John Barrasso

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, first, I would like to associate myself with the fine remarks of the Senator from Mississippi, who sees every day, when he is home traveling in his State, the same things I am seeing in Wyoming--``Help Wanted'' signs all around our home States, as businesses are looking for people to hire, and the government's incentives are making it that much harder to find workers. Job openings right now are at a record high in America. There were 8 million jobs available going into April. Yet in that month, only about one-quarter of a million people actually were hired. The unemployment rate actually went up. We lost manufacturing. We lost retail. We lost healthcare jobs last month. Construction jobs were flat. Ten million people are unemployed right now, even though there are 8 million job openings. Every Senator I talk to says that there are ``Help Wanted'' signs all around their home State. Nearly every American who wants a job should be able to find one. Yet it is really not happening. The question has been asked and answered on this floor by various Members of the Republican Party: Why can't small businesses find workers? Why are so many of these jobs unfilled? Because something like this doesn't just happen on its own. Oh, no. This happens as a direct result of the President's policies. President Biden and Democrats are paying people to stay home. That is why so many people are staying home. They are being paid more to not work than to work. According to one analysis, nearly half of all people on unemployment benefits with the unemployment benefit bonus payment-- the extra check--are making more money by staying at home than they would make if they go to work. These people aren't lazy. Oh, no. When the President and Democrats offer people free money to stay home, it is perfectly logical--people take them up on the offer. I believe the American people want to work. That is what I see at home in Wyoming. That is who we are. That is the fiber of the American people. We are the hardest working people in the world. American businesses want to hire. Yet Joe Biden and Big Government are getting in the way. President Biden has actually extended bonus payments until September. We are now in May. May, June, July, August, September--month after month, after month, after month of more of this. This is a grave danger to small businesses across America. If they can't find workers, they might have to close again. Then those job openings will no longer be there, and they will be gone forever. President Biden appears to be, in my opinion, in denial on this. He held a press conference recently, and this is what he said: It is all ``loose talk.'' This is not loose talk. This is basic arithmetic. Job openings are going up; hiring is slowing down; and nearly half of workers make more money by staying at home. ``Loose talk'' is when the President of the United States tells us everything is just fine when it is not. April was the most disappointing jobs report in more than 20 years--two decades. Yet President Biden says the jobs report ``shows we're on the right track.'' No, it doesn't. Hiring has slowed down. Some say people aren't returning to work because of coronavirus. Madam President, let me tell you, it is very unlikely. We are vaccinating 2 million people a day. One in three Americans is now-- these are adults--fully vaccinated already. We are getting the virus behind us. We have been very successful with Operation Warp Speed. We should be filling the 8 million jobs available right now. Yet what are President Biden and the Democrats doing to fix the problem? Nothing, nothing at all. I believe they are making it worse by extending these bonus payments. It is time the President and Democrats worked for a solution. You know, I am proud that the people of Wyoming and the Governor of Wyoming have done just that. Wyoming has taken a leadership role, along with approximately 20 other States, in ending these bonus payments. It is going to give our economy a boost. It is going to lead to more hiring. It is time for President Biden and the Democrats to follow the successful lead of the people of Wyoming. Stop paying people a bonus to stay home. Reward the hard work that is a part of America and Americans' DNA. I yield the floor

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Thank you, Mr. President. President Biden should remember that by 1980, the American people had had enough. We changed course. We thought it was enough of Jimmy Carter, and we elected Ronald Reagan President. It is time to change course again. Let's create more American energy. Let's set down the taxpayer's credit card. Put it away. Cut up the credit card. Stop the reckless spending. American families have been paying the price. The people in the middle are being squeezed. The American people expect and deserve better. Thank you. I yield the floor. Vote on S.J. Res. 13

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, on the way over to the floor, I received a CNN news alert, and the headline is: ``Biden dramatically scales up the pressure on Netanyahu.'' So I come to the floor to tell you and to tell the Nation that I stand with Israel. Like millions of Americans, I have been disturbed to see the Biden administration make a false equivalence between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. There is no equivalence here. Hamas is a terrorist group funded by Iran. These terrorists have fired over 3,000 missiles into population centers in Israel. Israel has every right to defend itself. If Hamas stopped fighting, there would be peace. If Israel stopped fighting, there would be no peace. Hamas would continue to attack Israel. President Biden's readout of his call this morning with Prime Minister Netanyahu stated: The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire. President Biden doesn't get to tell Israel what to do. We all want peace. We all want a cease-fire. A cease-fire happens when Hamas stops its terrorist campaign. Until then, Israel has every right to the proportional response it is making right now. Israel has every right to take out the terrorist leaders that are directing the attacks on its citizens Economic Recovery Mr. President, I would like to move now to a separate topic, and the one for which I originally came to the floor, and I came to the floor to talk about our economy. In April, the unemployment rate went up. Surprisingly, it went up. It was supposed to go down. It went up, and so are prices all around the country. The experts in the White House actually thought that we were going to add 1 million new workers in America last month. In reality, only about 266,000 Americans went back to work. So the so-called experts at the White House were wrong, and they were wrong by three- quarters of a million workers. Now, 40,000 of those people who went back to work went to government jobs, which means the cost of government continues to grow. The private sector was able to only hire 220,000 people rather than 1 million. It was the most disappointing jobs report in over 20 years. There has also been a slowdown in the middle of a recovery, which is surprising to many. You know, before Joe Biden took office, we saw a fantastic economic recovery, and it was the fastest one in American history. We were bouncing back from the coronavirus shutdown. It is a very different story now. It is no coincidence that this is a direct result of President Biden's policies. And the policies--the Democrats all voted for this, and the Republicans all voted against it. The Democrats and President Biden, party-line vote, voted to extend a bonus payment for workers to stay home, paying people more to stay at home than they could make at work, in many cases. People aren't lazy. They are logical, and it is a perfectly logical thing to do; that they took up the President on his offer to stay home when they were paid more to stay home than they could make at work. So, as a result, job openings right now are at an alltime high. Businesses can't find workers. Everywhere I go in Wyoming, I see ``Help Wanted'' signs. The president of Delta Airlines reported they canceled 100 flights last month because they couldn't find enough people to work. They had people ready to fly. They didn't have people who were ready to work. People want to work. People want to hire others. The incentives coming from government are absolutely wrong. Joe Biden and Big Government are getting in the way of people returning to work. There is another big problem I heard about. I heard about it this past weekend in Wyoming. The business owners I heard can't find workers because of incentives coming out of this administration--``Help Wanted'' signs up--and from other people asking me: Why are prices going up? Why is inflation back? You know, under the Obama-Biden administration, we saw the same thing. It is called the middle-class squeeze, where prices are going up faster than wages are going up. April was the worst month for inflation since the great recession 13 years ago. In effect, inflation means that the money in your wallet buys less. So, in a sense, you have a pay cut. Inflation is a regressive tax. It means the poorer you are, the more it hurts and the fewer things you can buy for the money you have. The big donors in the Democratic league, they are going to be just fine. They won't even notice rising prices. They don't notice when gas prices go up. The Silicon Valley hotshots and the masters of the universe in Manhattan, they are going to be just fine. It is families--working families in Wyoming and New Mexico and across the country who are struggling to get by. They are the ones who are going to get hurt the most. Just look at the cost of a trip to the grocery store. First, you have to go to the grocery store, and to you get there, you have to drive. Well, the price of gasoline is going up. Across the Nation now, the price of a gallon of gasoline is over $3 a gallon. A year ago, it was about $2 a gallon. Since Joe Biden took office, it has gone up nearly 70 cents a gallon. That hits people when they fill up because they have to drive getting back to work. In Wyoming and New Mexico, people drive long distances, and we use more gas than most. So people in our States are paying more than many other places. And I don't think it is a coincidence that the price of gas has gone up. Joe Biden's first action in office was to draw a target on the back of American energy and pull the trigger. He shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline. He banned new oil and gas leases on Federal lands. He has restricted the production of American energy. We need energy. We need it now. Gas prices affect the price of everything else. It costs more and more to transport things across the country, and that is why we are seeing prices go up at the grocery store. Working families are getting squeezed. And this is a direct result of the policies of the Biden administration. One reason this is happening is because President Biden is flooding the country with so-called easy money. We are finding out it is not too easy. In the month of March, President Biden signed into law a $2 trillion slush fund for basically liberal spending. It was described as a coronavirus relief package but, in fact, when you take a look at it, less than 9 percent of the money, a very small percentage of the money, actually went for medical care. He crammed it through Congress--party-line vote, absolutely no Republican support--put the bill on the Nation's credit card, and the Federal Reserve started to print more money. Now, money doesn't grow on trees, doesn't come from a printer, and you cannot print your way to prosperity. The money has to come from somewhere. History shows that this is a strategy that eventually backfires. Nations try to print free money, and they end up poorer than ever. Get- rich schemes don't work, never have, and they aren't going to this time either. Inflation is going up every single month since the election. Now, the White House experts tell us not to worry. These are the same experts that predicted there would be 1 million new jobs and people working last month and that the unemployment rate would drop. But much of the $2 trillion that President Biden signed into law hasn't even gone out the door yet, and the President is asking for trillions and trillions more. The House of Representatives, the other night, put out a proposal related to the infrastructure bill, one that I am trying to work with the administration on. They are requesting $7.1 trillion, an astonishingly high amount of money. If the President gets his way and we keep spending like this at the request from the House, inflation is only beginning. You don't have to take my word for it. Listen to the liberal economist Larry Summers. He was in the Clinton administration as well as the Obama administration. He was Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury and played an economic role in the Obama administration. He warned against President Biden's spending spree. He called that $2 trillion slush fund the least responsible spending bill he has seen in four decades--the least responsible spending bill in four decades. That is before all this additional spending may be coming. Well, this is what he said after April's inflation numbers came out. He said: I was . . . worried . . . about inflation . . . [yet] it's . . . moved much faster, much sooner than [even] I . . . predicted. That is Larry Summers--Clinton administration and Obama administration--commenting on the Biden policies. People who save money their whole lives for retirement are now watching their hard-earned savings go down with a stroke of Joe Biden's pen. Their buying ability is shrinking. People who did the right thing, who worked hard, and saved their money are now being punished by Biden policies. Under President Biden, we are seeing more government, more taxes, more spending, and, as a result, the American people are suffering. They are seeing flat wages, higher prices, and disappointing job creation. We see gas lines. We see people hoarding gasoline. It sounds like it was in the 1970s. And President Biden should remember those times because he was still a Member of the Senate back then. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to continue and finish my remarks with an additional 60 seconds.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. First, I would like to associate myself with the remarks from the Senator from Iowa, who very clearly stated the problems that people all across the country are facing. I love the line about we can't even claim the government as a dependent because the government truly is dependent upon the people of this great country. Tax day is just a few days away so I come to the floor to oppose the tax hikes proposed by President Biden. Today, tax revenues in America are at a near-record high of all times. We don't have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. Yet President Biden wants to take more money out of the wallets of America's hard-working men and women. How much is he calling for? Astonishingly, $3 trillion in additional taxes. This is on top of the taxes that are already being paid. It is the biggest tax increase in over half a century. It is supposed to pay for a lot of liberal spending ideas. It is a big liberal agenda that this President is promoting. Yet even with these historic tax increases being proposed, our Nation will still need to continue to borrow money from China. In just over 100 days, President Biden has already put $1.99 trillion on our Nation's credit card. Now he wants more. In total, President Biden's agenda would cost more than America's total commitment to World War II. Are these liberal spending proposals as important to our Nation as was our victory in World War II? Of course not. As I have said before, our economy was already on track to be back to normal this summer. That was before President Biden passed his spending bill on a party-line vote crammed through the Senate after a middle-of- the-night debate, crammed through on a direct party-line vote using budget reconciliation. President Biden has said--it is interesting, astonishing, and amusing to listen to the President when he says only the rich will have to pay these taxes. The American people have seen this movie before. We know as Americans that when we hear politicians say only the rich will pay, it is time to hold on to your wallet because they are coming for you. Working families are going to pay in the form of higher prices, lower wages, and fewer job opportunities. We are already seeing higher prices. We are seeing significant inflation since the day President Biden has taken office. We see it again today with the newest economic statistics that have come out. We hear about it at home on the weekends as we talk to folks at home about what is happening with their day-to-day life and their expenses. Experts tell us that President Biden's tax hikes could destroy a million jobs--a million jobs. When Republicans cut taxes in 2017--and it is good to be here on the floor with my friend and colleague from Ohio who is one of the four horsemen who put that proposal together on behalf of the Republicans--revenue at the Federal Government actually went up. It is the same thing that happened when taxes were cut under President Coolidge and Kennedy and Reagan and George W. Bush. If you cut taxes, there is more money in people's hands. They can do what they want to do with that money and make better decisions than the government. I think it is very important to let people keep more of their hard-earned money. They make better decisions than Washington, DC, does. People can decide what they want to spend, what they want to save, what they want to invest, how much they want to donate. And all four of these are very good for our Nation. That means more jobs, more growth, and, ultimately, more tax revenue with more people working, even though each is paying less in taxes individually. I have much more confidence when money is in the hands of the American people than I do when it is in the hands of the politicians in Washington, DC. I would urge all of my colleagues to say: Stop these tax hikes. Stop this reckless spending. Let people keep more of their hard-earned money and make decisions for themselves. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Mills, WY. On Saturday, June 12, 2021, the town of Mills will honor this milestone with a 100th Anniversary Summer Fest Celebration. The event will host a parade, concerts, and other festivities throughout the day. It is an excellent opportunity for the people of Natrona County and Wyoming to gather and commend the strong, lasting character of this community. Mills was established in May of 1921 at a location near the Fort Caspar site along the northern banks of the North Platte River. Many pioneers traversed this area along the Oregon Trail before oil was discovered in the Salt Creek Field. In 1919, with the growth of the oil and gas industry, brothers James, William, and Thomas Mills and their Mills Construction Company purchased a homestead owned by Charles M. Hawks. Company employees and their families began to settle in the surrounding land. By 1921, over 500 people lived in the quickly developing area. A need for local organization resulted in Mills' incorporation as a town, becoming the third in Natrona County. The story of Mills is a microcosm of the story of Natrona County and Central Wyoming. The town has navigated through the booms and busts of the oil industry throughout its century and continues to navigate its unique place across the river from Casper. Industry has always played a large role in the development of the community. From its beginnings with the Mills Construction Company, Mills now hosts a wide range of manufacturing, fabrication, heavy machinery, and oil and gas businesses. Yet, Mills still maintains its quaint charm with Oregon Trail historic sites, river recreational opportunities, and local watering holes. Mills held its first election on May 10, 1921. The first mayor was George E. Boyle, who was elected alongside new Councilmen Fred Hunter, Fred Shackleford, G.W. Lindsley, and Michael Kennedy. A century later, Mills is served by Mayor Seth Coleman with Councilmembers James Hollander, Darla Ives, Sara McCarthy, and Brad Neumiller. They continue their tradition of public service and stewardship. From its incorporation as a town with a population of 500, Mills entered 1990 with over 1,500 residents. Today it boasts a population of over 4,000 people and is one of the fastest growing communities in Wyoming. On August 4, 2020, Governor Mark Gordon signed a proclamation declaring Mills a ``First-Class City.'' This is another milestone to add to the summer celebration. It is my honor to commemorate this historic milestone for the city of Mills. Their centennial celebration is a tribute to generations of determination and community. Bobbi joins me and everyone in Wyoming in our appreciation of everything the people of Mills have contributed to our great State and Nation. We extend our congratulations as we look forward to the next 100 years.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to discuss what I have seen happen now over the last 100 days of the Biden administration, and that is President Biden seems to be doubling down on some of the failures of the Obama administration. Last week, as the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I released a report, and it is called ``Solyndra Syndrome and the Green Stimulus Delusion.'' Solyndra syndrome. I tell you, I think it is an important thing to highlight because this 20-page report really is an in-depth look at the failed green energy policies under the Obama administration. Now what we are seeing is President Biden is determined, in my opinion, to repeat them, on a much larger scale. In 2009, under the direction of President Obama, Democrats passed a partisan stimulus spending bill. The legislation included $90 billion for green job training, for green energy loans, and for high-speed rail. It also included about $3 billion for a program more commonly referred to now as ``Cash for Clunkers.'' The goal was to produce millions of green energy jobs. They wanted to do it by investing taxpayer dollars in emerging green energy companies and also subsidizing new vehicles. So what did American taxpayers get for all of this money? What did they get as a return on this hefty investment? Well, they didn't get the promised jobs. They got boondoggles. Billions of taxpayer dollars wound up wasted on green tech companies through loans or grants. Several of the companies then failed. The most famous of these was, of course, Solyndra. This was a solar panel company with many personal ties to the administration. It was located in California and received over $500 million in government- backed loans. Vice President Biden, at the time Vice President, was actually the one who announced that Solyndra would receive hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. Well, not too long after that, headlines across the Nation told the story of what happened next. In September of 2011, the company failed miserably. More than 1,000 workers lost their jobs. Almost all of the 535 million taxpayer dollars were lost. The leadership of Solyndra lied about the company's value and what they could produce. It also turns out they were big political donors to the Obama-Biden campaign and the Democrats. While the Obama-Biden donors got millions of grant money, taxpayers back then were left holding the bag. It was a terrible green gamble, and it had gone terribly wrong. It wasn't the only one of these projects. Other companies like A123 Systems, Beacon Power, Ener1, Fisker Automotive all received big government-backed loans, and they all went bankrupt. The waste didn't stop at loans for private companies. No, the Obama administration gave a $3.5 billion grant to California for a high-speed rail project. This was California's planned bullet train, and it was supposed to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Let's fast forward 10 years and see where we are with that bullet train. After skyrocketing project costs, the Governor of California has recently thrown in the towel. Only a fraction of the original project is going to be completed, and delays continue to be announced. So you might ask: Well, why are they completing a small fraction of this railroad, this high-speed bullet train that was supposed to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco? Well, by completing a small part of the original project, California can avoid having to pay back the taxpayers of the Nation--more wasted money. Americans clearly remember Cash for Clunkers. What a program that was. It gave subsidies to folks for the purchase of a new greener vehicle as a way to stimulate auto sales and auto industry jobs. The big problem was it didn't work. One analysis found that the Cash for Clunkers Program created one job for every $1.4 million spent. That is quite a lot of money for a single job. The program itself was a clunker, and it spent way too much taxpayer cash. The list goes on and on, as I have outlined in this report. The Obama administration frittered away billions of taxpayer dollars. They chose people close to the administration to receive the money. The economy remained sluggish, and the taxpayers got fleeced. There actually was one bright economic spot during the great recession, and, of course, I will tell you that was the oil and gas sector in this country. By the end of 2013, nonfarm employment was an anemic 1.9 percent higher than it had been at the end of the year in 2009. In contrast, the oil and gas sector's employment was 16 percent higher. While the rest of the economy was stuck in the mud, the oil and gas sector was growing and creating American jobs. That robust job growth helped make America energy independent and secure. You would think that the lessons from the failed 2009 stimulus and the U.S. energy boom would be obvious and would be repeated today, but the Biden administration seems blinded by the Solyndra syndrome. President Biden wants to use the exact same playbook now and this time with a much heftier pricetag. The President wants to spend trillions of dollars, not just billions. Included in that spending would be hundreds of billions of dollars in green job training programs, green energy financing, increased high- speed rail, new electric vehicles. It is the same plan that failed under President Obama. At the same time the Biden administration is recycling the farfetched so-called jobs plan, the Biden administration is attacking oil and gas jobs--good jobs that people have today. On his first day in office, President Biden signed an Executive order to kill the Keystone XL Pipeline. Now, this eliminated the prospect of 11,000 American jobs. Making matters worse, President Biden implemented a ban on new oil and gas production on public lands, a huge impact on my home State of Wyoming. A permanent ban on oil and gas leasing on Federal lands could destroy up to 1 million jobs across America. My report finds the Biden administration is pushing expensive fantasy jobs and killing real ones at a time that America cannot afford to lose these jobs. It is a recipe for repeated disaster. We all remember how President Obama promised shovel-ready jobs, and he then later admitted that the jobs weren't coming, as he said, because ``shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.'' We know we can expect the same thing this time. The expensive, wasteful job-killing Solyndra syndrome is back. It was a terrible idea in 2009. And here we are a dozen years later, once again, spending a lot more, and doing that on the same bad ideas is now even worse than before. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the distinguished career of Wendy Curran. Wendy will soon retire as vice president of care delivery and provider affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming. Her retirement marks the end of a remarkable career dedicated to improving the lives of people in my State. Wendy Curran has been at the center of Wyoming health policy for over 30 years. She earned the trust of folks across the State with her broad knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for improving care in Wyoming. She forged alliances and friendships on both sides of the aisle, and both Republicans and Democrats respected Wendy's insights and relied on her unique knowledge. As the daughter of a third-generation rancher, Wendy grew up on the Peryam Ranch in the Upper North Platte River Valley. During this time, spent riding horses and playing in the Encampment River, she learned lessons that would later contribute to her successful career. Daily chores taught her the value of hard work. She developed the ability to ``heal up and hair over,'' a cowboy's term for resiliency. In fact, her grit, humility, and determination represent several of the key tenets in our State ethics code, the Code of the West: be tough, but fair; take pride in your work; do what has to be done. Throughout her career, Wendy held many distinguished jobs at all levels of government. She began by working for U.S. Senator Cliff Hansen. Other members of Wyoming's congressional delegation also benefited from her work. Wendy served U.S. Congressman Dick Cheney and U.S. Senator Malcom Wallop as well. In 1991, Wendy joined the Wyoming Medical Society. Wendy was the passionate voice of Wyoming physicians and patients, serving as the assistant director of public affairs and later leading the organization as executive director. Wendy testified frequently before the Wyoming Legislature, advocating on behalf of Wyoming physicians and patients. She was known to introduce herself as a ``representative to the people who save Wyoming residents' lives,'' a job she took very seriously. She worked on many important provider issues. In particular, she was the leading voice supporting medical liability reform. Wendy was instrumental in Wyoming joining the organization now known as WWAMI. This acronym stands for the States it represents: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. These States, working through the University of Washington Medical School, are part of a medical education consortium. This allows students in Wyoming to attend medical school at the University of Washington while participating in clerkships both in Wyoming and across the region. The program gives the students wide exposure to practicing medicine in rural communities. Wendy deserves credit for helping to bring this successful program to Wyoming, and she continues to serve on the University of Wyoming WWAMI curriculum review panel. In 2005, Wendy left the Medical Society. Recognizing her skills, Governor Dave Freudenthal asked Wendy to serve in his administration. In this role, Wendy championed initiatives to improve childcare, substance abuse services, and an innovative Medicaid pilot program known as Healthy Frontiers. Her talents for creating health policy were so respected that she also helped incoming Governor Matt Mead during his administration's transition. That Freudenthal was a Democrat and Mead a Republican made no difference. Wendy proved yet again that partisan politics mattered far less than honoring her commitment to the people of Wyoming. Wendy spent the last 10 years of her career working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming. In the midst of widespread reform and changes, Wendy remained committed to improving the State's health care system. Her excellent communication skills and well-established knowledge of the industry benefited her immensely. She embraced her role as a liaison between the insurance agency and providers, often bridging gaps and fostering connection. She ends her career as a trusted adviser to all in the health care industry. In 2001, I was honored to join Wendy in the inaugural class of Leadership Wyoming, a program developed to inspire Wyoming's leaders through exploration and connection. Already an established leader in her own right, Wendy fully committed herself to the 8-month program and later became one of its most fervent supporters. Wendy also lent her talents and expertise to the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations. These included Peak Wellness Center, the Wyoming Health Resources Network, the Wyoming Small Business Development Center, and CLIMB Wyoming. Her work with CLIMB Wyoming is of special significance. CLIMB is a unique nonprofit empowering single mothers to develop life and career skills. This holistic program helps these women start new careers and ultimately become self-sufficient. Wendy's accomplishments speak for themselves. She views herself as a humble public servant. Still, her impact on health care in Wyoming cannot be understated and will be recognized for years to come. Finally, I must conclude my remarks by recognizing the most important people in Wendy's life, her family. Her late husband Denny was a good friend and an outstanding journalist. His passing in 2012 was a tremendous loss. I know he is looking down on Wendy, their three children, Katie, Laura, and Tim, and granddaughter Lillian, with pride today. Wendy and I have been personal friends for nearly four decades. She represents the best of Wyoming in every sense of the word. One could not have a better friend than Wendy Curran. The people of Wyoming are fortunate to have Wendy Curran serve our State for so many years. She is a leader, mentor, and advocate to many, especially women working in health care. Bobbi and I are proud to call her our friend. Wendy will be missed in retirement, but I know she will continue to find meaningful ways to serve and to make Wyoming a better place for everyone. Thank you, Wendy, for your committed and dedicated service.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Arianna for her hard work as an intern in the Senate Republican conference. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming. Arianna is a native of Maryland. She is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studies government and politics. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Arianna for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Abigail for her hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming. Abigail is a native of Casper. She is a senior at the University of Wyoming, where she studies political science and gender and women's studies. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Abigail for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Nolan for his hard work as an intern in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I recognize his efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming. Nolan is a native of Colorado Springs. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, where he studied English literature. He has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made him an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of his work is reflected in his great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Nolan for the dedication he has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our team. I know he will have continued success with all of his future endeavors. I wish him all my best on his journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Sarahi for her hard work as an intern in my Casper office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office as well as to the State of Wyoming. Sarahi is a native of Casper and a student at Casper College. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Sarahi for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. First, Madam President, I would like to associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from Iowa, who did a magnificent job of pointing out what we are facing as a nation. And I admire her fortitude, her hard work, and her dedication as the vice chairman of the Republican conference Madam President, 99 days ago, Joe Biden took office. He took the oath of office. We were there. He gave an inaugural address. He said that ``with unity, we can do great things.'' He said that ``unity is the path forward.'' Well, that was the last example of unity and bipartisanship that we have seen from President Biden. He has lost all credibility when it comes to bipartisanship or unity. In just 99 days, President Biden has already shown himself to be one of the most radical Presidents in American history. When I am in Wyoming, as I am every weekend and have been over Easter, as well, traveling the State and talking to people, they ask about two specific issues; one is energy, and the second is the southern border. On these two specific issues, President Biden has already done tremendous damage--damage to our country, damage to our people, damage to our economy. Right after his inaugural address about unity, President Biden drove to the White House, sat there, went in, and threw the unity speech out the window, and he drew a big target on the back of American energy, and he pulled the trigger. He shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline; he ended new fossil fuel projects on Federal lands; and he cut off traditional energy loans to developing nations that need our help and look to us for help. Well, these steps aren't going to reduce carbon emission, but they will most certainly reduce jobs and wages for American energy workers. Also, on his first day, President Biden flipped on the big green light switch on our southern border. He sent out the word, laid out the welcome mat, and people from around the world came illegally to the United States. He stopped construction on the border wall, and he ended a policy that was successful. The policy was that known as the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. Now, the result wasn't just one crisis; it was two. It was a humanitarian crisis, and it was also a national security crisis. It is a national security crisis because two-thirds of the Border Patrol agents--and I went to the border and went with a number of Republican Senators and went on a midnight patrol with our border agents, and they told us that two-thirds of the Border Patrol agents are unable to do their jobs and keep us safe, unable to be there to enforce the law. And they said that, so far, people have come into the country illegally from 56 different nations. The whole world knows the border is open. Our friends know it; our enemies know it; and this will make us less safe as a nation. There is also a humanitarian crisis at the border caused by President Biden. Just a month ago, a 9-year-old from Mexico died trying to cross the Rio Grande River. It is heartbreaking. That is what happens, though. This is what happens when more and more people try to come illegally to cross our border. Children who cross the border unaccompanied are sent to a facility that is prepared and appropriate for about 250 children. The day we were there, there were 7,000 crammed in like sardines. That is Joe Biden's plan for immigration. Ten percent of these children are testing positive for coronavirus. And we saw the testing process. We know that every child there was exposed to coronavirus based on the high percentage of those who were testing positive. Now, as these young people are released, those who have tested negative but who have just been exposed in the days before, they are being sent all across America, and they are spreading the virus and unknown variants of the virus to this country. Joe Biden is the superspreader of coronavirus today. Democrats think this is just fine. The Vice President of the United States is going to be up here tonight on Capitol Hill. She says: ``We're making progress.'' Nancy Pelosi says: ``We're on a good path on the border.'' Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas says: ``The border is secure and closed,'' even though he has also said this is the worst case in 20 years for young people and we are on a path for up to 2 million illegal immigrants coming across the border this year. The White House refuses to use the word ``crisis.'' In fact, when the President and his Press Secretary have accidentally called it a crisis--and they both have done that--the White House issued a correction. They said: No, no, not a crisis; only a challenge. Who do they think they are fooling? Two million illegal immigrants this year is not a challenge. It is a crisis. It is chaos at the border. It is catastrophic. Ninety-nine days ago, none of this was happening. For 99 days, Republicans in the U.S. Senate have repeatedly looked for common ground with President Biden and the Democrats. We have stood for American energy. We worked to secure the border. Yet for 99 days those efforts have been blocked by President Biden and a Democratic majority--which is hardly a big majority when it is 50-50, which you would think would be a mandate to move to the middle. Well, President Biden still has a thousand days or so left in his term. Tonight's speech might sound a lot like his inaugural address with lots of promises. The American people know talk is cheap. It is time for President Biden to start to practice what he is preaching. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to associate myself with the remarks from the Senator from Oklahoma. We are here as Republicans who believe in free markets, and so do the American people. The Democrats, on the other hand, are running a 100- yard dash towards socialism. They have decided to redistribute America's wealth. President Obama used to call this ``spreading the wealth around.'' Democrats are taking the wealth of our Nation and they are gathering it up in Washington, DC, and deciding then how they want to spend it. In March, President Biden signed a big payoff to the people who run the Democratic Party--the union bosses, the DC bureaucrats, and bankrupt blue States. He said it was a coronavirus relief bill. Yet only 9 percent of the money actually went for healthcare. Just weeks later, President Biden came back again, now requesting $2.7 trillion under the namesake of ``infrastructure.'' When you read through it, it looks like once again he is trying to spread the wealth around, gathering it not for what we consider traditional infrastructure--roads, bridges, ports, highways, airports, waterways, all of those things, dams, reservoirs, you name it--it seems that once again it is going for the Democratic elites. It looks to me to be a slush fund for liberal spending, going to union bosses, climate activists, and the Silicon Valley contributors to the party. Where is the money coming from? The last bill went on the credit card. The next one is coming out of the wallets of the American people. President Biden is proposing the largest tax increase in a generation. Working families and small businesses are going to be on the hook. They will put the American worker at a disadvantage. Look, there hasn't been a proposed tax increase of this size in this century. It is going to affect everyone in this country, and it is going to be a rude awakening for the many small businesses that are finally reopening after living the past year with the coronavirus pandemic. Now, in addition to the struggle they have been through, they are going to be hit with a big tax increase. Now, in addition to the struggles they have been through, they are going to be hit with a big tax increase. Now, we know who is going to end up footing the bill for the President's tax hikes. He may say that it is just corporations. The American people are going to be hit with this tax increase. You can call it a tax hike on corporations, but that absolutely just ricochets back onto the people who work for those businesses and who buy the products of those businesses. President Biden is going to try to spin it another way, but the highest costs of all of this is going to be borne by American families. Higher taxes, of course, mean fewer jobs. One estimate says that the bill is going to kill a million jobs. These aren't CEO jobs. These are middle-class jobs. These are the jobs of hard-working families in my state of Wyoming and in States all around the country. Prices across the country are already going up under President Biden. The cost of energy went up 9 percent just last month. Gasoline prices are up over 50-cents a gallon since President Biden took office and started his Executive orders attacking American energy. If this bill that is being proposed now under the name of infrastructure becomes law, well, we will know that the price increases are just beginning. Because of President Biden, more wealth is about to be taken from places all across middle America and certainly in my home State of Wyoming. It will be sent to the Democrat elites in Manhattan and Silicon Valley and, of course, here in Washington, DC. Democrats are focused on redistributing our wealth. They want to take it from working families and give it to their liberal donors. It is a bad law. It is bad economics. And I urge my colleagues to stand for jobs, for higher wages, and for the working men and women of our Nation, who know what infrastructure really means and the kind of infrastructure they need for their communities. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, first, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Boozman, Senator Marshall, and Senator Durbin all be permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes prior to the vote.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to oppose the Democrats' latest liberal spending spree. Just over a month ago, Democrats put $2 trillion onto America's credit card. They said it was for coronavirus. That was false advertising, and that is because only $1 out of every $11 in the $2 trillion being spent was actually going to public health. The bill turned out to be a big payoff to the people who run the Democratic Party: the union bosses, the DC bureaucrats, and the bankrupt blue States. Democrats crammed the bill through the Senate with just 50 votes. Democrats haven't even finished their victory lap. Yet, at this time, they want another $2.3 trillion. They have already told us they are going to cram it through with just 50 votes, once again, and, once again, they are using more false advertising. President Biden calls this an infrastructure bill. Well, that is a new definition of the word ``infrastructure.'' Only about $1 out of every $20 would go to roads and bridges. Now, here are just a few other items that the Democrats call infrastructure: $100 billion for so-called workforce development and over $300 billion on housing and upgrading of Federal buildings-- Federal buildings--the ones we work in. It includes $100 billion for something called the greening of schools, which, when you go through and see what does that include, it includes making greener lunches. It includes eliminating paper products in the cafeterias and making the cafeteria trays that people use to carry their food, makes each one of those into trays that can be recycled. Call it what you will, this is not infrastructure. The largest spending part of the bill is $400 billion to expand Medicaid. The list goes on and on. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Now, some of the spending in the overall bill may have merit. That spending should go through regular order, going through committees and coming to the floor of the Senate for amendments and then votes. But it is still not infrastructure. This isn't an infrastructure bill. Even the White House Press Secretary admitted it. She said this. She said it is partly infrastructure--partly infrastructure. Now, the bill includes another big payoff to the union bosses because it forces long-term healthcare facilities to unionize if they want to receive the funding in the bill. There is Medicaid expansion. That would hurt States like Wyoming and others that protect and believe in the right to work. The bill would also hurt Wyoming because of its attack on American energy. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has compared the bill to the Green New Deal. One Democratic Senator admitted it. He said it is a way of accomplishing many of the goals of the Green New Deal. Out of all the payoffs in the bill, one of the biggest goes to the electric car industry. The bill would spend more money on electric cars than it does on roads, bridges, ports, airports, and waterways combined--an astonishing amount of money. President Biden announced the bill in one of America's greatest energy-producing regions, which is Western Pennsylvania. Yet energy- producing States like Pennsylvania and Wyoming have a lot to lose from this bill. The bill would spend $10 billion on something called the Civilian Climate Corps. These are taxpayer-funded activists who would advance environmental justice. That is what it says: $10 billion to Civilian Climate Corps to advance environmental justice. And then there is another $35 billion on climate innovation and $27 billion in clean energy and sustainability accelerator. It just seems that they are throwing money and names onto things. These are slush funds. They are going to give government bureaucrats more power to pick winners and losers in our economy. We all remember the disaster called Solyndra. It was a Silicon Valley startup. The last time Joe Biden was in the White House, his administration, along with Barack Obama, gave them $500 million-- taxpayer dollars--for so-called clean energy. We later found out that Solyndra lied on their loan application form, and, apparently, no one in the administration caught it. The company went bankrupt--500 million taxpayer dollars gone forever. President Biden is bringing back this kind of central planning. It is all in the name, he says, of green energy. If we pass this bill, I will tell you that we are going to see another Solyndra and another one after that and another one after that. So how are Democrats going to pay for this piece of legislation? Well, they are going to cram through the largest tax increase of the century. They are going to use 15 years' worth of tax increases to pay for 8 years of spending. So the spending is temporary, but the tax increases will be permanent. If the bill becomes law, it will be harder for American companies to compete with companies in other countries, and the concern is that means more companies are going to move overseas because taxes there will be lower. When they do, they are going to take good American jobs with them. You know, with the Republican tax cuts that we did in 2017, we saw $1 trillion flow back into this country in just 2 years. President Biden is ready to send all of that money back overseas. The official name of the bill is the American Jobs Plan. Yet it is not much of a jobs bill. The jobs this bill would allegedly create would cost $800,000 each job. It is a lot to pay for a single job when communities all across the country have outside of their businesses ``Help wanted'' signs. I saw one in Afton, WY, last week. A small community in western Wyoming there is a convenience store, and the sign said: Your father called. He said you need a job. We're hiring. There are signs like that all over the country. Small businesses and small business owners I have talked to continue to say: We cannot find people to hire. And yet the administration has a jobs plan, they say, where it is going to cost taxpayers $800,000 for each job to create. At the same time, the bill is going to eliminate many good-paying energy jobs, and that is a real concern. Democrats are cramming this through at a time when our economy is already recovering. The pandemic is coming to an end. The experts say we are going to create 11 million more jobs over the next 4 years even if we don't pass the bill. And there are jobs available today. One analysis from the Wharton Business School said the bill would actually slow down the economy. That is because the bill would discourage businesses from investing. It is not an infrastructure bill, not much of a jobs bill. It is a slush fund for more liberal spending. That is what is on the minds of the Democrats who are pushing this bill forward. It is not what the United States needs right now. We need real infrastructure improvements. We need a real infrastructure bill--one that will build road, bridges, our waterways, and allow us to do things faster and better and cheaper and smarter. If Democrats want to do that, Republicans are ready to support it. Last Congress, I worked with Senator Tom Carper of Delaware on a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. I chaired it in the last Congress. Our bill was so bipartisan that Senator Bernie Sanders voted for it, and so did I. It passed the committee unanimously, 21 to 0. When we went to work with Democrats in the House on the legislation, they ignored it and replaced it with the Green New Deal. That is what President Biden is doing right now as well. He is ignoring the bill we passed and trying to sneak the Green New Deal into law. So I would urge my Democratic colleagues to reverse course, to throw out this liberal wish list, this slush fund of liberal spending, and start over working in a bipartisan way with Republicans. We should start with a bipartisan bill that the Senate Committee on EPW passed last year. Instead of paying off the unions and the climate activists, let's rebuild our roads and our bridges and do it in a way that works for all Americans. Thank you. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to join my colleague from Florida, former Governor and now U.S. Senator, and talk about the Save Democracy Act and the issues that are facing our Nation today, and I want to do that because over the past several weeks, Democrats, the media, their corporate allies have been misleading the American people about our voting laws. Democrats have been pushing a false narrative all around the country, trying to scare Americans into pushing and pressuring Congress into passing a Federal election takeover. Federal election laws and State election laws, as guided by our Constitution, say that it is States that should be making the decisions about how we run our elections at home. But what you see coming out of the Democrats in their H.R. 1--that is called S. 1--is a law that changes things dramatically and takes decisions out of the folks at home in Wyoming and puts them in the hands of folks in Washington, DC. People in Wyoming, as I talked to them the last 2 weeks, don't want anything to do with that. Now, Democrats have this listed as their No. 1 priority bill for the year; otherwise, why would they have listed it as No. 1? Not coronavirus, not pandemic, not infrastructure--no, taking elections away from the States, putting them in the hands of Washington. The bill is over 800 pages long. Virtually every page would, I believe, make it easier to cheat. That is not what the American people want. They want to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. The bill, H.R. 1, now S. 1, expands ballot harvesting, which is where paid political operatives, unsupervised, can go door to door, nursing home bed to nursing home bed, picking up people's ballots and deciding which ballots to turn in and which ballots to destroy. The bill would register people automatically when they sign up for Medicaid or assistance in other forms from the government. It would force taxpayers to fund political campaigns and political operatives. Paying for campaign ads, your tax dollars would go for that and things that--a candidacy you are not for, and you would be paying for their ads and their computer time and their web pages and their yard signs. People in Wyoming don't want that. When I describe each one of these to the people of Wyoming, they say: Don't let that happen to America. I think many Democrats haven't read the 800 pages, and I know if the American people read the 800 pages, they would be just as upset as the people in Wyoming who have heard what is in the bill. The American people want security in elections. We want integrity, accountability, transparency in how it all works, and that is why I am so proud to be here and supporting Senator Scott and cosponsoring, along with Senator Hyde-Smith and Senator Lummis, a bill that gives confidence to people in elections, because our bill--overall bill bans voter harvesting. It says no to automatic registration. It requires at least a Social Security number to register to vote. Under our bill, you could still vote by mail, as people have done year after year in Wyoming--done it very successfully. You just need to request a ballot, say your information is up-to-date, and then you get the ballot in the mail--basic commonsense measures to protect against fraud and against error. So the differences between what we propose and what the Democrats propose could not be more clear. I believe the Democrat bill makes it easier to commit fraud; the Republican bill makes it harder to commit fraud. If the Democrat bill were good, they wouldn't need to use scare tactics, which they have been using all across the country, and wouldn't need to spread false information. So the people of Wyoming tell me they want elections to be fair. They want them to be free from voter fraud. They want it to be easier to vote, as I said, harder to cheat, and just basically using an identification card or a means to identify yourself when you go to vote would make common sense. That is what we do in Wyoming, and it should be continued to be allowed so when someone shows up to vote, they can just confirm that they are who they say they are. And that is why I am proud to stand here today with Senator Scott and support him on the floor I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, first, I would like to associate myself with the refined remarks of the Senator from Alabama because I, too, have come to talk about the crisis on our southern border. The Senator from Alabama and I traveled together, along with Senator Cruz and Senator Cornyn, just a few weeks ago. I think we had a total of 19 Senators who went to see the crisis firsthand. And, in fact, it is not just one crisis, as the Senator from Alabama and I have both spoken about. It is a double crisis. It is a national security crisis as well as a humanitarian crisis. We went on a midnight patrol. And what did we see at midnight? Well, we saw, and we heard. Not just did we see the lights on, on the other side of the Rio Grande; we heard the catcalls from traffickers who were taunting our U.S. Border Patrol agents, saying in Spanish: You cannot stop us now. That is what we are hearing from the criminals and the traffickers across the Rio Grande. We saw signs on the ground directing migrants to the facilities where they will then turn themselves in, and we spoke to the Border Patrol agents. They told us that their jobs got an awful lot harder on January 20, which is the day Joe Biden became President of the United States. President Biden flipped over the sign and sent a clear message around the world that said the U.S. border is now wide open. Because of that clear message, Border Patrol arrests and detentions have doubled since January. In March, Border Patrol took 171,000 migrants into custody. Nearly 19,000 of those were unaccompanied minors. That is an alltime record in the United States. And the pace that we are on now is to get to 2 million illegal immigrants crossing our border this very year. According to the Secretary of Homeland Security, nominated by President Biden, this is the most in 20 years--the most in 20 years, right now, this year, under President Biden. The Biden White House has essentially told the world anyone under 18 can cross our border, and we will let you in. So it is no surprise that today we are seeing a historic influx of children, of teenagers crossing our border. The Border Patrol agents tell us two-thirds of them can't do their regular jobs because they are too busy babysitting these children or escorting adults to the areas where they will turn themselves in. More children today are in Border Patrol custody than ever before. And in a day of a global pandemic, I will tell you, as I was there with the Senators in a location designed for 250 during coronavirus, there were 7,000 crammed in like sardines, with foil blankets to huddle under, and no social distancing--none at all. This is a Biden-created humanitarian crisis. Under the law, children can only be in Border Patrol custody for 72 hours. We wouldn't want our own children there for 72 minutes. Yet there are thousands and thousands in custody for over 10 days And 10 percent of the young people being tested are testing positive for coronavirus. We watched the testing in the courtyard where I was. They were all together, and then they tested some, and they said: OK. You test negative. You go that way. You test positive. You go that way. But absolutely every one of them was exposed to each other. So with the fact that 10 percent are testing positive, it is highly likely that the remainder will test positive as well. And what is the Biden administration doing about that? They are sending those young people-- either those people just exposed to coronavirus, just standing right next to somebody with coronavirus, sending them all across the country, exposed to whoever knows what strain of coronavirus it was. So this is a humanitarian crisis, but, I will tell you, it is also a national security crisis. The Department of Homeland Security has now arrested two men from the country of Yemen who are on the terrorist watchlist. The Border Patrol says they were apprehending people not just from Central America and Mexico, they have apprehended people from 56 different countries there at the border since President Biden has taken the oath of office. Last week, Border Patrol agents outside San Diego arrested a member of MS-13, one of the most vicious criminal gangs in the world. Now, these are just a couple of examples that we know about. Imagine things we don't know about, the people who haven't been caught, people who are roaming among us today in the United States. That is what I hear about in Wyoming. I have just been home for 2 weeks talking to people. This is the No. 1 topic that I heard about traveling the State of Wyoming. So we have two crises at the southern border: the humanitarian crisis and the national security crisis. President Biden has caused them both, and President Biden can stop them. Yet the Biden administration is still in denial. It refuses to even admit that there is a crisis. President Biden still hasn't been to the border. Neither has the Vice President, and she is supposed to be in charge of finding a solution to the problem. So, once again, today I call on President Biden and Vice President Harris to go to the border and face the truth. Today is the day. Go to the border. Face the truth. The President and Vice President should talk to the Border Patrol agents. They should hear the stories that we have heard from them. It is the stories that they want to tell. They need to hear these stories. They need to face the reality. Border Patrol agents told me directly: Finish the wall and bring back the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy because those are things that will make a difference. Until we do those two things, the jobs of the Border Patrol agents will continue to get tougher and tougher every day. Vast numbers, vast majorities of American people support the Border Patrol agents. I know there are people on the other side of the aisle who want to eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement, want to get rid of the border line and having people who are patrolling the borders, want to get rid of it all and have open borders fully and without the kind of national security that we need at our borders. But according to the Associated Press, only one in four Americans approves of how President Biden is handling the border situation. President Biden should listen to the American people. We need change at the border. We need it today. We cannot wait. Our national security cannot wait. The humanitarian crisis must be met and dealt with. Republicans are going to continue to offer commonsense solutions that will make a real difference at the border. We want to finish the wall. We want to bring back the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. We want to stem this crisis--the humanitarian crisis and the national security crisis-- that is facing our Nation today. We stand for enforcing the law, for closing loopholes that encourage illegal immigration. We want to secure the border. So I would urge President Biden and all of my Democratic colleagues to please face the facts. Join us in our effort. It is time to bring this crisis to an end. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the service and bravery of Officer Jacob Carlson and Officer Randi Garrett of the Casper Police Department. On May 6, 2018, Jake and Randi responded to a call of children driving a car around a dirt lot in Casper near Fairdale Avenue. When Officer Garrett arrived on scene, she found a 3-year-old driving the vehicle with an adult and another child in the vehicle. The adult was uncooperative in providing identification and attempted to flee after Officer Carlson arrived on the scene. While Jake attempted to stop the assailant from fleeing, he was shot multiple times with a concealed weapon. Despite being shot with heavy blood loss, Officer Carlson returned fire, and both officers found cover behind the car. Officer Carlson's firearm was hit by gunfire. His actions allowed Officer Garrett to find cover and eventually expose herself to fire a single shot, rendering the assailant no longer a threat. Jake and Randi's actions were selfless and ultimately saved the lives of two young children. When officers in our community put on their uniforms, they know that at any time during their shift, they could walk into harm's way. Without hesitation, they still put on their uniform every day. This speaks louder than words can describe. It speaks to their bravery, professionalism, and commitment to the people of Wyoming. In 2008, Congress passed the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act, CBOB, establishing an honor for exceptional acts of bravery in the line of duty by Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement officers. On April 24, 2021, the Wyoming congressional delegation will present Officers Carlson and Garrett the Congressional Badge of Bravery for their heroic actions. It will be a high honor to participate in this ceremony. I want to thank Officers Carlson and Garrett for their exceptional valor on this tragic day. The example and professionalism they have set will shape future generations of police officers throughout Wyoming and across our great country. All of Wyoming and the law enforcement community are so thankful for Officer Carlson's recovery and Officer's Garrett's resolve.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Murray and I be permitted to complete our remarks prior to the vote for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, today the Senate is going to vote on the nomination of David Turk, who will be serving as Deputy Secretary of Energy. If confirmed, he is going to play a critical role in our Nation's energy agenda and in leading the Department. His experience in energy policy is extensive. He served in leadership positions at the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of State, and the National Security Council. He is an expert in the field, and his qualifications are very clear. It is also clear from his nomination hearing that he is dedicated to all types of American energy. This is critical if we are going to keep America an energy-dominant nation. I especially appreciated his commitment to advance nuclear and carbon capture utilization and sequestration technologies. During his hearing, he said that there are huge opportunities on carbon capture utilization and sequestration if we can work together and really go to scale. He also emphasized the need to construct CO2 pipelines to move the captured carbon, and I agree. Carbon capture technologies hold the key to major emission reduction while enabling America to use the tremendous natural resources with which we are blessed. This issue has broad bipartisan support. Last Congress, I worked with Democrats, including Sheldon Whitehouse and Tom Carper, as well as Republicans, including Shelley Moore Capito, to pass the USE IT Act into law. This bipartisan law will support the development of carbon capture and direct air capture techniques. This kind of groundbreaking research is already happening in Wyoming. The Integrated Test Center located outside of Gillette, WY, is hosting carbon capture research teams today. These research teams are looking at how we can take captured carbon emissions and transform them into marketable products like building materials, clothing, and even hand sanitizer. So I would welcome Mr. Turk and Energy Secretary Granholm to come to Gillette to see the fantastic research taking place there. Mr. Turk was also very responsive to the committee's questions for the record. That has not been the case with every one of President Biden's nominees so far. If he is confirmed, Mr. Turk must prioritize policies that take advantage of the enormous economic and national security benefits generated by America's oil, natural gas, and coal resources. The Biden administration has taken a sledgehammer to the economies of Wyoming and other Western States by declaring war on these natural resources. Let me be very clear: Coal, oil and natural gas are not going away. America is going to rely on these resources for decades to come. We need to use and promote every kind of American energy and the thousands of jobs that come with them Coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and renewables are all essential to America's energy mix. Mr. Turk demonstrated that he understood that reality during his nomination hearing. He can be sure that I will hold him to the commitments he made during his nomination hearing to expand carbon capture as well as nuclear power. I am going to continue to hold the Biden administration accountable as well. As I did in committee, I will support Mr. Turk's nomination on the floor today. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Democrats have just passed a $1.9 trillion spending package. They filled the bill with lots of partisan priorities. They refused to work with Members on this side of the aisle. Almost all of what we are doing here--have done there is going on a credit card. That is going to have to be paid for by our children and their children. Democrats also ignored the Medicare sequester as part of that $1.9 trillion bill. As a doctor, I have cared for patients in Wyoming for more than two decades. I cannot ignore this decision. There are more cuts to healthcare providers serving seniors. That is what these have done. They go into effect starting April 1. They are coming. Congress must help those working on the frontlines fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. It should be our highest priority. Ignoring cuts to Medicare while spending $1.9 trillion on other things, to me, is irresponsible. Instead, just a few days after their partisan spending bill was signed into law, here we have the chairman of the Budget Committee back asking for additional money. Now, he knows the right thing to do is to help these Medicare providers on the frontlines, and I want to do exactly the same thing. Once again, instead of working on a bipartisan basis, Senate Democrats are rushing through another partisan spending package. There is a better way. Senator Cotton and I have introduced the Protecting Seniors Access to Healthcare Act. Our legislation takes a small amount of the money from State and local governments as part of that $1.9 trillion bill. Instead of billions going to Gavin Newsom and instead of billions going to Andrew Cuomo, our legislation gives a small fraction of that money to help our healthcare providers around the country. Instead of a blank check, our bill gets the money to where it is needed the most: to healthcare providers on the frontlines of this pandemic. Our bill also includes commonsense provisions to ensure that taxpayer money is not given to illegal immigrants or prisoners. Our bill simply says that if you are here illegally, you don't get the payments in the Democratic spending bill. Senator Cotton and I know we can't hand out American taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants. That is why our border is being flooded right now--because President Biden offers benefits for illegal immigrants. We also shouldn't be cutting checks to people sitting in jail. The question is whether Washington Democrats are interested in solving problems or just playing politics. I think we can provide much needed relief for Medicare providers, and we should. It is completely irresponsible for the Democrats and the administration to spend $1.9 trillion and fail to help the healthcare providers who are working to serve Medicare patients. Therefore, Mr. President, I ask that the Senator modify his request to instead take up H.R. 1868 with my substitute amendment at the desk and ask unanimous consent that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the crisis that is affecting our country right now, and it is the crisis at our southern border. Later this week, I will travel to Texas to inspect the situation firsthand. My Republican colleagues and I will first say thank you to our law enforcement officers who are there on the frontlines. Their work is always important, and it is especially important at this time. The President said on Sunday that he hopes to visit the border. He said he hopes to visit the border ``at some point.'' Well, with all due respect, the American people don't have time to wait. I invite the President to join us this Friday. Come with us. See the situation. Witness it firsthand. Here are the facts. In the month of February, Federal agents apprehended more than 100,000 illegal immigrants crossing our southern border. That is more than double the number from last February. So in just 28 days--28 days of February--over 100,000 illegal immigrants crossed our border. You know, illegal immigration numbers usually go down in the winter. It rises in the spring and peaks in the summer. We have every reason to expect that this is only going to get much worse in the months ahead. Even the Biden administration admits it. They admit that we are on pace this year to have more illegal immigrants than any year over the last 2 decades. Why is this happening? Well, if you ask the migrants, they will tell you the answer. His name is Joe Biden. There are photographs of migrants near Tijuana wearing shirts that say: ``BIDEN PLEASE LET US IN!'' They even use the Biden logo--his campaign logo--on their shirts. So when did the surge of illegal immigrants start? Well, just after President Biden took office on January 20. Before the month was over, President Biden had already issued over seven Executive actions on immigration alone. As I detailed on the floor a couple of weeks ago, President Biden has unveiled the most leftwing immigration agenda in the history of our Nation. During the campaign last year, President Biden promised lavish taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants. So did Vice President Harris. When the moderators at the Democratic debates asked who supported free healthcare for illegal immigrants, President Biden raised his hand. Vice President Harris also endorsed free healthcare for illegal immigrants. President Biden promised not just amnesty but American citizenship for illegal immigrants, and 26 Democrat Senators have already signed onto the bill that he has proposed. President Biden said in February that he will even give the coronavirus vaccine to illegal immigrants. You come here illegally; you get a free vaccine against coronavirus and free healthcare. No wonder illegal immigrants are rushing to our borders. But we all remember what happened 4 years ago after President Trump was elected. Before he even issued most of his immigration policies, illegal immigration plummeted. It went down by 40 percent the first 4 months of his Presidency. It was called ``The Trump Effect.'' It happened even before his policies went into effect. It was because he sent a clear message to the world. He said: Don't come here illegally or we will send you right back home. That message was heard around the world. Now we are getting very different messages from this Biden White House. As a result, we have ``The Biden Effect,'' which is the exact opposite of what ``The Trump Effect'' did. We are having historic increases in illegal immigration. They are promising free healthcare, free education, free vaccines, offering amnesty, and even citizenship for illegal immigrants. Democrats just passed a bill that lets illegal immigrants get $1,400 checks. Senator Cotton and I tried to stop it. Every Democrat in the U.S. Senate voted against our amendment. They voted to give hard-earned taxpayer dollars to people who aren't even in the country legally. The White House says publically that we will not expel any illegal immigrants under the age of 18. That is what they have said publicly. The White House Press Secretary even mocked that idea. As a result, massive numbers of teens and children are crossing the border. Secretary Mayorkas has told the whole world that if you are under 18, you get a free pass. He went on television last week and said: ``We will not expel your child. . . . We will care for that child and unite that child with a responsible parent. In that same interview, he said: ``I hope [children] will not undertake that perilous journey'' to our border. But as long as liberal policies are in place, it is a guarantee. They will undertake the perilous journey. They will risk traveling at the hands of smugglers, cartels, and human traffickers to get here. Now we have a system that is overwhelmed. Our border agents can't keep up. Immigration and Customs Enforcement just spent $86 million to rent hotel rooms--hotel rooms for families who illegally crossed the border; $86 million for hotel rooms for over 1,000 families. It has been reported that more than 100 illegal immigrants who tested positive for the coronavirus have been released into Texas. They were told to quarantine after they traveled through the country to their preferred destination in the United States. We don't know where they are now or how many people they infected along the way. It could be in Texas. It could be anywhere. It is very concerning to people all across the country, and yet the White House is still in denial. In fact, last week, the White House Press Secretary had to correct herself. She accidentally used the word ``crisis'' when talking about the border. A reporter asked her if that meant the White House was finally acknowledging that it was a crisis. She said no. She said it was just a ``challenge.'' Joe Biden promised us he would always tell us the truth. Yet the Biden White House is trying to mislead the American people about one of the most important issues that is facing our country today. It is not working. The American public knows this is a crisis. Democrats may think that this is some political game. In reality, this is a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of children are being harmed because of this. Liberals talk a lot about how much compassion and empathy they feel. The truth is, the policies that they have don't lead to compassionate outcomes. They lead to some very cruel outcomes. As Secretary Mayorkas admits, the journey north from Central America is a ``perilous'' one. It is not safe for children. Large numbers of children who make the journey are trafficked, sexually assaulted, or recruited by gangs. If this year is like previous years, thousands and thousands of children are going to be harmed because they make the journey north. There is nothing compassionate about the open border policy of this administration. It didn't have to happen. It should not have happened, and the blame rests squarely with President Biden and the open-border Democrats. In less than 2 months, President Biden has already shown himself the most open-borders President in our history as a Nation. It is no surprise that the whole world has noticed. This crisis will not fix itself. We need to take action. Republicans have a series of commonsense solutions to improve this situation immediately. They include enforcing the law, securing the border, and restoring the policy called ``Remain in Mexico.'' Without these, the Biden border crisis is going to continue to undermine our Nation's safety and its security. I yield the floor

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services of Xavier Becerra. As I stand here today, America is still fighting the worst pandemic in a century. More than half a million Americans, as we have just heard, have died of this coronavirus. Life expectancy in our country has actually dropped by a full year. Now, as a doctor, I will tell you that is a significant drop of life expectancy. In this time of crisis, our Secretary of Health and Human Services may be the single most important member in the President's Cabinet. There are many well-qualified Democrats, in my opinion, who could serve in this position. For example, I voted to confirm President Obama's last Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell. She was confirmed by a large bipartisan majority. That is not the kind of nominee that we have this time. In the middle of a crisis, President Biden has chosen someone who is, in my opinion, both unqualified and unfit for this specific job. First, Attorney General Becerra is unqualified. Let me talk about that. As a doctor, I am deeply concerned that President Biden has nominated someone with no medical or public health experience. He is not a doctor, not a scientist, not a public health official. He is a trial lawyer and a career politician. A global pandemic is no time for on-the-job healthcare training. The Secretary must be ready on day one. Attorney General Becerra is not only unqualified, I say he is radically liberal in his positions. Attorney General Becerra is the most leftwing nominee for this job, in my opinion, in history. He is an aggressive culture warrior from the radical left. He supports Medicare for All, which would ban private health insurance, and 180 million people who get their health insurance through their jobs would lose it. If his positions go forward and he has his way, American workers would lose that opportunity and that benefit of their jobs. He has made a name for himself in the Democratic Party for his extreme positions on abortion. During his 24 years in Congress, Attorney General Becerra voted against every restriction on abortion. During his confirmation hearing, Senator Daines even asked him to name a single restriction he would support. He couldn't name a single one. This record has earned him a ``100 percent'' rating from Planned Parenthood. As a Congressman, Mr. Becerra even voted against the ban on partial- birth abortion. The Supreme Court, rightly, upheld banning partial- birth abortions in the United States. This wasn't the only time the attorney general's positions were at odds with that of the current Supreme Court as he was attorney general in California. During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Becerra claimed he never sued any nuns. That is his quote: ``never sued any nuns.'' He also said he only sued because of California law. Well, both of these statements stretch the truth, to put it mildly. In 2017, the Trump administration gave a group of nuns an exception from being required to pay for birth control. The nuns say that violates their religious beliefs, having to pay for birth control. Attorney General Becerra then sued the Trump administration to stop them from giving this exemption. Attorney General of California Becerra, the nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, lost at the Supreme Court by a vote of 7 to 2. One of the jobs of the Secretary of Health and Human Services is to protect the conscience rights of doctors and nurses. Mr. Becerra's record shows he can't be trusted to do that. There is a well-known case involving Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Now, these are groups that help women facing an unplanned pregnancy. California said they had to advertise where these women could go to get abortions. Attorney General Becerra brought the full power of the State of California against the pro-life groups. Once again, the Supreme Court of the United States stepped in to stop him. Mr. Becerra also used the power of his office to criminally prosecute pro-life journalists. A pro-life activist went undercover to investigate Planned Parenthood for trafficking in aborted body parts. His revelations caused outrage across the country. Attorney General Becerra charged him, the undercover reporter, with 15 felony counts. This was too much even for Attorney General Becerra's liberal hometown newspaper. The Los Angeles Times said: It's disturbingly aggressive for Becerra to apply this criminal statute to people who were trying to influence a contested issue of public policy, regardless of how sound or popular that policy may be. So Attorney General Becerra is a radical liberal on a whole host of issues. As attorney general of California, he sued the Trump administration over 120 different times. That is quite a few. This includes filing nine lawsuits on the very last day of President Trump's administration--the very last day, nine more lawsuits added to the pile. He sued to try to stop President Trump from building the wall on the southern border. He sued the Trump administration to try to stop fracking on Federal lands in California. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The list goes on and on. When you look at the record, it is clear: Xavier Becerra is out of touch with the views of the American people. President Biden has chosen an extremely liberal Cabinet. He was forced to withdraw his nominee for Budget Director. His Vice President has been the least bipartisan, in terms of a Senator of record, of any Senator in 2019. And now Attorney General Becerra seems to be the most liberal of them all. Frankly, his selection, I think, shocked a lot of people across the country. During this pandemic, we need a leader for the Department of Health and Human Services who brings us together as a nation. Instead, the President has chosen a nominee with no public health experience and an extremely partisan record, so I urge my colleagues to reject this unqualified, incredibly liberal nominee. Thank you. I yield the floor.