Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following member of my staff be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress: Steven Szucs.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I want to begin today by noting that it is D-day, and 79 years ago today, we had brave men that stormed the beaches at Normandy. There were Tennesseans among those, and Tennesseans have chosen to very selflessly serve this country. The ``Volunteer State'' has a long and rich tradition of military service. They have fought in every major conflict in the history of our country, going all the way to the Revolutionary War. Even our moniker, ``the Volunteer State,'' is a nod to that tradition. It was made famous by the 5,000 citizen soldiers of the Tennessee Militia who left their families at the drop of a hat to protect our young nation during the War of 1812. We have a responsibility to care for the brave men and women who guarantee our freedom for future generations. As a Member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I have spent the past few years watching various officials fail at this task, especially as it relates to making sure our veterans receive timely access to quality healthcare that they deserve. Despite increased facility staffing over the past several administrations, despite each administration pushing for internal process improvements and expanded community care and telehealth options, the VA still cannot manage to perform this one basic task, which is timely access to quality healthcare. There are examples of this. I know the Acting President pro tempore has them in the State of Vermont, and I have them in the State of Tennessee. There is no better illustration of this than with the VA facilities in Dover and Clarksville, TN. These are the only two VA facilities in Tennessee within 50 miles of Fort Campbell, which is the second largest Army installation in the mainland United States. It sits on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. The Fort Campbell area is home not only to thousands of Active-Duty servicemembers, but thousands more veterans and their families live in this area. So you would think the VA would pay some special attention to this area, but, of course, that is not the case. If veterans want to see a primary care provider at the VA--now, this is a primary care provider. If these veterans in Tennessee want to see a primary care provider, then, for the Clarksville facility, they have to wait 48 days and 76 days at Dover. Think about that. This is not anecdotal; those were the actual numbers released by the VA at 11:30 this morning. We double-checked the numbers. Think about that. If you have a backache, if you have a cold, if you have bad headaches, if you have a hearing issue, if you have a knee issue, just to see the primary care physician, you will wait 76 days if you are going to the VA facility in Dover, TN. This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of our veterans across the country. It is absolutely unacceptable. Congress has tried to intervene. The Veterans Community Care Program, which we established as part of the VA MISSION Act of 2018, allows veterans to seek care outside the VA when wait times at those facilities exceed certain benchmarks. The program has helped to alleviate some of those wait times, but it is obvious there is still a lot of work that has to be done on that. Here is the problem. The problem is that the VA has wrapped this program up in endless layers of redtape. It is obvious that the VA employees and the union, I am sure, are not wanting individuals to get into community care, so what do they do? They try to make this program unacceptable. They don't want veterans in this program. Just take a look at all of the hoops veterans have to jump through before they can see a doctor. Look at this list. Bear in mind as you look at this list that we promised these veterans--it was part of the promise to them when they enlisted, when they raised their hand, when they took that oath, when they signed up to serve, to protect, to defend this Nation and our freedom. But here is what they have to do. First of all, they have to request the appointment. They can't just show up and say: I need to see a doctor. They have to request it, and they have to wait for the VA to certify that they are eligible and to do an eligibility review. So they call and request the appointment, and the VA says: We are going to get back to you. First of all, we have to verify your eligibility. Then it goes into a stack of things to be done. Once the bureaucrats decide they are going to move forward on that request, on that case, the veteran still has to wait for confirmation from the VA that they can indeed go see the doctor. Then they have to wait for the VA to prepare and review a referral for the primary care doctor. Only when that comes in can they finally schedule the appointment. But they are not done yet. There is still more. Before that veteran can see a doctor, they need an authorization letter from the VA in their hand--a paper copy of an authorization letter from the VA that they take to the VA. How ridiculous can this possibly be? Once they do finally see a doctor, they have to wait and hope the VA remembers to pay the bill. Then, heaven forbid that veteran needs a followup appointment or another referral. This is why, in Clarksville, TN, all of these steps take 48 days and, in Dover, TN, 76 days. In some parts of the country, it takes 100 days to see a primary care physician. This is a bureaucratic nightmare, and our Nation's veterans deserve better than this. If Secretary McDonough and his friends can't get the job done, then Congress is going to need to step in and intervene. That is why I reintroduced the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act, which would allow veterans to bypass the VA's bureaucracy and choose the care they want to receive. The bill creates a 3-year pilot program within the VA's Center for Care and Payment Innovation that will take the VA largely out of that referral process. The VA can test-drive this program in at least four different Veterans Integrated Services Networks. Those are called VISNs. It would allow the veterans to find and schedule necessary appointments at non-VA medical facilities. In other words, if they want to go to a doctor in their hometowns, if they want to go to a hospital in their hometowns, if they are taking cancer treatments and they want to do that at the local hospitals, let them do it, and send the bill to the VA. It would also require the VA to give veterans information about eligibility requirements, cost sharing, treatments, and providers so that they have the information they need right there at their fingertips to be able to make their decisions. In doing this, we would give the VA 4 years to figure this out--to run these pilot programs and to figure out how to let veterans get the healthcare they need when they need it and at the facilities that are most convenient for them. Surely to goodness, the VA ought to be able to figure this out in 4 years. We really owe it to our veterans to get them the best care as quickly as possible. If we want to do that, we have to put more power into their hands. Give them the information, the choices, the options. The bureaucrats have proven to us time and time again that they are just not going to make this easy. They are not going to make it simple for a veteran to access community care. In Tennessee, I hear from veterans all the time. They are a 2-hour or a 3-hour drive away from a VA facility. Somebody has to take off work and drive them to the appointments. Somebody has to take off work when they have to go back for the referral. Let's let them go in their home communities where they can access the care they need. I am so committed to continuing to work on this to solve this problem for our Nation's veterans. I am working with Chairman Tester, Ranking Member Moran, and my colleagues on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee so that we can make good on the promises we have made to our veterans. It is time to stop the false promises to the men and women who have served this Nation. I would ask each Member of this Chamber for their support in bringing the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act in front of the full committee for consideration. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we yield back the remaining time and that the vote scheduled at 5:30 p.m. begin.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following law clerk and intern from my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress: Bessie Blackburn and Roswell Cole.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, the dangers children encounter when they go online have increased exponentially since social media platforms took over our lives. Just a few years ago, cyber bullying dominated our conversations about kids and the virtual world. Now those cyber bullies are joined by drug dealers, sex traffickers, pedophiles, and influencers who glorify mental illness, eating disorders, and self- harm. Last week, the Biden administration decided to pay some attention to this pressing issue. While I am glad to see the White House get behind us on this issue, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that they are far behind. Over the past 2\1/2\ years, the Senate has dedicated an incredible amount of time and energy to investigating the harm these threats have inflicted on young people. When Senator Blumenthal and I led the Commerce Committee's Consumer Protection Subcommittee, we hosted five separate hearings investigating the inherent dangers children encounter online. The Judiciary Committee hosted a sixth this past February. During those hearings, we produced more than 500 pages of testimony. This is just the testimony from witnesses who have come before us in those hearings. In addition to this testimony, we have collected hundreds more pages of evidence illustrating the devastating impact Big Tech has had on the lives of children and teens. We also found proof that these online companies knew they had lost control of their platforms, and still, even knowing it, still they made the affirmative choice to not protect their users. They did this knowing children were at risk. On top of that are the additional hours we spent talking to parents who tried to protect their children. We also independently confirmed just how easy it is for predators to target young people with dangerous content. I would implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to confront what is in these pages of testimony. Familiarize yourself with what we heard during these hearings and in conversations--heartbreaking conversations--with families and stakeholders. As you do, remember that the examples we discussed in committee weren't just available for children to access; in many cases, there was no hiding from it, which seems unbelievable until you actually speak to young people about how pervasive this harmful content and many times illegal content is. This is why Senator Blumenthal and I spent time talking to kids and teens about their firsthand experiences with dangerous content. The Presiding Officer knows this issue well. He has worked on kids' online privacy. He did that when he was in the House, and he has done it in the Senate. So he knows the importance of the steps we have taken not to limit the conversation just to grownups but to talk to teens and children, and that is what we have done. No one has a better understanding of what is happening to teens online than teenagers. So we invited them into the room and asked them: What can we do to be helpful? What they told us that they needed was something that is more proactive and more enforceable than what the Biden administration has chosen to offer. According to the White House's announcement, HHS and the Commerce Department will lead an interagency Task Force on Kids Online Health and Safety. Their job will be to identify harms to minors from online platforms and then develop voluntary guidance, policy recommendations, and a toolkit for industry. That sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? We have been doing that here in the Senate for more than 2 years. Yet the White House wants to start from scratch. What is the point in that? We know what the harms are. The harms have been articulated. We also know that voluntary guidance will do nothing to make online platforms safer. We tried that kinder, gentler method, and it failed. It does not work. Social media platforms have proven to us that they are incapable of self-regulation. Why is that? Because, when our children are online, our children are the product. They are data mining our children. They are selling that data to the highest bidder. The second item I want to highlight is a good development but one that will complement rather than replace work we have already done here in the Senate. According to the White House's announcement, DHS and the Justice Department will work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to create combined image repositories to help identify victims of online trafficking and sexual abuse. This is promising because it puts law enforcement on the frontlines. That is an important distinction, but this effort needs our support, which means staying the course on existing legislation to bolster both law enforcement and NCMEC's legal authorities. On that front, this week, the Judiciary Committee will consider the REPORT Act. It is a piece of bipartisan legislation I sponsored with Senator Ossoff that will require online companies and social media platforms to report known instances of child sex trafficking or enticement on their platforms. It will also substantially increase the fines imposed for failure to report this abuse to NCMEC. Importantly, the REPORT Act also includes another one of my bills, the END Child Exploitation Act, which requires online platforms to preserve reports to NCMEC's cyber tip line for a period of 1 year. By extending this retention period, we can ensure that law enforcement has enough time to access evidence and to prosecute these crimes. This bill will also make it easier for NCMEC to transfer these cyber tip line reports to law enforcement, which will, in turn, help law enforcement prosecute cases faster and put more offenders behind bars-- no more excuses. You know, it is so interesting. I have talked to Tennesseans, and they thought this would already be the law--that these social media platforms would have to report these sex traffickers, these pedophiles, these drug dealers, these child sexual abuse images, and things that were online. They are surprised that they don't and that they don't take them down. So no more executives coming up here to the Hill to give us excuses for why they are not able to do this and complaining about how hard it is to tackle criminal perversion on their platforms-- they need to get busy with this. The policies laid out in the REPORT Act are critical to helping Silicon Valley and law enforcement stop predators. As I said, they ought to be the first ones to stand up and say: We have got some bad actors over here. We are going to take them down. There should be bipartisan agreement on this. Everybody should say: Let's do this, and let's do it now. I know I can't be the only person in this Chamber who is wondering why these big tech companies haven't kept their own promises to make the online world safer for kids and for teens. The White House's plan for voluntary guidelines and toolkits gives these companies far too much credit. As I said, they have proven to us they are incapable of self-governance. Why are they incapable? Because they need the eyeballs of our kids on their sites for longer stretches of time. That means the data is richer. That means they sell that data. They are putting profit before the safety of our children. Go talk to these parents who have lost their kids. Go listen to these teens who are recovering from social media addiction. This is why, earlier this year, Senator Blumenthal and I reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act. It has 34 bipartisan cosponsors and the endorsement of more than 200 bipartisan organizations. First, it would force platforms to give families the ability to protect minors' information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of algorithmic recommendations. Next, it would give parents the safeguards needed to protect their children's online experiences as well as to provide a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior. Those are things that currently do not exist. Most parents are shocked when they go onto these platforms, and when they are trying to report cyber bullying, they don't hear a word back from the platform or, maybe months later, they get an email that says: This content does not violate our community standards. How disgusting. Many of these parents know what is going on, and they are trying to help. They know what their kids are seeing, and they know predatory content. Content that promotes self-harm, suicide, eating disorders to minors will now, indeed, be a problem for these platforms to deal with when we pass the Kids Online Safety Act. Parents are tired of the denial, the deflection, and the disrespect that is shown to them and their children by these social media platforms. Our kids deserve better than what these platforms and big tech companies are dishing out to them. They deserve protection on these sites. As the Presiding Officer well knows, there are things that are illegal in the physical space but that are allowed in the virtual space on these platforms, and these platforms do nothing--nothing--to take this down. In addition to making it difficult for these social media platforms to skirt the provisions of KOSA, we are requiring in that legislation a requirement for an annual risk assessment and access to data sets we can use to access and assess safety threats to underage users. It is time to make certain that safety is there, that it is safety by default, safety by design for our children. Both the REPORT Act and the Kids Online Safety Act have earned the enthusiastic support of bipartisan policymakers, advocates, medical professionals, tech experts, and families from across the country. It is time we pass this legislation. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I ask unanimous consent that the vote scheduled for 5:30 p.m. begin.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns and fellow in my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this Congress: Margaret Finnegan, Garrett Frye, Charles Morrow, Ryan Fortani, and Benjamin Bridges.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, today I rise to oppose the nomination of Nancy Abudu as President Biden's nominee for appointment as a U.S. circuit judge for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, in a government as divided as ours is at this time, we expect to have some controversial nominees that come before us at the Judiciary Committee. We expect debate; we do expect disagreement; but what we should never expect or tolerate is a nominee who has proven herself completely unfit for the role she is asking. Ms. Abudu has shown us that there is no such thing as a good-faith debate. She views disagreements over policy as evidence of bigotry. She describes herself as a radical legal activist and has compared her fellow Americans to Jim Crow-era racists and endorsed political violence against conservatives. She has stated that policing is--and I am going to quote her here-- the true threat to our collective safety. Hear me out on this. She has said that policing is--and I quote her--the true threat to our collective safety. She has embraced lawless sanctuary city policies and compared our criminal justice system to the horrors of slavery. These are her statements and her positions. I would be doing a disservice to our Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers if I didn't point out the rank hypocrisy of my Democratic colleagues' attempt to force this nominee through during National Police Week. Now, as I said, she feels like policing is a threat to our collective safety, but my Democratic colleagues, during this National Police Week, are choosing to push her forward. She used the significant power of her position within the Southern Poverty Law Center to weaponize charges of hate against her political opponents, all the while covering up blatant discrimination within her organization. Indeed, the Southern Poverty Law Center, every year, issues their ``hate'' list. This should give everyone pause, but perhaps the most egregious example of Ms. Abudu's hostility toward the rule of law involves this very Chamber, those of us of each party who sit in this Chamber. In 2021, she engaged in a vicious mudslinging campaign in an attempt to manipulate the U.S. Senate into abandoning the filibuster and endorsing a radical overhaul of our Federal elections. Her campaign was so full of misrepresentations--and we will just call them falsehoods-- that even some of the most progressive Members of her party balked at what she was doing. This is the conduct that the Biden administration is seeking to reward. Justice is to be evenhanded; equal justice for all; one system of justice, not two tiers of justice. We must not tolerate what is happening here, and we must not approve this nominee. We had a great discussion in the Judiciary Committee about people who are unfit for the bench, unfit for public service, and the need to make certain that people are fit for this service. Ms. Abudu, by her actions, has proven herself to be unethical, unscrupulous, and completely untethered from any acceptable philosophy of law. To approve this nominee would be to rubberstamp a nominee who terms herself a ``radical leftist activist.'' It would rubberstamp a radical agenda. It would rubberstamp an activist judge. We don't want that on our courts, and this is something the American people have rejected repeatedly. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following articles be printed in the Record following the conclusion of my remarks.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, this National Police Week, along with my colleague Senator Hagerty, I would like to honor the unbelievably courageous officers of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. On March 27, a depraved individual attacked the Covenant School in Nashville, TN, and took the lives of 9-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9- year-old Hallie Scruggs, 9-year-old William Kinney, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, custodian Mike Hill, and Dr. Katherine Koonce. Just minutes after receiving the emergency call, a group of dedicated officers arrived on the scene and immediately rushed toward the danger. Their unflinching courage and decisive action under fire allowed them to eliminate the threat against this gentle community just minutes after it began and saved countless lives. Violence against children and their caretakers is an act of unspeakable evil that strikes at the heart of our purpose as parents, grandparents, neighbors, brothers and sisters in Christ, and community protectors. But even in the face of such tremendous loss, Nashvillians find comfort in the knowledge that uncommonly brave men and women have dedicated their lives to protecting us from harm. On behalf of all Tennesseans, I thank Officer Rex Engelbert, Detective Mike Collazo, Detective Zachary Plese, Detective Ryan Cagle, and Detective Sergeant Jeffery Mathes for their incredible bravery on behalf of the students and teachers at The Covenant School. They showed true professionalism, courage, and selflessness--which is the very definition of heroism. I also recognize and honor Chief John Drake for his steady presence and clarity of mind on that terrible day. During times of overwhelming fear and uncertainty, the people of the Volunteer State look to their leaders not only for swift action but for comfort and reassurance. The brave men and women in blue who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities deserve all the admiration, gratitude, and support we can offer, and I am so honored to represent them here in the U.S. Senate.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, we have really heard quite a bit over the past few weeks and especially this past weekend about this administration and their decision to do away with title 42, and I would take this opportunity to remind my Democratic colleagues that President Biden himself admitted that our southern border will be, and I quote him, ``chaotic for a while'' post-title 42. So the expectation is that this will create chaos, and they know it, but they are doing it anyway. In the days right before title 42 was terminated, we were already seeing unprecedented chaos along our southern border. Again, they knew it. Chaos was coming, but they were going to do it anyway because it serves their purposes. Now, here is some of the chaos that has actually happened at that border. These are last week's numbers. They are not my numbers. They are not Republican numbers. They are Border Patrol's numbers. This is what this administration is doing to the communities that are along that southern border. Border Patrol reported last week 68,000 apprehensions, and they seized hundreds of pounds of narcotics, including 56 pounds of fentanyl. Bear in mind, 1 little gram, one little touch is enough to kill. We are all hearing ``One pill will kill.'' Yet think about 56 pounds of that coming in. What would that do to your community? At the same time, on top of the 68,000 who were apprehended, there were 16,000 ``got-aways'' whom they could see on surveillance video, but they could not get to them. Those are the known ``got-aways.'' So they cross the border, and they go running into the country. There are also the unknown ``got-aways.'' As the Presiding Officer knows, as Border Patrol is out, as they are going through their day, many times they find evidence of the people who have crossed where they couldn't see them on video. They weren't wanting to be apprehended. Those are the really bad, bad, bad guys who are bringing in more drugs, more terrorists, more gangs into this country. In the past 72 hours alone, we have seen three agents assaulted. These are our Border Patrol agents. They are being assaulted. Bear in mind, the cartels--global organizations--the cartels are in charge of that border on the Mexico side. So three of our agents have been assaulted. There were almost 15,000 more apprehensions in 72 hours and more than 4,300 ``got-aways'' who evaded capture. As I said, these are not my numbers. They are not Republican numbers. These are the numbers of the Border Patrol. They are the Biden administration's numbers. They know that they are creating chaos, that they are making life difficult, that they are making the job of Border Patrol harder every single day, but it serves their purpose, so they do it anyway. They know exactly what is happening and what will happen if they don't regain control of that border: more chaos. The chaos is going to escalate because the drug cartels were exploiting the end of title 42 well before last week. I have on my poster this weekend review, with the apprehensions we have talked about: $83,000 that was seized from the cartels, 224 pounds of marijuana, 179 pounds of meth, 56 pounds of fentanyl, 34 pounds of cocaine, 5 pounds of heroin. You know, I had a sheriff tell me that they used to apprehend drugs in grams, and now it is all pounds. Why is it pounds? It is because the cartels are so emboldened. Oh, here we go. We have some more: seven firearms, five sex offenders. These are people who were convicted of crimes in their countries, and they are trying to come in here. A lot of these countries are emptying their jails and trying to unload them on us. Well, four gang members coming to a neighborhood near you. Why is it that crime is running rampant? Well, we know. Now, this is all from last week: two felons, one subject with five warrants. That is what they are dealing with. From October of last year to March of this year, agents apprehended more than 1 million illegal immigrants. Title 42 was still in place then. Last week, tens of thousands of people were camped on the Mexico side of the border, and nearly 80,000 more were gathered in Guatemala with plans to come into the United States. They are making their way here. The cartels have a plan. The Biden administration and the Democrats have zero of a plan. So we need Congress to step in and make certain we get this border secured. On his second day in office, President Biden terminated the successful Trump-era migrant protection protocols. That is known as ``Remain in Mexico.'' The policy required illegal immigrants seeking asylum at the southern border or without proper ID to return to Mexico to await their hearing. It worked. Guess what. It worked. Now, instead of keeping it in place, the Biden administration and the Democrats have decided to go back to the old, failed catch-and-release policy. Come on in. We will give you a court date. Court dates now are about 2030, but come on, we will let you in. They will be caught, and then they are released into the country. Bringing back ``Remain in Mexico'' is essential to maintaining our Nation's security and sovereignty, especially now that the Biden administration has completely undermined Border Patrol by stripping them of their title 42 authority. So this month, I introduced the Make the Migrant Protection Protocols Mandatory Act. The bill is simple. It mandates that individuals seeking asylum at the southern border or without proper ID must return to Mexico while they await their immigration proceedings. We should pass this as soon as possible. That is step one. Step two is to strike at the heart of the cartels' $13 billion criminal enterprise. Since President Biden took office, human trafficking has become even more pervasive at the southern border. The State Department estimates that the cartels move as many as 17,500 people across the border every year. One in three is a child. We also know that the cartels overwhelmingly target young girls and sell them into sex slavery. With the end of title 42, these criminal abusers will feel particularly emboldened to expand their business. I want you to think about those numbers. Human trafficking has become a $13 billion business. Go back to 2019; it was a $500 million-a-year business. Ask yourself, what has changed in that time? It is an administration with very lax or no border policy. Their policy is open it up so that we, the taxpayers, finish the cartels' job. And it is a humanitarian crisis because women and girls--90 percent of whom make this journey--are being sexually assaulted. So I would ask my colleagues, are you OK with that? Are you OK with the cartels making this money? Are you OK with them moving these individuals and selling these women and girls into sex slavery? The SAVE Girls Act, which I introduced this year--Senator Klobuchar has joined me on this--it establishes a $50 million grant program to put critical resources into the hands of State and local officials and nonprofits so they can fight the smuggling and trafficking of girls across the border and into the communities. This persistent abuse of young women will only worsen with title 42 gone. There is no reason why this body should not immediately pass this bill and help to protect these women and children who are making this journey. As we speak, cartels are exploiting Congress's inaction. The President is asleep at the wheel. His border czar is missing in action. His Cabinet officials are busy evading requests for information about what precisely they have been doing with taxpayer time and money over the last few years. We won't be able to fix this overnight, but we have to start somewhere. We need to make ``Remain in Mexico'' the law of the land and pass the SAVE Girls Act and give law enforcement the tools they need to secure the border before we lose complete and total control of it. (Ms. HIRONO assumed the Chair.)

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, on May 4, 2019, 15-year-old Mason Bogard died after trying to mimic a choking challenge he saw on social media. Three days earlier, his parents had found him unconscious in his room with a belt around his neck. There was nothing his doctors could do over that 3-day period to save his life. I am telling Mason's story today, with the permission of his mother, because it is so different from other stories. I have shared a lot of these stories about the dangerous influence that online platforms have on our Nation's children. There is no evidence to suggest Mason was trying to hurt himself. This death was an accident. We know this because after Mason died, his parents found a self- recorded video on his phone that had happened days prior to the accident. It shows him attempting the same viral challenge that killed him. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to speak with Mason's mom Joann about what she is doing to warn other parents about what is happening on these platforms. Even before she lost her son, Joann knew about the dangers that social media could bring into her home. And she did everything in her power to protect her children from it. She used watchdog apps, physically checked their devices, and had candid conversations with the whole family about how dangerous content can be when it is popping up in your news feed. At this point, I want to share what Joann told me about her efforts to make online platforms keep their promises about moderating and removing dangerous content like choking challenges. And I am quoting Joann: Shortly after Mason's death, I began searching for Choking Challenge videos on all of the platforms. I searched for them weekly and I have reported hundreds. But the typical reply that I receive, if I receive a reply at all is-- And she quotes the social media platforms-- ``We found that the reported content doesn't violate our Community Guidelines. We understand that you may not want to see this type content, and you have the option to block the account that posted it.'' She went on to tell me that there was no process for an appeal, no way to push for answers from these so-called moderators. The videos stayed online. I would remind my colleagues that the response she is describing was generated after she reported videos of children strangling themselves in order to get clicks. This is one woman's story about one precious child--her child--who died because an online platform, a social media platform failed him. But thousands of parents can tell you similar stories about how their children got caught up in viral trends or emotionally spiraled after encountering content that preyed upon their insecurities. And while we know that social media isn't the only cause for this decline in mental health, we do know that things have gotten much worse since kids started spending so much time online. According to the Pew Research Center, close to 60 percent of our Nation's youth have experienced some form of abuse online. It is safe to assume that at least that many have been exposed to content glorifying bullying, mental illness, and self-harm. Between 2010 and 2019 teen depression rates doubled, with the largest increase among girls. The CDC recently produced data showing that adolescents are now the most likely age group to visit the emergency room for suicidal thoughts, with nearly one in three teen girls seriously considering attempting suicide. Before the rise of social media, suicide by the young had stabilized and declined for decades. Now, it is the third leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 15 and 24. The Consumer Protection Subcommittee, where I serve, has produced five hearings' worth of evidence showing that harmful content is readily available to minors, that online platforms are aware of this, and that they have made the conscious decision to ignore it. Think about that. They have proved time and again that they will not follow through on their commitment to moderate harmful content unless they are forced to do so. So I think it is time that we force them to take action. It is going to be a long road, and I am going to be blunt. When it comes to putting guardrails on Silicon Valley, there are a million different ways to get it wrong. But, over the years, Congress has learned some valuable lessons, and now we know how to fix the problem, instead of just putting an expensive bandaid on that problem. First, I am all for encouraging innovation, but let's be clear: The motto ``move fast and break things'' has a cost, and we don't want that cost to be imposed on our children. We know that Big Tech will never hold themselves accountable to any acceptable safety standard. The creation of safety by design and the resulting accountability should be our goal. Second, we want to make sure that these safety standards don't allow these companies to take their hands off the wheel once certain requirements are met. Verifying a user's age or obtaining parental consent for minors to use the platforms--that is important, but it will not stop children from getting bombarded with dangerous content once they are online. And, finally, legislation must not simply shift the burden of controlling the spread of this dangerous content onto the parents. This is precisely what Big Tech companies have been doing for years, and it is not working. Parents want to be involved, but they cannot protect their children if the platforms keep moving the goalposts to protect their business models. Unfortunately, when our children are on these platforms, our children are the product. These platforms data mine our children, and then they market that data. We have seen proposal after proposal fail, but after years of talking to parents and tech companies and policy experts, we finally have the opportunity to support a bill that does get it right. Last week, Senator Blumenthal and I reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act. As of today, this bill has 33 bipartisan cosponsors and the endorsement of hundreds of bipartisan organizations because it does exactly what moms like Joann Bogard and other advocates have been asking Congress to do. First, it would force platforms to give families the ability to protect minors' information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of algorithmic recommendations. Next, it would give parents the safeguards needed to protect their kids online, as well as a dedicated portal to report harmful behavior. Predatory content and content that promotes self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders--all of this that causes problems for our kids would become a problem that the platforms have to deal with--no more denial, no more deflection. We also included requirements for annual risk assessments and access to datasets we can use to assess safety threats to underage users. This is a very straightforward bill. It won't hinder innovation. It won't allow platforms to take their hands off the wheel, and it won't put the burden on parents to try to figure out how in the world to control the access their children have to this harmful content. Our children are exposed to things in the virtual space that we would never allow them to be exposed to in the physical space. Over the past few years we have heard pundit after armchair pundit insist that it is time to treat our kids like grownups. But our children are not adults, and it is our responsibility to protect them so that, one day, they will have the opportunity to be grownups. Our children are being exposed to things that no reasonable parent would ever allow their child to know about these things. If there is one thing we have learned during our hearings with the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, it is that simply encouraging more supervision is not enough. A high-tech permission slip just isn't going to cut it. If we want to keep kids safe online, we have to demand real accountability from these Big Tech social media platforms. Last Congress, the Kids Online Safety Act passed out of the Commerce Committee 28 to 0. That is right--unanimous support. I would ask my colleagues on each side of the aisle to join me and Senator Blumenthal in calling for a vote so that we can finally push this bill across the finish line and provide parents the toolbox they need to protect their children from the harm in the virtual media. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, last month, I continued my annual 95-county tour with a swing through East Tennessee. Over the past few years, this area has experienced both economic growth and a population boom. So the people who live there have seen firsthand what can happen when Tennesseans are allowed to build and nurture a community free from the heavy hand of government. But they also know how fragile that stability can be, and they are just baffled by Joe Biden's determination to ruin what they and millions of other Americans have worked so incredibly hard to build. In just over 2 years, Joe Biden and the Democrats have sabotaged our national defense, our border security, and public safety in the name of dangerous woke agenda items that prioritize mandates and intellectual conformity over the safety and security of the American people. Tennesseans are worried about the rise of the new ``axis of evil.'' Joe Biden is allowing Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea to cross one line after another, and that is not going over very well. Neither is the Biden administration's neglect of a security risk that hits much closer to home. So far this year, Border Patrol and other law enforcement officials have reported almost half a million encounters with migrants trying to illegally cross our border. Over the course of this fiscal year--now, the numbers I am going to give you are for this fiscal year. They have recorded 332 encounters with people who are on the Terrorist Watchlist. That is right. Three hundred thirty-two have been apprehended at the border. These are people who are terrorists. They are on the watchlist, which means, if you catch them, they cannot come into this country. They have apprehended 330 dangerous gang members--that is MS-13 and that is other of these gangs--who are trying to get into the country, and they have seized almost 19,000 pounds of drugs. Now, this is what we know, and we can only estimate how many other terrorists or gang members or criminals escaped into the country and how much deadly contraband did they bring with them because they are all in the category of ``got-aways.'' They are the people that you see on surveillance, but you cannot get to them. They are ``got-aways'' or they are people who, after the fact--you don't see them, but after the fact, you find things that they have left along their path as they have escaped into this country. So think about those numbers and who might be coming in. Now, when you look at it, this is a total neglect of our most basic line of defense, and it might be easier to comprehend were it not for this administration's betrayal of local law enforcement. The President has denied that he supports the anti-police movement, but I would remind the President and my Democratic colleagues that acting on anti- police sentiment behind the scenes is still anti-police. Making the job of law enforcement harder to do every day is anti- police; using the bureaucracy to undermine access to grant funding and lifesaving resources--that is anti-police; and deliberately leaving our border wide open to the drug mules, bringing fentanyl into our backyards--that is anti-police. Allowing the cartels and the human traffickers to run rampant, turning human trafficking from a $500- million-a-year business, which it was in 2018, to a $13-billion-a-year business--that is anti-police. The damage that this administration has done in just under 2\1/2\ years will take a lot longer than that to repair. But simply answering one sweeping policy change with another won't magically reverse the ripple effects of this complete breakdown in orderly governance. Yes, we have to reverse policy, but we must also pay attention to the problems that have left local leaders, law enforcement officials, and families begging for help. So let's kind of work through these issues, because they are of concern to Tennesseans. Tennesseans feel like this administration is seeking to normalize lawlessness. They feel they are seeking to normalize lawlessness-- because of that open border, because of the sentiments and the actions that are anti-law enforcement. They are seeking to normalize lawlessness. Now, at the border, the immediate solution, of course, is to eliminate incentives to illegal immigration, to fund the border patrol, and invest heavily in both a physical barrier and enhance technology. Now, these are two things that the Border Patrol has been asking for about three decades. Give us a barrier of some type; and where you can't have a barrier, give us better technology. Now, we also need to address the plagues of drug smuggling and human trafficking. The Biden administration's refusal to stand up to the cartels has turned every town into a border town and every State into a border State. Between August of 2021 and August of 2022, the United States lost more than 107,000 people to drug overdose. Now, 66 percent of these deaths were due to fentanyl. So 107,000 people lost their lives to drugs. They are coming primarily over that southern border. Talk to any law enforcement officer, they will tell you the majority of the drugs they apprehend are coming across that southern border. The majority of those drugs is fentanyl. Now, I want you to think about this. We all know about World War I, the lives that were lost--precious lives; World War II, the lives that were lost; the Vietnam War; the Gulf War. Here are some stats for you. In World War I, you had 116,516 U.S. citizens who lost their lives. In World War II, it was 420,200; in Vietnam, 58,220; the Gulf War, 383. So think about that and what we did to protect those lives. And think about what is happening with these drugs coming over that border and this administration not willing to close that border. And in 1 year--1 year--1--107,000 lives. Think about that. Why will this administration not step up, man up, and work to secure that border? Maintaining the title 42 order will help us keep what little control we have over the cross-border drug trade. Tens of thousands of migrants are waiting for May 11 to roll around so they can flood the border. And we are watching that footage right now. I would encourage any of my colleagues who are not watching this footage, you need to log on and look at how people are coming up. El Paso, I think they have had 15,000 people over the weekend that have come to that border. The numbers are staggering. We are not ready for this. Last week, my Tennessee colleague Senator Hagerty and I reintroduced the Stop Fentanyl Border Crossing Act, which would preserve the continued use of title 42 authority to remove illegal border-crossers and interrupt drug smuggling operations along the border. The SAVE Girls Act, which is a bipartisan bill I introduced with Senator Klobuchar last month, has a similar goal of thwarting human trafficking operations. Here is another stat for you. These are not my numbers; these are the administration's numbers. The State Department estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States every year. Most of these people that are trafficked across that southern border--that is what we are talking about here, that is the universe-- and they are looking at between 14,500 and 17,500. Most of them are women. And it is upsetting to realize that 90 percent--90 percent--of these women and girls become the victims of sexual exploitation. The SAVE Girls Act would authorize an additional $50 million in grant funding to prevent the trafficking of women and girls and protect children who have been smuggled across this border. Why are we doing this? Because it is our local law enforcement--they are the ones who are on the front lines in this. They are the ones who are conducting rescues and pulling these women and girls away from these traffickers, away from these pimps, that are rescuing them and getting them to safety. We all know that no bill, no matter how effective, can stop these criminal enterprises entirely, just as no amount of policing or community support can eliminate local crime. Still, our police departments are in trouble. Tennessee is no exception. In April of last year, the Knoxville Police Department was 10 percent understaffed. As of last December, the Nashville Police Department was 193 officers short. Morale is a problem, but so is a lack of funding and resources. So in March, Senator Ossoff and I introduced the bipartisan Filling Public Safety Vacancies Act, to provide a one-time emergency boost in funding to help departments hire officers and sheriff's deputies. The bill conditions this funding on the implementation of new vetting procedures not currently required by Federal law. I have also introduced a series of bills that would protect schools from becoming key targets for criminals. The SAFE Schools Act would establish a $900 million grant program to train and hire safety officers and to increase physical security at our schools. The bipartisan Enhancing K-12 Cybersecurity Act would provide resources and information to schools that will help prevent cyber attacks and establish a better system for tracking cyber attacks nationally. I want to emphasize again that many of these bills are bipartisan. We could pass them this week, and they would each make a difference right away in places like the State of Tennessee. There are things that our citizens want to see done. There is no good reason to delay these bills. They would help to make our communities safer. It would be another tool in the toolbox for our local elected officials and citizens who want to see our schools and our community safer, who want our law enforcement agencies to be able to hire and train more police. They would be pro-law enforcement, pro- safety, pro-security principals. This administration's refusal to govern and their neglect of our most basic institutions has left Tennesseans really unsettled. They worked so hard to build what they have, and they cannot believe that they are looking at an administration that would seek to tear it down. They are frightened of how quickly things have become so out of control. They deserve better than an uncertain future controlled by a President who is asleep at the wheel and a Congress that refuses to put politics aside and work in the best interest of the American people. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, 108 years ago on April 24, 1915, Ottoman Turkey began the systematic killing and deportation of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Between 1915 and 1923, an estimated 1-and-a-half million Armenians fell victim to one of history's most ruthless and notorious genocides. Most who survived eventually emigrated to different parts of the world, forming a widespread diaspora. The American people have a proud history of recognizing and condemning the Armenian genocide and have provided relief and a new home to many of the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians who survived this campaign of mass extermination. Today, Armenian Americans are a vital part of the cultural fabric of the United States. As we commemorate this dark period, I would encourage my colleagues to remember that atrocities like the Armenian genocide are almost never spontaneous events. They typically follow a period of human rights violations, discrimination, and violence against specific groups who often share a racial, ethnic, religious, or social identity. Most recently, we have seen this in the Chinese Communist Party's inhumane treatment of ethnic minorities, including the persecution of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Mongolians and dissenters in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and further abroad. Our foreign policy should recognize this, fight denialism of past and current crimes, and emphasize the preservation of human rights rather than relying on eleventh hour action that comes far too late for vulnerable populations. On behalf of all Tennesseans, I offer this solemn recognition of the Armenian genocide and ask my colleagues to join me in pledging to fight the forces of evil still causing so much pain and suffering around the globe.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns from my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress: Makayla Rae Ross and Jacob Tipton.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, just before Easter, the Biden administration released a report that they claim vindicates their role in our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, but rather than laying out the facts and embracing accountability, the Biden administration returned to its default setting of blaming Donald Trump for their problems. They claim that because Trump did not provide them with a plan for every contingency, the Biden White House should be allowed to wash its hands of the mess they have made. Now, you would think that anyone who witnessed mothers throwing their children over barbed wire fences and into the arms of our soldiers would at least hesitate before making excuses for the terrible decision making that led to those images. Biden and his team are kidding themselves if they think we have forgotten what happened. But the American people are not fooled. They remember that it was Joe Biden who chose to close Bagram Airfield; that it was Joe Biden who set an arbitrary evacuation deadline even though his military generals begged him not to do this; and that it was Joe Biden who surrendered control of Karzai International Airport and handed over the names of American citizens, green card holders, and our Afghan partners--handed this information over to the Taliban. We saw the catastrophe unfold at the airfields and in the cities, and we see what the Biden administration has done. They have ignored it ever since. Afghanistan fell back into the Dark Ages. Twenty-three million people are going hungry. Twenty million Afghan women are subjugated under the Taliban's medieval boot. On the day the evacuation officially ended, there were at least 4,000 Americans left behind--that is right, left behind--in Afghanistan. Today, our best guess is that there are around 175 still stranded there. Some of them are being held captive by the Taliban. Seventy- eight thousand of our Afghan partners remain in hiding, many being hunted by the Taliban. Yes, that is the mess that this administration and Joe Biden made. And on his way out the door, Biden also left behind at least $7.2 billion of American weaponry, including aircraft, vehicles, and guns, some of which have cropped up in the hands of militants in other countries. That is $7.2 billion of equipment, part of the $80 billion investment there at Bagram Airfield. And what did Joe Biden do? Here you go, Bagram--the investment in training, the investment in the troops, the investment in infrastructure, and all of that equipment. Just imagine for a moment that you are one of our allies watching all of this unfold. It would cause you to be worried--and rightfully so. Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan damaged America's image on the world stage and sent once-strong alliances into a tailspin. Some of our most important allies now believe that the United States is weak, that we are unreliable, and that we are undependable. This is what has emboldened what I term the new axis of evil--China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. They think they have got running room because of the way the Afghan withdrawal was conducted. Beijing wasted no time normalizing relations with the Taliban by offering multimillion-dollar investments through the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. The CCP knows what it is doing here. Afghanistan has $1 trillion in untapped resources that communist China has already signed a deal to extract. Since then, they have increased their aggression against Taiwan and elsewhere around the globe, and the Biden administration has had very little to say about it--an emboldened China going after the $1 trillion in lithium in Afghanistan--rare-earth minerals, Afghanistan. That is why the Chinese Communist Party has inked that deal. Oh, what did they do with it? Let's make chips. Let's make batteries. Oh, what are we making those batteries for? Electric vehicles. How about that? How about that? This is what has emboldened the CCP. Afghanistan was a disaster. It was based on the decision making of this administration. So the CCP is encouraging Russia, Iran, and North Korea to join them in that axis of evil and push to global dominance. The CCP even let a spy balloon sashay all the way across this country. We know it pulled intelligence. We know it went across much of our critical infrastructure. What did my colleagues across the aisle have to say? Not much. Not much. They don't want to challenge the CCP and communist China, and Russia and Iran and North Korea. It makes you wonder. Meanwhile, North Korea has leaned into their ballistic missile program, and Iran has openly celebrated a dangerous milestone: They are now technically capable of building multiple nuclear weapons. That is right. They are pushing their nuclear development program. Not to be outdone, just 6 months after Biden surrendered to the Taliban, Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine and launched the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. This is not a coincidence. Biden knows he has no one to blame but himself and his officials for this. This is the mess they have made because of the decisions that they have made. But there has been no accountability. There has been no justice for the 13 servicemembers murdered by terrorists during those final chaotic days in Kabul. I think it is clear that, if things keep going the way they are, there won't be accountability because this administration will not admit they made a mistake. If there is any truth to be gleaned from the administration's report, it is that Joe Biden hasn't learned any lessons from what will certainly be remembered as one of the worst foreign policy disasters in our Nation's history. The Biden administration will go down in history for failing our allies and our partners. They are questioning--they are questioning--if they should be our ally and partner. The Biden administration will be remembered for destroying what was a robust economy, kowtowing to social justice warriors, and, of course, committing to outrageous policy proposals that insult the intelligence of the American people. The Department of Homeland Security's recent budget request is no exception to the rule. This year, instead of asking for more money to equip law enforcement and secure our southern border, Joe Biden and Secretary Mayorkas decided to undercut that mission by $600 million. That is right. The border is wide open. We have a Secretary of Homeland Security who does not believe in securing the homeland. So what does the Secretary and the President do? They cut the budget for securing the border by $600 million. This is something that is so unfair to our Border Patrol. We are only halfway through the fiscal year, and already Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 1 million migrant encounters at the southern border. That is right--1 million that they have encountered. That is not counting the ``got-aways''--the ones they can see but can't get to, or the ones that later they find where they have been but they could not get to them, didn't know about them. This is 1 million encounters on that border. They have also seized 105,000 pounds of drugs, including enough fentanyl to kill several cities--almost 11,000 pounds of fentanyl in 5 short months. And get this: They caught 268 gang members, more than 11,000 criminal noncitizens, and almost 300 terrorists trying to sneak into this country. Those are not my numbers. Those are not some pundit's numbers. Those are the stats that are coming from the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol. Those are their numbers. They are telling us this. Do people agree with this? Do they think this is secure border policy? Listen to these numbers again: 105,000 pounds of drugs, 11,000 pounds of fentanyl, 268 gang members, and 11,000 criminal noncitizens. Those are people who have been convicted of crimes. These are the people who are being turned out of the jails in countries. Last year, 176 different countries had people present at that southern border. This year, so far, you have got 11,000 criminal noncitizens and almost 300 terrorists trying to come into this country. Ask yourself a question: What in heaven's name do you think they are coming here for? Why are they sneaking into the country? Do you think it is because they know they wouldn't be able to come in? Do you think they are coming for a job, or are they coming to do us harm? We should be outraged--outraged--and concerned. Alarms should be blaring at the Department of Homeland Security. Right now, the Biden administration is just rolling out the red carpet. They are issuing an open invitation. Indeed, they said: We have got an app to make it easy for you to come. Go on your iPhone. Sign in on the app. We will be waiting for you when you get here. Does that sound like securing the country? Criminal noncitizens, terrorists, gang members--these are the people who are coming in, cartel smugglers who are taking this administration up on their invitation: Come on in. Every year, in Tennessee, I visit with each one of our 95 counties. I am on the ground in every county in the State. And this year, without exception, there are mayors and sheriffs and other officials who I am speaking with, talking with principals, talking with citizens. And do you know what? Border security comes up in every single one of these meetings, and the reason it comes up is because of this administration's policies turning every town into a border town and every State into a border State. And now it is the local officials and local law enforcement officers who are left to deal with the broken policies of this administration. If you ask them what the biggest problem is, they are going to tell you: Well, Marsha, it connects back to the border because the drugs we are apprehending are coming across the southern border, and 95 percent of those drugs, they are fentanyl, and that drives crime in our communities. There are gang members coming into these communities. Now, here is a great example of this: Hamilton County, TN. That is Chattanooga, a great city. And their district attorney, Coty Wamp, and Sheriff Garrett there in Hamilton County were showing me some pictures from one of their drug busts. Well, these are rainbow fentanyl pills that were specifically manufactured to look like OxyContin--rainbow fentanyl. Now, officers there in Chattanooga found more than 1,000 of these pills in a single search. That is enough to take out the entire city of Chattanooga, TN. They weren't expecting to find fentanyl when they were executing that warrant, but that doesn't mean they were surprised. This is a persistent problem in Chattanooga. Thank goodness, a great sheriff and a great DA working together-- great officers--they conducted this bust, and this is what they found. And we have great local law enforcement all across the State of Tennessee. And they will tell you that fentanyl overdose deaths are occurring at such a rate that law enforcement does not have all the resources they need to investigate all the cases. Now, this is just one story from one law enforcement entity in one city; but the danger is, this is occurring in every city, in every county, in each of our States. And it is happening because President Biden and my Democratic colleagues have refused to support securing the border, and they refuse to hold themselves accountable for the humanitarian crisis that this has created. When Secretary Becerra testified before the Finance Committee about the Department of Health and Human Services budget request, he betrayed the same disregard for basic human decency as Secretary Mayorkas had. He used the opportunity to push his woke agenda items rather than focusing on poor operations of the Agency. Frankly, it is sad that there is even a question about whether a Senate-confirmed secretary is familiar with his own job description, especially when he can't answer basic questions about what is happening at the Agency he, supposedly, controls. At the end of February, the New York Times reported that over the course of Joe Biden's Presidency, his administration has lost--that is right, lost--more than 85,000 children who were under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. You heard me right. This administration has lost 85,000 children who were under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. To be clear, this is the office within the Department of Health and Human Services that is directly responsible for unaccompanied children who come across the border. And now we know that this Agency has lost immediate contact with one third of the children they are responsible for. The Times also reported that the Office of Refugee Resettlement may have approved sponsors who were under investigation for labor abuses and that case management officers may have been aware of children in dangerous situations but chose to do nothing. During his hearing, I asked Secretary Becerra about this, frankly, horrifying revelation, and he did exactly what his compatriots have done when confronted with their failures: He feigned ignorance. He claimed he had never heard of those 85,000 missing children. Joe Biden and the Democrats might be happy to pretend that we don't have a problem down on the border, but the American people are not pretending that this is not a problem. They watched President Biden throw away border security policies that were working in favor of an open-borders agenda that benefits no one except the drug cartels; the sex trafficking rings that are abusing women and girls; the human traffickers that are smuggling people, preying on people, and physically, mentally, emotionally, drugging and sexually abusing them as they make their journey. It is time to put politics aside and get serious about securing this border, and I encourage my colleagues: Please, join us in securing this border. Join us in saying let's enforce the laws we have on the books. Join us in saying let's eliminate the policies that incentivize breaking the law. Let's stand for the rule of law. Earlier this year, I introduced the Stop Taxpayer Funding of Traffickers Act, which would prohibit anyone charged with drug or human trafficking from receiving Federal government benefits while they await trial. We could pass this bill today, and we should pass it because it would make a difference. When I talked to local law enforcement, when I said, ``What would be a way to help?'' this is the idea they gave me. It is a problem that they have because many of these traffickers are getting government benefits, and we need to stop that today. We should also return to the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. We should end catch-and-release. And last but not least, let's get back to building that barrier. Border Patrol has told us for 30 years they need a physical barrier where they can have a barrier, and where they can't, they need better technology, they need more officers, more agents, more manpower and resources so that they can do their job, so they can protect this Nation's sovereignty, so they can protect our citizens. That is it. These are the things that would be a solution to helping rid this country of this fentanyl crisis, to helping rid this country of the gangs, the terrorists that are flooding into our country, the criminals coming into this country. This is something that should have bipartisan agreement. We should do this. Now, the Biden administration has touted its various White House staff and Cabinet nominees as being the most diverse in our Nation's history, but they all have one thing in common: Their priorities are at odds with what the American people are saying they want. Secretary Mayorkas refuses to do his job and secure the border, even though local law enforcement officials are begging him for help. Secretary Becerra can't be bothered to offer so much as a talking point on behalf of 85,000 missing children. Attorney General Garland has weaponized the law against conservatives and created two tiers of justice: one for the liberal elites and one for everybody else. Biden's nominee to lead the FAA withdrew in disgrace. His most recent nominee to the FCC has dedicated her career to violating the First Amendment. His Transportation Secretary is perpetually missing in action. And the Pentagon has yet to hold anyone accountable for one of the worst foreign policy disasters in American history. And, yes, that would be Afghanistan. The mainstream media loves to complain that the American people have lost all faith in institutions, but I would ask that media to just stop, look at what Joe Biden's government has done to the country, and ask themselves: Are we safer and more secure than we were 4 years ago? I yield the floor.