John Barrasso

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville). Further, if the present and voting: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``Yea.''

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the postcloture time with respect to Executive Calendar No. 737 be expired and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader, tomorrow; further, if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville), and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch) would have voted ``Yea,'' the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``Yea,'' and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have voted ``Yea.''

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to say that the people of Wyoming asked of Washington, DC, one simple thing, and that is: Let us do what we do best. Let us power the country, and let us feed the country. We have done it for generations, and we will continue to do it for generations to come. The American people want affordable energy. They want energy that they can use, that is available to them, and that is reliable. Wyoming is America's energy breadbasket. We produce 12 times more energy than we consume. Congress is currently discussing new mandates, mandates that would force more and more ethanol into our fuel tanks. The House voted on it just last night. I oppose a year-round E15 mandate. That is what is currently under debate. I oppose it because it hurts small refineries and all of the people around the country who work in these small refineries. In Wyoming, we have several small refineries. They employ thousands of hard-working people. The refineries receive hardship exemptions for something called the renewable fuel standard mandate. Oh, it is a mandate. They depend on these exemptions to survive--``they'' being the refineries and the people who work for them. Small refineries already face higher costs under Federal renewable fuel rules. Without additional relief, the new mandate will likely raise gas prices for consumers all across the country by up to 35 cents a gallon. Small refineries have been ignored so far in the current E15 debate. It is time for their voices to be heard. Affordable, available, reliable American energy never comes from a one-size-fits-all government mandate. It comes from regulatory certainty, from permitting reform, and it comes from people who are working hard every day, like our Wyoming energy workers. My message is simple: Let Wyoming do what Wyoming does best. Now, the same principle applies to our ranchers. Americans want U.S. beef on their tables. Wyoming ranchers produce the very best beef in the world. Wyoming beef is safe. It is the highest quality. And, Mr. President, your home State of Montana is known for equal high quality and hard workers. It is our State's No. 1 cash crop, and I am sure it is a high cash crop in Montana as well. Wyoming ranchers care for the land. We support our communities. We are great stewards of the land. Ranching is part of Wyoming's rich history and rich heritage. It is also part of our bright future. Our ranchers do not ask for special treatment. They simply want a fair marketplace. They should not have to compete unfairly against foreign beef. It is Washington's job to ensure that there is a fair playing field. The Trump administration recently unveiled a voluntary label program that is called ``Product of the U.S.A.'' It means Americans can trust what they are buying. Just this week, the administration rolled back the Biden administration's disastrous public lands rule. In Wyoming, nearly half of our land is owned by the Federal Government. The Federal Government is our largest landlord. Federal law has long recognized the value of land that has multiple uses. It is called multiple use. It is in the law. And one of the uses includes grazing. But the Biden rule changed multiple use into no use. They described no use as one of the multiple uses. We don't think of it that way and never have. This was designed by the Biden administration to shut down Federal grazing across the West. It was an attack on the Wyoming way of life, and I aggressively fought back against Biden's punishing regulations right here in the Senate. And I am glad to see the Trump administration overturn it. Our ranchers will now be able to expand their operations and produce more high-quality Wyoming beef. Now I am going to continue to fight for policies that expand American beef production. It needs to be easier, not harder, for Wyoming ranchers to feed America. Let Wyoming do what Wyoming does best.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, on a separate matter, this week is Police Week. We honor the brave officers all across the country who continue to serve and truly remember those who gave their lives in the line of duty. Yesterday, I met with law enforcement officers from Wyoming here in the Capitol. There was a ranger from the Bureau of Land Management. She is from Buffalo, WY. There were also two police officers from Sheridan, WY, part of the same police department that lost Sergeant Nevada Krinkee, nearly 2 years ago. And they are in Washington, DC, this week to honor Sergeant Krinkee. It was an honor to thank these heroes for keeping our community safe. Every year the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial adds names of fallen officers to its memorial wall. It does this for officers who died in the line of duty in the previous year. It also adds the names of fallen officers from earlier years who, through extensive research, were recently uncovered. It enlists their new names onto the memorial wall as well. This comprehensive rollcall of heroes serves as a living memorial to all of the fallen officers in the history of our Nation. This year, the names of 363 new fallen officers were added. It is a high number. One of the officers is someone who died in the past but research has disclosed should have been named, and that is Marshal Daniel Hansen of the Cokeville Police Department in Wyoming. Cokeville is a small town along the western border of our State. Marshal Hansen wore the badge over a century ago. In a wild land, at the time, dotted by small frontier towns, the difference between civilization and lawlessness was a very thin blue line. On June 21, 1912, the wife of a local businessowner found a blackmail letter. It was signed by notorious outlaws. The note demanded $1,500, which was a fortune at that time. It also threatened to kill her and her family if police were warned. Although any backup was dozens of miles away, Marshal Hansen rode out to investigate. As he did his job, he was shot dead. It is believed that the murder of the marshal had been targeted. More than a century has passed since Marshal Hansen died in the line of duty. Yet his legacy of service, selflessness, and sacrifice lives on. Today, Wyoming officers proudly protect and serve across our State. Officers work double shifts. They answer emergency calls. They stay late into the night. And they do all of this to keep their community safe. And I am always going to support the men and women of law enforcement without apology. Today, Republicans are putting money back into the pockets of law enforcement. Republicans passed the Working Families Tax Cuts law. That new law includes no taxes on overtime. For Wyoming officers, no taxes on overtime--it is not just extra; it is essential. The average tax deduction for no taxes on overtime this year is more than $3,100. Republicans are again delivering safer streets. The Working Families Tax Cut law invests in local law enforcement. It helps officers fight violent crime. This year, violent crime is falling across the board. Murders, robberies, rapes, aggravated assaults are all down compared to last year. Clearly, supporting law enforcement makes our communities safer. By contrast, Democrats in Congress continue to want to defund the police. Democrats have left Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers unfunded since January. Tellingly, the Democrat leader recently said on this floor that ICE and Border Patrol, he said, are two groups nobody respects. Radical Democrats continue to disrespect, to demonize, and to defund the men and women who keep us safe. Republicans are going to ensure ICE and Border Patrol are fully funded, and we are going to continue to stand up for the men and women who keep all of our communities safe. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor having just heard the Senator from Oregon is proposing a resolution, a War Powers Act today, heard him say this was about protecting the Constitution. What they are doing--the Democrats are doing is not about protecting the Constitution; it is about obstructing the President of the United States. That is what is happening here today. That is exactly what Democrats are trying to do. Going back to 1973, there have been a total of 17 War Powers Act votes in Congress. That is when the War Powers became law--1973. There have been 17 votes in 53 years, and 14 of the 17 votes were from Democrats aimed specifically at President Trump--53 years; 17; 14 of 17 by the Democrats actively going after President Trump. Democrats--here they are saying they are protecting the Constitution. They introduce absolutely zero War Powers Resolutions under President Obama, and that was despite his strikes in Libya. Democrats introduced absolutely zero War Powers Resolutions under President Biden despite his actions in Syria. So we have Libya, Syria, and they say nothing. This is the eighth vote on Iran this very Congress. We have also had War Powers Resolutions and votes regarding Cuba and Venezuela. Well, let's talk about Iran. For nearly 50 years, Iran has waged war against our Nation. Iran is the world's largest, leading sponsor of terrorism. They regularly chant ``Death to America.'' Iran has murdered thousands of Americans, tens of thousands of Iranians, and has tried to build nuclear weapons. For decades, American Presidents have pledged that Iran would not get a nuclear weapon. Only President Trump had the courage and the strength to keep his word. Earlier this year, President Trump responded with military precision. Now we are deploying economic pressure as well and diplomatic pressure. Under President Trump, America continues to restore peace through strength around the world. Today, Iran is losing $500 million a day in revenue. They are going to lose that much today, yesterday, and they will again tomorrow. That is the impact of what the President is doing to Iran right now. Iran's cash cow of oil exports has collapsed. By contrast, America is pumping out record amounts of oil and natural gas. Iran's economy is on life support. Its leadership has been eliminated. Thirteen days ago, President Trump sent a letter to Congress about the conflict in Iran. The President made it very clear--clear that the major fighting is halted; clear that the American cease-fire has held for more than a month, and our Naval blockade is working. This week, President Trump is meeting with China overseas. Democrats right here in the Senate want to pull the rug out from under him. Let's be clear: President Trump has complied with the law. Enforcing a blockade is not the same as active hostilities under the War Powers Act. That is the established and binding precedent that governs the U.S. Senate. Democrats don't seem to care. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said in January that their goal--the Democrat goal, he said, is to ``flood the Senate calendar.'' So they want to run out the clock on the Republican majority. The Senate has now rejected each and every one of these Democrat delays. We need to reject this one as well. We should reject it because it is partisan. We should reject it because it is written by Democrats to weaken our Commander in Chief. And we should reject it because it encourages Iran to doubt the resolve of our Nation. Iran is going to be watching this vote today. China will be watching this vote. America must continue to show strength and resolve. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Ricketts).

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Nebraska Mr. Ricketts. Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Nebraska Mr. Ricketts would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to Executive Calendar No. 727 be waived.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today because all around the country, people understand it takes far too long to build something in America. It has to do with permitting. Americans want to build. We are ready to build. People are ready to finance it. The problem is, to build something in America today, it is costly, it is complex, and there is a cumbersome permitting process. In America, amazingly, you need to get permission from the government to build just about anything. Now, I represent Wyoming. It is an energy State. It is America's energy breadbasket. We have world-class coal. We have abundant supplies of oil and natural gas. We have the richest uranium deposits in the world. And all of these affordable, available, and reliable forms of American energy are ready to power our country, not just now but for generations to come. We have world-class energy workers in Wyoming, as you do in your home State of Oklahoma, and we do all across the country. These people are ready to do the job. The Federal permitting process is standing in their way. The Federal permitting process is fundamentally broken. Permitting has become burdened by bureaucracy and weaponized by litigation, and we have a system that will not let us get to work. American energy, mining, roads, bridges, and buildings--all of them are caught in the crosshairs of a culture of saying no. Energy projects have been especially delayed by the bureaucrats and the trial lawyers. These are individuals who have never built a thing. Yet they believe they deserve veto power over those who do. Meanwhile, energy demand in America is rising dramatically. The new energy demand across America is adding up like adding an entire new California to the grid. Those are the needs. Every permitting delay costs our economy and our Nation. Delays mean higher utility bills. Delays mean paychecks are lost, money doesn't get earned. Delays mean fewer investments in our communities. This is all unacceptable. We need to produce more American energy, and we need to produce more in order to lower costs. The best way to spur the government to issue permits is to impose strict deadlines and to stop these endless lawsuits. It seems that builders need a clear yes or no. And once approved, they need certainty that their permits will endure. That has been a real problem. There is a law called NEPA. It stands for the National Environmental Policy Act. It is the biggest obstacle. NEPA essentially halts any and all development in its tracks. NEPA was enacted in 1970, and it required costly and sprawling environmental reviews. America was built by men and women of daring. Now they face delays. Our forefathers laid steel across mountains, they poured concrete into canyons, and they built towering skyscrapers that still inspire the world. Americans forged our Nation's future with speed and with purpose. We built the Empire State Building in a little over a year. We built the Hoover Dam in just 5 years. We built the 2000-mile Transcontinental Railroad in just 6 years. That was a long time ago. You could get things done. Today, a single environmental review with NEPA can take 4 years or longer just to get the review done. That means you can't start construction without spending at least 4 years in the penalty box. It is embarrassing that it takes so long to approve everyday projects today, much longer than it took to build the wonders of the modern world. Right now, $1.5 trillion in critical infrastructure is trapped. It is trapped in the desks of unelected, unaccountable, heavyhanded bureaucrats. The money can't move, and Americans pay for every year a project sits on those desks. To make matters worse, NEPA is also the most litigated of all Federal environmental laws. If you want to do something, you are going to get sued. On average, over 100 lawsuits related to NEPA are filed every year. Malicious lawsuits filed by radical environmental activists lead to higher costs, more delays, no progress. Too many prefer legal molasses to affordable oil and gas. Just last year, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to limit the scope of NEPA in terms of all these environmental reviews, which have grown dramatically. Justice Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion that NEPA has become ``a blunt and haphazard tool employed by project opponents . . . to try to stop or at least slow down new infrastructure or construction projects.'' The Supreme Court's unanimous opinion is right. NEPA was once called the ``environmental Magna Carta.'' Today, it is a regulatory Berlin Wall. Since day one, President Trump has prioritized rolling back burdensome regulations. The President has accelerated the permitting process--rightly so. Americans are already seeing the results. We are producing a record amount of energy. But we can do more, and we must do more, and we must do it quickly. Now is the time for Congress to act. I am soon going to introduce legislation to break the bottlenecks in Federal permitting. This is the No. 1 way to boost American energy and mineral dominance, and to lower prices, lower costs, and lower what has to come out of people's pockets. My legislation will encourage access to oil and gas resources on Federal lands and offshore. It will also enact commonsense judicial reforms to NEPA. The Senate has a good start on the permitting process. Senator Manchin and I introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. We did that when we were at the Energy Committee together. This was bipartisan legislation designed to fix the Nation's permitting process and the rules. It was carefully negotiated over the course of an entire year, and it earned strong bipartisan support. It passed our Energy and Natural Resources Committee 15 to 4. Today, Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Senator Mike Lee of Utah are taking the lead to advance commonsense permitting reform using this model as a background. Senator Capito chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Senator Lee chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. They are the key committees for permitting reform. Senator Capito and Senator Lee are doing exemplary work. It is time for all Senators to find common ground on permitting. Americans still know how to build. We build the best in the world, and we want to build. We are a nation of builders, and we are not a nation of waiters. That is where we are. We need to get this done, and it is time for America's permitting process to get out of the way. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Ricketts).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Ricketts).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Florida (Mrs. Moody), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Ricketts), and the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Florida (Mrs. Moody), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Ricketts). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture vote on S. Res. 690.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today--and you certainly know this as a Navy SEAL, that life would be very different without the internet. It raises an important question: How does the internet get into our homes? For most users around the world, the internet travels to them from the ocean floor. More specifically, it travels through fragile, largely unprotected fiber optic cables that sit on the ocean floor. They are called undersea cables, and hundreds of these cables crisscross the world's seabed. On average, they rest about 8,000 feet below sea level. They are essential, and they are exposed. Stretched end to end, these cables would reach nearly 1 million miles. That is far greater than the distance the Artemis II traveled from the Earth to the Moon and back again. Here on Earth, the undersea cables are important for a variety of reasons. They carry 99 percent of the world's internet traffic. They also support $10 trillion in financial transactions each and every day. Undersea cables are essential for our economy, our military, our communications, and our daily lives. I am a doctor, and a map of these undersea cables reminds me of an anatomy textbook when you look at this thing, Mr. President, and you see all of these cables all around the globe. A map of these undersea cables reminds me specifically of my time in medical school and the nervous system. Here is how I see it: Imagine that the Earth is a human body and undersea cables are the nervous system of modern life. All of these connections make the world more prosperous, and it is especially true as America develops innovative, new technology. Yet there is a serious problem. The world's undersea cable network is facing growing threats from our foes around the world. Specifically, the danger comes from Russia and China. Our adversaries seek to hold our connectivity hostage. They are trying to do so by mapping, by splicing, and by sabotaging our system of undersea cables. This can be done simply by dragging an anchor across the cables or having submarines attack them. China has been especially aggressive, specifically regarding Taiwan. According to Taiwan's own National Security Bureau, over the last 4 years, there have been over 30 subsea cable incidents. In one, Chinese vessels allegedly cut cables to the Matsu Islands. They are controlled by Taiwan. The islands are connected to the rest of the world by two tiny undersea cables. Both of the cables were cut. It took months--yes, months--to repair them and to restore connectivity to the rest of the world. Such operations disconnect and disrupt communications, and they undermine national defense and global security. Not every instance of cable cutting is deliberate. We do know that cable-cutting incidents are becoming more frequent and increasingly more suspicious. So what can we do to prevent them? For the past several years, NATO has responded with military patrols. These ongoing missions have been successful. Still, more needs to be done, and the next step is to target bad actors and do it economically. Today, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is--right at this moment--holding a hearing on recent attacks against critical infrastructure, and this includes undersea cables. It also includes energy pipelines. I am a member of the committee, and Senator Shaheen and I have introduced legislation to address these vulnerabilities. It is called the Strategic Subsea Cables Act. It is a bipartisan bill. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed it in January by an overwhelming margin. Our bill mandates tough penalties against individuals and vessels that attack these undersea cables. The penalties include blocking violators from our markets and revoking their U.S. visas. Our bill also has America deploy more resources to secure and repair underseas cables. At the same time, it requires a report to Congress in 6 months specifically on what Russia is doing and what China is doing in terms of sabotaging the undersea cables. These actions put our adversaries on notice that their actions are going to face stiff and severe consequences. Private companies are already hardening cables where they can. Congress ought to act as a backstop in these defenses and make them more deliberate in terms of this aggression we are seeing from China and Russia. These are nations whose goal is to harm America, to harm our allies, to undermine our national security. As a doctor, what I know is that if there is damage to a single fragile nerve cell, it can cause serious disruption to the entire body. America depends on a fragile nervous system of subsea cables for our modern life, and protecting this system is crucial. Our adversaries seek to turn the bottom of the ocean into a battlefield. The Strategic Subsea Cables Act will make America safer and more secure in our network under the waves. 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. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: The Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and The Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).