Joni Ernst

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. I ask unanimous consent to use a prop during my remarks.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, blocking the passage of the bill today, it is not just disappointing, but it is endangering. We do have to act now. I mean, you can read the tweet. It is right here. They are seeking justice. They are looking for retribution and revenge. Again, it was sent from U.S. soil--this tweet was. If that doesn't constitute a clear and present danger demanding immediate attention, then I honestly don't know what does. If a nuclear agreement is reached, folks, it is not going to change. Iran's aggression was not curbed by the Obama-Biden administration's failures. In fact, it invigorated Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Their mythical deal effectively financed the world's best organized, most capable terror group to rain down attacks on the United States, Israel, and even the Arab Gulf States. After the deal was signed, Iran went on the offensive, and I can give you some statistics to actually show that activities increased. Attacks against the United States and our partners increased from roughly 8 incidents per every 100 days in 2015 to 28 incidents in 100 days during the 3.5 years that the JCPOA was in effect. So arguing that the nuclear deal is a credible deterrent against Iranian terror doesn't actually hold water. Thousands of folks have died fighting the global war on terrorism, including 600 U.S. servicemembers. They have been killed at the hands of Iranian proxies in Iraq and in Syria. I was there on the ground in 2003, in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The leader of that initial surge was a name whom we all know well, Gen. Jim Mattis. The men and women in uniform, then and today, know that Iran is an enemy. We have no common cause with the ayatollahs or anyone who chants ``Death to America.'' Jim Mattis told our enemies, and I will quote the good general: I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I am pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you [screw] with me-- And he used a different word-- I'll kill you all. Folks, Iran is killing our people overseas, and they are trying to kill our people right here, right here in the United States of America. We cannot appease, and we cannot back down. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, the No. 1 job of our Commander in Chief is to protect the homeland. The constitutional oath we all take as Members of Congress, similar to the one I swore when I joined the military, is to protect our citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I want everyone in this Chamber, the American people, our allies, and our adversaries to all hear me today. Iran, the world's most deadly state sponsor of terrorism, announced its intentions to track, target, and kill American citizens here on our shores. The radical Islamists of Iran and their terrorist proxies across the Middle East are seeking to destroy America, and they are coming here to our soil. As you can see, the Iranian regime promises to ``bring the orchestrators and perpetrators to justice.'' This is an undeniable death threat, one that they have already attempted to follow through on. Iran isn't making this threat from Tehran, over 6,000 miles away. They made it here, for example, in New York City. Yesterday, at U.N. headquarters, the Butcher of Tehran, Ebrahim Raisi, was flanked by his personal security force, IRGC terrorists, tagged by our Justice Department as the entity responsible for attempting to kill Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Brian Hook, and others who ordered and executed the strike on Qassem Suleimani. This President's obligation is to safeguard and protect the life, liberty, and prosperity of our people and to deter, defeat, and, when necessary, destroy our enemies. The Biden administration's desire to bring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement back to life is delusional. Continued renegotiation with Russia as our proxy--no joke--ignores our men and women in uniform, the Iranian dissident community, our allies and partners in the Persian Gulf, and American citizens on the homeland who have bounties on their heads today. Our Middle Eastern partners, in particular, are begging the Biden administration not to reenter this so-called nuclear agreement. They plead with us not to give Iran access to $1 trillion in capital by 2030. Don't fund their military support of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and don't fund their acts of terrorism against our own people, they ask. I am demanding that America does not fund or support a regime trying to kill our own people. The President's ongoing negotiations pacify rather than hold Iran accountable for targeting American citizens. The Biden administration's foolish pursuit of peace through appeasement must be stopped, and we can start today. Yesterday, with 26 of my colleagues, I introduced the PUNISH Act, or the Preventing Underhanded and Nefarious Iranian Supported Homicides Act. My bill would enforce U.S. sanctions on Iran until the Secretary of State certifies to Congress that Iran has not supported any attempt or activity to kill a U.S. citizen, former or current U.S. official, or Iranian living within the United States. Specifically, it would codify the Trump administration's ``maximum pressure'' sanctions as well as preserve sanctions put in place by the Obama and Carter administrations. It is hard to believe that, after countless attacks on Americans and multiple confirmed--confirmed--plots against U.S. officials, the Biden administration continues with these negotiations. President Biden should not provide a dime of sanctions relief to the largest state sponsor of terrorism which is actively trying to kill U.S. officials and citizens at home and abroad. I will remain committed to protecting the homeland, our troops, and officials abroad from the violent Islamic regime in Iran. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4924, which is at the desk. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur now.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Madam President, ``Help Wanted.'' I see the signs in nearly every county I visit in Iowa on my 99-county tour. Small businesses and public services are struggling to maintain the workforce that is vital to our communities. The Des Moines Public School District, for example, has over 100 vacancies and is providing $50,000 incentives for retiring teachers, nurses, and administrators to stay in school. Faced with a declining number of soldiers, the Iowa National Guard is offering signing bonuses to new recruits, along with other incentives to encourage current members to reenlist. Police departments across the State are also facing recruitment challenges so the Iowa State Patrol is raising salaries and starting outreach efforts with kids as young as the sixth grade to get them to start thinking about careers in law enforcement. And this need for essential workers, well, it isn't limited to just Iowa. America is facing a shortage of teachers, doctors, nurses, childcare providers, construction workers, truckdrivers, pilots, and even accountants. And with the Democrats' latest tax-and-spend spree, a shortage of accountants is something taxpayers everywhere now need to be concerned about. The Democrats' response to the nationwide need for essential workers is to hire 87,000 new IRS agents. The reckless tax-and-spending bill passed by DC Democrats last month more than doubles the size of the IRS, which already has nearly 80,000 full-time employees. So what are the new IRS agents being hired to do? Well, audit America, of course--and very aggressively, if a recent job announcement on the Agency's website is any indication. The IRS says it is seeking armed accountants willing to participate in ``life-threatening situations on the job.'' The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says, with the supersized staff, the IRS audit rate ``would rise for all taxpayers,'' regardless of income. CBO warns it will also result in audits of innocent Americans who have paid all of their taxes and don't owe the IRS a cent. That is right. Even if you have paid your taxes, you still could be subjected to an unfair and costly audit by the Biden administration's army of IRS agents. Folks, Washington doesn't need any more tax collectors; it needs to simplify the Tax Code. If it wasn't so complicated to calculate your tax bill, it would be a lot easier to complete your return and avoid making mistakes. Ironically, hundreds of employees at the IRS itself may have willfully failed to pay their own tax bills, including tax collectors and even a criminal investigator. In total, 1,250 IRS employees were identified who had not paid their tax bills in full or on time by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. More than 300 of these employees were repeat offenders. Yet the tax-collecting Agency did little to discipline the tax evaders on its very own payroll. The IRS staffers gave a variety of excuses for not paying their taxes, including forgetting to report all of their income or being unable to use TurboTax. Yep, folks, you heard that right. We have a real problem if the IRS staff who enforce the tax law aren't paying their own taxes and can't even understand how to properly fill out their own tax forms. I have heard enough of the excuses and these Washington double standards. That is why I have asked the inspector general to audit the IRS to ensure that the tax collectors themselves are paying the taxes they owe, and, on behalf of taxpayers in Iowa and the rest of the country, I am grateful that the IG has agreed. Before Biden's army of auditors starts harassing innocent taxpayers, let's first make sure that tax collectors have paid their own taxes. And if the threat of being audited wasn't bad enough, the reckless tax-and-spend bill also increases taxes, which will further add to the burden of small businesses already struggling with the higher costs resulting from Bidenomics. And that is the real issue. Washington's misplaced priorities are creating problems for the rest of America. No one in Iowa whom I talk to is begging for more IRS auditors, but I do hear about the urgent need for more teachers and daycare providers because these folks are absolutely essential to communities across Iowa. The childcare staffing crisis has an even bigger ripple effect on families because it can determine where, when, and even if a parent can work. Yet four in five childcare centers across the country are understaffed. This is particularly pressing for my home State because we lead the Nation in the percentage of families where both parents work away from home. Gov. Kim Reynolds is working hard to increase the availability and affordability of childcare, and part of her plan is to pay recruitment and retention bonuses to childcare providers to recognize them for their hard work. In addition, most of Iowa's restaurants and bars are also shortstaffed, which is resulting in reduced hours of service for customers and also longer shifts for current employees. To retain and attract employees, restaurants are increasing benefits like free meals, more flexible schedules, paid time off, and retirement contributions. And, folks, that is great news for these hard-working Iowans, but it also increases the cost of doing business. So instead of increasing taxes on Iowa's small businesses to pay for the IRS's new army of auditors, Washington should allow job creators to keep more of their own earnings which can be put toward hiring more of those essential workers--whether that be childcare providers, construction workers, or food service employees--whom we all rely upon. That is the help that America really wants. And while my Democratic friends are working overtime to audit Americans, you can rest assured that Republicans--we are auditing the IRS. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST

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

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, this one should be simple. My amendment eliminates subsidies for slave and child labor. The price of buying a car has reached a record high, and what is the Democrats' answer? A tax break for wealthy coastal elites to buy electric vehicles produced with slave and child labor. Currently, this bill already prevents vehicles containing any part sourced or assembled in foreign entities of concern, like China or Russia, from being eligible for the tax credit. My amendment doesn't change that. My amendment simply ensures that our tax dollars don't subsidize EVs from any countries using child or slave labor. We all know the critical minerals that comprise EV batteries are largely mined in sub-Saharan Africa by companies abusing children, which are then assembled in Chinese-owned factories, many of which use slave labor. Subsidizing, to the tune of $7,500 per person, the purchase of a luxury vehicle for wealthy coastal elites that utilizes slave or child labor is a direct contradiction of our American values. We shouldn't be sacrificing a clean conscience in exchange for a so- called cleaner car. I urge the adoption of the amendment.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, today, I come to the floor to urge President Biden to turn his attention to his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan 1 year ago. I want to direct the Commander in Chief to reflect on a series of commitments he made to the American people before and during his reckless exit. On August 19, 2021, President Biden promised U.S. troops would remain on the ground until every American who wanted to leave Afghanistan was evacuated. On August 26, 2021, President Biden promised to hunt down and avenge the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed in action by ISIS-K in Kabul. In a speech to the United Nations on September 21, 2021, the President promised his administration would hold the Taliban accountable to protect the rights of Afghan women. The Commander in Chief failed to uphold his word on all three fronts, and American security and prosperity have suffered as a result of his broken promises. Today in Afghanistan, Americans who want to come home remain left behind, and the administration's lack of transparency concerning both the number and desire of Americans trapped in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is alarming. The President and members of his Cabinet repeatedly claimed that the number of Americans who wanted out of Afghanistan was roughly 100. That number was spouted from September 2021 through the beginning of this year--the same number over and over again--even though we would hear reports on the television that 40 more Americans were out, 200 Americans were out, and yet the number remained the same. How many Americans remain in Afghanistan? The number they kept using was 100. There is no way around it: President Biden broke his promise to the Americans who remain and their families anxiously awaiting their return. Americans have lived and traveled abroad with assurances that the United States would come to their aid in the event of a conflict. No matter how far away, the United States is expected to have the backs of its citizens. Our withdrawal from Afghanistan was a cut-and-run approach that greatly damaged that guarantee. If the world's greatest superpower cannot locate and extract its own citizens from the clutches of seventh-century thugs, then far greater tests of our sovereignty, security, and prosperity will only loom larger. As we approach the anniversary of the haphazard withdrawal, there is an open wound hurting our ability to deter the actions of our adversaries. President Biden promised vengeance on the terrorists who killed 13 Americans--including 1 from my hometown of Red Oak, IA--at Hamid Karzai International Airport. He told the American people: The United States will never rest. We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth, and we will--you will pay the ultimate price. Again, the Commander in Chief's rhetoric does not match his actions. The U.S. military has not targeted or conducted any counterterrorism strikes against ISIS-K in Afghanistan since America's withdrawal on August 31, 2021. Those who planned the cowardly act remain at large. It is not like ISIS-K is holed up in the Hindu Kush mountains, away from population centers. At least 26 terrorist attacks, many of which ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for, have struck the Afghan people in metropolitan Kabul since our withdrawal. Our enemies are not hiding, but far too often, America is. We are also stuck with a largely unrealized over-the-horizon counterterrorism strategy that has not deterred the resurgence of terrorists or avenged our lost warriors. Our military and covert operators' recent strike was welcome and long overdue, but the strike demonstrates a capability rarely employed and a posture toward terrorism far too inexact. It was President Biden, after all, who said last August that al-Qaida was gone from Afghanistan. Folks, that is clearly not the case. Ensuring that al-Qaida leader al-Zawahiri will never harm an American again was a necessary action, but the strike has raised serious questions about the security situation we have in Afghanistan. The President's so-called and much-promised over-the-horizon counterterrorism strategy has not been a deterrent, like it was promised to be. Instead, we are seeing a growing threat emanating from Afghanistan. This is the first U.S. military strike in Afghanistan since America left on August 31 of last year. In the meantime, ISIS-K fighters are flowing into the country at alarming rates while al-Qaida and the Taliban have clearly been working together for the past year. At the very least, the Taliban and Haqqani Network gave al-Zawahiri and his thugs safe haven, demonstrating ongoing Taliban collusion with terrorists. A lone strike does not demonstrate a developed capacity to prevent further coordination that threatens American security. Not only has the U.S. capacity to protect the homeland been greatly damaged, the President's intent to champion human rights as a centerpiece of this administration's foreign policy is also in shambles. Last fall, the President repeatedly claimed Afghan women were a linchpin of his foreign policy priorities in the region. Yet, today, after 20 years of constitutional democracy and advancement of civil rights, the Taliban has unraveled significant hard-won gains for the women of Afghanistan. The Taliban enforce a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, prohibit women from working, from attending secondary school, and from traveling any distance without being accompanied by a male member of their family. Most recently, the Taliban has required all women to cover themselves from head to toe in the burqa. Yet it is reported that the President's team continues to bargain with the Taliban concerning diplomatic recognition, potential coordination with the U.S. intelligence community, and access to $3.5 billion in held currency to the Taliban, despite these actions. Extending official diplomatic engagement and facilitating access to funding without guaranteed and meaningful liberties for women and girls will legitimize the Taliban rule and further subject women to a brutal regime. Any further effort to surrender leverage to the Taliban is a candid reflection of the Biden administration's failure to remedy its own hypocrisy regarding human rights. The administration's abandonment of Americans, inability to serve justice for our soldiers killed in action, impassive counterterrorism operations, and ignorance of the human rights disaster they precipitated in Afghanistan have substituted sound strategy for an ad hoc response of willful negligence. And they know it. The Department of State and Department of Defense under President Biden have refused to cooperate with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The President's neglect is most profoundly demonstrated through his administration's lack of controls on billions of dollars of taxpayer and frozen funds marked for humanitarian aid that have found their way into the Taliban's coffers. Since the Taliban and Haqqani Network--the two groups that are ruling Afghanistan--are Specially Designated Global Terrorists, existing law compels the administration to disclose the risk of taxpayer money slipping into the hands of these two terror groups. The licenses issued by the Treasury Department over the last year extend far beyond acute humanitarian aid for food and medicine. They expand the authorization of funding for activities from endangered species research to direct payments to support governing institutions controlled by the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. I led 15 other Senators in asking the Biden administration to detail the total financial support provided to Afghanistan and an honest assessment of the taxes, the fees, and the import duties syphoned off by the Taliban. More than 6 months later, we are still waiting for a comprehensive answer. This is completely unacceptable in light of recent reporting that Taliban authorities are interfering with the delivery of humanitarian aid, despite a pledge to the United Nations last fall that they would not. The people of Afghanistan continue to suffer from food insecurity while the Taliban are enjoying the spoils of America's generosity. Numerous requests for a detailed accounting have gone unanswered by the Treasury and State Departments. Leaving Americans behind, failing to avenge the death of 13 servicemembers, and abdicating your promises to Afghan women and girls do not deter threats from our shores. In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on October 26, 2021, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy stated that ISIS-K and al-Qaida have the intent to conduct operations against the United States, and that ISIS-K could generate that capability in 6 to 12 months and al-Qaida within 1 to 2 years. Eight months have come and passed, and we have yet to learn how Team Biden will protect our citizens from this threat at home or abroad. In the absence of such a framework, threats to our national security grow every day, risking the lives of Americans at home and abroad. Folks, we are rapidly approaching that 1-year mark--the haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan--and we cannot forget. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4638, which is at the desk; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, the mountain Americans have to climb to make ends meet keeps getting steeper and steeper as a result of Bidenomics. Since President Biden began his reckless tax-and-spending spree, prices are sky-high for gas, food, housing, and just about everything else. The administration's own statistics reveal inflation jumped nearly 10 percent in the last year, the biggest increase in over four decades. Democrats keep telling us not to worry and that the problem is only ``temporary.'' Yet, every month, prices keep climbing and climbing and climbing. The reason is simple: President Biden's fiscal policies are driving costs higher and higher. You may recall I came to the Senate floor a year ago to warn my colleagues that Bidenomics was causing inflation to spin out of control. Yet Democrats have ignored the struggles being inflicted on hard-working Americans and continue to pass one trillion-dollar bill after another. As reckless spending increased, the value of the dollar declined, meaning paychecks aren't going nearly as far as they did just a year ago. To make matters even worse, the Biden administration's ongoing effort to end domestic oil and gas production is fueling the elevated price at the pump, which reached an alltime high of more than $5 per gallon this summer; and an internal analysis by the Biden administration's own Treasury Department forecasts that, this fall, gas prices could top $6 a gallon. I am already hearing from Iowans and Iowa businesses about how folks aren't even able to afford to drive to work. The problem is becoming even more difficult since Bidenomics is driving up the sticker prices on cars to record highs. The actual retail price for a new vehicle is $48,000, and if that sounds like a lot, the cost of buying a home has also reached an alltime high of $416,000. It is no surprise fewer people are buying homes. Then look at rent. It has also hit a record high of nearly $1,900 a month. These unpredictable prices have everyone asking themselves if ``The Price is Right.'' Folks, Americans shouldn't have to play guessing games about whether or not their paychecks can be stretched far enough to avoid going over a financial cliff. Each bill the Democrats have passed as part of the Biden agenda has increased costs for working Americans while moving our Nation closer and closer to the edge of the fiscal cliff. Consider that when Joe Biden was inaugurated as President in January 2021, the inflation rate was only 1 percent. After their so-called COVID relief bill--which cost $1.9 trillion--was passed in March of last year, the inflation rate moved up to nearly 3 percent. In July, President Biden claimed the quickly increasing prices were ``temporary'' and that his big spending plans would result in lower prices for Americans, but by the time the President signed his $1 trillion, so-called infrastructure bill in November, inflation had climbed to almost 7 percent. In December, President Biden said inflation had reached its ``peak.'' He was wrong once again, and, today, inflation is more than 9 percent. This isn't a cliffhanger, folks. We all know where this is headed. Step by step, President Biden's reckless tax-and-spend policies are taking us closer and closer to going over the cliff, and yet the Democrats are still trying to outbid each other with another trillion- dollar, budget-busting, partisan package that would raise taxes on small businesses and increase prices for everyone. That is right, folks. Bidenomics is driving up the costs of everything, and the Democrats' solution is to spend even more of your hard-earned money to pay for more of their pricey, partisan pet projects. Any more Bidenomics will push the economy over the fiscal cliff and into a recession. It is time to take a step back and stop the wasteful Washington spending, which is the only way to make these prices come on down. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST. Madam President, reserving the right to object, here we are again--another day, another sympathetically titled bill offered by my Democratic colleagues wherein the talking points don't really give you the full story--case in point, the Right to Contraception Act. The so-called Right to Contraception Act purposefully goes far beyond the scope of contraception. It includes provisions that could guarantee the funding of abortion providers and that defines ``contraceptive'' in such a broad way that it could include drugs to induce an abortion weeks or months into a pregnancy. This definition also could include non-FDA-approved drugs that would actually put a woman's health at risk. The bill also flies in the face of decades of work in providing for conscience protections. It would require organizations to administer contraceptives despite their moral or religious beliefs. There is something insidious with this bill, but don't take it from me. Look to the bill's text itself. The ``findings'' section of this bill notes the work of an organization that many of my colleagues will recognize: The United Nations Population Fund. This is the same organization that contributed over $10 million to a mass sterilization campaign in Peru in the nineties. That campaign was rife with coercive practices: Quotas were set; cash bonuses were paid to health workers for each client sterilized; and poor women were bribed with nutritional supplements and clothes for their children. Then let's not forget the former Population Fund executive director's high praise of China's one-child policy. But let's be clear here. Routine-use contraceptives should be more easily available, and the fact that they aren't has the biggest impact on women in rural areas, where a doctor could be dozens of miles away. A woman in a rural area doesn't need a platitude-filled messaging bill like the one we have here. She needs over-the-counter access to routine-use birth control. Luckily, Republicans have a solution. My bill, the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act, incentivizes manufacturers of contraceptives to file an application for over-the-counter access. It also allows priority review for these applications and waives the FDA filing fee. That means cheaper, quicker, and more available access for women across this Nation. With my bill, women 18 and over can walk into their local pharmacies, whether they be in Sidney, IA, or in the deepest parts of Manhattan, and get the routine-use birth control they need. When your doctor is 30 miles away and gas is $6 a gallon, you don't need a messaging bill; you need access. Therefore, I object.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, this bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. While the language touts supporting access to family planning, in reality, it is likely a $5 billion gift for Planned Parenthood and other abortion-related providers. Prior to the Trump administration's protect life rule, Planned Parenthood received nearly $60 million per year in title X funds. The Biden administration reversed this rule and has aggressively deployed title X funds to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Under this bill, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers would be allowed to use the funds to build clinics, and abortion counseling referrals would be mandatory. The bill would also force religious providers to violate their beliefs. Congress should not green light family planning dollars at the expense of family destruction. For those reasons, I object.

Ms. ERNST. Reserving the right to object.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Madam President, 200 years ago, the Senate went about their business without computers, without cell phones, and any of our other modern conveniences that run on electricity, including the very lights in this room. Working by candlelight might sound quaint today, but many Americans may find themselves doing just that in the not too distant future because the Biden administration is taking the country back to the era of no electricity. Folks, with President Biden and his same team of advisers who created a nationwide baby formula shortage and out-of-control inflation overseeing their ``energy transition,'' what could possibly go wrong? You don't have to look any further than your energy bills to get an answer. Prices at the pump have nearly doubled since Biden's first day in office when he started signing Executive orders to turn off American energy supplies. And home electricity prices have increased more than 20 percent since just last summer. What is worse than these expensive energy bills? Well, folks, how about no power at all? Most of the Nation is currently in danger of experiencing power outages due to energy shortages caused by the closure of power plants as part of the Democrats' push towards renewables. These Biden blackouts will make it impossible to even run fans and air conditioners on the hottest days of the summer. But not to worry, folks, Biden's Energy Department has issued some tips of what to do in case of an outage, which include stocking up on candles, keeping an ice chest on hand, and having a gallon of water available for every person in your house for each day you are without electricity. Folks, that is not the most reassuring advice since no one knows how many days we could be kept in the dark during a Biden blackout. The reality is these power outages pose a bigger problem than just the inconvenience of being uncomfortably warm or unable to watch TV for a few hours or possibly days. Extended outages could be a matter of life or death for many folks who depend upon electronic medical devices or temperature-sensitive medicines. You are probably wondering how it is even possible in 2022 for there to be an energy shortage right here in the United States of America. It is simple math: Democratic policies. The ongoing closure of traditional power plants is reducing our capacity to supply enough electricity for millions of homes and renewables are not yet producing enough energy on their own to make up the difference. The Democrats are predictably blaming global warming, but the truth is the rolling blackouts and rising prices are really being caused by man-made energy change. Just this year, the Biden administration has reduced domestic oil and gas leasing, created regulatory barriers for building pipelines, and taken administrative actions that put hundreds of solar energy projects across the U.S. on hold. We can't just turn off the power sources we depend upon without having reliable, abundant, and affordable alternatives readily available. Yet that is exactly what the Democrats, at President Biden's direction, are doing. I am proud that my home State of Iowa was the first State in the Nation to adopt a renewable portfolio standard nearly 40 years ago. Today, Iowa generates most of our energy from renewables, with wind power being our primary source. Iowa also leads the Nation in the production of ethanol and biodiesel. And despite what critics say, the use of corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel reduce greenhouse gas emissions while helping to keep our Nation energy independent and our State green and clean. However, renewables still only produce a fraction of the total electricity the Nation relies on to run, making it impossible and irresponsible to simply unplug our traditional energy sources. Just look at California, which has set a goal of achieving a carbon- free power grid. The State is forecasting that energy shortages could leave as many as 4 million California residents without power this summer. The State's utility provider wants to build five new fossil-fuel power generators to ensure the availability of reliable electricity in the future. But the challenge is more than just making up for the reduction in power production because the transition to renewables is creating new demands for electricity. For example, our increasingly unreliable power grid will face even greater strains as more and more electric vehicles are plugged into it. To drive just 100 miles, an EV requires about the same amount of electricity as it takes to run a home for an entire day, including lights, heating and air-conditioning, and appliances. Tesla, the world's top EV carmaker, is already asking EV owners to not charge their cars during certain hours of the day to better ration the use of electricity. And while President Biden and the Democrats keep telling Americans to buy an electric vehicle to cut down on the cost of gas, the high sticker price makes EVs unaffordable. Folks, the cold, hard truth is electric vehicles are not as economical, environmental, or ethical as the Democrats want us to believe. Proponents of the Green New Deal portray themselves as heroes in a fairy tale riding to the rescue--on an EV, of course--to defeat the greedy corporations polluting the planet for profit so we can all live happily ever after. But the truth is it ain't that easy being green. Consider the component parts used in both EVs and solar panels. Well, they are largely produced by Communist China's State-supported corporations, often using slave and child labor. As a result, the world will be more dependent on Communist China for some energy products in a post-carbon economy than we are on OPEC for petroleum today. President Biden's own Energy Department admits that ``U.S. decarbonization goals are reliant on both Chinese firms and the Chinese government.'' And while we will rely on China for the technology, the communist regime will rely more heavily on the forced labor of children and modern-day slaves to produce it. Consider, almost half of the world supply of polysilicon used in solar panels is made in Communist China, often by the hands of forced labor of ethnic and religious minorities. And nearly every silicon-based solar panel is likely to contain components that originated in the area of China where forced labor camps are widespread. China also has significant financial control over the world's supply of cobalt, which is an essential element used in the batteries of EVs. The Congo produces 70 percent of the world's cobalt, and Chinese- backed companies own or have a financial interest in most of the African nation's cobalt mines. These Chinese corporations are subjecting the miners to physical abuse and hazardous conditions in exchange for very little money. Tens of thousands of children--some as young as 4 years old--are exploited to work in the mines with few safety protections. President Biden promised to create green jobs, but he didn't mention that they would be done by children in Africa or slaves in China. These poor kids are mistreated and malnourished and even drugged to suppress their hunger so they can work for longer hours. Breathing in toxic fumes causes long-term health problems, including lung disease and heart failure, as well as birth defects. And miners are often buried alive when tunnels cave in. These are some of the kids who mine the cobalt to make an EV run. And in the other photo are some of the folks who produce ethanol for motor vehicles. I know which photo I would rather see. Who powers your vehicle? In addition to the toxic harm to humans, the extraction of cobalt also causes severe environmental pollution to the water, air, and to the soil. Just take a look at this picture. This is a mine in Congo where cobalt is extracted to make batteries for EVs. Nothing about this landscape looks like an environmental success story to me. By contrast, the picture over here is a beautiful farm in Iowa where corn is grown to make fuel for motor vehicles. Every year, I drive through mile after mile of cornfields on my 99-county tour. It is the type of scenic drive that reconnects you with nature and reminds you of the importance of proper stewardship of the land we live off of. Folks, we can all have a cleaner conscience knowing that energy made in Iowa is creating economic opportunities for our neighbors, while keeping our communities green, rather than exploiting children or creating a toxic wasteland. Can the same be said about the initiatives that are being pushed by the Biden administration? Like begging OPEC to pump more oil, sending our Nation's strategic oil reserves to China, or subsidizing China's market in slave and child labor. Are we going to tell the truth to the children that riding the electric school buses that the Biden administration is spending $5 billion on to purchase, what really makes the wheels on these buses go round and round is the exploitation of other children who are their age or even younger? Or are we just going to tell them more green fairy tales? It is time to come clean about the Democrats' Green New Deal. Just like President Biden's other policies, this radical agenda is creating problems, not solving them, including greater dependency on foreign adversaries like China and Russia, reliance on child and slave forced labor, harm to human health and the environment, higher costs, and energy shortages and blackouts. Democrats are literally trying to keep America in the dark about these inconvenient truths. Folks, the Biden blackouts will be the latest unneeded reminder that the Democrats' Green New Deal can't hold a candle to the Republicans' record of producing an abundant supply of affordable energy right here in the good old United States of America. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues, especially Senators Shaheen and Tillis, for leading an incredibly successful congressional delegation to the NATO summit. I want to thank them, as well, for organizing the colloquy today. I join them in enthusiastically endorsing Finland and Sweden's accession into NATO. Both nations have representative governments accountable to their people. They conduct extensive commerce and trade with our great United States, and, broadly, they share many of our values. Historically, perhaps these were conditions sufficient to readily welcome two European nations into one of our multinational security frameworks, but today, given the increasingly complex threats our adversaries are imposing on the homeland, protecting American security and prosperity demands partners who are capable of sharing NATO's manpower and resource burdens. NATO isn't a club of democracies or a playground for exploring climate change or progressive cultural interests. It is a military alliance that is assembled to deter our adversaries from wreaking havoc on our partners and against our own homeland. Today, the United States is the unquestioned and undisputed leader of not just NATO, but continues to lead the global coalition containing and destroying terrorist operations in the Middle East and in Africa. Beyond Europe and the Middle East, the United States must--and I will repeat that--must lead a coalition to deter China's looming imperial expansion around the world and potential takeover of Taiwan and our other partners in the Indo-Pacific. The United States has the greatest military on the face of the planet, and the American people's support of our Armed Forces is unwavering. Still, our Commander in Chief, our diplomatic and military leadership, and Members of the Senate must hold our partners accountable to their own defense and not lean on the reach and lethality of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians alone. Going forward, NATO member countries must invest in their own defense. Two percent must be a minimum standard. Longstanding members of the alliance remain far too lax and sometimes neglectful of their obligations to the alliance and to their people. America is not the world's policemen, but we are the leader of the free world and this alliance. And Finland and Sweden are on target regarding their 2- percent commitment. I am confident that Finland and Sweden are ready to stand up and help shoulder the resource burden on NATO's military obligations in Europe, particularly following Russia's bloody, lawless invasion of Ukraine. The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO is a great success, but regarding the war raging in Ukraine today, on day 140 of this conflict, the U.S. cannot grow weary. Our resolve to support our partner must carry on. China is watching. The Gulf States, South America, and Africa are weighing their commitment to the free world against the economic and security guarantees on the table from our adversaries. Our national defense capacity diminishes the more our adversaries, from the Taliban to Iran's cluster of violent extremist organizations, to Vladimir Putin, to the Chinese Communist Party, can call our bluff and see if we cannot bear the cost of achieving our goals. We must remain steady and strong. This administration and our partners in NATO must change their strategy to deliver Ukraine victory over Putin's Russia, and that is why Sweden and Finland will be a much welcomed addition to NATO. Again, I thank my colleagues for organizing this colloquy, and I urge this body to move very quickly to confirm the U.S. support of Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO. I yield the floor to my colleague from Missouri.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Madam President, today, America looks like a country governed by teenagers who grew up reading ``Choose Your Own Adventure'' books. They got some authority and decided they could govern under a system of choose-your-own-laws. But a government that derives its power from the people cannot endure if its laws change every few years based on the whims of a select few in positions of power. That is, after all, why John Adams said we are ``a government of laws, not men.'' Folks, our laws are not a buffet. You can't pick and choose which ones to uphold and which to overlook based on your desires. But that is exactly what we are experiencing today under Democratic control. This is a political party that wants to rule but do so without following the rules. They want to break our institutions, rig the system in their favor, and fundamentally transform our country. Today, we are seeing the result of this radical agenda. Look no further than the Biden border crisis. U.S. law requires that immigrants be deported or detained pending determination if they don't have a legal right to be here, but under this administration, enforcement simply no longer exists. In September 2019, on the campaign trail, Joe Biden proudly said to those seeking asylum in America: You should come. In March 2020, he said: The only deportations that will take place are commissions of felonies. President Biden knew we didn't have the detention space, the enforcement capacity, or the administrative staff to follow the law, but he encouraged people to come, and they listened. If the illegal immigrants who have entered the United States since President Biden took office establish a new city, it would be the ninth largest city in the country, with a population of 1.34 million. And they are still coming. Just this week, we learned that what might be the largest caravan ever--nearly 15,000 migrants--is headed to our southern border. This is unacceptable and unsustainable, and it was completely avoidable. This manufactured border crisis is also a boon for the deadly drug cartels. Customs and Border Protection estimates that smuggling migrants into the United States earns cartels up to--get this, folks-- $6 billion a year. And in the first 3 months of 2022, Border Patrol seized over 150 pounds of drugs on the southern border. Our country has been struggling with an opioid epidemic for far too long, and the Biden administration's solution is an open border that will allow some of the deadliest drugs to be transported across the country, turning every State into a border State. In fact, in 2021, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses--the highest number ever recorded-- with opioids such as fentanyl responsible for 3 out of 5 of those deaths. Not to mention the horrific abuses many young girls and women face at the hands of their smugglers. Folks, don't miss this: The Biden administration is aiding and abetting illegal immigration and all the criminal activity that comes with it. They have the tools in their toolbox to curb the flow of drugs and human trafficking and to stop the historic record of illegal border crossings, but they refuse to use them. On his first day in office, the President canceled the construction of the barrier along our southern border, calling it ``a waste of money.'' Ironically, his decision to not build the wall is the real waste of money because, while it is not providing any security, it is still costing taxpayers. Since pulling the plug on the project, Biden has continued paying contractors upwards of $3 million a day--yes, you heard it right, folks: $3 million a day--to watch over the unused materials that are lying in the desert. Taxpayers are being billed to babysit piles of surplus materials. But some States being overrun by the influx of illegal immigrants would still like to set up barriers to control who is coming across the border from Mexico. Taxpayers have already paid $350 million for the concrete, the steel, and the fencing that is now sitting idle, collecting dust and dollars. Why not let States that want to build the wall access these unused materials? It would save taxpayers money and deter the unprecedented number of border crossings that we have seen as a result of Biden's border policies--or in this case, lack thereof. To paraphrase a well-known quotation in Iowa, if you build it, they will come. Let's paraphrase: If you don't build it, they will come. Folks, America is and always has been a welcoming nation, but those seeking a better life here have an obligation to respect our laws, and the President has a sworn duty to enforce them. That is why I introduced the Border's Unused Idle and Lying Dormant Inventory Transfer Act, or the BUILD IT Act, which would turn over the unused materials already purchased by taxpayers to construct the southern border barrier to any State wishing to finish the job. President Biden's refusal to secure our border is causing chaos and allowing cartels to smuggle drugs into communities in Iowa and across the country, while costing taxpayers billions of dollars for nothing. Here is a simple solution: President Biden, please enforce current immigration laws, curb cartel activity, and put these materials to use. Let's end the taxpayer-funded waste, and let's stop the unprecedented flow of illegal migrants, and let's build it. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, etched in marble above the chair you are sitting in is the Latin phrase ``E Pluribus Unum,'' meaning ``out of many, one.'' Despite our differences, the union among our respective States as a single nation expressed by this motto has endured for nearly 250 years. The principles of liberty and equality upon which our Nation was conceived have not only survived but continued to flourish and expand from one generation to the next. Many of us who are Members of this body would not have been eligible to cast a vote, much less serve in Congress, not so long ago. We stand here as real, live proof that the American experiment in self- determination has been a success unlike any other in history. This triumph has been made possible by the institutions established by our Founders to serve as guardrails to ensure liberty and maintain order while preventing tyranny. Today more than ever, those institutions are under attack by the intrusion of a woke counterculture that has taken over the Democratic Party. They condemn America as culpable rather than exceptional and embrace socialism, a system in which government controls everything. Under the spell of these radical elements, the Democrats have unleashed a strange multiverse of madness in which reality no longer has meaning and the foundations upon which our Nation was built are being turned upside down and inside out or destroyed altogether. The left tells us to trust the science and to believe all women--yet they can't even define what a woman is--and that criminals are victims and the law enforcement officers who risk their own lives every day to protect us are somehow the real perpetrators of injustice. Now they want Washington to be the arbiter of truth. That is right, folks. The Department of Homeland Security, which should be focused on securing our borders, is now trying to police what the Biden administration deems disinformation. It sounds like a novel idea, and by that, I mean George Orwell's novel ``1984'' in which the Ministry of Truth pushed state propaganda which was the exact opposite of truth. This attempt to control what you can and cannot say is not only an attack on our First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press, but an assault on truth itself. We don't need anyone in Washington--especially Joe Biden, who is factually challenged himself-- telling us how to think or what to say. That may be how things are run in socialist countries like Russia and China but not in America, the land of the free. The Senate itself is a prime target of this effort to undermine America's institutions by silencing opposing views. The Democrats are determined to end the Senate's long tradition of unlimited debate that has long guaranteed all voices can be heard. Senator Schumer once said that eliminating the filibuster would be ``a doomsday for democracy.'' He then ignored his own apocalyptic warning by voting to nuke the filibuster for executive and judicial nominations. In doing so, the Democrats, minus Joe Manchin, threw away the only leverage the minority party in the Senate has to influence Presidential appointments, including lifelong terms on the Court. You would think they would have learned their lesson about how shortsighted that decision was, but they haven't. Now Senator Schumer is determined to do away with the legislative filibuster so he can push through the Democrats' radical plan to remake America by giving Washington control of how voters select their representatives and stacking the Supreme Court with liberal Justices who will legislate from the Bench rather than interpret the law through the lens of the Constitution. Democrats have long been working to discredit and undermine the independence and legitimacy of the Supreme Court. The Senate majority leader himself has publicly issued personal threats against specific Justices, warning that if they do not rule as he desired, they will ``pay the price.'' Earlier this month, for the first time ever, a draft opinion of a pending case before the Supreme Court was leaked to the media. Chief Justice John Roberts called the unprecedented breach of the Court's confidential deliberations a ``betrayal of the confidences of the Court . . . intended to undermine the integrity of our operations.'' Following the cues from the majority leader, radical activists are harassing Supreme Court Justices in an effort to intimidate and influence their verdict. Folks, this madness has got to end. This woke crowd is living in an alternate universe that is devoid of reality where our Nation and those who founded it are now the enemy. It is all very strange because no serious study of history can look at the impact made by our great Nation, especially in the last century, and conclude that the world is not considerably better off as a result of the American Revolution. America led the world to end fascism, defeat communism, and counter terrorism. At home, we expanded the right to vote and ended segregation. And there are countless brave men and women from all walks of life who have answered the call of our Nation, who are stationed around the globe at this very moment, ready to sacrifice all to defend freedom and stop tyranny. Our system of self-government has lived up to and surpassed the promise of our Founders to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. All of this will be lost if we give in to the demands of the angry woke mob, which seeks to destroy the foundations that have long guided us and held us together as one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs provide critical innovation support to America's small businesses. While this program is celebrating 40 years in business, SBIR continues to be exploited by foreign adversaries due to lack of controls within the programs to prevent the transfer of new American technology to our adversaries. China has become one of the largest beneficiaries of the SBIR Programs because of the lack of adequate oversight. China and other foreign adversaries, like Putin's Russia, know this and have been establishing shell companies, acquiring beneficial ownership in American enterprises, selecting key awardee personnel for talent recruitment, and other state-directed technology acquisition. China has also infiltrated businesses known as SBIR mills that have won numerous grants. This is a clear national security threat and is wholly unacceptable. Serious and comprehensive due diligence reforms are needed to combat adversarial foreign influence in these programs and to protect our national security. I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this effort.

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees, which is at the desk.

Ms. ERNST

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

Ms. ERNST

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I am really beginning to believe everyone in the White House is clueless. After promising to lead us away from crisis and chaos, President Biden has instead made achieving the American dream more challenging and, folks, a heck of a lot more expensive while at the same time making the world a much more dangerous place. Then, to cover up the connection between his actions and their disastrous outcomes, the President plays the blame game. Since Joe Biden was sworn in as President just a little over a year ago, we have experienced record-setting inflation, making everyday essentials unaffordable; an unprecedented number of migrants rushing our southern border; our national debt topping $30 trillion for the first time; the Taliban's retaking control of Afghanistan; and the world being brought to the brink of nuclear war. Are these events purely the result of chance or are they direct consequences of the choices being made in the White House? You don't need to be a detective to solve this whodunit. Let's go ahead and examine the case. All right. Over the past year, the cost of nearly everything has increased at the fastest pace in over four decades. A gallon of milk is up nearly 50 cents, and 2 pounds of ground beef costs over $1.50 more than it did a year ago. Add in rising rents and home prices, and these numbers really add up quickly. While Iowans and the rest of Americans are struggling to adjust their family budgets to the ever increasing cost of living, the Biden administration has repeatedly dismissed concerns about the price problem. Last summer, the President said: It's highly unlikely that it's going to be long-term inflation that's going to get out of hand. Now that the problem can no longer be ignored, he is actually blaming corporate greed. Get a clue. The Federal Reserve says the reason prices in the United States have been outpacing inflation in other countries since 2021--when Biden became President--is as a direct result of Washington's unprecedented spending spree. It turns out you can't just print trillions of dollars and hand it out for free. Republicans in Congress and even some Democrats warned that this would happen when the President began pushing one trillion-dollar spending bill after another. Now hard-working Americans are stuck paying for the Biden binge-spending twice--first with higher taxes and then again with higher bills. When you add it all up, Bidenomics is costing every family almost $500 more a month today than a year ago to buy the same exact items. So, despite the President's finger-pointing, this problem isn't being caused by corporate greed for profits, and it isn't caused on Wall Street. The White House is using a similar setup to hide the true cause of higher prices at the pump. President Biden wants us to believe that the skyrocketing costs to fill up your tank are all Vladimir Putin's fault, but gas was on the rise for more than a year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In fact, gas prices have steadily increased since the President's first day in office when he signed an Executive order to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline. On that day, January 20, 2021, a gallon of gas cost less than $2.50. The President then signed an Executive order turning off all new oil and gas leases on public lands. While the President was shutting down U.S. energy, he was helping to make the world more dependent on Putin for power. In May of last year, the Biden administration waived the sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. By then, gas here in the United States had reached $3 a gallon. When Putin invaded Ukraine in February, the price was already more than $3.50 per gallon. So don't be fooled, folks. It is really Biden's war on American energy that has been fueling the soaring costs. While the Russian dictator is guilty of many horrible things, the higher gas prices we have been paying for over the past year and a half did not begin as a result of Putin in Ukraine because of the war. It is impossible to miss the irony of President Biden's pointing the finger at Putin since the Russian dictator's aggression against Ukraine may have been emboldened by Biden's abrupt abandonment in Afghanistan. The poorly planned evacuation also turned over billions of dollars of weapons and equipment to the Taliban and other terrorists and left countless Americans and our allies behind while costing the lives of 13 of our brave servicemembers. The President blamed our own military--he blamed our own military-- for not warning him of the catastrophe that would occur if he withdrew all U.S. forces, but those claims were contradicted under oath before the Senate Armed Services Committee by his own advisers, who said the President was told Afghanistan would collapse. Try as he might to lay the blame elsewhere, the President singlehandedly made the call to completely withdraw from Afghanistan, which will go down as one of the worst foreign policy decisions in U.S. history. Now Biden's blunders are threatening to turn the crisis at our southern border into total chaos. The number of illegal crossings last year exceeded 1.7 million--the most ever recorded. To make matters worse, the administration has announced that those attempting to enter our country illegally will soon no longer be turned away under the authority provided by title 42. As a consequence, Homeland Security officials are expecting a record surge of border crossings, which could reach as many as 18,000 people a day. Just like his other abrupt, poorly thought-out decisions, the President has no plan to deal with the inevitable repercussions. When the predictable disaster occurs, the President will be surprised and confused and look for someone else to blame. I could go on, but I am all ready to rest my case since the same set of fingerprints is on all of the evidence of these problems. But, President Biden, if you still haven't figured it out, I will give you a clue. Spoiler alert: The culprit is you. Whether signing Executive orders to turn off American-made energy or signing budget-busting bills that are fanning the flames of inflation, the source of these problems can all be traced back to President Biden, with the pen, in the Oval Office. It is right there, folks. Case closed. That is how all of these crises were created over the past year. Now, imagine how some of the other policies being proposed by Democrats, like defunding the police, abolishing ICE, or enacting the Green New Deal, could turn out if President Biden is given the chance to sign them into law. Taxpayers can rest assured that Republicans in Congress will keep doing our part to make sure those bills never make it to the President's desk. And if the President tries to bypass Congress and enact its radical agenda by signing Executive orders behind the closed doors of the White House, Americans can count on Republicans to clue you in. I yield the floor.

Ms. ERNST

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

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, in the last few weeks, we have heard a lot about and from Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. I would like to start off by congratulating Judge Jackson and her family on her nomination. I had a wonderful meeting with the judge last week. She is a highly qualified attorney. I would also like to congratulate her for making it through the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing process can be grueling, but it is extremely important. Judge Jackson demonstrated grace under pressure. However, I have concerns about Judge Jackson's nomination and will not be supporting her confirmation to the Supreme Court. Perhaps my greatest issue with Judge Jackson is her lack of adherence to a judicial philosophy. I have been very clear with each Supreme Court nominee since I took office that I am looking to support a nominee who prescribes to originalism. Judge Jackson explained during the Senate Judiciary hearing that she abides by a judicial ``methodology'' instead of a philosophy. This means, according to her, that she begins at a neutral position to understand the facts and to interpret the law, receives all the appropriate inputs, and then interprets the law. While I would hope that all judges, no matter which court they sit on, approach their rulings from a neutral position and evaluate all applicable court filings, Judge Jackson's methodology says nothing about the way she understands and subsequently interprets the law. In my mind, there are three areas of the law a judge must evaluate: the meaning of the Constitution, statutes, and case precedents. Different theories of interpretation sometimes lead to different answers about the meaning of each of these different areas, which is why it is vitally important to know what a Supreme Court nominee's philosophy is. For example, Justice Breyer, whom Judge Jackson clerked for and is nominated to replace on the Court, often described his own judicial philosophy as pragmatic. As a result, Justice Breyer balances the interests and values surrounding a case. While I don't agree with Justice Breyer's method of interpretation, Judge Jackson won't even commit to abiding by this judicial philosophy, and this is very troubling. If a Justice's legal interpretation has no philosophical grounding, that provides flexibility for a Justice to bend their thinking to achieve a desired outcome instead of following a structured analysis. We have enough politicians in the legislative branch; we don't need any in the courts, especially the Supreme Court. My concerns with Judge Jackson's apparent lack of a judicial philosophy are magnified by her other progressive and activist choices. Case in point: her lax stance on the sentencing of pedophiles. The laws she applied simply hold those who distribute child pornography accountable, considering how often these offenders recidivate. Instead, Judge Jackson went out of her way to articulate her discomfort with imposing sentences based upon, in her words, ``outdated laws'' because the nature of child pornography distribution has changed. For the children depicted in these heinous images, it really doesn't matter how they are distributed. Judge Jackson afforded leniency to offenders and previewed for all of us how she applies outdated laws to modern problems. Going further, when asked if she supports expanding the number of Justices on the Supreme Court, Judge Jackson refused to reject that position. Perhaps echoing this thought process during the Senate Judiciary hearing, Judge Jackson commented that she would be ``thrilled to be one of however many'' Justices. This tells me everything I need to know. In addition, Judge Jackson's unverified stance on life issues gives me great pause. During several exchanges at the hearing, Judge Jackson refused to acknowledge when the life of an unborn child begins. As a result, the only information I have to evaluate is her previous decision supporting a Massachusetts law that created a buffer zone preventing pro-life sidewalk counselors from approaching expectant mothers outside of abortion clinics. Without an articulated process on how the judge would approach a life question in combination with this troubling decision, I have no reassurance that the judge will not take an activist stance. I cannot and will not accept this answer. Finally, I am deeply concerned at Judge Jackson's response when asked to define a woman. The judge responded that she is not a biologist. Well, folks, I am not a biologist either, but it seems pretty common sense to me. I can tell you the voters of Iowa didn't have to think about the answer to this question when they elected me as the first woman to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate. I can tell you the Taliban didn't have to think about the answer to this question when they closed the doors of schools to female students 2 weeks ago. And I can tell you President Biden didn't have to think about the answer to this question when he nominated Judge Jackson as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. While I am grateful Judge Jackson believes science is the basis for determining a woman, I am deeply concerned that a fellow woman who is set to define the contours of laws that are specific to women has to even think about an answer to that question. So Judge Jackson's language, or lack thereof, speaks volumes for me, and I cannot support her nomination for a lifetime appointment on our Nation's highest Court. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.