John Barrasso

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, first, I commend my colleague from Kansas for his remarkable commitment to this Nation and to those who serve this Nation. And he is always there at the Honor Flights for World War II, the Honor Flights of those who served in Korea, of those who served in Vietnam, and those who served in the Global War on Terror. His leadership is commendable, and people from both sides of the aisle look up to him and appreciate the work he does on his committees and his commitment to the veterans who serve this Nation. So I thank the distinguished Senator from Kansas for his ongoing commitment, and it is with appreciation and admiration and respect I follow his speech to thank him for the commitment and the comments about what happened in Afghanistan because just this very weekend, on Saturday, the Governor of Wyoming and I stood with over 1,000 people in the cold in Wyoming as we honored the life of Rylee McCollum, who was one of those 13 who was killed in Kabul at the airport on that fateful day in Afghanistan, merely 2 months ago. And with us also was Rylee's wife GiGi and the baby that was born after Rylee had been killed--the baby who will never know her father, who will always know his story, and will always know that he was an American hero.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I rise today to honor Dr. Kristaps Keggi. Dr. Keggi is the epitome of the American dream. He was born in Riga, Latvia, and survived World War II as a child. He escaped communism on a refugee ship to immigrate to the United States. When he landed on the docks of Manhattan, he would go on to finish high school and attend college and medical school. He graduated from Yale University in 1955 and from Yale University School of Medicine in 1959. Eight years after he arrived in the U.S., he raised his right hand and volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army. He joined the U.S. Army Medical Service and Medical Corps. Dr. Keggi served as the orthopedic surgery chief in the Third Mobile Army Surgical Hospital--MASH--in Vietnam from September 1965 to June 1966. This was the first MASH unit stood up and the first to deploy to Vietnam. The 3rd MASH supported the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions, and countless other units. He left the Army with the rank of captain. He is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign of Wars. Dr. Keggi's service did not stop after Vietnam. His battlefield experience sharpened his skills. He would go on to train generations of orthopedic surgeons and win worldwide acclaim for orthopedic education and innovation. I credit much of my success as an orthopedic surgeon and in life to training under Dr. Keggi. Dr. Keggi is the founder and the president of the Keggi Orthopedic Foundation and Orthopedic Exchange Program between the United States and the former Soviet Republics. This program has fostered hundreds of fellows in exchanges in Latvia and Russia. He even mentored the former President of Latvia who was a fellow orthopedic surgeon. He holds memberships in many scholarly societies such as American Orthopedic Association, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, Society for Arthritic Joint Surgery, and Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, just to highlight a few. He has published over 135 scholarly articles on orthopedic medical treatments. He was the senior author of the seminal American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Instructional Course on ``Early Care of Severe War Wounds'' on how battlefield wounds should be treated. He pioneered and popularized the less invasive anterior surgical approach used for total hip replacement. Dr. Keggi has been recognized by Best Doctors in America starting in 1996. He was named in America's Top Surgeons in 2009 through 2017. Dr. Keggi has volunteered for many charitable endeavors and has been recognized globally for his contributions to medical science and humanity. He was honored by his hometown of Waterbury, CT, and the Waterbury Veterans Memorial Committee for his lifetime of service working with and treating patients with the wounds of war. In 2020, Dr. Keggi was inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame. Dr. Keggi's service embodies everything our country stands for. Every opportunity he has been given in the U.S., he has given back in full. My wife Bobbi and I thank him today for his life of service to our military, our veterans, and our Nation.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about America's education system. As a result of the pandemic, parents have had a front-row seat to their kids' education. Parents are now engaged with their kids' schools much more than ever before. Many parents have had to make tough decisions about a number of things during the pandemic, but especially about their children's education. Yet parental involvement, I believe, is a good thing for kids in our schools. The more parental involvement, the better. Parents deserve a say in what their kids learn and how best to learn it. But all across America, school boards and teachers unions and city councils have been outraged to see parents involved as they have been. Many parents are furious right now. In many cases, they have found out their kids were spending more time on liberal ideology than they were on science or on math. Earlier this year, the State of California proposed teaching math-- hard to believe, but this is what they said--from a social justice perspective--math from a social justice perspective. Parents, appropriately, were furious, and the proposal was not rejected completely, but just postponed until next year. Oregon now allows students to graduate--graduate--without proving they are proficient in reading, in writing, or in math. San Francisco schools spent the entire last year closed, yet the San Francisco school board had spare time to propose changing the name of Abraham Lincoln High School. Kids are not in school, but the school board had plenty of time to consider and propose changing the name of Abraham Lincoln High School. Well, parents, again, were enraged and this proposal was dropped. It is very obvious why so many parents all across the country are so angry right now. They work hard. They pay their taxes. And what they see day in and day out are Democratic politicians hurting their kids' future, getting in the way of the education that parents believe their children need. Last week, we saw even more proof. The Department of Education published the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It comes out every 5 years. It was time. It is the Nation's report card. This year's report card shows test scores in math and in reading have plummeted. This was the first time these scores have dropped in 50 years. The lesson is obvious: We are spending too much time away from the things that students ought to be spending their time on. We need to spend less time on ideology, more time on education of the basics--real knowledge, real skills. Many school boards across the country refuse to listen. In fact, the National School Boards Association complained to the Biden administration about angry parents. Now the Attorney General is treating angry parents like criminals. The Attorney General of the United States is deciding that angry parents are to be treated like criminals. Attorney General Garland has ordered Federal prosecutors to work with local police to form ``strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.'' The Department of Justice says it will form a task force on these alleged threats against school boards. The task force is going to include representatives from the Department's Criminal Division, from the National Security Division, the Civil Rights Division, and Federal prosecutors, as well as the FBI. Joe Biden is sending in the cavalry to school board meetings to focus on parents rather than focusing on the education the children need and deserve. He is sending the National Security Division after moms and dads because they are concerned about their children's education. After the Attorney General's order, I joined with 10 of my Republican colleagues and demanded a legal justification from Attorney General Garland. I still haven't received a response. We have also found out that Attorney General Garland has a family member who helps schools develop leftwing curriculum. The Attorney General's family member is helping schools developing leftwing curriculum. The Attorney General's son-in-law owns a company with millions and millions of dollars in government contracts--contracts by the Attorney General's son-in-law--contracts with schools all across America. Well, maybe it is a coincidence, and maybe it is not. Attorney General Garland needs to tell the American people whether this played a role in his decision to treat parents like criminals. Yet the problem is much bigger than the Attorney General of the United States. The problem is how Democrats treat and think about parents and working families. The former Governor of the State of Virginia said recently: I don't think parents should be telling schools what they can teach. This is the former Governor of Virginia: I don't think parents should be telling schools what they can teach. Last month, Senator Mike Braun asked the Secretary of Education about the role of parents in education. He asked if parents were ``the primary stakeholder'' in their kids' education. Secretary Cardona said this: ``They're an important stakeholder.'' In other words, they are not the primary stakeholders. Parents are not the primary stakeholders. Is it any surprise so many parents are deciding to educate their children at home? So who does the Secretary of Education think is the primary educator of our children? The union bosses? Are they the primary educators of our children? Democrats act like kids are the property of the schools. And schools, of course, are the property--in the minds of the Democrats--of the teachers unions. Parents have every right to be upset with what is happening in the public schools all across this Nation. Parents have every right to demand real improvements. It is time for the Democrats to stop taking orders from the teachers unions and start listening to parents and to the students. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about what Americans are talking about all across the country, and that is the fact that energy prices are rising and doing it dramatically. Energy is called a master resource for a reason. It powers our communities, our homes, our military, and our economy. It fuels the trucks that bring goods and groceries to market. It keeps the lights on at small businesses all across the country, and it heats our homes. This is the reason why higher energy prices mean higher prices in every other part of our life. Now, over the last 9 months, people have been seeing this all across the country. Energy prices have gone up, and not just by a little. They have gone up a lot. It has contributed to higher prices for just about everything we do and everywhere we go. The cost of a tank of gas is about a dollar higher now than it was when Joe Biden came into the White House. As a result, if you go to fill up at your local gas station, it is about $25 more to fill your tank today than it was back in January, on the 20th, when Joe Biden took the oath of office. Now, it is not just gasoline that has gone up; it is the gas we use to heat our homes. Natural gas powers over half of the homes that are heated across America. And the price is now at a 7-year high. So as a result, families are going to pay a lot more not just to drive, but also to heat their homes this winter. And it is interesting because here in America, we have the energy resources we need; we are just not able to use them because of this administration. Under the last administration, America became the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world--in the world--America. America's energy dominance worked to help us reduce our trade deficit. It brought home more jobs, brought industries home to America. It fueled the best economy in my lifetime here at home in America. And as a nation, we became energy independent for the first time in 70 years. Well, these were historic achievements by America's energy workers. In my home State, the State of Wyoming was proud to play a major role in these achievements. Wyoming is America's No. 1 per-capita exporter of energy. We produce it in Wyoming, and we send it around the country and around the world. We power America and we power the world. Yet, ever since Joe Biden became President, it has become a lot harder. Now, I talk to energy workers at home all of the time in Wyoming, all across the State, and what they continue to tell me is it has never been more difficult than it is right now. In just 9 months, Joe Biden has already become the most anti-American energy President in our Nation's history. On his first day in office, he drew a target on the back of American petroleum energy, and he pulled the trigger. He killed the Keystone XL Pipeline, and that ended thousands of good-paying jobs at the height of a pandemic. President Biden also shut down oil and gas exploration near the Arctic. He banned oil and gas leasing on Federal land. This has been devastating to Western States: Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Nearly half of Wyoming is Federal land, and now Joe Biden says that land is off limits to Wyoming energy workers. Because of Joe Biden's radical anti-energy agenda, people in every corner of this country are paying higher prices for energy. We are paying more at the pump, paying more at the grocery store--paying all around. Even one of the Democrats' favorite economists, Mark Zandi, says the American people are now paying $175 more every month--$175 every month--more than they were a year ago. That includes gas, groceries, rent. Joe Biden inflation--it is equivalent to $2,100 a week. That is a heck of a paycheck cut for American workers. So who gets hurt by this? Well, it is struggling families. It is seniors. It is people living on a fixed income. Polls show that about half of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. Forty percent of the country says they couldn't afford to cover an emergency if the cost were above $400. Well, in the Joe Biden economy, people are paying five times that amount--the amount they can't handle for an emergency--just in the cost of annual inflation. The Biden White House doesn't seem to care very much about it, doesn't understand it--clueless. Last week, the White House Chief of Staff retweeted a message which said inflation is a ``high class problem.'' He couldn't be more wrong. If the White House believes this, they are woefully--woefully--at a loss for understanding what is happening in this country, because what is happening is exactly the opposite of what the White House thinks. The White House Chief of Staff clearly doesn't understand the struggles of working families all across this country. Now, the big Democrat donors in Chuck Schumer's Brooklyn, NY, or Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco--they are going to be just fine. It is the working families in rural America who are getting hurt the most. And as winter is coming, energy costs are going to go up significantly. The U.S. Energy Information Administration--branch of the government--says energy bills will be up dramatically this winter compared to last. This inflation nightmare is absolutely at a point where there is still no end in sight. The American people believe it is going to continue and it is going to get worse. Democrats have finally been hit with the reality that people are worried about the high cost of energy. So what have they decided to do about it? What will the White House do about it? What will the administration do about it? Astonishingly, in August, the National Security Advisor begged Russia and OPEC and the oil cartel to pump more oil. It is hard to believe that really happened. It is also hard to believe--my friend and colleague the senior Senator from Alaska told us in the Energy Committee that the United States is using more oil from Russia than we are from Alaska right now. If you don't believe it in terms of the fact that the administration is asking OPEC and Russia to produce more oil to help lower the costs in the United States, just go to the White House website. They put it on the White House website. Joe Biden would rather buy energy from our enemies and send American dollars overseas than produce it here at home. He would rather send American dollars overseas to our enemies than explore for American energy and the resources that we have, where we have the capacity to lead the world. Last week, the Biden administration made an off-the-record call to U.S. energy-producing companies. The administration had the nerve to ask them to lower their prices at the same time that this administration has forced them to lower their production. It is economics 101: supply and demand. It is basic arithmetic. And now the Energy Secretary says that we might have to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to bring more energy onto the market to help deal with the costs that have gone up as a result of the Biden policies. We went to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during the first Iraq war and after Hurricane Katrina and during the Arab Spring. In other words, this is something we do in a crisis. The Biden administration won't say it out loud yet, but let's admit it; there is a crisis, and it is one that Joe Biden and this administration have created. It is a crisis of Joe Biden's own making, and it is a crisis that Joe Biden could end tomorrow because we have the capacity at home to do it. Instead, what are the Democrats doing? Well, they are threatening to make it even worse. Democrats in the Senate are pushing a $3.5 trillion reckless tax-and-spending spree. Last month, one Commissioner of the FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, told us at the Energy Committee that to pass this $3.5 trillion bill would be ``like an H- bomb'' on America's energy markets. That is because the bill contains huge portions of what has become known to be the disastrous ``green bad deal.'' Here are just a few of the examples that are included in this $3.5 trillion Democratic bill in the House right now: $8 billion for a so- called Civilian Climate Corps. These are taxpayer-funded climate police. They will get free housing, free clothing, free college tuition, free childcare to go out and police the environment based on the climate. The Democrat spending spree also includes $10 billion for what the Democrats call environmental justice in higher education. The bill includes $105 billion for what the Democrats call climate justice and then green energy subsidies. Let's take a look at the subsidies. These subsidies include huge subsidies for people who buy and drive electric vehicles. And who buys and drives electric vehicles? Basically, people with lots of income, not the average American. The government is already giving billions of taxpayer dollars to electric vehicle manufacturers and owners. Nearly 80 percent of the tax credits go to households making at least $100,000 a year. That is who this administration is beholden to. The spending spree would give up to $12,500 to married couples to buy electric vehicles. A single person earning up to $400,000 a year could get a subsidy. A married couple earning up to $800,000 a year could get a subsidy. Now, how are the Democrats going to pay for all these things, all these handouts? Well, they want to put more taxes on producing natural gas. What is that going to do to the average person trying to heat their home this winter? It is going to raise natural gas prices even higher. Oh, and at the same time, we would eliminate 90,000 American energy jobs. It is going to raise energy costs for people all across the country. The administration's answer is the last thing we need in this country right now. We in this country have the best energy resources in the world. We also have the best energy workers in the world. It is time to let these good men and women do their jobs. American people don't need trillions of dollars more in taxes and spending and debt. We need more American energy. It is time for Joe Biden and the Democrats to get out of the way of affordable American energy. The people of this country need it badly. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose, of course, the Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending bill. I have been coming to the floor to talk about this--the wasted taxes, the spending, all of the sorts of things the Democrats are trying to do. You know, right now, the Democrats are pushing a Big Government, socialist agenda. There can be no question about it. They want additional, permanent welfare programs. They want to--to me, this bankrupts current programs, like Medicare. It takes--it is very hard to think about this amount of spending without realizing the risk that it proves for Social Security. And, of course, the Democrats are proposing this big green new disaster. For all this spending, what do they want to do? Well, they want to raise taxes by trillions and trillions of dollars. But it is still not enough to pay for all of the spending that they want to do. That is why Democrats are now working and pushing this backdoor tax increase. Democrats want to supersize the least accountable and most powerful Agency of the Federal Government. And that, of course, is the Internal Revenue Service. Now, what we know about this Agency, the IRS, is that they have, time and time again, proven they can't be even trusted to properly secure data, when we look at the leaks that come out of the IRS. But they are looking for more data and more information, private information, private business by American taxpayers. Democrats are asking, in this $3.5 trillion bill, $80 billion of additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service. They want to give the IRS enough money and power to hire a full new army of bureaucrats. President Biden's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been very clear. She knows what she wants to do with some of the money. She wants to force banks to tell the IRS every time anyone writes or deposits a check above a certain amount in their banking account, checking account. And right now, the number that she is talking about is $600-- $600 for a check written or deposited. So every time someone pays the rent, deposits a paycheck, Democrats want the IRS to know about it. Not enough to know that government knows how much people make; they want to know how much they spend. It is Big Brother initiative to squeeze every last penny out of working families. I mean, why else would they want to go after every hard-working man and woman in America to find out this information? As Americans find out about that, they are furious. They are smart enough to know that when Joe Biden first says we are only going to tax the billionaires--they are only going to tax the billionaires--why are they looking into the banking accounts and the checking accounts and the deposits and the withdrawals of people all across the country? Because the tax man is coming for them as well when it comes to trying to pay for this massive tax-and-spending blowout. So as more and more people find out about it, the more furious they become. I got a report again this morning, 488 more emails and letters into Wyoming Senate--Senator from Wyoming about that from my home State. I have received more calls, more emails, more letters from people from Wyoming on this one topic than on any one topic that I can recall in the time that I have been in the U.S. Senate. And everyone calling and writing about it has the same position. It is not like, well, half of the people are for it and half of the people are against it. Everybody is against this. Everyone we have heard from--the 488 that I heard from within the last 24 hours--everyone is against this proposal. Thousands and thousands of emails. I talked to Senator Lummis, the other Senator from Wyoming. Her inbox is completely full as well, all related to this topic. It is what I heard about in the grocery store this past weekend at home in Wyoming. This new scheme will be terrible, and not just for the taxpayers. It is going be a heavy weight around the neck of the community banks and credit unions in Wyoming. I talked to one of the bankers from Wyoming. She was in the grocery store getting food for the weekend. What did she--it was the only--it was the thing she wanted to talk about, is the fact they would have to hire three new employees to comply with all of the regulations coming out that would relate to trying to get this information from their bank to the IRS. In addition, this would be quite an attack on our privacy. This Big Brother scheme would make bankers and credit union associates into de facto IRS agents. And as this bank officer said to me, she said: Look, I don't want--I am not going to be working for the IRS. I work for my customers, my clients, the people of Wyoming. The last thing I want to do is be somebody reporting into the IRS. This is what I am hearing from bankers all around the State of Wyoming. They don't want to be invading people's privacy. They don't want to become agents of the IRS. People in Wyoming have a straightforward response to this administration, and it is this: Leave us alone. We don't need you looking over our shoulder, prying into our life and our activities. If Democrats go forward with this Big Brother plan, the people all across this country will not stand for it. Many people in Wyoming will look for alternatives to traditional banks and credit unions because they don't want the IRS and the government and Big Brother to know their personal activities. They want to protect their privacy. They may find other places to put their money. Look, that is going to devastate local banks, local credit unions, if people take their money out because they don't want the government boring into their data and their financial transactions. It is going to happen in every State. Hard to believe the government would want to do that, but yet Secretary Yellen came to Capitol Hill, and that is what she is doing. She is still defending this indefensible idea; and I believe she is doing it because that is what Joe Biden, the President of the United States, is telling her to do as his Treasury Secretary. So she went on television Tuesday--today is Thursday--2 days ago, essentially said it was no big deal. That is what the Treasury Secretary of the United States believes, that violating the individual privacy of individuals of this country is no big deal. Last week, Senator Lummis from Wyoming questioned Secretary Yellen before the Banking Committee. Secretary Yellen, actually astonishingly, doubled down. She said, ``I think you misunderstand the proposal.'' She said, ``The IRS already has a wealth of information about individuals.'' Well, Madam Secretary, we understand that really well. We know you have a wealth of information about individual taxpayers. You know how much they make. You know how they make it. That is enough. If you have all this, you don't need more, but yet you are asking for more, and you want $80 billion for an army of IRS agents to be able to find it out. That is the problem. The IRS has so much information about us already. Now, Senator Lummis did get Secretary Yellen to admit working families are not the ones skimping out on their taxes. Why else do we have this army of IRS agents looking into our taxes? Secretary Yellen didn't seem to care. She doubled down, still defending this massive invasion of privacy, and that is what it is. It is a huge invasion of privacy, and I contend that they want all this information so they can try to squeeze more money from people who the Secretary even admits are not trying to cheat on their taxes. They are trying to find ways to take more money out of their pocketbooks, when they are already feeling the big bite of Joe Biden's inflation at the gas pump and at the grocery store. This Big Brother plan is reckless. It treats the American people like criminals. It turns the IRS into the judge, the jury, and the lord high executioner. This scheme shows how desperate Democrats are to get their hands on taxpayer money. Why? So they can spend more. They are so desperate for more spending that they are willing to spy on the American people to try to get more money to spend. Watch and listen to the Democrats talk. There is a food fight going on, and the food fight is: How much more can we tax and how much more can we spend? It is a food fight between the really big spenders and the extremely big spenders. Look, Democrats think that Washington knows best. Now, the people of Wyoming know differently. We don't need Washington looking over our shoulders. It is time for Democrats to drop the entire plan, mind their own business, and stop demanding more money to spy on the American people. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about what people in Wyoming are seeing every day, and that is rising prices when they go to the gas station, when they go to the grocery store. They are paying more and more. Every month since Joe Biden took the oath of office, prices have been rising faster than wages. People are feeling the bite in their wallets of these higher prices. In effect, people all across the country and certainly in my home State of Wyoming have suffered a paycheck cut because the money just doesn't go as far. President Biden told us this wouldn't happen. He actually said inflation was transitory. Well, President Biden may still believe that. Yet, after 7 months in a row, it doesn't look transitory to most Americans. Now, economists have actually revised their expectations of inflation, and they have revised them in ways that we are going to be paying higher prices for longer periods of time. They have revised their expectations about economic growth as well, and they have revised those downward--inflation up; economic growth down. Well, on Friday, the Commerce Department said one measure of inflation has actually hit the highest that it has been in 30 years. The company Salesforce now estimates that costs for Christmas shopping will go up by 20 cents for every dollar you would spend on Christmas presents. The store Dollar Tree has announced that it will start selling items that cost more than a dollar. We have 10 Dollar Tree stores in Wyoming. They are a very important part of our communities. Many people in rural areas rely on dollar stores for their everyday needs. In Joe Biden's economy, these people are getting hurt the most. So why is it happening? Well, it is because the money supply hasn't increased this fast in 75 years. Last year, Congress spent trillions of dollars to respond to the worst pandemic in our Nation's history--actually, in a century. With a Republican majority in the Senate, we passed five relief bills, and they were all done in a bipartisan, overwhelmingly majority vote. Much of the money still hasn't been spent. Then, this January, Democrats took over the White House as well as the Senate. They got their hands on the Nation's credit card, and they started swiping it. In March, the President signed a $2 trillion spending bill that was supposed to be about coronavirus. Yet only 9 percent of the money actually went to public health. They cut Republicans out of the negotiations completely. So much of the new spending went to the Democrats' favorite groups--to labor unions, to union bosses, to bankrupted blue States. They put the bill for all of that spending entirely on the American credit card. The Federal Reserve started printing money, and prices started going up. Yet Democrats haven't learned their lesson. They want to keep spending. Now they want to spend more than twice as much money as they just spent in March, and they are also asking for the largest tax increase in 50 years. Tax increases also raise prices. Last week, the White House Press Secretary made a statement, and, to me, it was one of the most irrational statements that some business owners have ever heard. She said: It is ``unfair and absurd'' for companies to raise prices in response to higher taxes. She said it is absurd and unfair for companies to raise prices in response to higher taxes. Well, it may be unfair, but it certainly is not absurd; it is basic arithmetic. When the government raises taxes, the cost of doing business goes up. Companies either have to cut costs or increase their revenue. When Democrats raise taxes, it means higher prices, fewer jobs, and in many cases, both. It is why it is alarming that President Biden wants to raise taxes on American energy. Energy prices have already gone up. Oil, yesterday, was at a 7- or an 8-year high. Natural gas prices have doubled this year. Democrats are now proposing a new fee on natural gas production. According to one estimate, the new fee would cost our economy $9.1 billion and eliminate 90,000 good-paying American energy jobs. It would also mean higher energy prices for people trying to heat their homes and cool their homes. Higher energy prices also mean higher grocery prices. They mean higher retail prices. It may be unfair, according to the White House Press Secretary, but it is not absurd because prices are rising for a reason. They are rising because Democrats spent trillions of dollars that we cannot afford. Democrats need to learn their lesson before it is too late. Stop this rush to more taxes and spending and borrowing. Stop cutting into people's paychecks. American families are feeling the pain. Stop pouring more fuel on this fire of inflation that is raging across the country. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I agree with what my colleague from South Dakota and my neighbor has had to say about the issues of the spending bill. I would also add that people all around the country are paying the price right now with rising prices. They are getting hammered at the grocery store and hammered at the gas station, and every month since Joe Biden took the oath of office, prices have risen faster than wages. People are feeling the pain and the bite taken out of their wallets. Even without the specific raised taxes that the Democrats are proposing, the American people have already taken a pay cut. I note that the majority leader has arrived on the floor, so I am going to delay the remainder of my remarks so he can continue with his leader time at this point. I thank the Acting President pro tempore.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to complete my remarks and then the Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Toomey, be allowed to complete his remarks prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today in recognition of the centennial celebration for the Niobrara County Courthouse in Lusk, WY. Niobrara County residents are blessed to live in this special place. Located on the plains and rolling hills of eastern Wyoming, the county is a gateway to the Black Hills and Central Wyoming. Its 2,400 residents center around the communities of Lusk, Manville, and Van Tassell. The county was created from eastern Converse County in 1911, and Lusk was chosen as the county seat when Niobrara County was organized in 1913. The name of the county comes from the Niobrara River, which begins its journey east of Lusk. Niobrara County's story is a collection of the determined and persevering people that have called this place home for the past century. Its establishment was given a physical monument when the courthouse was built in 1920. The land on which the courthouse sits was originally donated by early rancher Frank Lusk, as a site to build the new town which bears his name. County business was first conducted in the Odd Fellows Hall, followed by the Harmony Lodge. A fire in 1919 destroyed the lodge, but not the records kept in a steel vault. Operations were moved to the basement of the First National Bank of Lusk until a new courthouse was completed. A white schoolhouse was built at the corner of 5th and Elm, believed to be the first in Lusk. When the courthouse was planned for this location, the schoolhouse was split up and moved to another block. The economy of the new county experienced an unexpected boom when oil was discovered in what became the Lance Creek Field. The increase in taxable goods prompted the county commissioners to propose a bond election to fund the construction of a courthouse. On election day, November, 6, 1918, voters approved a $60,000 bond issue by only 29 votes. The commissioners chose architect George E. McDonald, designer of courthouses in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, to design the new building. The contracting bid was awarded to D.W. Woods. The building came in $22,000 over budget, and the commissioners again proposed a bond election for another $40,000. The vote passed by 30 votes this time. The building was finished in the winter and occupied in February 1920. It was the only courthouse in Wyoming with a bronze statue of Justice placed on top of the courthouse dome. However, the statue only stayed there for 10 years. Strong Wyoming winds caused the statue to constantly vibrate and shift, which damaged the roof. In 1930, commissioners voted to remove the statue and replace the roof. The statue laid on the ground behind the courthouse, until 1 day it disappeared, only to be placed a few days later on a hill overlooking the town. It remained there as a Lusk landmark until it vanished from that location as well. Stories say that some delinquents moved it to the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft. Rumors abounded in Lusk over the following years as to the purpose of the statue's relocation. During World War II, the statue resurfaced and was donated to a scrap metal campaign for the war effort. The courthouse was described as, ``Built of dark red brick with white columned porticoes on the south and east entrances, and, of course, with the white dome capped by the bronze statue, the courthouse was the pride of the county's citizens.'' The Niobrara County Commissioners inscribed on the cornerstone of the building were Fred S. Runser, M.J. McCormick, and C.F. Calhoun, with E.M. Phillips as the county clerk. One of the most prominent features of the building is the motto above the door, ``A Public Office Is A Public Trust.'' This defining feature, which remains there today, is an inspiring reminder to all those who work in the county and in Wyoming. The current county commissioners tasked with upholding this ideal are Patrick H. Wade, John Midkiff, and Elaine B. Griffith, with Becky Freeman as county clerk. On Friday, October 15, 2021, the Niobrara County Commissioners are hosting a celebration for the courthouse's centennial. A dedication ceremony will take place at this event as one was not preformed upon its original construction. The Niobrara County Historical Society purchased a sign commemorating the courthouse and providing historic information. It will be a wonderful celebration of Lusk and the Niobrara County community. Niobrara County has a storied and colorful past. Its people stand as an example of strong character and neighborliness and its courthouse a symbol of their ideals. Bobbi joins me in celebrating the centennial of the Niobrara County Courthouse and the citizens who make this county special.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor tonight to talk about a crisis that is continuing at our southern border. It is a crisis that Joe Biden created, and it is a crisis that he has only made worse. Let me just tell you, the White House knows that it is getting worse. Leaks from the administration claim they are preparing for the possibility that the illegal immigration, over the next month, will double--double. This would mean 400,000 illegal immigrants reaching our border next month. This isn't just a record; this is nearly double of a record. This isn't just a crisis; this is an invasion. In the month of August, more than 200,000 illegal immigrants crossed our border. This is the most ever seen in the month of August in the last 21 years. In July, we saw more illegal immigrants than in any 1 month in 21 years. Since President Biden has taken office, we have seen recordbreaking month after recordbreaking month of illegal immigrants coming to this country. Our border is now wide open, and the rest of the world knows it. In recent weeks, we saw tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crowd a single bridge in Del Rio, TX. According to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, 30,000 people crossed into Del Rio in just 15 days. That was from September 9 through September 24. This is just the beginning. Now there are reports there are up to 60,000 more Haitians making their way to our border. And what happened in Del Rio is about to happen all over again on a much larger scale. The Foreign Minister of Panama recently said: ``We sounded the alarm'' about the last caravan. She said she warned the Biden administration. Yet the Biden administration did nothing. More than a million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border since President Biden has taken office. This is more than double the population of my home State of Wyoming. Many of these people are carrying deadly diseases. Last week, the Homeland Security Secretary admitted one in five--this is from the Secretary of Homeland Security-- one in five illegal immigrants crossing our border carries an illness. This could mean 40,000 illegal immigrants brought disease across our border just this past month. In many cases, these people are then being sent all across the country to then stay there. Last week, the Homeland Security Secretary announced up to 12,000 of the illegal immigrants in Del Rio had been released into the United States--not sent to their home but sent into the United States. Oh, they are supposed to show up in court someday. Yet this will probably never happen. That has been the history of this--probably never show up in court. Instead, they will settle down in the United States and never leave. The lack of enforcement of the law by this administration is silent amnesty. The illegal immigrants know it, and the Democrats in this Chamber and in Washington know it as well. Many of these immigrants coming have applied for asylum, but it is highly unlikely these Del Rio immigrants actually would ever qualify for asylum. Most of them have been living in South America. In other words, they are not fleeing their home country. They already fled their home country to a safe third country where they were living. The current caravan is marching hundreds of miles through half a dozen countries. Asylum is only for people fleeing persecution. They are not. These people don't qualify for asylum. They have no right to come here. A competent administration would prevent them, stop them, from coming here. If they want to apply for asylum, they should remain in Mexico. Under the previous President, that is what was required. The ``Remain in Mexico'' policy was extremely successful and effective. Yet President Biden ended it on his very first day in office. Last month, a Federal judge ruled President Biden broke the law by ending it so suddenly. Now President Biden has to bring it back. Yet the administration has already announced that they are going to try to end it again. Two weeks ago, a judge also restricted the public health order called title 42. This a public health order which expels illegal immigrants from places where coronavirus is spreading. A Federal judge restricted title 42 to expelling single adults. Then the Biden administration appealed the ruling and asked to keep the order in place. Now an appeals judge has allowed it to continue while the appeal moves forward. If this appeal is not successful, we will see an additional tidal wave of illegal immigration. When I visited the border earlier this year, Border Patrol told me title 42 was their last line of defense. If title 42 is struck down, illegal immigration could double overnight. The Biden administration has also announced a new policy on deportations. Under the new rules, many illegal immigrants who commit crimes, amazingly, will not be deported. The policy explicitly says: ``Personnel should not rely on the fact of conviction''--should not rely on the fact of conviction--``when determining whom to deport.'' This is not accused of a crime. This is convicted of a crime. The policy lists out a host of mitigating factors. They include age, length of time in the United States, mental or physical health problems, and the potential impact on their family. We are talking about convicted criminals. These mitigating factors are largely subjective. In effect, Homeland Security now has license to not deport people who should, by law, be deported. This lack of effective enforcement is a silent amnesty. Here, in the Senate, Democrats just tried to pass amnesty for 8 million illegal immigrants. They failed. Yet it turns out they didn't need to pass it. The Biden administration will just let people stay. And I will tell you, people around this country, when they see what this administration is doing at the border, they are furious. They are offended. Amnesty only strengthens the magnet for people to come here illegally. As long as Democrats give amnesty and government benefits to illegal immigrants, of course, we will continue to have a border crisis. Last week, former President Barack Obama gave an interview. He was asked about the crisis on the southern border. He had something to say. It was on ABC ``Good Morning America,'' and I hope it is something that President Biden has heard or listened to. President Obama said: We are a nation state. We have borders. The idea that we can have open borders is unsustainable. Unsustainable. That is President Barack Obama, former member of this Senate, a two-term President of the United States, saying what is happening now is unsustainable. And President Obama is absolutely right. It is unsustainable. It is leading to tragedies like one we saw in Yuma, AZ, just this August. Border Patrol agents, sadly, found a 2-year-old boy from Colombia. He was next to the dead bodies of his 11-year-old sister and their mother. We later found out his mother's name was Claudia Pena. She had called 9-1-1, and in the background of the call, the dispatchers heard a child saying: Mommy, I am hungry. The family had flown to Mexico from Colombia. Then they were smuggled over the border by a trafficker. They were seeking to be reunited with the father of the family. Now they will never be reunited. And stories like this one, heartbreaking stories, happen on a regular basis because our border is open. They are going to keep happening as long as the border remains open and as long as the President continues to send the message to attract more to come here illegally. We know what we need to do. We know what works: Finish the wall that we paid for; keep the public health rules in place; and keep the successful ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. Stop promising benefits-- government benefits, paid benefits--to illegal immigrants. Turn off the magnet--the magnet which is drawing millions of people to risk their lives--or this stampede for the border will continue. It is time we enforce the law. Secure this border once and for all. That is what the American people want and are not getting from this administration. Thank you. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak for up to 15 minutes and allowed to use a prop; and that, when I finish, Senator Tester be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today in having heard the Senator from Washington--the senior Senator from Washington, a Democrat leader--talk about something in this Senate Chamber, and she called it outrageous. Let me tell you what I find outrageous. Outrageous is the fact that people all across this country are facing crisis after crisis, all caused by the Democrats who are in charge of the House, the Senate, and the White House. And on this day, the final day of the fiscal year, we are spending time on a nominee who is completely unfit for the job for which she has been nominated. That is outrageous. But it has been one outrageous thing after another that I hear about in Wyoming each weekend. In August, it was the chaotic abandoning of Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of 13 American heroes; hundreds more individuals who lost their lives, or Afghani citizens--one of those brave soldiers, Rylee McCollum, a marine, age just 20, was from Wyoming. President Biden's activities in Afghanistan, they were outrageous. Because of his hasty retreat, the administration has enraged--enraged-- our allies around the world and has emboldened our enemies at the same time. That is outrageous. You know what is happening at the southern border? And I would tell you, our weak immigration policies that resulted in millions of illegal immigrants flooding into our country, that is outrageous. Across the West, a lack of fire mitigation and tree-thinning lacking has contributed to raging forest fires. These fires threaten lives, communities, and economies. And here in Congress, Democrats continue to create chaos. Runaway partisan spending has resulted in the biting pain of inflation and spiking costs for families all across the country when they go to the grocery store to buy food or go to the gas station and fill up. That is outrageous. So with all of these crises occurring across the Nation and the world, what is Leader Schumer and the Senate Democrats choosing today as one of their top priority for the Nation? Well, it is confirming a nominee who has a history of having collaborated with ecoterrorists. We talk about the threat of terrorism around the world and the threat of terrorism at home, and yet the Democratic leader is bringing to the floor today a nominee of the President of the United States and, apparently, endorsed and agreed to by all of the Democrats, who has a history of ecoterrorism and has been involved in such. It is confirming a nominee who collaborated with ecoterrorists, lied to the U.S. Senate, wrote in favor of population control as a problem related to the climate, and promoted the idea that homes built in the forest should be left to burn. This is outrageous. President Biden has nominated someone named Tracy Manning to serve as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. Across the West, it is known as the BLM. Ms. Stone-Manning lied to the Senate--lied to this very Senate this year about her past association with an ecoterrorist cell that hammered hundreds and hundreds of metal spikes--about 500 pounds of metal spikes--into trees in Idaho's Clearwater National Forest. If these metal spikes are struck by a logger's saw, the injuries to the logger can be fatal. And it is not just loggers who use saws; it is firefighters as well, going in to help fight fires. The same impact would occur to them. Ms. Stone-Manning anonymously sent a threatening letter to the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of the ecoterrorists, of which she was one of the ring leaders, and then spent years covering up their crimes, as well as her own. The lead investigator on the case sent a letter to our committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The lead investigator sent that letter to the committee to say that Ms. Stone-Manning was investigated and she refused to cooperate as a result of the crime. She had years to come forward, years to reveal the crimes, and she never did. It wasn't until after she was caught and she was promised immunity and she received that immunity--it was only then that she agreed to testify. Earlier this year, Ms. Stone-Manning lied to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about her involvement as an ecoterrorist and in ecoterrorism. When asked if she had ever done anything to support tree spiking in any forest, she replied ``No.'' This is blatantly false. Ms. Stone-Manning's troubling record goes beyond lying and collaborating with ecoterrorists. She has written articles and a graduate thesis supporting the idea of human population control. And 1 year ago--not when she was a graduate student a number of decades ago, but 1 year ago--she tweeted an article that her husband had written, calling for homes built in the forest, allowing them to burn during fires. She called the article a ``clarion call.'' Now, this is for the person nominated to be the head of the Bureau of Land Management--a clarion call. That is not part of the responsibilities and is the exact opposite of what we should expect from the head of the Bureau of Land Management. Tracy Stone-Manning is a dangerous choice to be put in charge of America's public lands. And each and every Senator who votes to confirm her will be held personally responsible for that vote. Her nomination has been publicly opposed by the last two--the last two--BLM Directors, by outdoor organizations, by sportsman's groups, pro-life organizations, by loggers, by the Western States Sheriffs' Association. The list goes on and on. And might I mention that one of those past two BLM Directors was President Obama's BLM Director, who said she was unfit for the position to which President Biden had nominated her. She is the wrong choice for this job. She should never be confirmed, but that is exactly what Senate Democrats want to do today; and that is outrageous. At a time when America is facing mounting crises, Senate Democrats, each and every one, is determined to confirm a nominee who collaborated with ecoterrorists, lied to the U.S. Senate, and continues to hold very dangerous views. I emphatically oppose her nomination. Every single Republican in the Senate opposes her nomination, and I urge courageous Democrats to stand up and do the same. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Senate should emphatically oppose the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Nation's Bureau of Land Management. It is hard to believe, but she has colluded with ecoterrorists, plain and simple. She stonewalled a criminal investigation for years. She lied to the Senate, and she still holds radically dangerous views; and yet she is still the nominee of the President of the United States for this very important post. It is outrageous. Let's begin with her ties to ecoterrorists. We worry about terrorism in this world and in this country. By her own admission in her court testimony, when she was in graduate school, she collaborated with ecoterrorists who had hammered hundreds of metal spikes into trees in a national forest. It was in Idaho. Tree spiking involves hammering a metal rod, like this one, into a tree trunk. This can do serious damage. They put about 500 pounds of these in tree trunks in a national forest. If a logger or firefighter cuts this rod--you say, Why would a firefighter be there? They have chainsaws and they work to clear areas to try to fight fires, or a logger taking down trees--the saw will shatter, shrapnel will fly in every direction, and the user of that saw could become terribly injured or even killed. If a sawblade comes across a spike like this in a sawmill, the saw can explode. The results could be catastrophic to both life and limb. Well, ecoterrorists who spike trees absolutely know what they are doing. It is always premeditated. Even the Washington Post has labeled tree spiking as one of the most vicious tactics of the ecoterrorists. That is what we are dealing with President Biden's nominee to be the Director of Bureau of Land Management. You say: What is her connection to this horrible, horrible practice? Well, she has admitted that she edited, typed, and then anonymously sent a threat letter to the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of known tree spikers. She and her Democrat defenders have claimed this letter was a warning so no one would get hurt. That is false. Here are just a few quotes from the letter she typed and she mailed to the U.S. Forest Service: You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt. And: I would be more than willing to pay you a dollar for the sale, but you would have to find me first and that could be your WORST nightmare. Think about these lines. Think about what it must be like if you had received such a letter. She mailed this threatening letter to the target of the tree spiking--and that was the U.S. Forest Service-- because she didn't want any trees in that area to be harvested. She and her circle of friends were investigated for their involvement with this ecoterrorist network and the attack. She was subpoenaed. She had to give hair samples, palm sample, handwriting, fingerprint samples to investigators. All this time, she knew who the tree spikers were. She could have gone to the authorities to identify them, but she refused, didn't cooperate with investigators. The lead investigator on the case wrote a letter to Chairman Manchin and to me after she had testified in the Senate to the Energy Committee, and he referred to her as the ``nastiest of the suspects.'' He also said she not only had knowledge of the plan to spike the trees with spikes like this, she was one of the planners. She was a ringleader. The lead investigator in the criminal case wrote: It became clear that Ms. Stone-Manning was an active member of the original group that planned the spiking of the Post Office timber sale. Now, he wasn't the only one who said she knew about it in advance. In an interview recently, within the last couple of months, with the E&E News, one of the convicted tree spikers, one of those who went to jail for doing this, he also confirmed that Tracy Stone-Manning, the President's nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management, to be in charge of the national forests--that Tracy Stone-Manning knew of the plan to spike the trees well in advance. This was premeditated. So who have we heard from? We heard from the criminal who is in jail--went to jail. We heard from the cop who prosecuted the case. Both the cop and the criminal agree that she was involved and she knew about the plan to spike the trees. According to the investigator's letter, Ms. Stone-Manning's lack of cooperation would set back the investigation for years. From 1990 until the end of 1992, the case went cold. Remember, she knew who spiked the trees. She was protecting the ecoterrorists' identities the entire time. Eventually, Ms. Stone-Manning was identified, and she received an investigation target letter to let her know she was being targeted as part of the investigation. The lead investigator said she only agreed to testify after she was caught and after her lawyer negotiated an immunity deal to testify. Her defenders have said she helped put the bad guys away. In fact, President Biden's nominee is one of the bad guys. She helped plan the tree spiking. She covered up the terrorist activity for years. She did not cooperate with the authorities, and she only testified after she was caught and received immunity. After all of this, she lied to the Committee about the incident. On a sworn affidavit in her Committee questionnaire, she said she was not the target of any investigation. We know that is a lie. We know she received a letter that she was a target of the investigation. She complained in the press about how degrading it was to be investigated. Then why did she tell us she was never investigated and told the press how bad it was and degrading to be investigated? She also admitted to the press that she could have been charged with a crime if not for her immunity deal. She also lied about her involvement in the tree spiking. I asked her directly: Did you have personal knowledge of, participate in, or in any way directly or indirectly support activities associated with the spiking of trees in any forest during your lifetime? And she replied ``no.'' She sent their letter. She knew the plan in advance. She knew their identities, and she refused to tell the authorities. How is that not supporting activities associated with ecoterrorism and tree spiking? Finally, Senate Democrats are very quick to say this tree-spiking episode was decades ago, can't be relevant anymore, in spite of the fact that it is a Federal crime--as if collusion with terrorists is just a youthful indiscretion. But she lied this year when she came to testify to the U.S. Senate. She lied to our committee and she lied to this institution. It is clear to me that her radical views have not changed. In September of 2020, 1 year ago, she tweeted an article written by her husband that calls--because she would be in charge of areas related to the forest--retweeted an article by her husband that calls for homes in forests to be left to burn during wildfires. Senator Sullivan talked about the fires in Alaska. We have had fires in Wyoming. We have firefighters in there protecting structures and human life. Her husband says: Let them burn. Her husband wrote: There's a rude and satisfying justice in burning down the house of someone who builds in the forest. ``Rude and satisfying justice in burning down'' someone's home. Tracy Stone-Manning isn't responsible for the views of her husband, but a year ago--not as graduate student decades ago--we are talking now, as wildfires burn across the country, she actually endorsed her husband's views on letting the houses burn. In a tweet, she called her husband's writing a ``clarion call.'' Well, clarion call, if you look it up, means a call to action. As the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Tracy Stone-Manning would be in charge of firefighting operations on public lands. Yet her husband and the things she retweets say: Let it burn. Apparently, she is comfortable leaving the houses and homes of our constituents in the Rocky Mountain West to burn because they built their homes in the forest. I have constituents who have homes in the forest. I am sure almost every Senator does. This tweet wasn't 30 years ago. This tweet was 1 year ago. Who actually thinks her beliefs are different today? Her views on firefighting are just the tip of the iceberg. In her graduate thesis, she actually argued that Americans need to have fewer children. You know why? Because she says children are a threat to the environment. She actually called children ``environmental hazards.'' Can you find the environmental hazard in this photo? She told her readers to ``stop at one or two.'' She even made ads like this one to promote these ideas, the child as an environmental hazard. And she is the nominee of the President of the United States for an important position in this government. She answered her own question by saying: Oh, yes, you can find the environmental hazard, ``that's right, it's the cute baby.'' This thesis isn't the only time she argued for human population control. In an essay in the High Country News, she said Americans were ``breeding our weapons'' in the war on the grizzly bear. She concludes that essay by saying: ``We should wage war on overpopulation.'' These are ideas you hear in communist China, not from the nominee to be the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in the United States. Mr. President, there are many qualified Democrats who could run the Bureau of Land Management and do a fine job of it. We should reject this nomination, and the President can nominate someone else. It is astonishing to me to see Democrats digging in to defend a proven liar, an ecoterrorist collaborator who still holds very dangerous and threatening beliefs. Bob Abbey was the BLM Director under President Barack Obama. He said her actions ``should disqualify her'' from leading this important Agency. One Biden administration official admitted on NBC News her nomination was a ``massive vetting failure.'' So Obama's BLM Director said she should be disqualified--her actions should disqualify her--and a Biden administration official calls it a ``massive vetting failure.'' And when our Committee asked the Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, about Stone-Manning's views, her response was: ``I didn't nominate her.'' Well, no, she didn't. The President of the United States did. This is clearly not a rousing endorsement coming from fellow Democrats--the White House, former BLM Director under President Obama, and now the Secretary of Interior. If she is confirmed, Senate Democrats will be held wholly responsible. They should consider carefully if they want their name associated with Tracy Stone-Manning. Tracy Stone-Manning should never be the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. I strongly oppose her nomination. Every Republican--every Republican--strongly opposes her nomination, and Senate Democrats should do the same. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, the Senate is about to vote on the nomination of Robert Anderson to serve as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, and I am here to tell you, Madam President, that I oppose this nomination. Now, if confirmed, Mr. Anderson will serve as the Department's chief attorney and also as the principal legal adviser to the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Haaland. He would oversee more than 430 attorneys and a staff within 6 legal divisions. He would be responsible for ensuring that business conducted in the Interior Department follows the law and is done transparently. He would be granted tremendous powers to shape how the Department fulfills its mission by issuing final legal interpretations on all matters within the jurisdiction of the Department. These decisions directly impact homes and businesses in Wyoming and throughout the Nation. These decisions can make or break our Nation's ability to protect our environment, to use and enjoy our natural resources, to create good-paying jobs, and to pay for services such as public education. Over the course of his career, Mr. Anderson has both taught and practiced law, primarily focused on Tribal issues. Now, I am concerned that Mr. Anderson lacks sufficient legal experience beyond the Tribal law to effectively navigate the complex web of issues governing the multiple use of public lands and Federal lands. I am very concerned about Mr. Anderson's actions, specifically actions he has taken as the Principal Deputy Solicitor since January 20 of this year. He has revoked many solicitors' opinions issued under the Trump administration. His work has paved the way for the Biden administration's punishing policies that are in direct conflict with the Department of the Interior's multiple-use mandate. Mr. Anderson's responses to questioning by Senator Cassidy during his nomination hearing were particularly concerning to me. Senator Cassidy asked whether the nominee agreed that the requirement to ``maintain''-- maintain--oil and gas leasing programs meant to lease some more--not just maintain the leases that were already leased, but continue leasing. Mr. Anderson responded that he thought it was an open question. Madam President, to suggest that the Secretary is no longer required to plan for and hold new offshore oil and gas leases simply and unfortunately but truly ignores the law of the land. Let me be clear. The Secretary of the Interior is required to comply with the law like everyone else. Mr. Anderson's willingness to put the Biden administration's war on American energy ahead of following established law, in my opinion, disqualifies him from serving as Solicitor. I will vote against Mr. Anderson's nomination, and I will urge other Senators to do so. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Peters and I be allowed to continue to complete our remarks before the rollcall vote.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to point out the failures of the Biden administration's foreign policies, and specifically President Biden's failures in addition to that of his administration, because President Biden ran for President based on basically two things: what he described as his competence and as his foreign policy expertise. He has failed miserably at both. It has been nearly a month since President Biden withdrew from Afghanistan. And what about the Taliban? Well, right now, they are more powerful than ever. They have billions and billions of dollars' worth of high-tech military equipment. It is beyond their wildest dreams. Where did they get their weapons? Well, they got them from the United States of America. As we hear on nightly news broadcasts, and as we know from what we are hearing at home, there are hundreds of Americans still stranded behind enemy lines. The administration doesn't want to admit a number, but there are hundreds of Americans stranded behind enemy lines, if not more. The detrimental consequences for America are only beginning. Our friends are furious. And our enemies? They are emboldened by what has happened in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, I visited with our NATO allies. Our allies are enraged. And a host of foreign policy mistakes by President Biden, in my opinion and in theirs, are irreversible. Here are just a few examples: Angela Merkel's designated successor in Germany called our Afghanistan withdrawal ``the biggest debacle'' in the history of NATO. President Biden didn't mind offending our Canadian allies when he shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline. Months later, he gave Vladimir Putin the green light to build the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, and we just heard Senator Cruz talking about that. Remember, this pipeline is a geopolitical weapon that Putin is going to use to hold our European allies hostage--hostage for money and hostage for energy. President Duda in Poland, he said recently the Nord Stream 2 giveaway is ``grounds for reflection on relations with the United States.'' France was so offended with President Biden, at one point they recalled their ambassador. Never happened in American history. Go back all the way to the 1700s. France is a nuclear power. It is one of our closest allies. This is Presidential incompetence on an unprecedented scale. Our allies see the incompetence. Our enemies not only see it, they can smell it. China has said so publicly that Afghanistan shows Americans cannot defend our allies anymore. Now China is threatening Taiwan and building more than 200 missile silos. Iran has accelerated its nuclear program. According to Israel, Iran is only a few weeks away from having enough material to build a nuclear weapon. And on the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, American troops in Iraq were attacked. Russia is preparing to test a nuclear cruise missile near the Arctic Circle. North Korea is expanding uranium enrichment; and just days after America withdrew from Afghanistan, North Korea tested two ballistic missiles. In every area and region of the world, our Nation--America's interests are in retreat. Our enemies are on the march. America has grown weaker under Joe Biden; our enemies have grown stronger under Joe Biden. Because of President Biden's incompetence, mismanagement, and weakness, we are all, as citizens of this country, less safe. When I think of the last 8 months, I am reminded of something that former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said. And, remember, he was Secretary of Defense under President Obama. He said: ``Joe Biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue of the past four decades.'' Forty years of being wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue. At the time he said that, it had been four decades. Now Joe Biden is President of the United States, and it is five decades. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to add my voice to that of Mr. Cruz, the Senator from Texas, about Joe Biden's surrender to Vladimir Putin. Energy is called the master resource for a reason. It powers our country, powers our military, powers this Nation, powers the economy. And yet Joe Biden, on his first day in office, seemed to take us from a nation of energy dominance to energy dependence, canceling the Keystone Pipeline and now approving this pipeline, Nord Stream 2. I come to add my voice to all of those, and there are many who have spoken out against the President in expressing our deep concerns about this administration's unwillingness to fully sanction the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline and to allow it to move ahead. I am sure Senator Cruz, as part of his discussion this afternoon, will talk about the confirmation hearing of Tony Blinken to be Secretary of State. We asked him specifically about the pipeline, and he said he would stop it, no matter what. Even though it was down to the last--I think he may have said--100 yards, they would stop it. That is not what happened. We saw Joe Biden surrender. For years, we have been sounding the alarm about this Russian trap. This pipeline, who built it? Gazprom. Who are they? They are the Russian state-owned natural gas monopoly. We have all quoted and, in the past, have heard Senator McCain talk about Russia, a country acting as a gas station or a gas station acting as a country. I think one time he went on to say that Russia was a Mafia-run gas company disguised as a country. This dangerous pipeline is going to double the amount of Russian natural gas going to Germany via the Baltic Sea. Completion of the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline is going to further tighten its grip on European gas supplies and extend the threatening influence because, as I said before, energy is the master resource. We know Russia uses energy to coerce and to manipulate. They use it as a geopolitical weapon. They coerce and manipulate our allies and our partners in Europe. Many of our NATO allies--Germany, in particular--are becoming dependent upon and addicted to Russian gas. Europe already gets 40 to 45 percent of its gas imports from Russia. The new export pipeline helps Russia undermine Europe's efforts to diversify energy sources, suppliers, as well as the routes. Nord Stream 2 makes Europe more energy dependent on Russia and, of course, more prone to Russian influence. At the same time, it is going to further fuel Russian aggression, Russian intimidation, and Russian instability across Europe. Putin is a powerful foe who aims to divide Europe and to destroy the NATO alliance. He has been broadcasting those plans. This is not a surprise. The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline would mean a massive money transfer from our NATO allies straight into the Kremlin's coffers. This means more resources to put toward Russia's destabilizing activities. And we continue to see an increase in these destabilizing activities. Russia occupies territory in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. Russia launched a military buildup on Ukraine's border. Russia poisoned and then imprisoned a political opposition leader. Russian hackers are creating economic chaos by disrupting American supply chains. Russia could use these cash reserves in what way? Well, a way to fund aggression in Europe and around the world. And it is interesting that Putin even funds environmental activists in Europe to shut down energy where they would be exploring for natural gas and oil. He wants environmental activists to protest any efforts for the European countries to develop their own gas resources so he can hold them hostage in this way as well. Well, President Biden's weakness on Putin's pipeline is going to have serious consequences, not just the financial ones for Russia and not just those in Europe but worldwide. And for our security and for the security of our allies, I believe we must stop this Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. That is why Congress has overwhelmingly, this body, passed several pieces of bipartisan legislation. You know, people say to me: Can't you do anything in a bipartisan way in Congress anymore? I would say: Well, we certainly did when it came to the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. We passed bipartisan legislation imposing sanctions on this very project. Yet, this administration, the Biden administration--the surrendering Biden administration--is unwilling to implement the laws that are on the books. President Biden waived congressionally mandated sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, which is the company overseeing the pipeline construction. By using a national interest waiver, this administration gave Russia the green light to speed ahead to completion of this pipeline. Look, there is strong opposition to President Biden's deliberate failure to follow the law when it comes to this pipeline and the supply of energy from Russia to Europe. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter dated March 3 of this year in which I led a group of 40 Senators in outlining our concerns.

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, in this letter, signed by 40 Senators, we called out the Biden administration for refusing to impose sanctions on entities involved in the construction of this very pipeline. It is a lengthy letter, and I am not going to read the whole thing, but let me point out, the letter says this: The failure of [this] Administration to identify and impose new sanctions signals its willingness to allow President Putin to gain a stranglehold over Europe's gas [supply] and increase its geopolitical leverage. We call on the Administration to correct its misguided actions by quickly and fully implementing the sanctions mandated by U.S. law. It has been over 6 months, and President Biden still refuses to follow the law. Through his inaction, President Biden is gifting Russia a new geopolitical weapon. And one of the things I found most astonishing, in terms of this administration taking us from energy dominance to energy dependence, is what happened just last month. The Biden administration, seeing the impact of rising energy costs and rising gasoline costs--people in Wyoming paying more than $25 extra every time they fill their tank compared to the day that President Biden came into office--he said: We need to do something. His National Security Advisor actually went to say: We need to ask OPEC Plus to produce more oil and to produce more energy. Well, who is OPEC Plus? Well, it is Saudi Arabia, and it is Russia. In our Energy Committee, of which I am the ranking member, Senator Murkowski, the Senator from Alaska, came to the committee and told members of the committee that currently the United States is using more energy produced from Russia than it is from her home State of Alaska. What does that tell you about this administration and the commitment of this administration to energy needs in this country--in our own country? It is very disturbing to see the President act in such a reckless way regarding our Nation, our economy, and our energy security, and continuing to give gifts like this to our enemies. It is much better to sell energy to our friends than have to buy energy from our enemies, but that is what appeared on the White House website, put there by the National Security Advisor to the President just last month, asking Saudi Arabia and OPEC Plus to produce more energy to help lower the cost at the pump for people in the United States here at home. Well, why do you think we have it, Mr. President? You killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and put a longstanding moratorium now on gas production on Federal lands, which continues. There still has not been a lease sale since the day you signed that Executive order and the day you came into office. We need to force the President to act on this critical issue of the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. Yesterday--just yesterday--the U.S. House of Representatives--the body down the hall, with Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House, the House of Representatives--passed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act imposing new mandatory sanctions on Nord Stream 2. It would repeal the national interest waiver for sanctions under existing law. Look, this is an incredibly important step, and I would look forward to it quickly becoming law. Protecting this Russian trap that they have laid for the Germans and for Europe--the noose around the neck, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline--it is in our national security interest to block that, but yet this administration is not doing it, and I believe it is a grave mistake on the part of this administration. While President Biden has failed to do the right thing, there is still time. The administration can reverse course and fully sanction the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. And if President Biden refuses, Congress is prepared to take strong actions to protect the energy security of our Nation and our allies. And with that, I thank Senator Cruz for allowing me to join in support of the comments that he is making. We have been wonderful partners, and other Members on the floor, in a bipartisan way, with a specific focus on what is happening with Russia and its efforts to undermine the United States, to undermine NATO, and to try to go back to, as they have said, put the band back together--reestablish the former Soviet Union, which Vladimir Putin has stated is his goal all along. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor to join my colleague from Indiana and to congratulate him on those remarks, which would be most certainly well received in Wyoming, and reflect the feeling of the people in my State in terms of the reckless tax-and- spending process in which the Democrats are engaged. And I come today to the floor to oppose what the Democrats are trying to do in terms of adding money to the debt, additional spending, a bill that has been described in so many ways. I read it and, to me, it is reckless. It is extreme. It is scary to talk about the sort of things that the Democrats are trying to impose on the American people. When we take a look at what happens with this national debt, the folks on Medicare and on Social Security are concerned they are going to get undermined--those wonderful programs that work for so many people--because of the growing debt. How are we going to address it? Well, the suspension of the debt ceiling expired a month and a half ago. Less than 2 weeks later, Democrats passed a blueprint for the largest spending bill in the history of the United States, over $3.5 trillion. People looked at it and saw how much it is, and they said: Democrats may say it is $3.5 trillion; it is a lot more than that. More than America spent in World War II to win the war? This is in addition to the $2 trillion already spent and added to the debt by this administration on a party-line vote earlier this year. So America's debt is now over $28 trillion. We are on our way to $30 trillion. You divide that out by the number of men, women, and children in America, and it is approaching $100,000 per individual. It is going to have to be paid back ultimately to Wall Street, to Japan, to China, and to those that hold our debt. And the problem, when you look at a debt that large, and say, ``How do you put that into perspective,'' is how much interest are we paying on the loan? People that borrow money for a car or a home know how much interest they are paying on the loan, and for the United States, it is approaching $400 billion in interest on the loan a year. And this is at record low interest rates. Well, where is that money coming from? You know, you get nothing in return for it. But Democrats seem to think we need to just keep spending money and borrowing money to pay for the reckless spending. They don't want voters to know about it. They don't want voters to know how much money. They are asking for an unlimited ability to spend until after the 2022 election. That is what is coming over from the House. They say: Don't ask us. We are not going to tell you. We are just going to keep on spending like there is no tomorrow, all the way through a date after the 2022 election. They want to cover all of this spending by suspending what is called the debt ceiling so they can borrow as much as they want. Well, it is not going to happen. You can't have it both ways. If they try to spend trillions of dollars, they are going to be responsible for the consequences of that spending. Republicans are not going to give Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi a blank check, period. We are not going to give them a rubberstamp to their reckless spending. If Democrats want to raise the debt ceiling, they have the capacity to do it on their own, and they will need to do it on their own. Republicans are not going to participate. The Democrats have been in charge of Washington now for 8 full months. They have complete control--the House, the Senate, the White House. During all that time, they haven't raised a finger to lift the debt ceiling. Instead, they had the Secretary of the Treasury send a letter. She said the Treasury will run out of money in October. It is now September 22. The clock is ticking. Democrats chose not to raise the debt ceiling when they passed their $2 trillion addition to the debt earlier this year. They called it COVID relief, but actually 90 percent of the money actually went for medical care. They chose not to raise it as part of this over $3.5 trillion or $4 trillion spending bill that is being proposed as a result of Bernie Sanders' socialist budget. And Democrats think that the American people can keep spending money in such a reckless way. They are playing chicken with our economy. They think they can fool the American people. It is not going to work. Republicans are not going to be held hostage by the Democrats, and the American people should not be either or be put on the hook. If Democrats have enough votes to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars, then they have enough votes to raise the debt limit. This is Democrat debt. It is Biden-Schumer-Pelosi debt. Senate Republicans will not vote to burden future generations or to undermine Social Security and Medicare today with this kind of reckless spending. We are not going to vote for the spending bill--not one of us--and not going to vote to raise the debt limit on Democrat terms. If they want to go it alone on spending, the Democrats can go it alone on raising the debt ceiling. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor to talk about the growing list of disasters that is occurring in this country and around the world as a result of the actions of President Biden. The most recent disaster is President Biden's surrender of Afghanistan to global terrorists. For two decades, Americans fought and died in Afghanistan, and they did it to keep our country safe and free. On Thursday, August 26, the United States lost 13 servicemembers in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was the deadliest single day for our military in more than a decade. One of those fallen heroes, 20-year-old Rylee McCollum, was from Wyoming. Despite heroic sacrifice by our servicemembers, the Taliban, today, is stronger than ever. The Taliban controls more territory than it did on September 11 of 2001, 20 years ago. Afghanistan is, once again, a safe harbor for terrorists. This disaster happened because President Biden paid more attention to the calendar on the wall than he did to the conditions on the ground. President Biden wanted symbolism. Well, we got symbolism. We got the symbol of terrorists. It is the one they wanted. It is the symbol of helicopters flying, leaving the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan--something that President Biden promised the American people they would never see, but there it was for the world to see. The entire world also witnessed desperate Afghan citizens. They were plummeting to their deaths as they tried to hang onto planes that were leaving from the airport. President Biden was so eager to pull our troops out of Afghanistan by an arbitrary date that he left hundreds, if not thousands, of American citizens trapped--hostages behind enemy lines. President Biden abandoned the strategically located Bagram Air Base. It is the one base that could have evacuated people safely. The Biden administration even gave the Taliban a list of American citizens. I mean, can you imagine that? The administration gave the Taliban--the terrorists--a list of American citizens, green card holders, Afghan allies, people we wanted to get out of the country. To me and many Americans who heard that this happened, we saw it as a kill list--a list that the terrorists would use against American citizens and our allies on the ground--and we may never know how many are captured or tortured and are killed. We could have left Afghanistan with our honor intact. Instead, our enemies are now emboldened, and our friends are furious--furious at us. Billions and billions of dollars' worth of American military equipment and military secrets are now in the hands of the Taliban. Joe Biden has armed the Taliban beyond its wildest dreams. The Taliban has seized more than 600,000 American weapons. This includes over 2,000 armored vehicles, like Humvees, MRAPs, and even American tanks. They also have at least 40 aircraft, including Black Hawk helicopters and drones. The Biden administration has no plan either to get these weapons back or to destroy them where they sit on the ground. President Biden has surrendered America to the terrorists, and now I believe they are coming for us. Yet Afghanistan is just one of President Biden's many failures. On issue after issue, this President has displayed complete incompetence. For instance, President Biden has displayed gross incompetence and mismanagement at our southern border. On President Biden's first day in office--on the very first day--he flipped on a green light at the border, and he laid out the welcome mat. He shut down the construction of the border wall even though it had been fully paid for. He illegally ended the very successful ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, and he stopped all deportations. Ever since then--ever since that day 1 of his administration--illegal immigration has been at an alltime high. Over the last week, we have seen more than 10,000 illegal immigrants crowding under a single bridge in Del Rio, TX. Since President Biden became President, more than a million illegal immigrants have crossed into our country. That is more than twice the population of Wyoming. Some of these illegal immigrants carry deadly disease; others carry illegal weapons. Since Joe Biden became President, our border agents have seized enough fentanyl--it is a deadly drug--to kill every American man, woman, and child. The Joe Biden border crisis is--and the word is important to hear here--``unprecedented.'' That is not my word. It is a direct quote from the Secretary of Homeland Security. Joe Biden's Secretary of Homeland Security, a few weeks ago, was caught on tape. He told our Border Patrol officers that the border situation ``cannot continue.'' He went on to say: If our border is our first line of defense, then we are going to lose. . . . This is unsustainable. Again, this is coming from President Biden's Secretary of Homeland Security. Yet Democrats in Washington want to double down on this open border policy. Senate Democrats have tried to give amnesty to over 8 million illegal immigrants. Now, they have failed, but if they had been successful, it would have been the largest amnesty for illegal immigrants in our Nation's history. Well, that sends a very loud message to people all around the world. It says, if you come here illegally, the Democrats are sure going to try to give you government benefits and maybe even citizenship. This message from this White House and the Democrats only strengthens the magnet for people to come here illegally. Under President Biden, we have chosen chaos on the border, and we have chaos also in Democratic-governed cities. Over the past year and a half, we have seen an unprecedented rise in murders, in shootings, and in violent crime in Democratic-run cities. Last year, the murder rate went up by a third. This year, it is up again. Nearly all of the increases are in cities run by Democrats. Last year, in Democratic cities, what did they do? Well, they cut more than $1 billion off the funding for our police, for law enforcement--for the people who are there to keep the cities and the streets safe. As a result, crime is out of control, and working families are scared. There is also something else that is worrying families all across America, and those are the skyrocketing costs they have to pay every time they fill up their tanks or when they go to the grocery stores. At a time when our economy should be booming, the purchasing power of people's paychecks is getting eaten away. Gasoline is now nearly a dollar more a gallon than it was when Joe Biden took office. Now it costs about $25 more to fill up your vehicle. It costs about $25 more for a weekly trip of shopping at the grocery store. So $25 for gas and $25 for groceries is $50 a week. That is over $2,000 a year in lost buying ability--lost power of the paycheck--for American families. Inflation is happening because of excessive Democratic borrowing and spending. Gas prices are also rising because President Biden is restricting American energy. He has killed thousands of good energy jobs. He took an ax to the Keystone XL Pipeline. He stopped all new oil and gas leases on Federal land. It is no surprise to Americans that the price of energy is going up. And what is President Biden's solution to this? Well, he wants to raise taxes on energy produced in America. He doesn't want Americans to explore for energy and oil in the United States. No. His National Security Advisor, last month, actually asked foreign oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia--this is the National Security Advisor--to pump more foreign oil to lower the price of gas. And you say: How do you know that? Well, it was on the White House's website, right there for the world to see. The President would prefer for us to buy energy from our enemies rather than produce it here at home. Under the last President and the previous administration, the United States became energy dominant. President Biden seems very determined to make us energy dependent once again. I could go on. There are so many failures of the Biden administration to discuss. Every single one of these crises could have been avoided. Each one was predictable and could have been preventable. They could have been avoided with competent leadership in the White House. They could have been avoided if Democrats had stopped their mad dash to the left. The American people gave us a 50-50 Senate. They didn't ask for a leftwing agenda. No wonder recent polls show Americans, overwhelmingly, say the country is headed in the wrong direction. The American people know what they want: safe communities, secure borders, higher wages, lower prices. It is what I hear in Wyoming, and it is what I heard this past weekend. The incompetence of this administration over the last 8 months cannot be allowed to continue. The American people deserve better. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join my colleagues in opposing the Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending spree. The bill that we are talking about is the centerpiece of Bernie Sanders' socialist plan for America. The Democrats' plan does play favorites, however, and what they really focus on doing, interestingly, is hurting the working folks in rural America to give tax breaks to wealthy families in big cities in liberal States. The reason I tell you this is that this bill includes huge subsidies for people who buy and drive electric vehicles. You don't see a lot of that in rural States with long distances between community to community. Well, the government is already giving billions of taxpayer dollars to electric vehicle manufacturers and for owners. Nearly 80 percent of the tax credits go to households making at least $100,000 a year. So what is happening now? The thing is, right now, the roads are being used, chewed up, vehicles on the road, and how is it paid for? Well, the highway trust fund. And how does that get paid for? People paying the gas tax. People who use electric vehicles do the same wear and tear to our highways and pay nothing in terms of a use fee to use the highways as they do. So they are paying nothing in, they are using the services, they use the roads for free, and now they want subsidies. And that is what the Democrats are offering. This bill would give up to $12,500 to married couples to buy electric vehicles--12,500. What kind of income? Maybe there is an income limit. I mean, you don't want to give it to rich people. So the Democrats said: OK, if you are a single person earning up to $400,000 a year, you can get a subsidy. If you are a married couple earning up to $800,000 a year, you still get the subsidy because, boy oh boy, we are going to push those electric vehicles for the big cities and for our Democrat colleagues. Democrats have gone so far as to even want to spend $7 billion to subsidize luxury electric bicycles--astonishing. Now, these giveaways have a pricetag, and that is why Democrats want to pile enormous new taxes on the American people. They propose more than $2 trillion in additional new taxes. This would be the largest tax increase in half a century, but it is still not enough to pay for all the new spending they want to do. That is why they are trying a backdoor tax increase. What the Democrats are proposing is putting the IRS on steroids--supersizing the IRS. They want to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service by $80 billion. The IRS says: Hey, give us a lot more money. We can hire a lot more agents, and they can collect more money, even more than the $80 billion that you give us. So last week, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said she wants to make banks report every transaction that is over $600--she didn't just say it; she wrote it in a letter to the chairman of the House Budget Committee--so they can watch and look at, investigate, spy on families all across the country. I have heard more from people of Wyoming about this one letter from the Secretary of the Treasury than I have on many, many issues over the years. Every time somebody pays their rent, the IRS will now know about it. Make a car payment; the IRS will now know about it. Pay the plumber; the IRS will know about it. The amount of power that the IRS has will now be more than ever before. Democrats are going to send the IRS to shake down people for every last dime they can. It is too much power. It is too much of an invasion of privacy. The American people find this dangerous and scary. The IRS is already one of the most powerful and unaccountable Agencies in the Federal Government, if not the most powerful and unaccountable Agency in the Federal Government. Now the Democrats want to unleash it even further. I just want to talk about one last tax, and it is a hidden tax, but it surely hurts many Americans, especially the poor. And it is a tax called inflation. Inflation is happening because Democrats borrowed and spent too much money already. If they pass this, prices are going to continue to rise. People go to the grocery store; they are paying more. People go to the gas station; they are paying more. The Democratic Party's priorities are backward, but under the Democratic Party today, prices are going up. Yet they are giving kickbacks to the wealthy, their powerful friends. This is heading America toward bankruptcy. The American people don't want higher taxes. They want higher wages, lower prices, more jobs, more opportunity. They don't want this reckless tax-and-spending spree--no, not one bit. I yield the floor.