Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I rise today to honor a fellow Tennessean, a great American, and an exceptional member of the U.S. Air Force. Lt. Col. John D. ``Ike'' Fesler has distinguished himself through his professional character and dedication by serving this Nation in uniform. A leader and expert communicator, he has provided distinguished service to our country while assigned to the Air Force Senate Liaison Office. He is an outstanding leader and the perfect airman to represent the Air Force on Capitol Hill. Ike has honorably served in the Air National Guard and Navy for over 27 years in both the enlisted and officer ranks; during this time, he has led hundreds of airmen in support of U.S. Air Force missions worldwide. Throughout his career, Ike has demonstrated exceptional, unrivaled officership. During his time as director of operations, course director, and flight commander at the Academy of Military Science, Maxwell AFB, AL., he commissioned more than 150 Air National Guard officers. Ike spent 4 years in the White House Military Office, his last title being Director of Staff, Policy Plans and Requirements, a position where he led the human resource operations for a 250-person organization comprised of five military services, five billet sponsors, and numerous contract client partners, ensuring execution of Presidential continuity of operations were uninterrupted. Additionally, in direct support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, Ike was the deputy chief, public affairs at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, ensuring our fallen heroes were provided the dignified treatment they deserved. As a legislative liaison in the Air Force Senate Liaison Office from April 2021 to April 2023, Lieutenant Colonel Fesler performed his duties well and without reservation supporting the 117th and 118th U.S. Congresses. His strategic thinking and foresight helped to strengthen and improve our national security. Ike accomplished this utilizing his in-depth Air Force knowledge with numerous engagements between Congress and the Department of the Air Force. Ike expertly conveyed Department of the Air Force positions on the Air Force Future Design that included the future bomber, tanker, and fighter force. Ike's direct support provided the U.S. Senate critical information necessary for two National Defense Authorization Acts. His efforts helped solidify the U.S. Space Force, ensure the confirmation of the 26th Air Force Secretary and ensured the Department of the Air Force's support of the National Defense Strategy in our return to great power competition. Lieutenant Colonel Fesler planned and led numerous delegations for members of Congress on visits all over the world. In fact, I became acquainted with Ike in the run up to my recent official visit to Europe. Anyone who has attended one of these delegation trips knows that while the planning is stressful, the execution is downright arduous. But Ike persevered with a smile, gave 100 percent, and the trip went off without a hitch. Due to his direct involvement and stewardship of this delegation and others like it, Members of Congress were able to make informed decisions on issues of national defense, tech policy, and other culturally significant questions and of course ensure the Department of the Air Force was properly resourced and funded, along with their brothers and sisters in arms across the Armed Forces. After serving in this crucial role for the past 2 years and becoming a fixture on Capitol Hill, Lieutenant Colonel Fesler will retire from Active-Duty service. Ike has sacrificed much in service to our Nation. I am thankful for Ike's service and his work with my office and the Senate over the past 2 years on issues of vital importance to the United States. I salute this American patriot whose selfless service has kept our country safe and strong.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, today Tennesseans are mourning the loss of one of our most faithful public servants. On March 20, Williamson County District Attorney General Kim Helper passed away after a brief illness, leaving behind a legacy that prioritized family, community, and the pursuit of justice. Before she died, Kim dedicated her life to the practice of law. She worked for the Volunteer State for 25 years, rising through the ranks at the State attorney general's office before her 2008 appointment to the position of district attorney general for the 21st Judicial District. The people of Tennessee were so pleased with the work she was doing that they elected her to the post three times, most recently last year. When she wasn't doing her part to keep her community safe, Kim spent time improving it alongside the other members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Lodge No. 41 of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Keep Tennessee Beautiful Advisory Board, the Williamson County Republican Career Women, the Leadership Franklin Alumni Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, and Beta Sigma Phi Sorority. One can only imagine the heroic effort it took to work through all the obligations on her calendar, but that was the way Kim liked it. She will be dearly missed by all those who benefited from her knowledge and expertise; but in addition to being a model leader, Kim was also an excellent teacher. I look forward to seeing the young professionals she mentored fill the considerable space she has left behind. If they are anything like Kim, we can expect them to do the job with gusto. On behalf of all Tennesseans, I offer condolences to Kim's husband Gerry, her daughters Abby and Renee, and her many friends and ask my colleagues to pray that the memory of this happiest of warriors will serve as a source of comfort for all who loved her.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I so agree with my colleague from West Virginia and her comments about this budget. Here it is. I would encourage our citizens to pick it up and give it a read and look at some of the things that they are going to find in here. I think they are going to be aghast at what they find in here-- $477,000 to the IRS for equity training so that they can put an emphasis on equity. These are just some of the porked-up things that you are going to find in this left-leaning, radical, unrealistic wish list of a budget that this administration has brought forward. It really is a blueprint to socialism. Let's put the government in charge of everything, your life from daylight to dark every time you are out and about. Let's have control over your gas stove, over your washing machine, over your showerhead, over your toilet flusher. That is what my colleagues on the left see. That is their goal--control over the people, governing by the elite for the elite. That is what they are all about. But I am going to drill down a little bit on this funding request for the Internal Revenue Service. Now, President Biden is expecting the IRS to go to work, getting not just a few dollars but getting $4.7 trillion in new taxes. Imagine that. Tennesseans do not want to pay the government more of their hard- earned paycheck. They don't want to give it up to a government that is wasting that money because they realize it is our children and our grandchildren, our precious ones, who are going to have to pay the cost for this. It is compromising their futures on programs they don't want, with money we don't have. Why are you seeing all these tax increases? You are seeing them because the spending is out of control--a $6.9 trillion budget; $4.7 trillion in new taxes; a budget that in year 1--year 1--the deficit for year 1 is $1.8 trillion. That is how far out of balance this budget is. That is why this thing is a wish list. It is a wish list of programs. If you want to see how the left views the world, pick it up and give it a read. If you want to read in those words how little respect they have for the American people, for hard-working taxpayers, pick it up. They want your money. Now, on the IRS, the IRS--in this fiscal year, 2024, they will increase their appropriations to $14.1 billion. That is a $1.8 billion increase from the 2023 enacted level. And we know that in the Inflation Reduction Act--what did the IRS get? Oh, $80 billion. How about that? So the IRS now is going to have $94.1 billion to spend. Well, let's just ask the question: What do we think the IRS is going to use this money for? Do we think they are going to use it to make the Agency more user-friendly? Do we think they are going to use it to have people pick up the phone and say: Hi, I am your friendly IRS agent. How may I help you today? We know that is pipe-dreaming. That is not what they are going to do. Eighty billion dollars, plus a record $14.1 billion in an appropriation. They are going to use this money for what? More audits. Because why? President Biden wants $4.7 trillion--with a ``t,'' trillion--in new taxes. Where do we think he is going to get this money? Oh, they like to say, it is going to come from corporations. It is going to come from extremely wealthy individuals and billionaires. But you know what, there is a problem with the math on that. The numbers just don't work. It doesn't add up. Where are they going to get it? They are going to get it from small business manufacturers, from Main Street merchants, from the restaurants in your community. They are going to go get it from the manufacturing plant in your community. How about the HVAC contractor? How about the plumbing company? This is where they are going. Sound familiar? Of course it does because it is the middle- income earner who gets hit every single time. Every single time without fail, they are the ones who get hit by the tax increases the Democrats are wanting to push forward. Now, we know the IRS is not going to make that Agency more friendly. We know it is not going to be there to protect you, the hard-working taxpayer. But we do know that what they will do is wallop you upside the head and say: You owe this money. We are going to audit you. It is going to happen time and again. On top of all of this, inflation is soaring. Grocery prices are up about 20 percent; gasoline prices, 45 percent; natural gas prices, 43 percent. Electricity prices have increased 24 percent, and clothing prices are up 12 percent. But in this budget, there is nothing addressing inflation. There is nothing that is going to bring inflation down. There is not a lot of attention paid to crime in the streets or gangs who are coming across the border or the fact that the chief of the Border Patrol said today that they do not have--the United States does not have operational control of the border. There is not a cent there to build that wall, but there is money in there to pay for attorney fees for illegal immigrants. It is the wrong set of priorities, not what the American people are wanting, certainly not what Tennesseans are wanting to see, and not the accountability and transparency the American people expect from their government. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask for consent to speak for up to 20 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, every year, I meet with local leaders and citizens in all 95 Tennessee counties, and with each visit, I am more and more encouraged by the changes I see. Low taxes, pro-business policies, and less invasive government have encouraged growth that my Democratic colleagues are not seeing back in their States. But still many areas of Tennessee are hurting, and those that aren't are feeling the negative effects of inflation and broken supply chains. What has happened over the past few years is proof that these Tennessee families and businesses are much better at spending their own money than the Federal Government is at spending taxpayer money. They have to be because if they were as reckless with their paychecks as the Biden administration is with taxpayer funds, they would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. When they saw what the President put together in his latest budget request, they were not surprised, but they were incredibly discouraged at the idea of another year of Federal spending that leaves our southern border vulnerable and guarantees another year of unsustainable inflation. Joe Biden and the Democrats have made it their mission to tax and spend this country into oblivion, but adding insult to injury is their commitment to ignoring the actual problems the American people are facing on a local level: inflation, drugs, crime, and continued supply chain problems. During my recent visit with officials in Cannon County, they had a lot to say about how this failure to govern has affected their ability to follow through on even the most basic public works projects. Like many distressed counties around the country, Cannon County received emergency funding during the pandemic. They put it toward short-term projects that, for this community, were really a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to grow. But here is the problem: Over the past 2 years, my Democratic colleagues have spent so much money and driven inflation so high that any progress Cannon County leaders could have made with those projects has been completely washed out by the overall effects of inflation. For Joe Biden and the Democrats, this is something that is easily brushed aside, but for the people of Cannon County, it means that something as essential as a water project is stalled indefinitely. The topography of Cannon County makes it pretty hard to bring water in, but with this particular project, they would have been able to install a water line from neighboring Warren County and alleviate the pressure on their water supply. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would have provided relief. But, now, inflation and supply chain breakdowns have turned this project into a nightmare. Local leaders are questioning the construction estimates because they change or expire before their contractors can get their hands on the right materials. This means that by the time those materials come in, the county may not be able to pay for the work, and on and on it goes. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. The White House can spin this all they want, but this is not how business normally works. Joe Biden and the Democrats have embraced dysfunction at every turn and Tennesseans--they are the ones who are suffering. Our wide-open southern border has come up in every single county meeting I have taken since Joe Biden took his oath of office, and, over the past few years, we have watched the situation become increasingly dire. Every town is a border town, and every State is a border State, including Tennessee. When I was in McMinnville, earlier this year, local leaders described to me in great detail how the Biden administration's refusal to secure the border has pushed local police to the breaking point. For a town that small, the people of McMinnville should not be suffering from so much crime. But the flow of drugs is out of control, and the law enforcement officials I spoke with can trace it from their neighborhoods to the closest cartel distribution hub in Atlanta and then down to the southern border. They find fentanyl in just about every drug that they seize--deadly fentanyl. Overdoses caused by marijuana laced with fentanyl are common now, something that just a few years ago would have been rare if not unthinkable. The rampant availability of drugs has caused a crisis among teens and young people, who are now using at such a rate that law enforcement has nowhere to house juvenile offenders. Fentanyl, the leading killer of Americans age 18 to 45. Fentanyl, the fastest growing killer of children under 18 fentanyl. Fentanyl that is flooding across our southern border--14,000 pounds apprehended last year by Border Patrol. That is enough to kill 3.3 billion people--3.3 billion people. This is why every town is a border State. It is why every single local law enforcement official is saying: We need help. Secure that southern border. When I have talked to them about what they need to get a grip on the fentanyl issue, they have told me the same thing that local officials are telling other Members of this body: Secure the border and make the resources available so that we can get a grip on this. They need to hire more law enforcement officers. They need to give them better pay and training, and they need to expand antidrug programming for younger children. As sad as that is, they are the ones who are being introduced to and affected by these drugs. You could visit any county in the United States and probably hear very similar stories from local officials who have worked hard, kept their own spending in check, and who have done their best to plan for the future of their communities. They love their communities. They are worried about crime. They are worried about drugs. They want more choice and options for education. They want security in their local streets. Officials in the White House and here on Capitol Hill know what their policies have done to these local leaders and to the American people. They also know that the President's budget request doesn't reflect what they need or even what they want. They are asking for relief. They are not asking for new programs. They are not asking for pie in the sky. They are not wanting to see more bailouts. They don't need more mandates. What they need is relief--relief that will address inflation, relief that will address supply chains, relief that will address the drugs and the crime that is flowing across that southern border. These are issues they look at as root causes of rampant, out-of- control crime and out-of-control spending that has stalled growth in many communities. They won't be able to do that until Joe Biden and the Democrats realign their priorities with those of the American people. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, it is an honor to join my friends in Bradley County, TN, as they gather for the centennial celebration of their beloved library. The Cleveland Bradley County Public Library is more than just a repository for books and historic documents. When a dedicated group of local leaders first opened its doors in 1923, they did so knowing that there were no taxpayer funds available to support their vision of the library as a hub for local life. Not to be deterred, the community came together. Organizations like the Kiwanis Club held fundraisers to ``keep the lights on,'' and the Women's Club held annual ``book showers'' to keep the shelves full. That dedication to the pursuit of knowledge and community continues to this day. I want to thank Bradley County Mayor Gary Davis, city of Cleveland Mayor Kevin Brooks, and the library's many employees and patrons for supporting this unique and essential institution. I believe I speak for all Tennesseans when I say that I cannot wait to see what the next 100 years holds for you.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I am so pleased to come to the floor today in support of Senator Hagerty's legislation. It is so appropriate that we take this up, and I look forward to supporting the legislation as we vote later today and seeing this move to passage, seeing this become law, and seeing this add to protection for the citizens who live here in DC. Over the past few years, our Nation has certainly witnessed a devastating increase in violent crime. Compared to mid-2019, America's largest cities have experienced a 50-percent increase in homicides and a 36-percent increase in aggravated assaults. It is unimaginable that, given the rise in violence in this country, the elected officials of the DC City Council think it is a good idea to reduce the amount of jail time for violent and deadly crimes. This includes carjackings, and Senator Hagerty referenced one that was taking place in front of the protesters who were out there because they opposed this bill. Now, these crimes are rampant here in our Nation's Capital. In fact, as of this morning, the Metropolitan Police Department tells us that motor vehicle theft is up more than 100 percent compared to last year. Homicides are up 33 percent. If you look at the direction those stats have gone over the past 10 years, it is not encouraging--incidences of sex abuse up 120 percent, property crime up 30 percent. You don't have to live in the District to know that something has taken hold here, and reducing penalties for terrorizing innocent civilians is not the way to break free. Citizens should not feel unsafe in their communities, no matter where they live. Today's vote is about protecting the people from this failed leadership, but it is also about holding the DC City Council accountable for prioritizing a cynical political maneuver over the safety of the very people they represent. This body has made a name for itself, this DC City Council, this legislative body for the District of Columbia. They have made a name for themselves because they have cherry-picked some violations and have chosen to impose some truly ridiculous restrictions on what District residents can and cannot do. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt here. Right now, the council is ready to retreat, but it would be a dereliction of our duty as Senators to allow them to do that. That is why we are supporting Senator Hagerty in his resolution of disapproval and in his work to stop this foolishness from the DC Council. We also have a duty to update and improve existing laws to combat criminals as their tactics evolve. Earlier this year, I introduced the REPORT Act, which will go a long way in helping law enforcement tackle child exploitation online. The past few years of hearings with the Consumer Protection Subcommittee have made it clear that we need to modernize our child safety laws. The explosion of social media and the expansion of underage users is making these children vulnerable to predators, and law enforcement simply cannot keep up with what is happening online while they are out trying also to find the burglaries, the robberies, the carjackings. Once the Senate passes the REPORT Act, online platforms are going to be required to report all child sexual abuse material found on their sites to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline. Current law makes that step voluntary, but that standard is not working. We have to change it, and we have to make violating that new standard really hurt. The bill significantly increases fines imposed on platforms that refuse to do this bare minimum. It also requires platforms to report child sex trafficking and enticement crimes. Current law imposes no obligation--none, zero--on platforms to report those materials, which means that most of these crimes are, unfortunately, going undetected. The last two pieces of the bill will help law enforcement and advocates work together to bring down predators. It includes my END Child Exploitation Act, which extends the retention period for possession of abusive material to 1 year. This will ensure that law enforcement has enough time to access the evidence held by these companies and then prosecute the offenders. It also makes it clear that the vendors working with NCMEC, minors, and parents who report to the CyberTipline won't be held liable for possessing child sexual abuse material. I am so pleased that so many of my colleagues have come to the floor today to talk about the rise in crime. The backlash against the DC crime bill highlights the fundamental difference between the left's priorities and the priorities of the American people. Anybody with a bit of common sense would look at the DC City Council's proposal and ask: Why would they even consider sending such a weak-on-crime message? It is an invitation to criminals to come and carry out their crimes. It is time for the left to revisit their priorities and start paying attention to what the crime stats are telling them. The status quo isn't working, but surrendering to violence, lawlessness, and despair isn't the answer either. On the Federal level, my Democratic colleagues need to support Federal, State, and local law enforcement and demand that this President nominate experienced judges. Here in the Senate, we can help by making sure that police departments are able to hire, train, and equip officers with the tools that they need to do their job. Last Congress, Senator Hagerty and I introduced the Restoring Law and Order Act, which would have repurposed the billions of dollars the Democrats handed to the IRS and used that money to support law enforcement and eliminate the rape kit backlog. We can also modernize existing laws that are no longer working. I welcome my Democratic colleagues to come talk with me about how the REPORT Act will help catch child predators who are taking advantage of new technology to find their victims. I encourage them to join Senator Hagerty and me in restoring law and order, and I encourage each of them to stand today with Senator Hagerty, vote for his resolution, and take a stand against the warped priorities of the DC City Council. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, in the months leading up to the 2020 election, Joe Biden distanced himself from the far-left wing of the Democratic Party and pitched himself as a moderate, and for the most part, the media happily played along right until day 1 of the Biden administration--when Joe Biden handed the reins to the most radical slate of nominees this country has ever seen. The Democrats claim that this administration is transformative, but that is not what Tennesseans believe. All they see is a President who is not in control of his government and a host of unelected bureaucrats on a mission to rip apart this country and to rebuild it in their image. That is the kind of transformation they are carrying out in this country. This complete disregard for the American people was on display last week during Attorney General Merrick Garland's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It became clear to me from listening to his testimony and reviewing his tenure as our Attorney General that he has truly created a two-tiered system of justice in this country--two systems of justice, two different types of investigations. Now, under these two separate tiers of investigations and response and justice, there is one standard that applies to people of faith, to parents, to conservatives--really, the heartland of America--and then there is a separate standard for the liberal political elite--people who are after power, people who want to control your life. Since the Dobbs opinion leak, violence and threats of violence have increased among far-left groups but not among pro-life and conservative groups. Still, the Garland DOJ has targeted pro-life advocates for investigation, prosecution, and even full-scale FBI raids. Let me give you some examples of this. Over 70 pro-life pregnancy centers have been targeted by leftwing activists; yet only 2 individuals have been indicted. Compare that with 25 pro-life advocates indicted under the FACE Act just in the last 5 months. The Attorney General has been keeping very close tabs on the pro-life community. As I said, there are 25 who are being prosecuted while only 2 are being prosecuted after having carried out 70 acts of vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches. But he is watching this pro-life community very closely, so I admit I was a little taken aback when he claimed in his testimony that he was completely unaware of a widely reported attack on a crisis pregnancy center in Nashville. The far-left abortion advocacy group Jane's Revenge appears to have claimed responsibility for the fire-bombing attempt on the Hope Clinic for Women, but the Attorney General is still unwilling to classify this group as a domestic terrorist organization. You heard me right. They fire-bombed a pro-life pregnancy center--a center there to help women with healthcare, to provide diapers for newborns, formula for babies. This group, Jane's Revenge--they were so proud of their work that they spray-painted their name on the walls and took credit for it. Now, Mr. Garland likes to throw around the label ``domestic terrorist'' when it comes to parents who are concerned about what their children are being taught in school, but he will not use it to condemn far-left radicals who attempt to burn down a crisis pregnancy center. The American public should find this appalling and completely unacceptable. Tennesseans find this unacceptable. It is also unacceptable that he won't enforce the Federal law that explicitly prohibits protesters from intimidating our Supreme Court Justices. That is right--there is a Federal statute against this, but he is not prosecuting these individuals. Five Justices and their families have endured unimaginable harassment from the constant protesting outside of their private homes. One Justice has even fallen victim to an assassination attempt, but no one--not one, zero, no one-- has been indicted or prosecuted. This is a Federal crime. It is a law on the books. This is two tiers of justice at work. The American people can see this, and when I am at home in Tennessee, I hear a lot about this. It doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum someone sits on. I hear complaints about this two tiers of justice from Republicans, Democrats, Independents. The reason you do is that people know, sometimes when you establish such a precedent, that it leads to areas you don't want to go and seeing that continue. We are a nation of laws that believes in the rule of law. Here are more examples of this two tiers of justice. Pro-life advocates are being targeted for prosecution and arrest while far-left, pro-abortion radicals are free to commit violence in our communities. Concerned parents are labeled domestic terrorists. Our Supreme Court Justices, who are subject to relentless protests outside of their homes, are not being protected, and there is not a bit of concern from the country's chief law enforcement officer. I ask you, does that sound like normal conduct to you? Of course not. It was, as Chairman Durbin said after another recent meeting of the Judiciary Committee, a rough hearing. Conditions weren't much better over in the Commerce Committee last week, where my Republican colleagues and I truly struggled to see why President Biden had nominated someone with only a year and a half of aviation experience to lead the FAA. That is right--a year and a half of aviation experience to lead our Federal Aviation Administration. Phil Washington's only relevant experience amounts to a year-and-a-half stint at the Denver Airport. He is totally unqualified to lead an Agency that is desperate for true leadership. The FAA's main mission is to protect and ensure the safety of the flying public, but instead of prioritizing safety, what has Mr. Washington chosen to prioritize in Denver? Well, Mr. Washington's goal is to enshrine diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at the Federal level. During his hearing, I asked him why he included DEI policies in Denver Airport's procurement process. That is right--procurement. The FAA's current process, which is already terribly long and convoluted, would nearly collapse under the effects of a DEI mandate, but Mr. Washington made it clear he believes that, while the FAA should, indeed, focus on problems like the NOTAM incident and making sure planes don't crash into each other, he would redirect needed attention toward a controversial and unpopular, woke crusade that would do nothing to improve the safety of the flying public. The administration needs to go back to the drawing board and send the Senate a nominee with true aviation safety experience. Unfortunately, a lack of experience was the least of our concerns in the case of another Biden nominee who moved through the Senate last week. On Thursday, the Finance Committee voted to advance the nomination of Danny Werfel to be Commissioner of the IRS. The IRS has a long history of doing whatever it decides it wants to do, from the Lois Lerner scandal, which Mr. Werfel is very familiar with, to last year when the IRS decided to destroy 30 million taxpayer documents--something we only know about because the Treasury's inspector general alerted us. The IRS did not alert Congress. The IRS has been out of control for too long, and the fact that we have seen this Agency move forward on a so-called transformative agenda without a confirmed Commissioner in charge is proof that in this administration--you have people in that White House who are not sending forward nominees who have the relevant experience and who are qualified to do the job to which they are being appointed. While I commend Mr. Werfel for being willing to serve our country, his responses during the confirmation hearing and the information he submitted in writing did little to inspire confidence in his willingness to take back control of this Agency. Tennesseans have serious concerns about how the IRS plans to use that $80 billion blank check that the Democrats gave them this year. They know that under the current regime, this will lead to more audits and more harassment not of big corporations but of--guess what--small businesses, gig economy workers, and Main Street merchants. Meanwhile, taxpayers are sitting ducks for hackers and other bad actors who have found it far too easy to access and steal data from the IRS's own systems. The American people are entitled to know how any nominee, asking to lead this Agency, will approach the job. The last thing they want to be told is, well, just wait and see. And there you have it--1 week of damage and disregard for the American people, courtesy of President Joe Biden and the Senate Democrats. There is only one way that the Biden administration will be able to earn back the confidence of the American people, and that is to start respecting the norms and institutions that our great Nation is built upon. This will require everyone from the President on down to discipline themselves and show the same common sense that Tennesseans show every day as they stretch their budgets to try to deal with high inflation, the prices at the grocery store, and the price at the pump as they try to work through dealing with crime in their communities courtesy of the gangs coming in over the southern border and with drugs running into our communities-- again, coming over that open southern border. I am not optimistic that President Biden and the Democrats are going to buckle down and be serious about securing our border and about bringing forward nominees who are competent and ready to serve in this administration or judges who have the relevant experience to serve on a Federal bench, but I welcome the Democrats to buckle down, get serious, and take governing seriously. Let's make certain that they bring forward people who are going to do the job with respect for the American people. 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. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Young and I each be able to speak for 5 minutes prior to the scheduled vote.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, last year, Senate Democrats used the budget reconciliation process to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. They did this without a single Republican vote. Included in that monstrosity was an $80 billion payday for the Internal Revenue Service--more than 6.5 times the amount of funding the IRS would normally receive in any given year. After this happened, I had a lot of Tennesseans ask me: Why does the IRS need that much money? Many of them are really fearful that the IRS is going to come after them and their small businesses. And you know what. They are probably right. The Biden administration insists they are going to use this $80 billion to help the IRS answer the telephones because they are only answered about 20 percent of the time, but we know that it means more audits for small businesses, small business manufacturers, and Main Street merchants. This administration has never once passed up an opportunity to expand government power, and they aren't about to stop now. We know this expansion will lead to needless harassment. That is the nature of Big Government. But I am equally concerned about the sheer amount of data the IRS has scraped up during investigations. The IRS already collects far more data than they need. In 2022, they hired a contractor to block taxpayers from accessing government services unless they handed over sensitive biometric data. They already have your name, address, and Social Security number, but now they want to collect a picture of your government ID, your fingerprints, and a selfie photo. Why in the world would we allow the IRS to collect this data? The answer, of course, is that most people wouldn't let them have it if they had a choice. But the IRS wants to force this on the American people. To make matters worse, we know that they are completely incapable of protecting the data they have access to. Let's just take a moment and look at some of the instances where the IRS has shown their disregard for your data security. In 2015, hackers exposed more than 700,000 taxpayers' Social Security numbers. In 2017, the IRS notified Congress that hackers had accessed more than 100,000 Federal student aid accounts. In 2021, the infamous ProPublica leak unlawfully exposed financial information on many prominent Americans. In 2022, the 990-T leak exposed the sensitive info of more than 100,000 taxpayers not once but twice. But even on a good day, the top men at the IRS have refused to prioritize data security. They still haven't responded to inquiries I made about what security protocols they implemented as part of their ``work from home'' policy. The IRS should be collecting the minimum amount of information required to do their job, and they should be doing all they can to protect your information. Instead, this Agency has a giant flashing sign out front inviting hackers to browse their files. These bad actors already know the IRS is vulnerable, and we will not be able to control that threat until the IRS abandons its latest power grab and prioritizes data security. This is what the Biden administration needs to focus on before it spends 80 billion taxpayer dollars harassing the American people. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, in keeping with their promise to fundamentally transform the country, Joe Biden and the Democrats have done everything in their power to fundamentally transform the Federal judiciary. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I have been able to interact with many of these nominees, and I have to say that I fully believe the American people deserve better. There was Charnelle Bjelkengren, Joe Biden's nominee to the Eastern District of Washington. Now, she couldn't tell the committee what article II of the Constitution says, but I expect my Democratic colleagues will send her nomination to the floor this Thursday. Dale Ho, who received the unanimous support of committee Democrats to serve in the Southern District of New York, referred to himself as a ``wild-eyed sort of leftist'' and disparaged members of the committee on Twitter. Before she was nominated to serve on the Fourth Circuit, DeAndrea Benjamin released multiple people on bond who went on to commit more violent crimes. She, too, received the unanimous support of committee Democrats. Todd Edelman, who is well on his way to becoming a district judge here in the District of Columbia, also displayed soft-on-crime tendencies. He released a known criminal who then went on to participate in the murder of a child. He received yet another vote of unanimous support from committee Democrats. Marian Gaston, nominee to the Southern District of California, wrote a policy paper arguing that we should do away with residence restrictions for convicted child sex offenders. Orelia Merchant, nominee to the Eastern District of New York, couldn't define ``originalism.'' This is an embarrassment, and it gets even worse, and it gets even worse when you look at the lack of qualification of the nominees the Democrats are sending for lifetime appointments to the Federal bench. Few nominations have been as disturbing as President Biden's elevation of Michael Delaney to the First Circuit. To date, Mr. Delaney's most noteworthy contribution to his profession is the vicious intimidation of an underage sexual assault survivor who dared to speak out against one of his clients. My colleagues on the Judiciary Committee already know the story of what Mr. Delaney did to Chessy Prout and her family, but I am going to repeat it here for my colleagues who are unfamiliar with this nominee's background. You should vote against this nominee, and here is why. When she was a freshman at the elite St. Paul's Boarding School, Chessy Prout was sexually assaulted by an older student participating in ``senior salute.'' This was a campus-wide competition that encouraged senior men to commit statutory rape. The perpetrator was ultimately found guilty of misdemeanor statutory rape, but the Prouts wanted their day in court with a civil suit. They had evidence that the powers that be at St. Paul's knew about this sick tradition. Mr. Delaney represented the school, and he decided he was going to play hardball. He moved to have Chessy, who was a minor child, named publicly in a lawsuit that had garnered national attention. That is right--let's publicly name this child in a lawsuit that had garnered national attention. I would ask my colleagues, does that sound like an action that someone who is going to sit on the Federal bench should be taking? Mr. Delaney knew that if he exposed Chessy as Jane Doe, he would put her at risk of bullying, social isolation, and physical harm. He knew that, but it was worth it to him because it meant he could silence Chessy Prout, and he could go on and protect an elite private school that had a sick tradition. Their leadership knew about that sick tradition. Most of my Republican colleagues came to Mr. Delaney's confirmation hearing, and they questioned him about this action. Only two of my Democratic colleagues chose to attend the hearing and to question him. Why? Because even my friends on the other side of the aisle who have rubberstamped each of President Biden's unqualified nominees, no matter how controversial they were, they knew this guy, Mr. Delaney, is unfit to sit on the bench. I would say two things to Chairman Durbin and the rest of my Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. First, even a cursory glance at this nominee's record should have landed his file in the trash can. You don't do this. You do not do this to minor children. But now that his nomination is facing a vote, you need look no further into Mr. Delaney's record than what has already been laid out before us. He harassed and threatened a 15-year-old little girl who survived a sexual assault and who was just trying to protect other young women at that school from that same fate. That should be enough for every single member on the Judiciary Committee to oppose this nomination. It should be enough for every Member of this Chamber to oppose his nomination and confirmation. Confirming Mr. Delaney would send a chilling message--a chilling message--to victims of sexual assault. No victim would ever be able to walk into his courtroom and feel that they would be treated fairly under the law after seeing the way he treated Chessy Prout. I wanted to let Chessy speak for herself in a letter she submitted to the Judiciary Committee. My concern is that many of my colleagues in this Chamber have not seen this letter. Indeed, I am concerned that Members of the Democratic caucus who did not attend the hearing are unaware of this letter. So I will allow her to speak. I quote: If Michael Delaney is confirmed--if an attorney who brazenly intimidated a minor victim of sexual assault is given the distinct privilege to serve as a judge for the United States Court of Appeals--YOU-- Meaning every single one of you who would vote for him-- --are telling victims and survivors that you not only approve of victim intimidation tactics, you reward their enactors with one of the highest legal appointments in the state of Massachusetts. I expressed my concerns to . . . the Department of Justice when Michael Delaney was first nominated in April of 2022, and today I am urging you to vote ``NO'' to Michael Delaney's nomination. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Chessy's full letter be printed in the Record alongside my remarks.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. The White House knew that Mr. Delaney was unfit to serve, but they nominated him anyway. For the sake of young men and women around this country who are survivors of sexual assault, I urge President Biden to withdraw Michael Delaney's nomination, and I call on my Democratic colleagues to urge the White House to withdraw this nomination. If they do not withdraw this nomination of a man who intimidated a minor child, exposing a minor child, who is unfit to serve--I urge you to vote no if the White House does not pull this nomination.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, each spring, women from across the Volunteer State gather to vie for the title of Miss Tennessee USA. Those who shine brightest earn the privilege of competing for Miss USA's coveted crown; but more importantly, they set an example for young women in their own communities. For 30 years, my friend and fellow Tennessean Kim Greenwood has mentored scores of dreamers seeking their place in this family of civic leaders. As executive director of the Miss Tennessee USA and Miss Tennessee Teen USA State Pageants, Kim has transformed these competitions into opportunities for growth and self-discovery. A former Tennessee Junior Miss and Miss Tennessee USA herself, she knows better than most how to empower ambitious young women to become positive examples of service and success that will transform the lives of little girls back home. On behalf of all Tennesseans, I want to thank Kim for helping so many young women harness their potential and build for themselves the beautiful and fulfilling lives they have always dreamed of.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, in 1973 the citizens of Fairview, TN set out to solve a problem. Their community was growing, but individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities were being left behind. Not content to ignore their plight, a small group of families and local leaders put their heads together. After much deliberation, Waves was born. 50 years later, what started as a small but significant passion project has blossomed into a pillar of the Williamson County community. Each day, close to 100 full-time and part-time employees and volunteers serve more than 700 children and adults through early learning, adult day service, adult residential, and employment programs. Here in Washington, we provide what support we can to community programs like these. But, as the people at Waves and other places like it will tell you, what keeps these organizations going is the support of their friends and neighbors and the belief in the possibility of a loving and more supportive world. As they celebrate their 50th anniversary, I want to thank the dedicated team at Waves for giving so much of themselves to this cause. On behalf of all Tennesseans, I wish you the very best and look forward to seeing what you do next.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask permission to complete my remarks prior to the vote.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, you would have to look long and hard to find a Tennessee family who is better off now than they were before Joe Biden became President. By the end of last year, Tennesseans were paying an extra $629 per month just to cover the cost of inflation caused by this spending spree that Biden has been on--a $6 trillion spending spree. Madam President, it is $629 per month, per family, in Tennessee. I am noticing on my chart that in Hawaii, your monthly inflation costs are $802 per month, for an overall impact of $9,600. That is what this agenda is costing your constituents and my constituents in Tennessee. This is an enormous premium on the bare minimum, and Tennesseans know exactly who is responsible for this. After 2 years of hearing their stories, I am positive that not one person working in the White House has bothered to leave Washington, DC, and witness for themselves what is happening to American families as they try to work their way through this. It sure doesn't sound like my Democratic colleagues here in the Senate have been paying much attention to what is happening with families back home because if they had taken the time to put themselves in the shoes of a family who is trying to stretch that paycheck month after month after month, they never would have justified wasting families' money on social justice programs and green energy schemes. And the list goes on and on. Now those families, who have already been drained by Joe Biden's spending, are running out of things to cut in their family budgets. Small businesses are running out of places that they can cut back in their small business while they are trying to keep the doors open. What we are hearing in Tennessee is this: There is less meat on the dinner table than there was a year ago because it costs almost 9 percent more to buy chicken and beef than just last year. They probably don't have cereal for the kids in the morning because the price of one box of cereal has risen about 16 percent. Here we are in the dead of winter, and Tennesseans are paying upwards of 15 percent more to keep the heat on in their houses--15 percent more than they paid last year. If the kids lose a coat at school, it is going to cost 3 percent more to get a new one. If it snows, socks and boots are going to come at the same premium. These percentages are adding up, and right now these families are praying that they will be able to move around money so that they can keep the kids warm, keep them in school, and keep the house dry. These are not things that are luxuries; they are necessities. The impact of inflation is measurable--measurable--to Tennessee families. Local officials all across Tennessee are feeling a different sort of pain when they confront the effects of inflation. Earlier this month, I spoke about the incredible growth that is happening right now in West Tennessee. Companies like Ford Motor Company are moving in, and they are bringing thousands of jobs with them. Now the pressure is on our county mayors and other local officials to start building out roads and utility services to support these projects. Officials in these rural counties have worked hard to keep their budgets balanced and their costs down. They, too, have basically done everything right. They balanced their budget. They have a rainy-day fund. Yet they are still struggling to prepare for the future because even a healthy budget can't cover the cost of inflation. Supplies are too expensive. Raw materials are too expensive. Pipe for the water project is up 400 percent. Can't get transformers for utility projects. Can't keep all of the emergency vehicles and the schoolbuses and the county road department--those vehicles running because of the cost of diesel and what it has done. What we know is that many things are just too expensive to afford. Money for luxuries? No. We have to keep the doors open, the lights on, keep them heated, and keep the buses running. Everything from electrical equipment to parts for emergency vehicles comes with a big price tag. But there is something that Joe Biden and my Democratic colleagues could do about this. They could do it if they wanted to, if they chose to. It is amazing that they have chosen not to do this. If the Democrats continue to spend, inflation will continue to rise. Economic growth will stagnate. The debt burden will become so large that future generations will never be able to escape it. You know that debt burden right now is about $95,000 per U.S. citizen? $95,000. I have a grandchild due this year. When that baby is born, he is going to have his share--$95,000--of our Nation's debt. Per taxpayer, that comes out to about a quarter million dollars. I would say: Is that moral, is it immoral to pass this on to our children and grandchildren? This debt burden will be very difficult for future generations to escape. And the people who have already lost so much to this Big Government will continue to suffer. For 2 years, the Biden administration has appeared to ignore that type of suffering. Now, I say ``ignored'' because it would be impossible for them to not know how obvious and unhappy the American people are with this impact of inflation and the cost of living on them every day. A Reuters poll recently released just before President Biden delivered his State of the Union Address shows that 65 percent of Americans think that this country is on the wrong track. A year ago, 58 percent of Americans believed we were on the wrong track. So it is safe to say that not only are they unhappy, they see this downward spiral that Joe Biden and the Democrats have thrown them into. The only way out of this is to get our fiscal house in order. And that does include cutting spending. Last week, I introduced legislation to cut Federal spending by 1 percent. That is one penny out of every dollar. Every Agency should be able to save a penny out of their budget. And if they can do that 1 penny, maybe they could do 2 pennies; maybe they could do 5 pennies. We could pass those bills this month to cut 1 percent, 2 percent, or 5 percent out of the budget. Putting politics aside, it is going to take making certain that we prioritize fiscal responsibility. The frustration that the American people feel with what has happened in this building on the Democrats' watch doesn't compare to the pain the people in this country feel when they explain to their kids why there is less food in their lunch boxes this week, why there are different food items on the table when they come home every night. But 13-percent food inflation--that is tough. That is tough on families. You couple that with the amount of inflation at the gas pump and life becomes incredibly expensive. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, as my colleague from Texas said, people are looking forward to hearing what the President will say and what he will not say tonight. As I have been home over the weekend, one of the things I have heard from Tennesseans about is the out-of-control Federal spending. Now, we know what the Democrats have done in plussing up the budget for the last couple of years, but one number kind of stuck with me, and it is about $3.6 trillion--that is taxpayer dollars--that has been spent on Democratic wish-list items. A lot of this is the Green New Deal. A lot of this is the reckless spending agenda they are pushing. Now, they forced through, in 2021, $1.85 trillion in spending. Then they came back around, and they wanted to talk about inflation. Joe Biden had 1.4 percent inflation when he took office, and because of this out-of-control spending and spending more and more and more and hundreds of billions of dollars, we saw inflation in June of 2022 hit 9.1 percent. People are frustrated about this. But one of the things that got Tennesseans was the fact that this President didn't say: Well, it is because we put all this money-- Federal spending--your dollars--we are putting these back out there. No, he blamed Vladimir Putin. It was Putin's fault. To Tennesseans, this was outrageous. It was the ``go blame somebody else'' game. The Biden administration's neglect of the economy and their complete disregard for the destructive effects of their spending is something that has caught the attention of Tennesseans. This term for this President wasn't even halfway over, and already his policies are making everyday life too expensive to afford. To be clear, Tennesseans talk to me about being worried about the basics of life: food security, food for the table, clothes for the kids, gas for the car. They feel like this agenda, this set of priorities that this administration has, is just peeling away a lot of their life, their living, their enjoyment, because there is no extra money left over. It is all going into necessities. They are struggling to manage 6.5 percent inflation. They are looking at the cost of food that is up 13 percent from where it was a year ago. Keeping the heat on in this cold winter is 15 percent more. And it is the same story when you talk about school supplies and when you talk about clothes for the kids. It is the same story here in Washington, where it seems that Joe Biden and this administration and the Democrats are once again poised and ready to spend more money. They are wanting to raise the debt ceiling without even a conversation about spending cuts. To Tennesseans, that is outrageous. Now, my Democratic colleagues have spent a lot of time talking about what will happen if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, and I don't think anyone here denies that the country has some serious discussions that need to be had. But I would ask my colleagues to remember that raising the debt ceiling is not a green light to keep spending money until we crash into another debt ceiling. Tennesseans understand this. They spent 2 years cutting costs because common sense told them that you just can't keep spending with reckless abandon, and they want to know why the Democrats in Washington don't get this. Yes, indeed, everybody spends too much up here; but why are my Democratic colleagues unwilling to talk about making any cuts? Now there are some things that we could do to start this process. There are three bills that I file every single year. When the Presiding Officer and I were across the dome in the House, I would file these bills every single year, because it is common sense. They would make a 1-percent or a 2-percent or a 5-percent across-the-board spending cut. Every Federal Agency ought to be able to do that. The American people do that. Making that one penny out of a dollar reduction in spending would save us money. There again, you do this in the discretionary spending to get things rolling. Start it there--a penny in a dollar. How about two pennies in a dollar? If you take a penny out of a dollar, that would save you $5.2 billion. If you did that just in discretionary--didn't do it in the military, didn't do it in mandatory spending--just discretionary--2 cents out of the dollar, then you are going to get more than $10 billion in savings. These are small, little steps. But, you know what? In the end, if you do that, if you cut a nickel out, it saves $26 billion. Do it every year. Do it so we are not wasting taxpayers' money. This is not government money. It is not your money. It is not my money. It is not the money of this Chamber or the House. It is the money of the people of this country, and we are charged with spending that carefully, accountably, and transparently to the people. Tennesseans cannot take and they will not accept another year of this reckless spending. They are demanding change, and this is the barest minimum of what they would accept--tiny little cuts like that, just in the right direction, and then holding to it. Don't come back in 2 years and say: We have to raise the debt. They want to see some structural change. Now, unfortunately, the President has said that he has no plans to negotiate his spending levels. It will be interesting to see what he has to say about this tonight, because to Tennesseans, it is almost, unfortunately--somebody said this weekend--it is laughable. It is shameful that he does not want to negotiate, that he is not going to talk about spending less, that he only wants to talk about spending more. Senate Democrats cannot keep putting off this debate in order to save the President's failed agenda. Our job is not to serve the White House. It is to serve the American people. And they are saying: Do something about the wasteful, out-of-control spending. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I had the opportunity this month to make a trip down to the southern border. And this was not my first trip down to that southern border. And I will have to say that I found our Border Patrol more discouraged than ever before. And I looked at it, and I really kind of used it as a basis for comparison every time I go down there, whether I am in California or Arizona or Texas, just talking with them and hearing where they are and what they are seeing and what their experiences are on the border every single day. And many of them feel like their job is an impossible task. And this trip, I was in the Del Rio sector in Texas and had the opportunity to also talk with the Texas military that is down there on the border with the Texas DPS. They are down there on the border working. And there at Eagle Pass is where so many people are crossing into the country. And one of the things that they pointed out was they really can't stop this flow because, basically, the Biden administration has told them they can't stop this flow. So we did a little checking into what has actually transpired since Joe Biden went into office. And, according to the Migration Policy Institute--which is not a conservative group, by any means; it is a more liberal policy think tank--in Joe Biden's first 100 days, he took 94 Executive actions that undermined the job that the Border Patrol is trying to do on that southern border. So think about this. You are in service to your country, and the Commander in Chief is taking actions that make your job--the job that you have taken an oath to do--making that job harder to do, harder to execute your job. Well, now, those who believe in open border policy, they think that taking 94 Executive actions to make it easier for people to illegally enter the country--they would see that as a good thing. But those of us who are constitutionalists, those of us who really believe in the rule of law, those of us who want our Nation to have an immigration policy that honors the rule of law, we look at that and we say: 94 Executive actions take a branch of this government, an Agency of this government, and makes it more difficult for them to do their job. Now, many of my colleagues across the aisle have been no help in getting this situation at the border under control. They have voted to keep sending checks, basically, to those who illegally enter the country. They have approved a payday--a massive payday--a lot of funding going out to many of these sanctuary cities. And, in 2022, Democrats voted to expand the Biden administration's catch-and-release policy. This is people who are apprehended at the border and then they kind of get a checkmark. They get a plane ticket or a bus ticket to somewhere in the country and are told to show up on a date, maybe 2 years in the future, and have their asylum claim heard. What they have also done--my Democratic friends across the aisle--is they have voted against giving Border Patrol the funding that they need to control the chaos that that policy has created. So to many of us, it seems like things are backward; they are upside down. There should be agreement that we are going to honor the rule of law. There should be agreement that we are going to protect our sovereignty. There should be agreement that our border will be closed. There should be agreement that we are going to fund the Border Patrol. There should be agreement that we are going to fund ICE. There should be agreement that we are going to fund title 42, that we are going to fund building the border wall, and that we are going to fund additional screening for dangerous narcotics like fentanyl. But that has not been the case. So open border, yes. But also, according to Border Patrol, what we have in this country with this administration is a lawless border policy. That is right--a lawless border policy. And here is the reason for that. That was not said lightly. But it has become the reality because of the intentionality of this administration to leave that border open, to pass those Executive actions--a President, 94 Executive actions--that make it more difficult for Border Patrol to do their job--94. That is what you call intentional. That is what you call undermining what should be the policy and the support on the southern border for our Border Patrol. Now, if you want to look at it on a month by month basis--December. Let's take just the month of December. Traditionally, you don't have as many people crossing in December, but because we have seen the border open and the ``You all come'' sign hanging out on that border, you have people coming across that border in record numbers. In Yuma, AZ, they said they had people from 176 different countries speaking 200 different languages coming across that border. In the month of December alone, there were 250,000--a quarter million--illegal encounters. These are the ones that the Border Patrol was able to apprehend. They are the ones who touch U.S. soil, raise their hands, and say: We claim asylum--250,000. And over the past 2 years, there have been more than 4.1 million illegal border crossings. This is a record. And you have the got-aways--the known got-aways--that you can see on surveillance but you can't get to them. And as Border Patrol will tell you, the really bad guys--the really, really bad guys--the unknown got-aways, they are the ones they don't see, but they are slipping into the country. How do they know they are here? They find what they drop when they come across the river. They find clothes and shoes--carpet shoes. They see tracks. They see cars that come and pick these individuals up. Do we have criminals coming into this country? Absolutely, we do. In Eagle Pass, they told us that in the first 3 months of this fiscal year, in fiscal 2023, they apprehended 143 convicted criminals. Now, these are people who had committed felonies, whether it is rape or armed robbery or manslaughter. These are people with a criminal record. Last year, in 2022, they apprehended 98 terrorists. They have apprehended dozens of gang members, MS-13 gang members. And the thing that is so critical about this is that these individuals don't stay in Yuma or El Paso or Eagle Pass. That is where they come across, and they are ending up in your towns. They are ending up in Wisconsin. They are ending up in Tennessee, my beloved State. I was talking with a police chief from Tennessee before I came over here. In rural Tennessee, the vast majority of the drugs they apprehend are either fentanyl or fentanyl-laced. They are using Narcan more than they ever thought they would need to use Narcan. TBI told us last month that the cartel is active in Tennessee. Last week, I was visiting with a police chief from another city there in my State, and he said: Oh, it is not only active in the State; it is active right here in our town. He talked about some of the loss of life. So as we discuss what is happening at the border, we have to look at the humanitarian crisis there. Yes, everybody coming across that border, they will pay the cartel. Now, think about that. They paid $5,000, $7,000, $10,000, whatever is the going rate. They are flying into places like Mexicali, Mexico, and then they are coming across the border. Cartels are global organizations now. They are Big Business. Human trafficking is a $13 billion-a-year business. It has grown in the last few years from a $500 million-a-year business to a $13 billion-a-year business. All of this ends up in our communities. Indeed, every town is a border town. Every State is a border State right now because of this lawless border policy that is taking place at our southern border. When you talk to the Border Patrol, they will tell you that there is a way to get this under control. Was it better under the previous administration? Yes. The numbers were down. They did not see as many crossings because people understood that we were going to do some basic things. We were going to enforce the law. We were going to eliminate and we did eliminate the incentives for people to come. We had ``Remain in Mexico.'' We ended catch-and-release. We had title 42. And we were doing what the Border Patrol has said for three decades they need: a physical barrier. People commonly called it ``Build the wall.'' And wherever a wall could be built, there was a plan to build it, and they were working on it. And having people working on that border made certain that you didn't have those border crossings. Border Patrol has also said that they need better surveillance because, right now, the cartels have better technology than our Border Patrol. Think about this. With the cartels--multinational, big business--you don't cross the border any way, shape, or form--sex trafficking, human trafficking, gangs, drug trafficking. Nobody and nothing comes across that border without the cartel getting their cut. That is what is happening, and our Border Patrol is saying: Here is what we need. There is a way to fix this. We can fix this issue. The Border Patrol says: Look, let us enforce the laws that are on the books. We have immigration laws. Let's enforce them. So you see why it is frustrating to them when you have a President and a Department of Homeland Security, and the President is signing 94 Executive actions that make it harder for them to do their job. It defies common sense. Eliminate the monetary incentives that are out there. The cartel feels like they have a great business model. They get people to the border. People raise their hands, claim asylum. Then the U.S. taxpayer picks up the tab, buys them a plane ticket, a bus ticket, and gets them wherever they are wanting to go in the country. When was the last time the Federal Government did something like that for you? Wherever you want to go, we will give you a ticket. We will get you there. We will provide you food, housing, shelter. Look at those economic incentives and remove those. As I said, ``Remain in Mexico,'' building the wall, those are things that the Border Patrol--those are the things that people who live on the border--tell us need to be done. I was down here earlier this week talking about this trip and talked about a visit I had at a ranch. It was out in Uvalde. I met with people from Kinney County, TX, and from Uvalde, and some ranchers, some farmers, some business owners. Right now, with this border policy, it is making it very difficult for them to ranch. Some of them have cattle on their ranches. The migrants come in. They cut fences. So they are bearing that cost of fences. Some are farmers with watermelons, lettuce, and cabbage, and their fields are getting torn up. Pecan orchards are being run through. And they are saying: Help us. One rancher looked at me, and he said: Marsha, how long can we continue this, and what is the endgame? Because he has people who die and they end up on his ranch, he finds it hard to do their cattle business. We need to think carefully about this. The Border Patrol has said these are steps that would stop the chaos. This would bring some law and order back to the southern border, but the Biden administration is going to have to say: We got this policy wrong. We need to take these steps. We need to honor the service of the Border Patrol. We need to respect the people who live and work on this border. We need to make certain that we build that wall, that we secure this area. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, it was so wonderful to have time this month to kick off my annual 95-county tour, which is what I do in Tennessee each year. And I know that my colleagues across the aisle think they are here starting fresh with a new Congress, but that is not the way the people in Tennessee see this. As I have talked with people in our State, they continue to talk about what has happened this past couple of years with inflation, with crime, with that open border, with the supply chain issues. They are worried about that. They are worried about how that is going to affect them this year. My colleague from Texas has touched on some of these issues. Now, in Tennessee, as they look at what has transpired over the last couple of years, we talked a lot about a tornado in December that ripped through Dresden, TN. I went into the Presbyterian church that was demolished on my last visit over there, and I saw the progress they are making to rebuild that wonderful church. One of the things they talked about was how inflation and supply chain bottlenecks are really thwarting their efforts to get this sanctuary finished so they can have their Easter celebration right there in that sanctuary. In Waverly, TN, those individuals know exactly how the people over in Dresden feel because we had floods that came through Humphreys County, TN--devastating floods. There were 20 Tennesseans who lost their lives when the floods ripped through that town, destroyed that town, about a year and a half ago, and the town is trying to rebuild. My team and I were able to help those folks there in Waverly secure a disaster declaration and the funds they needed to help get rebuilding, but the same issues--inflation and supply chains--those things that are hurting Dresden are hurting Waverly as they try to rebuild homes and as they try to recover. Now, this President, this administration, and my Democratic colleagues have focused on big spending and little else, and it has really created a minefield for our local leaders, whether they are trying to rebuild or whether they are trying to expand. But those issues--supply chains and inflation--continue to come up. West Tennessee, where I started my 95-county tour, is experiencing massive growth. Ford Motor Company is coming in there, and they have a big plant, a multibillion-dollar investment. Sonova is over in that part of the State. There are other companies that are moving their operations to the area. These communities are set to welcome thousands of jobs, homes, and new businesses, but they are not ready because the existing utility infrastructure cannot support the growth and expansion that are coming into that part of our State. Until recently, most of this West Tennessee area was fields and small rural communities. These local leaders now are seeing growth, and they need to expand their utilities, their water, their sewer, their electric power distribution, and their telecom services, and they are having to do it quickly as these major employers ramp up. But something is standing in their way, and, again, it is all of this government spending that has driven this inflation and the supply chain crisis that is slowing down what they need. They can't get pipe to build out water and wastewater systems. They can't get telephone poles. If they could find a transformer to buy, they wouldn't be able to afford it because the price has increased by more than 400 percent--400 percent-- since Joe Biden was sworn into office. I know that the Biden administration has an agenda, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to check these items off of their to-do list. They do have an agenda. It is all about government control. It is all about government spending. It is not the agenda the people have. The way people in these communities in Tennessee see it is there is a disregard for how this Federal policy, as it comes down, how it affects them and how it makes their future difficult. It should not be this difficult to rebuild a home or run a sewer line or to finish a new road. Tennesseans know this, and they trust me, when I meet with them, to bring that message back here to DC, that decisions that are made here make their life at the local level more difficult.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I have always believed that serving the people of Tennessee requires that I meet them right there in their communities, and I bring their ideas to Washington to put those perspectives to work. What we do on Capitol Hill gets a lot of attention, but back home is where the real work of making this country work really gets done. So this year, I have completed another of my tours of all 95 counties; that is every county in our State. At every stop, I met with local officials, business owners, civic leaders, and citizens who really keep these communities afloat. That is a task that my Democratic colleagues have made almost impossible with their massive spending bills and their attacks on small businesses. In so many ways, their situation mirrors that of thousands of families struggling under recordbreaking inflation and broken supply chains. During teletownhall calls with Tennesseans in each of our 95 counties, this was a constant refrain: They are finding more month at the end of their paycheck than paycheck at the end of their month. From the moment their feet hit the floor in the morning until they put their heads on the pillow at night, Tennesseans are counting their pennies and wondering when the Democrats are going to put their radical agenda aside and go back to putting the American people first. In spite of the mess the Democrats have made with the national economy, Tennessee communities are growing because their local leaders follow the same rules with their county coffers as they do with their small business or household budgets: They spend within their means, they only buy what they need, and they keep their paperwork in order. Washington would do well to follow their example and embrace two key pieces of legislation I introduced this year. In response to the 40- year high inflation the Democrats caused with their spending spree, I filed a resolution to raise the Senate voting threshold to two-thirds of all Senators for all spending bills if inflation is higher than 4 percent. I also introduced the IRS User Fee Reduction Act. This bill would lower IRS user fees by 95 percent for those with a gross income of less than $5 million and allow these small businesses to use the services the IRS offers without getting hit with a massive bill. Times are hard enough for taxpayers without having to worry that their government is working against them. We saw plenty of evidence this year showing that the bureaucracy is actively preventing growth and development. The commencement of the massive Blue Oval City project in Haywood County, TN, was clogged in permitting redtape and agency misalignment. It took a remarkable effort to straighten that out, but we got the job done, and now they are on their way to creating thousands of jobs. Before this fall, the McKellar-Sipes airport in Jackson, TN, had been without TSA service for 13 years; but by working with the folks in Jackson and with the TSA, I was able to get that service set up for outgoing passengers. Now this area of west Tennessee has reliable commercial air transportation. But, remember, getting rid of redtape, getting it out of the way, this is something our local governments had to fight for, and it shouldn't be that way. Meanwhile, Tennessee farmers are in the fight of their lives over a combination of unsustainable fuel and fertilizer prices, and regulatory burdens so heavy they are destroying the concept of the family farm. They are the reason I called on the Biden administration to pursue energy independence, and they are the reason I will keep fighting to implement an ``Operation Warp Speed'' for American-produced energy. The government's job is not to micromanage. Our job is to give these businesses the tools they need to create the environment that they need for jobs growth to take place. That is what we did when we passed the DRIVE Safe Act to make it easier for the trucking industry to hire and train the workers they need to ease the strains on our supply chains. It is what Senator Menendez and I did when we introduced our Supply Chain Database Act, which became law this year. Soon, manufacturers will have access to the information they need to meet demand. This will make a huge difference in Hamblen County, TN. Morristown is home to more than 109 manufacturing companies. About 25 percent of the jobs available in Morristown are associated with these manufacturers, which is about double the national average. This focus on using innovation to help local economies flourish is making a difference elsewhere in Tennessee. The Oak Ridge National Lab is home to Frontier, which is the world's fastest supercomputer and the first ever exascale computer. It is also a magnet for talent. People and businesses are moving to East Tennessee to take advantage of the jobs and the other opportunities that our investment in Oak Ridge has created. Elsewhere in Oak Ridge, high school students are already benefiting from investment in research and education opportunities in advanced manufacturing. And the Smart Factory Institute in Cleveland, TN, is running a state-of-the-art vocational training facility that is revolutionizing workforce development and training. None of this would be happening if Washington had ignored the requests of local leaders. This year, I brought the same local focus to my work with the healthcare industry. Rural hospitals are struggling in every State; and in Tennessee, this is leaving thousands of people without access to basic healthcare. The telehealth expansion policies that became mainstream during the pandemic saved lives and brought healthcare to people who had never had easy access to a doctor. This year, I fought to make those expansions permanent, and I also persuaded CMS to keep the low-wage index hospital policy on the books. For at least another year, this will protect rural hospitals from losing out on the reimbursements they need to keep the doors open. And if rural patients need to fill a prescription after a doctor's visit, they will be able to do so. I secured a new rule that would prohibit PBMs from clawing back fees from community pharmacists. This will bring some much needed stability to those businesses and allow them to keep serving rural customers. And this kind of targeted support is paying off. In March, we broke ground on the stand-alone Fentress County emergency department. It took more than a few phone calls with CMS to sort out the waivers, but we got it done, and now we are doing the same work in Clay County. Tennessee is home, also, to the finest military community in the country. And this year, they had to wait until the 11th hour to see if the Senate would come through with a defense authorization bill. It had been dangling over their heads since July, and they are truly relieved to see that it finally passed. And I want to thank my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee for supporting the amendments I submitted on behalf of Tennessee servicemembers and their families. They are the most important element of our national defense, which is why I championed the repeal of the COVID vaccine mandate. I believe that no one brave enough to don that uniform should have to choose between taking a shot and losing their job. Tennessee's military community was ecstatic to hear that the U.S. Senate agrees with me on that statement. We have a duty to take care of our men and women in uniform during and after their service. That is why I fought to include support for workforce development and STEM training in the NDAA and why I will keep fighting for expanded access to community care so once those servicemembers return to civilian life, they will be able to see a doctor close to home when they need to see them. As much as Tennesseans focus on national security, they are equally concerned with safety in their own communities. Since mid-2019, America's largest cities have seen a significant rise in violent crime. In Tennessee, law enforcement officials are struggling due to a lack of funding and manpower. The Restoring Law and Order Act, which I introduced earlier this year with Senator Hagerty, will provide much needed resources to law enforcement so that they can get drugs off the streets and put criminals behind bars and keep them there. I truly hope that my Democratic colleagues will agree that this sounds much more effective than defunding these police departments. We need to get this bill passed and to the President's desk. And just this month, President Biden signed my Speak Out Act into law. This bans the use of predispute nondisclosure agreements in situations involving sexual misconduct. I want to thank Senator Gillibrand for working so hard on this legislation with me. And I also want to thank Senator Blumenthal for working with me to get Reese's Law across the finish line. Now, this will require new safety standards for toys and other products to prevent children from swallowing button batteries. Safety was a key theme of the work we did together on the Committee for Consumer Protection this year. As we explored ways that we could rein in Big Tech, we looked to regain control over your ``virtual you,'' your presence online, and also to introduce competition into the tech sector. This past February, Senator Blumenthal and I introduced the Kids Online Safety Act after a series of hearings that exposed Big Tech's disregard for the safety of its underage users. We also worked closely together on the Open App Market Act, which will stop tech giants from stifling competition in the App Store marketplace. Both of these bills have earned extensive bipartisan support, and I see no reason why we won't be able to get them across the finish line very soon. I want to conclude by thanking the thousands of local officials and leaders and the Tennesseans who dedicate so much of their time and their energy to making Tennessee a wonderful place to call home. I am grateful for their hard work and their willingness to work with me for a better Tennessee. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the confirmation vote on the Gruenberg nomination occur following the completion of my remarks and those of Senator Brown.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, this year, those of us at the Consumer Protection, Public Safety, and Data Security Subcommittee have spent hours working through how we deal with social media and hold them to account. And it has been a heartbreaking task of investigating thousands of pages of reporting testimony and other evidence that really has proven to us there is a devastating impact from social media on our Nation's children and teens. This past February, Senator Blumenthal and I introduced the Kids Online Safety Act after a series of hearings that exposed Big Tech's disregard for the safety of their underage users. The bill provides kids and parents with the tools and transparency that they need to stay safe and requires social media companies to make those platforms safer in the default settings. It also requires independent audits to ensure that these companies are, indeed, addressing the risk to underage users. I am appalled that this is necessary, but the committee has a mountain of proof to show it is time for Congress to do something to hold these platforms to account. And we can't wait. We really cannot afford to wait any longer because as bad as things are here in Washington, they are really worse for the kids and teens who have been pulled into these platforms. Depression, self-harm, and suicide in teens increased at an alarming rate between 2010 and 2020. There are a limited number of plausible explanations for why this has happened, but I would remind my colleagues that the 2010s ushered in the golden age of social media. This is when social media transformed from a novelty into an almost mandatory activity, especially for teens. So it is no coincidence that it was a good decade for Silicon Valley but a very dark decade for our Nation's children. Between 2011 and 2016, as social media became popular, sleep deprivation among U.S. teens increased by 17 percent. We also know that teens who are heavy users of social media sleep about an hour less per night than their friends who are not using social media. And as I am sure many of my colleagues know, sleep deprivation is a significant risk factor for depression among adolescents. Between 2011 and 2018, the rates of teen depression increased by more than 60 percent. Between 2011 and 2015, emergency room admissions for children and teens for depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric issues rose by 28 percent. Before 2010, suicide by young people had stabilized and declined for decades; but, over the next decade, the teen suicide death rate increased by 62 percent. And now, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 10 and 24, only behind unintentional injuries like auto accidents. Think about that. This is what is happening to our children. It is not my stats. It is not your stats. These are stats that are coming from research, from surveys, from medical research on our children-- anxiety, depression, suicide. All of this is coming, and, when you look at the growth rate, what does it parallel? The use of social media. Many of these platforms are robbing our children of their childhood. They are ripping it from them. American teens are succumbing to despair, and we know that social media is a big part of this reason. In 2018, Pew released a survey revealing that close to 60 percent of youth have experienced some form of abusive online behavior. I have spent years examining what that behavior looks like, and I can tell you that calling it ``abusive'' is a gross understatement. And as the years have gone by, the stories have gotten worse. And over the past few weeks, I have worked with dozens of parents and friends of young people who died because of what and whom they encountered on social media. Today, with permission of their parents, I am going to share a few of the stories of these children because it is imperative that we realize what children are being exposed to online. I had one mom tell me this. She said: You know, when you see these things and you hear these things, you cannot unsee it; you cannot unhear it. I had another mom tell me: You know, Marsha, I once felt that, when I had my kids home and we had locked the doors, we were safe--that we were safe from the outside world. But the pandemic happened, and I realized we were not, that the enemy, the evil, the harm that was wrecking my child's life--the drug traffickers, the sex traffickers, the pedophiles--they were right in there with us. This is what our children are being exposed to--and the extent of the damage, the severity of the harassment, the bad behavior that takes place. And parents call it out to Big Tech, and too often these platforms do nothing--nothing. They hardly even respond. They take it down for a day, and the children are suffering from this. Grace McComas: Now, Grace endured the torture of a man who had drugged and assaulted her. He used social media to make Grace feel isolated and afraid and worthless. From the summer of 2011, when she was subpoenaed to testify against him, until she died by suicide on Easter Sunday 2012, Grace's parents fought to save her, but there was nothing they could do to force those digital platforms to ban this evil monster who was her tormenter. On June 23, 2020, 16-year-old Carson Bride quietly ended his life while his family slept. The night before, the whole family had celebrated Carson's first summer job. But what they didn't know is that he had been receiving hundreds of harassing, threatening, and sexually explicit messages from his classmates who were using anonymous apps to hide their identities. Carson asked his tormentors to identify themselves so that they could talk things out in person, but nobody ever did. Social media lets you be anonymous. The very last search on Carson's phone was for hacks to find out who was tormenting him. David Molak: He was an Eagle Scout, a fantasy football aficionado, a hunter, a fisher, and, by all accounts, a truly great friend. But in the last few months of his life, he became overwhelmed with hopelessness over the barrage of threats, harassment, and abuse he experienced through text messages and on social media. On January 4, 2016, he took his own life. He was 16 years old. There are hundreds more stories just like these, just like them. Senator Blumenthal and I have talked with these parents and these kids. Children are using social media platforms to torment other children to the point of death. But we also know that adults are leveraging the power these platforms have over underage users so that they can--do what?--make a profit. Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased over 56 percent from 2019 to 2020, with prescription pill abuse highest among people ages 18 to 25. They are starting younger, and drug dealers are finding them--where?--on social media platforms. When she was 15, Becca Schmill was assaulted by a boy she and her friends met on the social media party chat. The cyber bullying and harassment that followed destroyed Becca's sense of self, and, eventually, she started using drugs to cope. In a sane world, she never would have been able to get her hands on the pills that eventually killed her, but social media made it easy. On September 16, 2020, Becca died from fentanyl poisoning. Olivia Green was 15 years old, a freshman in high school. She dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, but then she met an adult stranger on a social media platform. When she saw him in person, this man gave her a pill that he said was Percocet. It was actually fentanyl. So when she took it, she laid down and died from an overdose. Alexander Neville's mom describes him as someone who competed with himself to be successful with everything he did. He pushed himself to succeed in Boy Scouts, at fencing, skateboarding, and as a person and a dear, dear friend. At 14, Alexander bought pills online that he thought were pain relievers, but it actually was fentanyl, and that is how Alexander became another victim of fentanyl poisoning. Big Tech executives would like us to write these deaths off as tragedies and just move on, which is exactly the attitude you would expect from people who have treated our congressional hearings like they are on some kind of PR tour. I think that as they point to their glossy white papers laying out steps that parents and teens can take to protect themselves and they think they provide a little bit more information about the steps and they talk about what the company is going to do to try to get this under control, they think we are going to move on. But we are not. We are talking about our children and our grandchildren, and, no, we are not moving on. The enduring refrain of my discussions with the parents and the teens who have seen this firsthand is that trying to address the problem with the platform is like talking to a brick wall. When they received a response at all, there was no concern for the danger. Over the past 2 years, this body has passed several pieces of legislation to address ``emergencies.'' But what about this emergency? What about the emergency that is taking the lives of our children? What about this emergency that is causing death by fentanyl? Now, when we talk about Big Tech and we talk about social media, there is one point they have made clear time and time again, and it is that they are fully incapable and unwilling to regulate themselves because they are more interested in attracting eyeballs and keeping those eyeballs on their site longer and longer and mining that data because it is dollars in the bank to them. To me, it is absolutely sickening. And their bad behavior--getting any change in that behavior--it is too late for Grace and Carson and the other young people I talked about today, but it is not too late to save the children and the teens who are suffering right now because these tech platforms refuse to protect them. In July, the Commerce Committee passed the Kids Online Safety Act. Senator Blumenthal and I have worked diligently on this, and it came out of committee on a 28-to-0 vote. That is pretty overwhelming bipartisan support for a piece of legislation. And right now, this bill is waiting for a vote on the Senate floor. I would implore Leader Schumer and I would implore my colleagues from each side of the aisle: Listen to these stories; talk to these parents and these young people who are activists for changing what is happening on social media. Listen to them. Listen to these stories. Recognize the danger that exists on social media, and let's get this bill passed and to the President's desk. I yield floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

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