Bill Hagerty

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I rise today in support of my legislation, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act--otherwise known as the GENIUS Act. I would like to thank Senator Gillibrand for her kind comments and her hard work in this and Senator Scott, who so ably chaired our committee. And I am very pleased to say that we are at a point now where America can actually see a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework come to bear for payment stablecoins. For too long, the lack of any such framework has forced digital asset innovation beyond our borders here in America and into foreign countries. It has jeopardized our Nation's financial leadership. And frankly, as Senator Gillibrand said, it has put American consumers at risk. Meanwhile, our slow and outdated payment rails--frankly, rails that were developed back in the 1970s and 1980s--have failed to keep pace with many other overseas jurisdictions. To modernize our payment system and to restore our Nation's competitive edge, we must act now. That is why I have introduced the GENIUS Act. This legislation takes a commonsense, bipartisan approach to regulating stablecoins. Allow me to concisely explain what the GENIUS Act does. It clearly defines a payment stablecoin as a digital asset pegged to a fixed value backed by U.S. Treasurys and used for transactions. It describes clear procedures for institutions to issue stablecoins. It establishes a regulatory regime that balances the responsibilities of both Federal and State authorities. It implements standards that ensure safety, stability, and consumer protection. And it provides rigorous safeguards to deter illicit activity, to increase transparency, and to aid the vital work of law enforcement. These provisions are pragmatic and forward-looking. They both protect consumers and promote innovation. And, crucially, they represent bipartisan agreement, reflecting that both Democrats and Republicans recognize the vast potential of this emerging technology. The benefits of stablecoin innovation are immense. By reducing friction in the payment process, they can improve the speed and the efficiency of cross-border transactions. Faster and cheaper transactions can unlock much needed working capital for American businesses and provide individuals with more effective tools for making international payments. Moving aspects of our payment system to the blockchain has been shown to increase efficiencies in capital markets. Innovators are constantly uncovering transformative use cases, and the rapid pace of innovation will only increase with regulatory clarity. Stablecoins also advance a vital national interest by driving demand for U.S. Treasurys. A recent report forecasts that with a well-crafted U.S. regulatory framework, stablecoin issuers could become one of the top holders of U.S. Treasurys by the end of this decade. Frankly, it could happen even sooner. This would strengthen our fiscal position and cement the dollar status as the world reserve currency. If we fail to act now, not only will these benefits slip away, we will also fall behind in global competitiveness. Without a regulatory framework, stablecoin innovation will proliferate overseas and not in America. And if we fail to act, Americans using this new technology will be left with no choice but to rely on foreign stablecoins that lack vital consumer protections. And, critically, inaction would surrender our leadership to the Chinese Communist Party, a party that aggressively advances its own digital currency. We can avoid this outcome, but only if we all unite behind this legislation. In the spirit of patriotic cooperation, I want to thank Senator Scott, Senator Lummis, Senator Gillibrand, and Senator Alsobrooks who cosponsored an earlier iteration of this bill and who have worked hard with me every step of the way to make this a strong bipartisan effort. And I also extend gratitude to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who supported this legislation in the Banking Committee and contributed to the consensus product that we now see before the U.S. Senate. We have an opportunity to cement America's financial dominance for decades to come and demonstrate that this body can come together and pass legislation that benefits our country and its citizens. I urge all my colleagues to join me in advancing the GENIUS Act. And I urge those watching from afar to view this critical vote for what it is, a statement of support for a vital innovative technology and a demonstration of our willingness as a body here in the U.S. Senate to work for America. I yield the floor.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I want to compliment my colleague from Wyoming for the wonderful introduction that she gave. That means that I don't need to give the many, many pages of speech that I had planned. But I would like to come to one final point, and that is for the benefit of my colleagues today. I want to take a broader view of what we are actually voting on. What we are voting on is ``cloture.'' That is a term that is used to get on the bill, to actually have the debate that we are supposed to conduct here in the U.S. Senate. It is the beginning of debate for a bill that fundamentally supports crypto technology and innovation here in America at the most basic level. My Democratic colleagues supported this, coming through a committee on a bipartisan basis. In fact, we had a vote of 18 to 6, a very strong movement out of committee. Since that time, we have made a number of changes at their request. They have come back again with more requests. We are considering those changes as well. But for us to even begin to implement these changes, we are going to have to get on this bill in order to debate it and in order to incorporate the changes that have been negotiated. I look forward to working with my colleagues should they choose to move forward on this bill. And if they don't, I want the American public and I want everybody watching today to understand that this is a vote to kill the crypto industry here in America, and it is a shame. This is our first opportunity to deliver groundbreaking legislation to America that puts America squarely in the most competitive place we possibly could be, to lead in the area of innovation where we need to be leading. Otherwise, this would be a vote to push all of that offshore. It is a vote for our strength. I want to thank the Senators who have helped so much: Senator Scott and Senator Lummis from our side. And I want to thank Senators Gillibrand and Alsobrooks from the Democrat side. I want to thank everybody who has worked so hard on this. And I hope that we will be able to move forward, actually get on this bill, and complete our work. I yield the floor. Cloture Motion

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the confirmation of my constituent and friend Pete Hegseth. Last week, during his 4\1/2\ hour confirmation hearing, America saw exactly why President Trump nominated Pete Hegseth to be our next Secretary of Defense. Pete is patriotic, smart. He is an energetic leader. His priorities are our warfighters and having their backs by focusing the Department of Defense on lethality and competence rather than extraneous political and social issues. He is the type of leader that can inspire, recruit, and retain the absolute best talent America has to offer. Despite Pete's qualifications, the mainstream media, desperate to derail President Trump and his nominees, has gone after Pete's character by airing false and unsubstantiated claims. Take, for example, the article published Tuesday, just this week, by the New York Times. Despite the salacious and misleading headline in this paper, buried beneath 13 paragraphs of slanderous allegations, the Times actually disclaims the entire story with a direct quote from the supposed victim herself denying the allegations against Pete, saying: There was no physical abuse in my marriage. Yet, look at this headline--``Hegseth's Ex-in-Law Claims He Was Abusive to Second Wife''--even though, in the same article, the second wife disclaims all of this. This isn't journalism. Take a moment to think about this. This is a hit job. The New York Times intentionally ran with the salacious and debunked account, buried the truth, and distorted the lead simply to undermine President Trump and his nominee. The New York Times is not alone, unfortunately; NBC News, The Hill, Politico, and even the Associated Press all chose to run the same salacious false headline instead of the facts. Unfortunately, I am not surprised. This is the type of misleading-- and often unequivocally false--reporting that we have learned to expect from the left-leaning media. The American people remember that the New York Times is the same publication that denied and suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story leading up to the 2020 election. It is the same paper that endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. The same paper that endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024. The American people are sick and tired of the deception stemming from this alliance between the Democrat Party and the so-called mainstream media. This is yet another example of a story published with an aim to do harm and despite evidence to the contrary. It is why media has lost much of its credibility with the American people who see this article for what it is, a desperate, last-minute attempt to generate controversy where none exists. Pete Hegseth is someone who is going to fix the Pentagon and deliver on President Trump's vision of peace through strength. He is exactly the type of leader that the Pentagon needs in the face of an increasingly complex and escalating security situation that is occurring around the world. So while I am disappointed, I am not surprised at this 11th hour attempt by the media to raise debunked and completely discredited falsehoods simply with an aim to derail a confirmation. I urge my colleagues to see through this noise, evaluate Pete's nomination based on the merits, which is why I plan to vote for Mr. Hegseth. I yield the floor.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I am here today to discuss worrying developments in Mexico, our neighbors to the south, and to promote a solution in which we can all work together in the next Congress. Sadly, I also need to call out actions by our own U.S. trade representative that would directly undermine American companies facing threats from Mexico by allowing the Mexican government to expropriate their properties. Under the leadership of Mexico's previous President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador--colloquially known as ``AMLO''--and current President Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is committing a blatant theft against a major America company and, by extension, the United States itself. Earlier this year, AMLO launched an aggressive campaign of intimidation and ``lawfare'' to support the outright theft of assets in Mexico belonging to Vulcan Materials, an Alabama-based company that has been a trusted partner in our Nation's infrastructure development for decades. Vulcan built and operated the only deepwater port on the Yucatan Peninsula and has used it to supply the crushed limestone essential to infrastructure projects from Florida to California. Vulcan's operations in Mexico are not just a business venture; they form a critical link in our supply chain and a testament to the importance of American investment in Mexico. But AMLO decided that he wanted Vulcan's assets for himself. Cloaking his true intentions under the facade of environmental claims, AMLO shut down Vulcan's operations and sent armed law enforcement and the military to intimidate Vulcan's employees. And now, under his handpicked successor, President Sheinbaum, Mexico is now seizing Vulcan's deepwater port. President Sheinbaum now seeks to finalize this theft by declaring the property a naturally protected area. Let's call this what it is: Corruption dressed up as environmentalism. This is not protection. It is plunder. Lending any credence to this authorization is absurd. These actions violate international norms. They ignore contractual obligations. They trample over U.S.-Canada-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, again, an agreement where America actually gives preferential trade treatment to Mexico. Surely America's government is standing up for her own Nation's interest in the face of this brazen misconduct by the government of Mexico, right? Sadly, no. A key reason for the current circumstances is an absence of American leadership, especially at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. America's top trade representatives--or America's top trade negotiator, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, along with our State Department, have stood idly by while AMLO and Sheinbaum have escalated their anti-trade and anti-American agenda. Their inaction has sent a dangerous signal that the United States will allow its businesses around the world to be bullied, its laws to be ignored, and its negotiated agreements to be undermined. And it gets worse. Now, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, we are learning that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is siding with Mexico against the interests of U.S. firms by reinterpreting trade rules in a way that will erode the rights of American investors whose property was either confiscated or expropriated. According to news reports, USTR wants to limit the ability to seek redress by American companies whose property is expropriated. I stand here before my colleagues in the Senate asking why neither Congress nor the U.S. companies that would be impacted by these actions were ever consulted before the USTR stealthily moved to alter the USMCA agreement in a manner that undermines American interest. Ambassador Tai and USTR leadership need to clearly understand how negatively their actions will be viewed by this Congress. I can assure you, they will not be forgotten. Making last minute, 11th-hour changes to U.S. trade agreements without review from Congress or the U.S. companies that would be negatively impacted is outright malpractice. It is a slap in the face of American investors and employers who have risked their capital overseas, and it will drive scarcity and inflation of critical infrastructure materials in the United States if Mexico is allowed to confiscate these assets, including a very strategic deepwater port. The implications of Mexico's theft and the failure of U.S. trade officials to defend America's interest go far beyond Vulcan materials. They directly attack the foundational principles of reciprocal trade, investor protection, and the rule of law. If Mexico is allowed to target, without repercussion, a company like Vulcan, one that employs thousands of Americans and has operated responsibly in Mexico for decades, that means no American business is safe in Mexico. This kind of lawlessness will shatter investor confidence in Mexico. Why would any U.S. company risk capital in a country where contracts are meaningless, regulations are weaponized, and property can be seized at the government's whim? This erosion of trust threatens not only American jobs, but also the economic integration of North America, which many think is vital to our national security and our global competitiveness. Let's remember what the USMCA was supposed to be: a safeguard for trade and investment, a framework to protect the rule of law, and a cornerstone of North American prosperity. AMLO and Sheinbaum have shredded the spirit of this agreement by expropriating Vulcan's port and its property and by pursuing an anti- investor agenda. AMLO and Sheinbaum are acting like saboteurs of the partnership that binds our two nations. Congress must respond with strength and resolve, rather than roll over under the ruse of environmentalism. The U.S. Trade Representative should follow its duty as stated on its own website to protect American rights under our trade agreements and ``ensure that American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses receive the maximum benefit under our international trade agreement.'' What USTR is contemplating now is anything but that. That is why my colleagues and I are fully committed to passing S. 5137, the Defending American Property Abroad Act. This legislation will ensure that those who benefit from stolen American assets, whether they be individuals or governments, face substantial consequences. The Defending American Property Abroad Act will prohibit vessels that utilize expropriated American infrastructure from ever entering U.S. ports. It will bar such facilities from U.S. trade and mandate a full accounting of these violations in the upcoming 2026 USMCA review. The Defending American Property Abroad Act will make clear to President Sheinbaum that the United States will not tolerate the theft of American property. AMLO and Sheinbaum must understand that their actions will have serious consequences. I will not stand by as Mexico betrays its commitments and undermines decades of cooperation. The United States must defend its companies, its workers, and its principles with unwavering strength. That is why I am calling on my colleagues to join me in urgently finalizing and passing the Defending American Property Abroad Act in the next Congress. This cannot wait. Mexico's actions are a test of our resolve. If we fail to respond decisively, we will invite further aggression, not just from Mexico but from every foreign leader watching to see if America will defend its interests. The United States should never be bullied, stolen from, or too feckless to respond to efforts to undermine its strength and sovereignty. And here at home, USTR leadership must immediately reverse course from its plan to renegotiate trade rules and pull the rug from under U.S. firms--a particularly disgraceful capstone, I might say, for the reputation of this outgoing administration. I yield the floor.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. I object.

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I object. Reserving the right to object, this summer, several of us made clear that, given the unprecedented lawfare by the Biden-Harris administration against President Trump, we will not consent to fast-tracking any judicial nominees before the coming election, and we are keeping our word on that. If Democrats truly want these nominees confirmed, Senator Schumer can schedule them for votes. The truth is, they don't care enough about these nominations to do that so they are trying to confirm them this way, with the fast-track process. Look, I have firsthand experience with this process. In 2017, Senate Democrats forced floor votes and 30 hours of postcloture time on my confirmation to be U.S. Ambassador to Japan under President Trump. So I am not standing in the way of confirmation. As promised, though, I will not fast-track judicial confirmations before the election, when the American people will get a chance to reject the politicized administration of justice that is occurring here in America right now. We clearly stated this position, and now we are following through on it. Therefore, I object.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Madam President, reserving the right to object, these are Biden-Harris Department of Justice nominees. What is the Biden- Harris Department of Justice focused on right now? Multiple prosecutions of former President Donald J. Trump. Never before in history has a major American Presidential candidate been criminally charged, much less by his campaign opponent's Department of Justice. Yet, in the middle of this Presidential election, the Biden-Harris Justice Department has brought two different prosecutions against their Presidential election opponent. Other Democrat prosecutors have brought three other sets of charges. These cases have been timed to peak during the election. So right now, President Biden's election opponent is on trial in five separate jurisdictions--all by partisan Democrat prosecutors, all on different charges, and all peaking right in the middle of this Presidential campaign. This begs a simple question: Is this coordinated election interference or is this merely a coincidence? It is beyond credulity that these charges would have been brought against anyone but President Trump--especially five different prosecutions all brought during the Presidential election. The contortions of fact and law underlying these prosecutions testify to that. So do the political campaign promises and Presidential commands behind the prosecutions underscore this? Of course they do. The New York Times reported in April of 2022 that President Biden told advisers that he wanted his Justice Department to prosecute President Trump. Shortly thereafter, his Justice Department dutifully appointed Jack Smith to prosecute President Trump. When Alvin Bragg ran for district attorney, he campaigned on getting Trump. He did just that, using a made-up, never-before-pursued theory. When Letitia James ran for New York attorney general, she said that her entire campaign was about getting President Trump. Even Democrat Representative Dan Goldman called it ``an individualized political vendetta.'' Five years later, in the middle of the campaign, she brought a baseless case for a $454 million fine--unheard of. This is a case of ``show me the man, and I will show you the crime.'' It is also blatant election interference. It is outrageous to many Americans. It violates our basic principles of blind justice and the rule of law. I am not going to consent to the expeditious confirmation of any more Biden Department of Justice nominees until the American people get a chance to reject this politicized administration of justice. I will say this: If these nominees were truly important to Senate Democrats, they would schedule votes on them. Senate Democrats held me for 30 hours of cloture when I came through this process. They are not doing the same here. Therefore, I would like to reserve the right to object, and I want to withhold my objection to allow the junior Senator from Missouri to be recognized.

Mr. HAGERTY. Reserving the right to object, Madam President, I want to thank my colleagues from Missouri, from Alabama, and my colleague from Ohio who has led this effort. For the reasons I stated earlier, I object.

Mr. HAGERTY. If the Senator from Illinois would allow, I would just like to respond to two points regarding the politicization of the Justice Department. One of them is the fact that Mr. Colangelo from the Department of Justice was moved to the State of New York to undertake subsequent State-level prosecutions. That is certainly deep involvement by this Department of Justice in the State-level prosecutions that has taken place here. The other is the reference to the son of the sitting President and his prosecution. I will point out that this Department of Justice allowed and made certain that the statute of limitations on far more serious charges expired. That is politicization in the Department of Justice. I yield the floor.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, Dr. James ``Jim'' E. Auer, who passed away in Nashville, TN, on May 16, 2024, was a pillar of the U.S.-Japan Alliance. I had the privilege of knowing Dr. Auer for a number of years, as he would attend events hosted by the Japan-America Society of Tennessee. While I would speak with Jim from time to time, he never talked about--nor even hinted at--his own truly incredible accomplishments with respect to the U.S.-Japan Alliance. That is until, one day, it leaked out that President Trump was nominating me to be U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and Jim told my longtime assistant Betsy Van Dam that he needed to meet with me in person soon. And so Jim and I met, and he began to unpack for me his accumulated knowledge amassed over the decades of his experience with Japan. Let me summarize some of that experience: Jim began his career working with the U.S. Navy in 1963 assigned to a minesweeper based in Sasebo, Japan. He would go on to be the first U.S. Navy officer to study at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Staff College in Tokyo. In 1973, he would be a key figure in homeporting the U.S.S. Midway, the first U.S. aircraft carrier to be permanently based in a foreign country, in Yokosuka, Japan--a distinction that Japan continues to hold to this day. From 1979 to 1988, he served as the Special Assistant for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, acting as a bridge between the Japanese Defense Agency--now Japan's Ministry of Defense--and the U.S. Department of Defense. After his retirement from the U.S. Navy, Jim would spend the next 25 years serving as a professor at Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, he founded the Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation in 1988. For his devotion to the U.S.-Japan relationship, Jim was awarded the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun in December 2008. Jim Auer was a true treasure to the U.S.-Japan Alliance, and his efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Japan relationship are profound and enduring. On a personal note, I found him to be an invaluable resource when I had the honor of serving as the 30th U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Indeed, I deeply appreciate that the strength of the U.S.-Japan Alliance today was made possible by the earlier accomplishments of trailblazers like Dr. Jim Auer. On May 24, 2024, I was honored to attend the Japan- America Society of Tennessee's annual meeting in Nashville and to remember Jim's legacy during a panel discussion with Japanese Ambassador to the United States Shigeo Yamada that was moderated by Chairwoman Masami Tyson. Jim's children Tei, Helen, and John Ed and the rest of the Auer family should know that our Nation is eternally grateful for his contributions. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record this obituary in memory of Dr. Jim Auer that was published in the Tennessean on May 28, 2024.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, last week, the House of Representatives passed the Equal Representation Act. This commonsense bill would require that only U.S. citizens are counted for the purposes of allotting congressional districts and electoral votes. This makes sense. In order for every American's vote to have equal weight, only legal voters should be counted in apportioning voting power. On the other hand, the current method of counting illegal aliens in allocating Americans' voting power dilutes the votes of some Americans. It also serves as a perverse incentive for open borders and sanctuary cities because resettling illegal aliens increases the relative political power of the States and the voters that do so. What was once called a conspiracy theory turned out to be an objective fact that Democrats now acknowledge. Migrants here illegally are being counted in the census, and they are counted for determining electoral college votes and congressional seats. Commerce Secretary Raimondo confirmed this yesterday when I asked her in a committee hearing. It is impossible to dispute that this policy increases the voting power of districts and States that resettle more illegal aliens. In fact, some Democrats have taken it a step further, calling for more illegal immigration to increase their power. Just this year, video surfaced of a U.S. Representative from New York--her name is Yvette Clarke--who said, when asked about illegal immigration, ``I need more people in my district just for redistricting purposes.'' Yes, that is what she said. She said it quite out loud. She represents the same district where James Madison High School is located. You may recall that last fall, last winter, James Madison High School was the school where the students were told to go home and study by Zoom so their school could be used to house illegal aliens. What Congresswoman Clarke means is that Americans are fleeing blue cities and States en masse because of failing government--and congressional seats are allocated based on population--so if you are losing population, you either have to backfill it or lose congressional seats. That is where the illegal aliens come in. This Congresswoman's statement helps explain why President Biden and Democrats are allowing recordbreaking illegal immigration. It is to preserve their political power. Since President Biden took office alone, over 10 million illegal aliens have entered our country. That could amount to more than a dozen congressional seats. This bill is simple. It would simply require that the Census Bureau include a citizenship question to provide a basic understanding of the U.S. population, which is the purpose of the census, and it would allow for delineation between citizens and noncitizens for apportionment purposes. My bill would count only citizens for purposes of congressional and electoral college apportionment. In other words, it would count only citizens for determining citizens' voting power. That way, the power of each American's vote doesn't depend on how many illegal aliens are in their area. The Equal Representation Act will ensure that the weight of every American's vote is equal, it will restore the one person, one vote principle, and it will certainly end the perverse incentive under which illegal immigration increases political power. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that as in legislative session, notwithstanding rule XX, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 386, H.R. 7109. 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.

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, first, I would like to remark that the border security bill that my esteemed colleague references would simply increase the processing of illegal aliens into this country. If this language were incorporated in it, we would stop the incentive for illegal migration. That would be the fix. That was not in the bill. The bill that he referenced would not have addressed the border security at all. My Democratic colleague is objecting to legislation that would actually restore the one-person, one-vote principle, and it would end the perverse incentive under which illegal immigration increases political power. It is indisputable that Congress can direct that a citizenship question be included in the census. It was included in the census for most of our history up until Barack Obama's administration took it out in 2010. And the Constitution says that the census shall be conducted ``in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct.'' Congress does, indeed, have the authority to do this; in fact, we have had the citizenship question until 2010. Second, on the question of what population is counted for apportioning House seats and electoral votes, the Constitution says that you count the number of persons in the United States. It doesn't mean literally everyone in the United States. We don't count people here on vacation; we don't count people here on temporary stays. Why would we count people who are here and who have broken in illegally? It means citizens who are members of the American political body--a body that votes on representation--and who have permanent allegiance to our constitutional system. In fact, it may be unconstitutional to count illegal aliens under the 14th Amendment because that dilutes some citizens' votes and undermines the principle of one person, one vote. The constitutional argument is simply a dodge for the indefensible position that opposition to this bill means support for the notion that more illegal aliens should mean more political power for the States and the communities that attract.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for Senator Schatz and I to conclude our remarks prior to the vote.

Mr. HAGERTY

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

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, in 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14019. This Executive order directs Federal Government Agencies to engage in voter mobilization using taxpayer resources, and it requires that they submit a plan for doing so to the White House. This includes helping with completing vote-by-mail materials and finding third-party organizations to conduct voting-related activity on Federal property. This Executive order prompted questions and concerns. First, there is no clear authority in Federal law allowing executive branch Agencies to work with certain voters to complete mail-in ballot forms and bring in outside organizations to help. And there is no authority for spending congressionally appropriated funds on this activity, raising the question of whether it violates the Antideficiency Act. The same act prohibits Federal Agencies from accepting voluntary services, which this Executive order blatantly violates by directing Agencies to solicit third-party organizations to provide voting-related services on Agency premises. There is also the question of whether the Biden administration is implementing this Executive order in a manner that violates the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act limits political activity by Federal employees. The Hatch Act is a Federal law that was enacted in the 1930s for the very purpose of preventing this sort of government activity. It was an act enacted after the Roosevelt administration was accused of using Federal employees and the WPA to boost Democrat candidates. Does this sound familiar? Think about VP Harris' recent announcement that Federal funds would be used to hire college students as ``nonpartisan'' poll workers this summer. As it turns out, her example that she used was a committed partisan. Back to Executive Order 14019 and the Biden administration's pledge to be ``the most transparent presidential administration ever,'' surely, the Biden administration is going to go above and beyond to be transparent and explain exactly how this order is being implemented, right? Wrong. In fact, in the 3 years since this order was issued, the Biden administration has done the exact opposite. The White House has stonewalled congressional requests to see the Agency plans that are required under the order, despite the fact that congressionally appropriated resources are being spent on these plans. They have gone to court to fight open records requests to see the plans. Last May, along with several colleagues, I wrote to the White House asking for basic information on these plans. I never received a response. We wrote again in November, and, again, were ignored by the White House. Now, I have introduced legislation that would simply require that the Agencies disclose their plans and provide an update on their implementation. That is it. They just have to explain what they are doing. Will they? I will note that I am not alone in seeking transparency regarding this Executive order. Several of my Democrat colleagues recently wrote The General Services Administration requesting its plan under the same Executive order. My legislation simply broadens this request by seeking transparency from all Agencies. The White House's continued and deliberate secrecy begs the question: What are they hiding? What do they fear revealing? I think that we can surmise that these plans take our Nation right back to the 1930s, weaponizing government yet again, this time to recruit and to harvest Democratic voters. The facts that have slipped out seem to confirm just as much. The Biden White House tasked a far-left organization called Demos, which describes its mission as ``pioneer[ing] bold, progressive ideas.'' This organization has been used by the White House to help implement this Executive order. Demos recommended this voter mobilization strategy to the incoming Biden administration in December of 2020. Interestingly, Demos's former president was brought in to work in the White House, which dutifully issued this order implementing the Demos plan during President Biden's first year in office. The Department of Health and Human Services has acknowledged that it is working with groups like the ACLU and Demos to implement this Executive order. A FOIA request also revealed that Demos is working with the Department of Agriculture. It seems that the idea is to use Federal Agencies to provide point- of-sale voter mobilization, provide a Federal benefit, and then use that exchange of Federal benefits to mobilize the voter. There is a reason why the Hatch Act and other laws prevent Federal employees from engaging in political activities--because Federal employees are paid to serve all American taxpayers, not use government benefits to activate voters. This sort of activity is fraught with potential partisan impact, even if it is ostensibly framed as nonpartisan. Setting aside the clear policy and ethical concerns, all my legislation requires is transparency. The Biden administration has taken extraordinary steps to hide this information from the American people. Not only does President Biden owe taxpayers this information regarding how their hard-earned dollars are being spent on voter mobilization, but it is a basic duty of this body to oversee how congressionally appropriated funds are being spent, especially on activities for which they were never appropriated. In just a few months, tens of millions of Americans will cast their vote for President. The American people deserve to know whether the incumbent President is attempting to tip the scales in favor of his own reelection using taxpayer dollars. We all agree that free and fair elections are a foundational pillar of the United States. The Founders of the United States rightfully left that responsibility of carrying out Federal elections to the States, not to the incumbent Federal President. This was to help ensure the integrity of and ensure the confidence in our election system. This Executive order is an extreme departure from the American model. The President using the vast Federal bureaucracy to carry out his secret voter mobilization operation months before the election is a dangerous precedent, and it should alarm every one of us here in Congress, and, frankly, it should alarm every American. That is why I am requesting that the Senate pass legislation requiring that the Biden administration disclose these plans and provide the transparency that is necessary to address rightful concerns about using taxpayer dollars in an unlawful and in a deeply disturbing manner. So, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4239, 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.

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I appreciate my colleague Senator Padilla's outreach toward each other, and I look forward to working with him on a number of issues in this regard. He has great expertise in this arena. But I have a very basic question to ask, and that is: What is this administration afraid of? Because all I am asking for is transparency. I am just asking to see the plans that are commanded by this Executive order, yet the administration stonewalls us on this. We talk about having conversations, but why not just show the plans? I fear that this is a return back to the 1930s, a return back to the weaponization of government, delivering a point-of-sale benefit, and, at the same time, bringing along a voter registration package and an encouragement of voting for the incumbent administration. Let's see the plans. Let's allay the concerns that I raise. This administration is not doing that. This administration is stonewalling us. In fact, my colleague Senator Padilla has also requested transparency of the GSA to find out what they are doing with respect to implementing this Executive order. Let's expand this to all Agencies. Let's let the American public see what the Biden administration is up to with this Executive order. But the real motivation of this Executive order was the fact that the Biden administration was disappointed that they weren't able to federalize our election system. After the failure of H.R. 1 and S. 1 here in the Senate, this is the result, Executive order 14019. This is the command to weaponize the Federal system for election year activities. I think Americans deserve to see what these plans are, and I would look forward to the transparency that I am asking for.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Madam President, in our Nation's 248-year history, the House of Representatives has impeached individuals in 21 cases. Reflecting the grave, highly rare exercise of this constitutional power, the Senate has tried each such case, except where the person resigned office before the Senate trial, rendering such trial moot. This includes two partisan Democratic impeachments of the former President--one in which the Republicans controlled the Senate and one in which it was equally divided. Shattering norms, however, is becoming a defining theme for Democrats this year. Why are my Democratic colleagues so eager to shirk their constitutional duty and ignore an impeachment? Because they want to ignore the damning evidence of Secretary Mayorkas's willful violations of immigration law. I can think of no better example than the Secretary's decision to willfully and knowingly exceed his parole authority set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act. That law permits the Secretary to grant parole but only on a case-by-case basis, temporarily, and ``for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit''; for example, when a person is in need of urgent medical care or the person needs to attend a family member's funeral. He has even created a new taxpayer-funded parole program to allow aliens from numerous countries to be flown directly into the United States. He has abused his case-by-case parole authority beyond any degree imaginable. He is now flying 30,000 illegal aliens per month directly into the United States for resettlement. This is a blatant violation of the law, and it is abuse of the parole law in particular. Two weeks ago, every single Senate Democrat voted against my appropriations amendment to defund this very parole flight program. That vote is impossible to explain to ordinary Americans. They see the absurdity of flying in tens of thousands of illegal aliens right in the midst of an illegal immigration crisis. So, instead, partisan so-called fact checkers have recently been quibbling over which flights or which airports are being used. This is clearly an attempt to distract from the basic problem with this taxpayer-funded program, which is that it is illegal and it is absurd. I understand why Democrats want to cover it up though. It is the same reason they don't want to consider these impeachment articles. Similarly, the Secretary terminated contracts for border wall construction and refused to expend funds that Congress appropriated for this specific purpose. Secretary Mayorkas's impoundment of funds is a clear attempt to usurp the will of Congress by refusing their mandate, our mandate, to build the border wall. The Secretary has also replaced detention mandates in law with unlawful mass catch-and-release policies that encourage illegal immigration. The law requires that illegal aliens are detained until they are deported, unless they are clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be allowed into the United States. Instead of complying with this requirement, the Secretary has released millions of illegal aliens into American communities. We have seen the devastating effects of the Biden administration's illegal border policies. We have heard from Americans whose lives and property are being destroyed by droves of illegal aliens who are coming into the United States every single day. We have heard from Border Patrol agents who want nothing more than to do their jobs and secure the border, but whose hands have been tied by the Mayorkas-led Department of Homeland Security. The American people have seen the chaotic images of the southern border under this administration. They have witnessed the ravaging effects of illegal immigration in their own communities. This includes drug overdoses, violent crime, local disorder, and the national security threat of unknown bad actors from all over the world coming across our open border. And 249 people on the Terrorist Watchlist have been encountered at the southern border just last year alone. Since October, a record number of Chinese nationals--22,000, in fact--have been encountered by Border Patrol; in all, over 10 million illegal aliens have crossed the border under this Secretary's watch. The collapse of our southern border and the devastating consequences and future risks it has created for our Nation is the greatest national security risk we face as a nation. The House of Representatives took the extraordinary step of impeaching a government official for his role in this, and yet Senate Democrats want to completely ignore all of this? They don't want you to hear about it. They want to sweep it under the rug in an election year. The Secretary's alleged violations of law warrant a trial before the Senate. It warrants basic diligence in examining the evidence. And every Senator should go on record regarding the charges. I have cosponsored resolutions by several colleagues establishing impeachment procedures that are in line with past Senate impeachment trials. We are open to debate on the details of the process, but there must be a process. This is an important point: The current debate is not even whether or not Secretary Mayorkas is guilty as charged but whether we should even examine the question or whether, instead, as the Senate majority leader reportedly plans to do, we should just hide the evidence from the American people and avoid discussing this administration's failures at all costs. Why? Because this is an election year. If the majority leader wishes to honor and preserve the world's greatest deliberative body, I urge him not to take this unprecedented step of blocking consideration of the impeachment articles against Secretary Mayorkas. I yield the floor.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, in order to consider my very simple and reasonable amendment, it is vital that the Senate must move the Democratic leader's blocking amendment out of the way in order to move forward with mine. Let me cut through the procedural language here. I am bringing forward a vote on a very simple question: Do you support American taxpayer dollars being used to fly illegal immigrants from countries like Venezuela and Haiti into America to be settled in cities and towns near you? If so, then vote against it. Vote no to preserve this practice of using taxpayer dollars to charter planes that move and import thousands of illegal aliens into your States. Make no mistake here, President Biden has been secretly flying hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from foreign countries into blue city airports. Just last year alone, in 2023, it was reported that some 320,000 illegal aliens had been flown in using this method. Americans are shocked that this is happening.

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President.

Mr. HAGERTY. I move to table Senate amendment No. 1793 for the purpose of offering my amendment No. 1808, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I rise today as the Senate again finds itself facing a potential government shutdown due to the majority leader's political games. And again, the Senate must consider what we will do in response to the grave national security crisis that is emanating from our southern border. It is deja vu from 2 weeks ago, when I offered a simple amendment regarding just one corrosive, anti-Democratic effect of this crisis. My amendment would have stopped illegal aliens from being counted for allotting congressional seats and, therefore, electoral college votes. It did so by requiring the census to determine basic population statistics--like the number of citizens, noncitizens, and illegal aliens who are living in this country--and by requiring that only U.S. citizens be counted for the purposes of determining the number of House seats and the number of electoral college votes in America. Currently, illegal aliens are counted when determining Americans' representation in government and the worth of their vote. The more illegal aliens and noncitizens in your State or district, the greater your voting power in Congress and in Presidential elections. This means that in a State like California--or a city like New York-- millions of illegal aliens result in several more congressional seats and electoral votes for that jurisdiction. That helps explain why the majority leader worked so fervently 2 weeks ago to avoid a vote on my amendment--until it was clear that such obstruction would lead to a government shutdown. It also explains why every single Democrat voting on my amendment opposed it. Because when it comes to the census, the majority leader believes that ``every person must be counted.'' Evidently, that means illegal aliens too. And with respect to commonsense proposals like mine--to count citizens, not illegal aliens--for apportioning voting power in America, what does the majority leader have to say? Well, he calls it an attempt to weaponize the census. Really? That is quite rich. Aren't Democrats weaponizing the census by counting people living in our country illegally? Do we count diplomats? Do we count people who are here on vacation? Why would we count people who are here illegally? That is the essence of weaponizing the census. Here is what is really going on. Several weeks ago, video emerged of a Democrat House Member from the majority leader's home State in which she called for more illegal immigration to her district for redistricting purposes. What she means is that Americans are fleeing blue cities and States en masse because of bad government, but congressional seats are allocated based on population. So if you are losing population, you either have to backfill it or lose congressional seats. This Representative stated that, because of her population loss, she needed to fill her district with illegal aliens to keep from losing her seat. That is exactly what my amendment would have prevented. The Representative who made these comments is not only from the same State as the majority leader but she represents the same district that the majority leader formerly represented when he served in the House of Representatives. This is the same district which houses James Madison High School. You remember James Madison High School. That is the school that cleared out its own students to make room for illegal alien housing. It is even the high school that the majority leader himself attended. You talk about weaponizing the census. If you don't believe me, listen to what New York City is saying itself. Just last week, New York City announced that it is challenging the 2023 Census Bureau annual estimates, arguing that the government failed to count some 50,000 illegal aliens currently in the city. They are desperate to count these illegal aliens because 727,000 people have moved out of New York since 2020. They have got to backfill that population to preserve their Federal influence. It is clear why the majority leader and my Democrat colleagues voted against any change to the census. It is not because they are afraid that Republicans will weaponize it; it is because Democrats already have weaponized it. Prior to this vote, the concept was decried by Democrats in the media as a ``conspiracy theory.'' Democrats' unanimous vote against ending this practice changed it from a conspiracy theory to a conspiracy-- period. It is why they have done nothing to secure our southern border, and it is why there is no outrage from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when confronted with the fact that the number of illegal aliens who have entered the United States since Biden took office exceeds the population of 36 States. And President Biden and Democrats aren't just sitting back and allowing the crisis at our southern border to unfold; they are actively encouraging it. For example, President Biden has been secretly flying hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from foreign countries into blue-city airports across the United States in order to resettle them there. Earlier this month, scarce details emerged regarding the administration's secret flights. They revealed that more than 320,000 illegal aliens were flown directly into the United States last year alone. One can't help but wonder whether the President is trying to make it even easier for blue States to backfill their declining populations and shore up their political power by delivering these illegal aliens directly to them. Flying migrants from foreign countries into the United States in the midst of a record-shattering illegal immigration crisis is completely absurd. I plan to soon file an amendment to the appropriations bill that would prohibit the Biden administration from doing this. I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense measure. The question is simple: Are Democrats willing to allow a vote on my amendment to stop President Biden from using secret flights to import hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the United States? Or are they so desperate to preserve this political power grab that they can't risk the possibility of losing it by allowing such a vote to occur? I yield the floor.

Mr. HAGERTY

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. This modification removes my amendment, and my amendment removes a very perverse incentive for illegal immigration and for sanctuary cities. It is very straightforward. My amendment preserves the equal weight of each American citizen's vote because it prevents the use of illegal immigrants coming into sanctuary cities from diluting the votes of American citizens like those in my home State of Tennessee. Therefore, Mr. President, the Senate should be voting on this; it is germane; and, therefore, I object.

Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to explain why the Senate should vote on my amendment to the funding bill and why the Democratic leader is wrong to hold up this process. This is a process that should already be concluded by now. It is simply because he wants to avoid voting on my amendment. My amendment is simple. It would require that the census determine basic population statistics--like the number of citizens, noncitizens, and illegal aliens who live in this country; you know, what the census is supposed to do--and it would require that only U.S. citizens be counted in determining the number of House seats and electoral votes that go to each State. That is pretty simple. That is pretty straightforward. That is how most Americans think things should work here in America. Unfortunately, illegal aliens are currently counted for the purposes of determining how many congressional seats and how many electoral votes a given State may obtain. The more illegal aliens, the more noncitizens in your State or your district, the greater your voting power in Congress and the greater your voting power in Presidential elections. This means that in a State like California--millions of illegal aliens result in California getting several more congressional seats, several more electoral college votes. This not only destroys the principle of one person, one vote by making some Americans' votes more powerful than others, but it encourages illegal immigration in sanctuary cities as a way to increase political power. Think about that. Over the past 3 years, Americans have seen the devastating consequences of this perverse incentive to bring illegal migrants into this country to leverage them, to build more congressional districts and more electoral votes on the backs of these illegal migrants. Joe Biden has allowed nearly 10 million migrants to come into our country illegally just since he took office 3 years ago. That is significantly more than the entire population in my State. That is more than 13 congressional seats and electoral votes that are wrongly distributed. Several weeks ago, video emerged of a Democrat House Member from New York calling for more illegal immigration to her district for redistricting purposes. Yes, you heard that. What she means is that Americans are fleeing blue cities and States en masse because of bad government. But congressional seats are allocated based on population, so if you are losing population, you either have to backfill it or lose congressional seats. This Representative stated that because of population loss, she needs to fill her district with illegal aliens. She has to do that just to keep from losing her congressional seat. She is inviting these illegal aliens to come into her district in New York just to do that. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, if you want to know who it is. The Representative who made these comments represents New York's Ninth Congressional District. That is the same district in which the James Madison High School resides. That is the same district--James Madison High School recently had to clear out its rooms, recently had to clear out the school for illegal immigrant housing. The children were told to go home, to study by Zoom. Their school was now being confiscated to place illegal aliens in their school. Interestingly, that is also the very same district that the Democratic leader formally represented when he served in the House of Representatives. Even more interesting than that, James Madison High School is the very high school that our Democratic leader attended. The weight of every American's vote should be equal. More illegal alien resettlement shouldn't mean more political power. My amendment would ensure just that. Currently, a sanctuary city with hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens not only gets more electoral votes and congressional seats because these illegal aliens are counted, but the weight of residents' votes are stronger because their voting power includes the population of noncitizens despite the fact that these noncitizens can't vote. These illegal aliens provide leverage to citizens in these sanctuary cities. For instance, in a sanctuary city congressional district that contains 50 percent illegal aliens, the number of actual voters is half, and the power of their votes is double relative to a district that contains only citizens. Think about it. Your district is 50 percent illegal aliens. Those citizens who are allowed to vote have twice as much power as those congressional districts like those in my State that don't have these illegal aliens counted. Only citizens should be counted in determining the power of citizens' votes. If this perverse incentive and dilution of Americans' votes is allowed to continue, the surge in illegal immigration under President Biden will also continue, and it will continue because they want to increase power in sanctuary States. This destroys the one person, one vote principle. All of this is to backfill congressional districts, just like the one in Brooklyn, NY, that Congresswoman Clarke was calling for. That is why I am offering my amendment, Hagerty No. 1634, to preserve the one person, one vote principle and to ensure that only citizens are counted in determining the power of citizens' votes. If Democrats allowed a vote on it, we could have resolved this whole process already. Yet we are still here. The question is pretty simple: Are Democrats willing to vote on my amendment to stop illegal aliens from being counted in determining congressional seats and electoral votes or are they so desperate to preserve this political power grab that they can't possibly risk the chance of losing it and bringing my amendment to a vote? There is no question where the blame should lie for any delay or government shutdown that might occur from this. I am not asking my Democrat colleagues to vote for this; I am simply asking that they vote on it--although I hope they would consider the implications of putting their interests over the interests of the citizens of this country on an issue this important to the American people. Our citizens deserve to know where their representatives stand. I thought I might take our audience back in time, back to when this began, back to when President Joe Biden took office in January of 2021. When Joe Biden came into office, he immediately began to repeal the successful policies that President Trump had instated to ensure security at our southern border. He did this in an effort to precipitate the border crisis we currently are experiencing. I warned back in January of 2021, and I am going to read a direct quote here, that ``these proposals inspire lawlessness, [they] enable the flow of illegal drugs and human trafficking and [they will] threaten Tennessee communities [that are] already hurting due to the ongoing pandemic.'' My warning back in January of 2021 has come true. Then President Biden appointed Secretary Mayorkas to head up the Department of Homeland Security. I warned against appointing Secretary Mayorkas at the time. I explained to my colleagues that the DHS inspector general found that Secretary Mayorkas intervened outside the normal protocol to push through visas when he worked in the Department before, including securing a visa for an executive from Huawei, the communist Chinese technology firm that has so aggressively in a predatory manner tried to take over our own telecommunications and information systems. Can you imagine that? A person who was using their influence as a member of the Federal Government, in the Department, to push for visas for executives from Huawei. That was Secretary Mayorkas. My warnings were ignored. Secretary Mayorkas was placed into office, and we have seen what has precipitated from that. In February of 2021, I warned against President Biden's repeal of the National Emergency Act at the southern border, the radical amnesty proposal that President Biden came up with, and his termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols that had been so effective. I warned against all of these things because it would encourage more illegal immigration, and in doing so, it would reduce opportunity for American workers and place American citizens at greater risk of losing their children and loved ones to overdose and at greater risk of crimes like we have seen perpetrated in New York and Georgia. Just under 3 years ago, I visited Guatemala and Mexico to get to the heart of America's border security problems and to underscore the fact that this is urgent, and it clearly needs to be dealt with. When I met with President Giammattei in Guatemala, he spent an hour and a half with me. He said: I can tell you what the ``root cause'' is of this immigration crisis. It is the messages coming out of the White House. He told me that we had precipitated a national security crisis in his own country of Guatemala because now caravans were moving through his country to get to ours. He said: I don't know who is coming into my country. The danger that that places Guatemalans under is a direct consequence of the actions that are being taken by your President in America. He told me this in the spring of 2021. He also said something else. He said: The coyotes are smart. They take the messages and they extract those messages from your President and they market them to the most vulnerable people in my country. They persuade them to take their life savings and, generally, their most promising child and entrust those lifesavings and that child to a criminal cartel that will then move that young person on an extraordinarily dangerous journey from Guatemala all the way up to the northern border of Mexico. I just got back from our southern border. It is a disaster like nothing I have ever seen. If you saw the risk that these young people were undertaking by following the cartels on this journey--they have given all their money to the cartels. Now these young people are trapped and ensnared by them. They are placed in unbelievable conditions and unbelievable risks. What I saw down there would shock any of us in this room. This is the type of risk that we are creating. This was the complaint that the President of Guatemala made in no uncertain terms to me. When I talked to the Foreign Minister of Mexico on the same trip, he explained to me that we were destabilizing the economy of his country as well. No idea where these people are coming from who are flying into Mexico who are getting there by boat or any other means of transit, but they have to deal with them as they march through his country. The cartels are becoming so strong that the Mexican Government cannot contend with them. The cartels today are multibillion-dollar criminal organizations that are working hand in hand with the communist Chinese. They are delivering poison into America every day. The precursor chemicals from fentanyl are coming in from China to Mexico. The Chinese criminals are working hand in hand with the Mexican cartels. They set up operations to poison young people in America. Now, the No. 1 cause of death for young people in America between the ages of 18 and 45 is drug overdose. You can thank our open borders; you can thank the cartels and the CCP; and you can thank President Biden for enabling all of this. I introduced the Migrant Resettlement Transparency Act that would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security to consult in advance with State and local officials of those jurisdictions that would be impacted by the movement of these migrants regarding the federally administered program of migrant resettlement. Don't you think our communities should at least know who is coming, when they are coming, and where they are going to come? Can their schools withstand it? Can the hospitals withstand it? Can our police forces and social services withstand it? These are very legitimate questions to bring forward, but we have had a dearth of information coming from the Biden administration. In fact, the first discovery of their movement of these migrants into towns and States away from the border was in my home State of Tennessee. They filmed them flying in after midnight to Chattanooga, TN. These illegal migrants were brought off planes, they were deposited in Chattanooga, and then bused off to points unknown. Our communities need to know what sort of impact they can expect from all of this illegal activity. That information resides with the Federal Government within the executive branch of this administration, an administration that is acting in such a lawless manner that they won't even tell us who is coming, what is coming, or when. It is destabilizing cities and towns and counties across America, and it is happening in my home State of Tennessee every day. You know, back in May of 2021, when he appeared before the Appropriations Committee, I asked Attorney General Merrick Garland if he would be willing to echo Vice President Kamala Harris's message that she had given: ``Do not come.'' Think about it, Attorney General Garland, our chief law enforcement officer in America. I heard Vice President Harris say this: ``Do not come.'' Would he be willing to echo that sentiment, send that message to those who would illegally enter our country? He declined to do so. I think that should tell you all you need to know when America's chief law enforcement officer is unwilling to tell people to not enter our country illegally. In August of 2021, I asked my colleagues for support on my amendment to ensure ICE has sufficient resources to detain and deport all illegal aliens who have been convicted of a criminal offense in the United States. Even though the Senate adopted it, Schumer and his Democratic colleagues stripped it out of the final bill. Again, the leader allowed his Members to vote for it for political purposes, but at the end of the day, they stripped away ICE's ability and ICE's resources to actually deport people who have committed criminal acts here in America. Outrageous. In 2022, it was revealed that while the Biden DHS was not securing our border, they were actively working to censor Americans' speech. I introduced the Disclose Government Censorship Act to require the administration to disclose its coordination with social media companies and its censorship activities. Well, I guess you can imagine what that met with here in the Congress--again, an unwillingness to require our executive branch to disclose when it works with Big Tech companies to censor Americans' speech. They want the ability to do this. They want the ability to police and censor Americans. Yet they will not police our own southern border. In August of 2022, all 50 Senate Democrats voted against my amendment to direct the Judiciary Committee to ensure that ICE has sufficient resources to detain and deport just a greater number of criminal illegal aliens. Again, the response was no from every Democrat in this body. What are you saying when you vote no to providing the resources to ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens? You are saying that you are willing to support their criminal activity here in this country and that you are not going to send them back to their country of origin when they come here and do something like that. They have also objected to my bill, the Stop Fentanyl Border Crossings Act. And that objection has been made on multiple occasions because I brought it to the floor on multiple occasions every time I hear of another child dying in Tennessee and I talk with a parent or grandparent who has learned from law enforcement or from healthcare providers that their son or grandson or daughter or granddaughter will not be coming home ever again because of being poisoned by fentanyl that has come illegally across our border. My bill would have allowed HHS to exercise its title 42 authority to combat this fentanyl trafficking, to combat these overdoses. Let me put this into perspective. Just last week, I looked at data from 2021. I can tell you, the charts are moving in absolutely the wrong direction, ramping up year after year after year. The latest data the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shared with me was 2021. I took the annual number of overdoses, and I divided that number by 365 to get to a daily count of drug overdoses in Tennessee of 86 drug overdoses a day in our State--86 a day. That is just in 2021. It is probably up to 100 by now. It gets worse. When I looked at the number of deaths from drug overdose in my home State of Tennessee, that calculated to 11 kids per day dying in my State every day from drug overdose, from fentanyl poisoning in most cases. When you extrapolate that across the Nation, we are talking about 300 kids a day dying here in America. Why are we tolerating this? Why is America tolerating this? Why would this body not pass my Stop Fentanyl Border Crossings Act? Why is the administration and my colleagues in this body, why are they willing to look the other way? It goes back to the amendment that I am here to talk about today. It goes back to the very essence of power here in America and the way that power is distributed. When you think about it, the simplest answer is usually the right one. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. It is called Occam's razor. In this case, the simple answer is this: Illegal immigrants are counted for the purpose of allocating congressional districts and electoral votes in America. The more illegal immigrants that you have in your State, the more congressional votes you get, and the more electoral votes you get, the more say your State and your citizens have when it comes to elections and legislation. Look at what is happening in States like California, Illinois, and New York. People are fleeing these States. I should say citizens are fleeing these States. They are moving to States like my own in Tennessee. They are moving to Florida. They are moving to other places. They are leaving because of terrible policies. They are leaving because of rampant overspending. They are leaving these blue States en masse where the sanctuary cities are located. You won't be shocked to know that sanctuary cities are located in New York, in Illinois, and Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco. These sanctuary cities act as a giant magnet to attract the illegal migrants that have come across our border. These migrants have already broken the law once coming into our country. Where are they more likely than not to go? Would it be to those cities or States that have pledged not to enforce the immigration laws? I think you know the answer. That is the motive behind the crime that is taking place at our southern border. I have been working to prevent the Biden administration from giving plane tickets to migrants. You all probably heard about this. Illegal migrants who come to our border are given plane tickets to fly anywhere they want to in the United States. Let me explain how it happens. A Biden program called SSP provides, through FEMA, enormous sums of money to nonprofits that then, in turn, take those funds to transport illegal aliens into American communities. It has gotten much worse every year under President Biden. SSP and its precursor program received $800 million to do this back in fiscal year 2023. That is up from just $150 million the year before it. The recently rejected Senate border bill had an eye-popping $1.4 billion extra for this SSP program that is used to fly illegal immigrants to the cities of their choice in America. DHS's own website expressly confirms that these funds can be spent on plane tickets to the migrants' chosen destination. It says: Onward destination transportation is defined as transportation from a shelter and services provider to a noncitizen migrant's-- That is a polite term-- final destination or point of contact. It is limited in that it can't exceed 10 percent of the total funding requested by the applicant. But that is a significant sum of money when you look at numbers like this: $800 billion, $1.4 billion. These funds are going to fly illegal migrants around the country at your taxpayer expense. The Biden administration is also giving migrants cash assistance in multiple ways. More than $517 million in Biden ARP funds went to illegal aliens in the United States, including one-time cash grants. Think about that, America. We are handing out over half a billion dollars in cash grants to people who come to our country illegally. I am sure there are people in my home State who would like to get a cash grant; not so for the taxpayer, not so for the American citizen. President Biden has also created massive new parole programs that are attracting hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants. If you look at USCIS's own website, it announces these migrants are eligible for cash and myriad other government benefits. Can you imagine this? Go check out the website of USCIS and see for yourself. Migrants from Cuba and from Haiti are encouraged to come here, and they are encouraged by telling them that they are eligible for cash grants. You know, I visited the southern border the other week. I spoke with the Border Patrol officials there. I spoke with local officials and sheriffs. I talked with ranchers there. And what the Border Patrol told me was actually quite shocking--it is probably going to be quite shocking to many Americans--that the Border Patrol has encountered over 20,000 Chinese nationals coming across our southern border just in the past year. You think about that. That is an incredible number of people coming from China. The Chinese Communist Party knows who is leaving their country. They have an ironclad control over the citizens of their country. What are these people coming here for? Why are they here? Ask yourselves that. When I was in Texas, I went to a place called Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass along the Del Rio sector. There, they have seen thousands of illegal immigrants come in. I think many Americans have seen this. If you recall that embarrassing image for this administration under the bridge at Eagle Pass, that is Shelby Park. That section of bridge that had thousands of migrants under it, that is Shelby Park. That is a place where control had been completely ceded to the cartels. That is Shelby Park. But Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has now stepped in. He is enforcing Texas law. He is subjecting people who set foot in Shelby Park to criminal trespass. Guess what has happened since Texas has taken that section of the border back? Illegal trespassing has stopped. What Governor Abbott has proven is that when you enforce the law, illegal immigration will stop. The Tennessee National Guard has now gone down to assist in another sector. Governors from across the country are stepping up and sending National Guardsmen there to demonstrate that if you can secure the border, even parts of the border, you can stop this illegal migration. But it has got to take place across the entirety of the southern border. Think about squeezing a balloon. You can stop it at one place, but the migration just flows out to other points. But we can prove and we have proven and it is being proven that enforcing the law will curtail illegal immigration. You know, perhaps the most striking thing that I learned two weeks ago when I was down at the border was from visiting a rancher there. And I have been to our border in California. I have been to it in Arizona. I have been to it multiple times in Texas. But this last visit was absolutely shocking to me. Let me tell you the story of this rancher. He has 1,500 acres between the Rio Grande River and the Union Pacific rail line. That rail line is a target for what they call the ``got-aways.'' That rail line is what they use to hop on and ride into the interior of our country. The fencing along the border of his property has been absolutely destroyed by the cartels and the illegal migrants. He told me he has tried to fix the fence every night, and it gets cut down again. He will fix it; it will be cut the next day. He cannot maintain the fence. He has stopped running cattle on his ranch. This is a rancher that is in the fifth generation of living and working out their livelihood on this ranch. His livelihood has been destroyed because of what is happening at our southern border and because we have turned over control of our southern border to these drug cartels that are moving the ``got-aways'' through his property. He told me that he found 15 Syrians on his property the other day--15 Syrian males. What were they doing there? Well, they didn't come and present themselves for asylum. They could have done that down at Eagle Pass. They could have done that someplace else. No, they were on his property as ``got-aways.'' They did not want to be caught. They didn't want the white-glove treatment that I just described before where you get a plane ticket and where you get cash. They are there for a different reason. This is deeply concerning. And many of you might have seen FBI Director Christopher Wray talk about this. The national security alerts here in the United States and across the world are at levels he hasn't seen since 9/11. We should be deeply concerned about the national security crisis that is unfolding at our southern border. Just this past year, over 170 different nationalities have been apprehended at our southern border. Think about that. Over 170 different nationalities have been apprehended at our southern border. That doesn't include those who got away. Where are these people coming from? Why are they here? I will tell you something else that was shocking that the rancher told me. It was getting to be about dusk. He said, look over on the horizon there. You are about to see some blinking blue lights. Sure enough, in a few minutes, the lights started going off. He said: That is your taxpayer dollars at work. Those are comfort stations, comfort stations for those who have come across the border illegally. These are comfort stations for the ``got-aways.'' He said: Here is what you will find at the comfort station. First, and most important, at the comfort station is a charging bar for your cell phone. A cell phone charging bar is at the comfort station. I asked: Why is that? Why do you need a cell phone charger there? And he said: Because the people that come across illegally here use GPS pin drops that are provided to them by the cartels and their coyotes to help them find their way illegally into our country. That is the path, he said, for them to find rides that have been arranged over WeChat or some other overseas application that the cartels can use with impunity to direct their illegal trafficking of humans and, I presume, drugs into our country undetected. They are marching right across this property, and we are providing comfort stations for them to recharge their cell phones so they can continue that process of coming into our country illegally. Also, you will find water and food at these comfort stations. That is our taxpayer dollars at work. This is the Biden administration encouraging illegal immigration at every level into our Nation. And if you think about the people that are coming across that border that don't want to be caught, I can certainly tell you there is quite a contrast between what they are going through and what they are willing to go through versus the white-glove treatment they would receive if they simply come to America and claim asylum. This is extraordinarily dangerous, my friends. Extraordinarily dangerous. And it is wrong. Speaking of being wrong, why should Americans have to live like this? The rancher told me that his wife heard something in the middle of the night. She said: I hear something out in the kitchen. He said he grabbed his pistol, he went into the kitchen, there were 20--and he said--adult, military-aged males in his kitchen, eating from his refrigerator and drinking everything in it. He told them to leave. He used a different term with me, but he told them to leave his home. Their response to him, he said, was: You are out of beer. Go get me some more. He said he cocked his pistol. He said these invaders slowly backed out. They went to his barn. He said he thought for a minute about going to the barn, then he realized he only had six bullets and there are 20 of them. He has been advised by law enforcement not to allow his 18- and 12- year-old children to go on the property unless they are armed or with someone who is. This is how we are treating Americans? This is how we are treating a farmer, a Texas farmer at our southern border? He and his family have to be subjected to this sort of treatment, this sort of violence, this sort of horror. Let me tell you what else he told me. He said, one day--he pointed over to a bridge on his property near the railroad lines. He said there were two men there with their arms zip-tied behind their backs and bullets through their heads. Evidently, a cartel deal gone wrong. This is organized crime taking place on his property in the United States, and we are doing nothing about it. He said, one day, his child found a woman whose leg had been severed because she tried to jump on that Union Pacific rail line and missed it, and the train ran over it. She crawled over to his property. She was up in the bed of their pickup truck. His child found this woman, and they came in and life-flighted her out. He doesn't know whether she lived or not. But this is the carnage that is taking place at our southern border because we are creating these incentives to draw people in, to risk their very lives, and come here illegally. Americans should not have to live with this. American grandmothers and mothers shouldn't have to take those calls from the sheriff or the police chief saying that your son or daughter or your grandson and granddaughter are not coming home because they have touched or somehow encountered fentanyl that, again, has entered our country illegally across that border. This is a crisis of proportions that we have never seen before. And I will reiterate the national security crisis, because it is getting worse by the day. The Biden administration is now using their CBP app to allow people to fly in directly to the United States from other countries. So it is not just at the border; it is at our airports. We tried to get information about what airports are being used, where this is taking place. Again, the Biden administration will reveal no information. It is extraordinary; it is dangerous; and it is placing American lives at risk every day. If you think about that, if you think about the kind of crisis that we are encountering every day, you have got to go back to the most fundamental of questions, and that is: Why? What is the incentive for putting Americans' lives at risk? What is the incentive for attracting young people from throughout Latin America and other places to undertake such a dangerous journey and to be entrapped by drug cartels and criminal organizations? What is the incentive to exposing our own children to the risks of death by fentanyl? What is the incentive to overwhelm our schools--to even kick kids out of the school that our Senate majority leader attended as a child--so that illegal migrants can be moved into it? What is the incentive for overweighting our system and creating disaster across the cities in America? The incentive is simple: That incentive is power. Power is what this is all about because power is what is delivered when illegal migrants are allowed to be counted for the purposes of allocating congressional districts and electoral votes. They are allowed to be counted for allocating power in the Congress and in the Presidential election. And they are allowed to be leveraged by citizens in these sanctuary cities to gain even more power than they deserve, taking away legislative power and electoral power from States like mine, because these illegal migrants magnify the votes of those people and those districts. They are getting greater representation because they are allowed to count illegal migrants. Greater representation than they otherwise would desire. And, again, look no further than the statements of Congresswoman Yvette Clarke in Brooklyn when she says the quiet part out loud, when she says she needs those illegal migrants for the purposes of redistricting; she needs those illegal migrants to maintain her district--because people are fleeing New York. She doesn't want to lose her congressional seat. The simplest way to do that is create a sanctuary city, a magnet, and bring those people in, stick them into the high school there in Brooklyn, and allow them to be counted for the purposes of allocating her Congressional district and, therefore, adding another electoral vote to New York State. This is wrong. This is the incentive, and my bill would correct that. My bill would get right at this incentive, and it would stop this perverse incentive to bring people here illegally just for the purpose of being counted to expand power. That is what we need to do today. We can step up and vote on this bill. We need to address this problem now. I think when Americans find out the shocking news that this means of counting electoral votes and congressional seats is being so abused that it is standing as the incentive to subject our Nation to incredible pain and misery, and it is standing as an incentive to incite incredible misery for those people who undertake these journeys that they should not. I go back to what President Giammattei told me in Guatemala. He said: Not only are you creating a national security risk with all of the people who are moving through my country to get to yours, but, he said, you are destabilizing families in my country. You are taking the most promising young people in my country and creating a brain drain right here because these families are handing their life savings to these coyotes and these cartels, and they are sending their most promising child on this dangerous, dangerous journey. That should not be happening. We should not be destabilizing other nations throughout Latin America, but that is precisely what is the result of this perverse incentive back here in America. That is precisely the result of the policies that have collapsed the protection of our southern border and is precisely the reason you have people showing up at the southern border now with ``Vote Biden'' T-shirts on wanting entry into America because they see this. They see this opportunity as a way to change their lives. What it is, is a way to endanger their lives, and it is also allowing these cartels to enrich themselves every day to a point that we can't contend. The Border Patrol tell me that they are outmanned and outresourced at the southern border; that the cartels have better technology. They use drones. They use technology, again, as I described, to put GPS pinpoints along the way that they have mapped out to illegally enter our country. When I stopped by to visit with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after I got back from the southern border 2 weeks ago, I explained to them what I saw. And then I asked them what they were seeing. They told me that Venezuelan gangs are rampantly operating in our State. They told me about the sex trafficking that is going on. They told me about the so-called Detroit Boys and Operation 313. That is the area code for Detroit, and this is their effort to try to get these criminal elements here in America who are partnering with the criminals in Mexico to spread drugs and human trafficking across America. They said that these Venezuelan gangs are moving young people in sex trafficking from Nashville to New York to Houston and back. These young people may never get out of their servitude to the Venezuelan cartels. They told me how violent they are. This criminal activity is happening on our soil. It is expanding because we are allowing it to happen, and their supply chains--their supply lines are moving right across that southern border into America. So not only are they operating on the northern border of Mexico, but now they are freely operating here in our country. I will take you back to the remarks of our FBI Director, Christopher Wray, who recently said the threat level that he has seen here in America is greater than since 9/11. We need to be deeply, deeply concerned about what is happening, what has been happening, and, frankly, what may yet come from this national security crisis that we are creating. The dangers are very, very real, and the opportunity is before us today to address these dangers by stopping this perverse incentive. I hope we will undertake that opportunity. I hope we will have an opportunity to vote on this today and bring it to an end. I assure you we should have voted on this already. We should have voted on it a long time ago but delay after delay after delay because evidently our leader doesn't want to vote on it. Again, I am not asking my colleagues to vote with me, but I am asking my colleagues for the opportunity to vote on this. And I appreciate all of you who are here today to listen to the story about what is happening to America and to allow me to peel back to the very core of the incentive that is causing all of this. Let's address this. Let's stop this illegal trafficking. Let's stop the drugs coming into our country. Let's stop the crisis at our southern border. Let's allow our Texas ranchers and Arizona ranchers and California ranchers to get back to business. Let's bring safety back to our cities again. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Mr. HAGERTY. Madam President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 4366 with my amendment number 1634.

Mr. HAGERTY. Madam President, my amendment is simple. It would require that the census determine basic population statistics like the number of citizens, noncitizens, and illegal aliens that live in this country, and it would require that only U.S. citizens be counted in determining the number of House seats and electoral votes that each State gets. Currently, illegal aliens are counted for determining how many congressional seats and electoral college votes each State gets. The more illegal aliens and noncitizens in your State or district, the greater your voting power in Congress and Presidential elections. This not only destroys the principle of one person-one vote by making some American's votes more powerful than others, but it encourages illegal immigration in sanctuary cities as a way to increase political power. In fact, a Democrat House Member from New York recently called for more illegal immigration to her district for redistricting purposes. The weight of every American's vote should be equal. More illegal alien resettlement shouldn't mean more political power in America. My amendment would ensure this, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.