vehicle operating costs, traffic congestion, and car crashes.

Yet it is not just Alabama. It is everywhere in our country. I have spent decades traveling around the country as a football coach, and I am here to tell you we need help. We need help with our infrastructure. Investment in infrastructure is important and very, very necessary. Sound infrastructure allows people to get work, keeps our goods flowing, and keeps America competitive. That is why every penny of every dollar of any infrastructure proposal should be spent on actual infrastructure.

Sadly, President Biden's proposal fails that test by a long shot. Out of this massive $2.25 trillion proposal, only 6 percent is for roads and bridges. In fact, the proposal puts more money toward electric cars than roads, bridges, ports, and waterways combined. We have to stop treating government spending like it is monopoly money. When the American people hear about what is included in this bill, I think they will agree.

The Biden administration is using the umbrella term of ``infrastructure'' for a host of things folks back home don't associate with the word. Here are a couple of spending items that qualify as ``infrastructure,'' according to President Biden: $400 billion for nursing care and $213 billion for government housing. I can see and understand where those fit in but not in an infrastructure bill. What gets me is the $10 billion per year for a Civilian Climate Corps. This $10 billion includes free housing, free clothing, free food, and an allowance for members while they promote ``climate justice''--$10 billion a year. Now, is that infrastructure?

We can debate the individual merits of these items, but, please, let's not pretend these are for infrastructure, because we need true infrastructure. To call this an infrastructure proposal is really an insult to the English language. The definition of ``infrastructure'' is not the ``kitchen sink'' approach. Let's call this proposal what it is--a farce. This proposal is simply the Green New Deal in disguise. They need to disguise it because actual infrastructure improvement is popular, and the Green New Deal is not.

In order to pay for all of this spending, President Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax by 7 percent--the largest Federal tax increase since 1993. This would undo President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which spurred the greatest economy we have had in decades. I can tell you right now the worst possible time to raise taxes is in the middle of a crisis. So many employers have already been hit hard and are just trying to get back on their feet. Remember who really ends up paying for tax increases, especially corporate tax rates. It is the consumer, like you and me. It is not the corporations.

As Americans for Tax Reform has pointed out, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act directly led to lower utility bills for hard-working folks across the country. Raising taxes would directly raise electric bills on millions of Americans, essentially taxing them, too. Tax increases threaten family-owned small businesses and family farms, forcing future generations to sell the legacies their parents and their grandparents worked so hard to build.

Here is the real kicker. As the Democrats are out there peddling this proposal as ``infrastructure'' and ``jobs,'' President Biden's tax increase will eliminate 1 million jobs in the first 2 years alone, according to the National Association of Manufacturers--all of that harm just to pay for the Democrats' wish list consisting of the Green New Deal. That absolutely makes no sense. We need to be focused on creating jobs and getting folks back to work, not destroying jobs for progressive pipe dreams down the road.

This comes on the heels of a massive stimulus that just passed--the one the Democrats called COVID relief, but, really, less than 10 percent of the bill went to COVID and health-related measures.

With all the trillions of new spending proposed by the Biden administration so far, you would think that there wasn't any spending proposal that they didn't like.

Yet when it comes to our national defense, President Biden has shown he cares very little about increasing investment to keep our country safe. President Biden recently released his ``skinny budget,'' which includes a cut of $7 billion for the Department of Defense after accounting for inflation.

President Biden's proposal and proposed defense budget is disappointing, dangerous, and a disservice to the men and women in uniform. What is more bewildering is that it asks for our troops to do more on a shoestring budget. It adds more duties, like combating climate change and other social priorities of the Democrats to our already thinly stretched forces, and that is very, very dangerous.

Regardless of whether these individual duties may be warranted--and, for the record, I don't think they are--we shouldn't expect our military to do more with less. At a time when our enemies grow bolder and the threats to America are increasing, ``do more with less'' is the last thing we should tell them to do.

These threats to our Nation are real, and they are getting worse. Russia is likely preparing to invade Ukraine and finish what Putin started in Crimea. North Korea continues to test ballistic missiles. Iran is emboldened to continue its nuclear weapons program.

And then there is China. In recent weeks, China has bullied Taiwan. They think now is the time to test the United States of America. China is

building up their military to directly challenge the United States for global supremacy.

Over the last 10 years, China's defense spending increased by $200 billion, while the United States of America decreased its defense budget $400 billion.

We cannot let China continue to gain ground. In order to keep our country safe and protect democratic allies from Chinese aggression, we must stay well ahead of both weapons and technological advances.

President Biden's defense budget is not just dangerous for America. It is bad for us all. Across our State, Alabama has more than 200,000 jobs supporting national defense. The economic impact of the defense sector represents more than 8 percent of our State's GDP.

By underinvesting in defense, the critical work done by the service men and women at Alabama military installations--including Redstone Arsenal, Fort Rucker, Maxwell-Gunter, and others--could be seriously hindered. It will set back our entire State's economy.

I was just at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, where I heard firsthand from Army Material Command how badly we need to invest in modernizing our weapons systems across the world.

The best way to avoid a conflict is to have a bigger and better gun than the other guy. Most of President Biden's appointees at the Department of Defense support the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which is a comprehensive plan to compete, deter, and defeat our adversaries.

This defense budget threatens our military modernization efforts and America's ability to provide combat-ready forces. We cannot allow anything close to President Biden's defense budget to become law. Our military needs to focus on winning wars, not planting trees.

The people of Alabama and the men and women in uniform should know that I will stand up to President Biden and the globalists in his administration who want a weak military.

President Biden has gone on and on about unity and his reputation for reaching across the aisle, but ever since he came into office, his actions have been focused on appeasing the far-left, progressive voices in his party. We saw it firsthand with the stimulus bill. Shortly after that, we get this loaded-up, inappropriately named ``infrastructure'' proposal.

It is not just about the spending, which is a lot, but it is about what is in these proposals--progressive wish-list items that are paid for by the American taxpayer, not the government, the American taxpayer--and are passed on party lines, not bipartisan. And that is where President Biden's priorities clearly lie. He is signaling that he is more willing to invest in progressive policy items than the safety of our Nation and the world.

My colleagues and I are interested in working with President Biden on a bipartisan bill that addresses actual infrastructure, and we are ready to work on a defense budget that actually invests in our military and prepares us against the growing threats. We just need a President willing to unite rather than divide our great country.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, once again, I am here today to talk about the crisis at our southern border and the continued dismantling of our Nation's immigration system by this administration.

The border has been dominating the headlines, but if you talked to the liberals, you wouldn't know it. While we were back home working in our States, Democrats focused on everything but the border. President Biden released a so-called infrastructure proposal that is not actually about infrastructure; it is nothing more than the Green New Deal in disguise, and it raises taxes on hard-working Americans.

Additionally, large corporations and Major League Baseball decided to give in to the demands of the woke, liberal mob based on nothing more than pure disinformation.

I know President Biden and Democrats would rather talk about those issues than confront the dire situation at the southern border. They are trying to pull a con job on the American people. Well, we are not going to let President Biden distract from a crisis of his own making.

In a recent House hearing, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas made a ridiculous claim that ``the border is secure.'' To say the border is secure is laughable. I recently joined Senators Cornyn and Cruz and other colleagues on a visit to the southern border to see for ourselves, and I can tell you and the American people without hesitation, the border is not secure. Reports just don't do it justice. It is a disaster. As an American who believes in the rule of law, I was embarrassed. This is not a Democratic or a Republican problem; it is an American problem. This crisis is a stain on our Nation.

What we saw on our trip broke my heart--so many young, unaccompanied children sent on a dangerous journey north by their parents because this administration promised to take them in. The compassion shown by the Border Patrol agents was clear. These brave men and women are doing all they can to make the best out of a terrible situation--a situation created by our President and his administration.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: The situation happening at our southern border was predictable and preventable. The Border Patrol folks know this will happen and that it would happen. They told us how they asked the Border Patrol before the inauguration to give them time to prepare for any changes to the immigration policy, but President Biden didn't listen. He was more interested in appeasing the globalists who demanded he immediately end President Trump's successful border policies.

On his first day in office, President Biden reversed President Trump's policies and signaled to the world that the American border was open. President Biden gave Border Patrol little to no warning. The result has been a border that is not run by the United States; it is run by the Mexican cartel and human smugglers.

What is worse, it is not just people who are coming in illegally. While I was down at the border, I saw firsthand how criminals take advantage of the situation. Cartels send migrants to specific locations along the border to preoccupy law enforcement while moving illegal drugs at other crossing points. On a midnight visit to the Rio Grande, these traffickers actually taunted us from across the river, yelling and flashing their lights. They know the Biden administration is unwilling to confront them, and because the administration won't confront them, we have seen massive increases in drug seizures.

In January and February alone, Customs and Border Patrol seizures of fentanyl were up 277 percent compared to the same time in 2020. Cocaine seized at the border is up 62 percent. And, remember, whether it is people or drugs, these numbers only account for those we catch. There are many more drug runners who get through undetected.

Secretary Mayorkas has said the administration's goal is a safe, legal, and orderly immigration system. Well, so far, he and they have failed on all three. The immigration system under the Biden administration is not safe. By encouraging the migrants to come to the border, President Biden has empowered the drug cartels and coyotes who prey on desperate people.

According to Mexican intelligence assessments, it costs an unaccompanied Central American minor between $3,000 and $10,000 to be secured across the U.S. border. An open border also invites wolves in sheep's clothing. According to Customs and Border Protection, at least four people have been arrested in the last few months at the border who match names on the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database. There is no doubt that those who wish harm will take advantage of this crisis to infiltrate our country.

The Biden administration also is not enforcing the laws written by Congress. That is why I joined with 39 of my Republican colleagues to send a letter to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office to investigate President Biden's unilateral decision to freeze funds for the border wall.

Congress specifically appropriated funds for border wall construction. I believe the President's actions infringe on Congress's constitutional power of the purse. I hope the GAO will quickly look into this so we can begin to restore border security.

Finally, the immigration system under the Biden administration is not orderly. In fact, it is chaotic. Our Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed. In March of this year, Border Patrol arrested more than 170,000 migrants crossing the border illegally. That is the worst month in 15 years. To put that in perspective for the folks back home, that means there are more illegal migrants rushing our border in 1 month than the entire population of Lee County, AL, where I live.

Last month, more than 18,700 unaccompanied minors were taken into custody by the Border Patrol. That is double the number they encountered in February.

This chaos is due entirely to President Biden's careless words and foolish policies. The Biden administration is content to let all who come here illegally stay. That is a recipe for disaster. The result is a border catastrophe.

I have spoken previously about commonsense actions to secure the border, such as continuing to build the wall and reinstating Migrant Protection Protocols. Here is one more. I recently introduced a bill that would require DHS to issue a notice to appear--called an NTA--to every migrant who is processed at the border.

We cannot--we cannot continue to release illegal immigrants into our country without establishing some accountability, such as a date for immigration court. At best, it hurts those who come to this country actually looking to plead their asylum case. At worst, it is giving free rein to those who enter our country illegally.

The Biden administration says they want humane and compassionate improvements to our immigration system. Releasing someone without an NTA is neither.

My bill also requires the Department of Homeland Security to revoke any

status and work authorization from a migrant who doesn't show up for their court date. This mandate will curb the pull factors embedded in our immigration system and cut down on incentives for illegal immigration. It is a small but meaningful step. It is about restoring integrity in our immigration system.

President Biden has made weak attempts to turn back the tide of migrants, even telling them: ``Don't come.'' President Biden's actions speak louder than those two feeble words. Well, Mr. President, as we say in Alabama, you are a day late and a dollar short.

My Republican colleagues and I will continue to demand action from the President on this crisis on behalf of the legal citizens of the United States of America. I stand ready to work with the President and his administration on commonsense solutions to secure the border, strengthen national security, and protect the American people.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, last week, I spoke about a deeply flawed and misguided piece of legislation passed by the House--House bill H.R. 1 and now Senate bill, S. 1.

Today, I am going to talk about yet another bill from our colleagues in the House that would be terrible for my State of Alabama and for our country. It is called the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, better known as the PRO Act.

Like H.R. 1, the PRO Act represents a massive power grab by the Democrats here in Washington, DC, to override the will of the voters and State legislatures in a majority of the States in this country. Democrats want to force their ideas on States that refuse to adopt their progressive failed policies. Federal power grabs like these are unconstitutional and go against our entire system of government.

The PRO Act would overrule the right-to-work laws across the country and force tens of millions of employees to join a union. Currently, 27 States have right-to-work laws on their books, including Alabama. More States could join us in the future. Right-to-work laws give workers freedom, and more importantly, they give them the freedom to choose whether to unionize or not.

Alabama's right-to-work law has been a huge benefit for our State and for the people, helping to attract many businesses to our State. Take car manufacturing, for example. Beginning with Mercedes, in 1993, automakers like Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda all have large presences in Alabama. Their investment in our State has created a growing automotive supplier network, supporting roughly 150 companies in our State. Altogether, we have around 40,000 Alabamians employed in the automotive sector alone. Those jobs go on to support thousands more family members, all thanks to Alabama's right-to-work law.

The PRO Act would upend the economic growth we have seen in Alabama and in many States across the country. By forcing unionization on American workers, many industries would grind to a halt, and employers' costs would skyrocket, which could lead to a loss of many, many jobs. According to the State Policy Network, the PRO Act would destroy 57 million American workers who call themselves freelancers, in addition to the millions of salaried workers who would lose their right-to-work protections.

Unions, to some degree, have helped build our great country, but we need to give workers the ability to choose, not force them to be in a union. Right-to-

work laws give workers a choice. Choice creates competition, and competition breeds success. Forced unionization creates a monopoly, which only leads to stagnation.

President Biden says he believes that ``every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union,'' but the PRO Act would tip the scales towards unionized labor even further. Among other things, the bill requires that workers' personal contact information be sent to unions; removes vote by secret ballot, subjecting them to union harassment; and limits the information workers may receive during a union-organizing campaign. That doesn't sound free and fair to me; it sounds like they want to ensure a favorable outcome for the union bosses and give them the ability to punish workers who don't go along with them.

On a related note, I want to briefly mention the upcoming unionization vote for nearly 6,000 workers at Amazon's facility in Bessemer, AL, just outside of Birmingham. There has been a lot of attention paid to this lately. We have had Hollywood actors, celebrities, Members of Congress, and even President Biden trying to help tip the scales toward the union's favorable outcome. Let me be clear. These hard-working Alabamians don't need Hollywood elites or Federal Government officials telling them what to do. We should all trust they will make the decision they think is right for them and their families. And that is what right-to-work is all about--the right to choose. This is still a free country, after all.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise today to discuss a piece of legislation we may soon consider in this body called H.R. 1.

H.R. 1 does not solve the problems currently facing our election system; it makes the problems worse. Democrats have labeled the bill the ``For the People Act,'' but it really should be called ``For the Democrats Act.''

This partisan bill represents the largest Federal power grab in decades, and that is saying a lot after Democrats rammed through a partisan $1.9 trillion stimulus bill just 2 weeks ago. The American people elected 50 Republican Senators, but the Democrats are happy to cut out half the Chamber and the millions of Americans we represent to get what they want.

H.R. 1 would completely rewrite our election laws, hijacking power from the States and giving it to the Federal Government to dictate how our elections are run. This type of top-down approach is the opposite of our founding principles of self-government.

Article I, section 4 of the Constitution grants States the authority to manage their Federal election processes; H.R. 1 would take that away. The changes to our free and Federal elections that H.R. 1 proposes should concern every single American. This bill forces a one- size-fits-all election system on our country by federally mandating how States run their elections. This phrase ``for the people'' means allowing citizens to choose their own leaders and voting processes, not Washington dictating new rules of the game.

Let's look at a few examples. H.R. 1 would prohibit States from requiring voters to show identification, photo ID, or otherwise. Currently, 36 States have requirements where voters need to show ID to vote. Nearly 75 percent of States agree that that is a good idea to confirm you are who you say you are when you go to exercise one of the most important civic duties.

But the point is, States get to decide. They get to decide the laws on their books when it comes to managing their Federal election processes. H.R. 1 would nix the law in those 36 States.

H.R. 1 would also make same-day voter registration mandatory in all 50 States. There are obvious concerns with same-day registration and its potential to be abused. This concept isn't new.

Many States have already had the opportunity to consider it and adopt it or not if they choose. But if H.R. 1 is enacted, it would overrule the laws and choices of 29 States that have already decided they don't want such a risky provision in their voting process.

Additionally, the Democrats are using this bill to make all the worst practices of pandemic-era elections mandatory in all 50 States: universal mail-in ballots, ballot harvesting, and the drop boxes, just to name a few.

There may not be much we agree upon up here on Capitol Hill sometimes, but I think we all agree that the 2020 Federal elections voting process was a complete disaster in some States.

Many of the States that had the hardest time running their elections were the ones that adopted the same provisions in this bill. Normally, you seek to use best practices, but this bill adopts the worst practices and forces every State to use them. That is the opposite of how our ``labs of democracy,'' our 50 States, should work.

Every State is different, with different populations, histories, challenges, opportunities. What works for Alabama may not work for California or Oklahoma and vice versa.

State governments know the needs of their people and communities better than bureaucrats here in Washington, DC. They have different laws, and they have different rules and regulations, including when it comes to voting.

The same goes for the counties within each State. Jefferson County, the most populous county in Alabama, is different from Greene County, the least populous.

While the State sets broad parameters, county governments are given some flexibility to run elections in the way that is accountable and responsive to their people. H.R. 1 fails to recognize the difference in our States and counties.

This bill is not for the people. It is not of the people or by the people. Americans want faith and trust in their elections. They want to feel confident that the process works. H.R. 1 injects distrust into the process, and that is not what Americans want or need.

In H.R. 1, we have a bill that will make States' voting procedures more susceptible to fraud. There is more we could go into, but I would say these provisions should be more than enough to sink this piece of legislation.

It shouldn't be controversial to say that we should have robust protections against voter fraud. Some States certainly do a better job protecting against fraud than others, but, ultimately, that is up to the State to decide, not the Federal Government.

The Democrats' repeated response is that election fraud doesn't exist, but they only say this when it benefits them. They want to rewrite the rules of the game for all 50 States from Capitol Hill.

I have been consistent on the question of voter fraud. I believe we need more integrity in our elections, not less. We as a country need to restore confidence in our electoral process. I have joined my colleagues in calling for a bipartisan commission to look into how we can make our elections more secure. But to completely throw away or outlaw many of the safeguards we have would destroy that remaining confidence for generations to come. But maybe that is the point of H.R. 1, which is even more reason to oppose this bad bill.

House Democrats are calling this bill the most important voting legislation since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act was important, historic, and necessary. H.R. 1 is not. The Voting Rights Act guaranteed millions of Americans the rights granted by our Constitution that were wrongfully denied to them for too long. It was also passed with strong bipartisan majorities in both Chambers of Congress, despite Democrats' control of the Presidency, the House, and the Senate. That bipartisan support showed the American people that folks from different backgrounds can come together to work out important issues.

Any reform to the rules of the game must be bipartisan, just like they were with the Voting Rights Act. For one party to completely rewrite the rules will destroy the people's trust in our voting process and their trust in democracy.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I am going to talk about the growing crisis on our southern border and how we need urgent action to address the degrading situation there, but before I begin, I want to say a quick word about the reconciliation bill we passed last week.

The massive $1.9 trillion bill was not COVID-19 relief; it was liberal relief. Everybody and everyone needs to understand what this was. It was not a rescue plan. It was a heist of taxpayers' money. We don't have $1.9 trillion to be spending. When we have to borrow this much money, we are digging our country deeper into debt. And with this massive spending bill, we are borrowing against our grandkids' future and are going to owe more and more countries like China.

To keep up, the money supply will have to increase at such a rapid rate, it could potentially spark inflation. That means we could see the value of Americans' hard-earned dollars plummet.

To further underscore that point, that means your money doesn't go as far. For the items you buy, it is very expensive. All of this bogs down our economy and hinders future growth.

What is more, this entire sham of a process was partisan. It was not about helping Americans, businesses, and communities recover from the pandemic. That much is clear because only 9 percent of the bill is going to COVID and health-related pressures and less than 1 percent is going to vaccines. The remaining 90 percent went to progressive wish list items for bailouts for poorly run States.

Instead of ramming through non-COVID-related spending, Democrats should have worked together with Republicans as a team to pass a bipartisan bill that actually makes lives better as we recover from this pandemic.

We share a goal of helping the American people, but the bill that was ultimately put forward failed to do just that. It is a shame. This is not how our country should be run.