Cynthia Lummis

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of President Trump's energy dominance agenda and to oppose my colleagues who want to keep America literally in the Dark Ages when it comes to producing energy. This, the greatest energy-producing country, is being asked to take a step back. Our energy is cleaner. We produce it cleaner. We transport it cleaner. And yet the Biden agenda had us deferring to other countries that produce energy dirtier, transport it to countries that are paying for it so the Russians, for example, can spend money to fight a war that we are on the other side of. These are matters that President Trump is addressing and has committed to the American people, pursuant to his Executive order on January 20 of this year--the first day he took office--to make it a priority. As we all know, during President Trump's campaign, he chose to make exporting energy dominance and energy independence a hallmark of his campaign. He did it because he knows about the connection between energy independence and bringing down inflation. When you go to the grocery store, we see products all over the shelves that have been brought there by trucks--trucks that are paying a lot for gasoline and diesel fuel. You see frozen food refrigerators lining the aisles that are plugged into electricity that comes from oil, gas, coal, wind, and solar. And the more expensive it is, the more expensive the products are that we buy in those stores. The same is true in any retail store around this country. Over the last 4 years, the Biden administration worked overtime to stick it to the energy industry at every turn while my colleagues here cheered them on and helped them. On day one, President Biden placed a moratorium on public land energy development that never truly went away until January 20, 2025, when President Trump was sworn into office and signed an Executive order. Wyoming and the West have fallen victim to the previous administration's regulatory regime designed specifically to kill the industry. Then, once he kills it, he goes overseas and asks countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to fill in the difference. These are countries that cannot produce energy as cleanly as we can and do, and yet he would rather get the energy from them to placate the radical environmental community in this country--that very same community that knows that we can do it cleaner here. During the Biden administration, the BLM declined to offer up lands for oil and gas leasing. And when they did, they ignored the spirit of the law and offered the fewest acres possible. In September 2023, the BLM collected a measly and insulting $27,000 from an oil and gas lease sale in Wyoming. Compare that to the September 2021 lease sale that netted over $1.3 million. The people of Wyoming are elated that President Trump, on day one, committed to fixing the sins of the previous administration by declaring a national energy emergency. You know, I was in Seoul, South Korea, last spring. And one day, we had clear air. The next day, it was so dirty that you couldn't see, Mr. President, from where I am standing to where you are sitting. And I said: What went wrong over 24 hours? And they told me the wind shifted and was coming in from China. China's dirty air was blowing in because China is producing dirty energy. And yet we would rather defer to them when we know we can produce it cleaner. In my State of Wyoming, the Dry Fork energy plant is the cleanest coal-producing energy ever produced anywhere. In fact, it is so clean that when they began emitting from that plant, they didn't want to tell the U.S. EPA how clean they could do it for fear that the EPA would apply that same standard to all of America's legacy coal plants--none of which could afford to retrofit to the modern technology of Gillette's coal-fired powerplant. In Wyoming, we have abundant oil, gas, uranium, coal, and more. Under the order, Wyoming's public lands can return to Congress the intended goal of multiple use, which includes responsible resource extraction. If you go back to FLPMA, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which passed in the 1970s, it mandates multiple use of public lands-- not single use, not preservation or conservation alone, not oil and gas alone, not recreation alone. It is all of these multiple uses. Energy production is the backbone of my State and many other Western States. We are proud to power the Nation and to support a President who supports us. With the rise of artificial intelligence and a thriving data center industry, our Nation will need all the energy it can get. I was out in California during October and went to AI companies--large, medium, and small--and they all told me the same thing: that the bottleneck for America in being the world leader in AI is energy. We are going to need way more energy than we have needed in the past, and in order to make artificial intelligence work for us and to be dominant in this technology, we need more energy, not less. And we know we can do it cleaner than other countries. If my colleagues succeed in passing their resolution that is under consideration, we are setting the stage for failure. We are setting up our economy and future generations for failure. Voting to approve the resolution is a vote for an unstable energy supply, higher energy costs, and more. I urge my colleagues to vote no against the resolution that is brought by my colleague Senator Heinrich from New Mexico. I urge my colleagues to stand with President Trump and to oppose this resolution. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until February 26, 2025: Jazmine Wildcat and Karli Woodruff.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business for debate only, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing. committee on energy and natural resources The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 10 a.m., to consider an original resolution and adopt subcommittee assignments. select committee on intelligence The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed business meeting and closed briefing.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the order of January 24, 1901, the traditional reading of Washington's Farewell Address take place on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, following the prayer and pledge of the flag.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 12; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume Executive Calendar No. 18 under the previous order; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of Senators Blumenthal, Warren, and Schumer.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, when I was growing up, I thought about foreign aid as helping people in foreign countries who needed food or shelter, who were struggling because their country was having a civil war and they had been cut off from having clean water, enough food for their families, or someplace for shelter. I think that is what most Americans think foreign aid is; that we want to help people around the world because the United States is blessed. God has given us more than he has given most nations, and we need to respond in ways that are helpful to our fellow man. But today, I hear my colleagues blaming a guy named Elon Musk for doing away with foreign aid. If anybody is to blame, it is us; it is the Congress of the United States for taking our eyes off the mission of our country to provide aid to those around the world who need it. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted on leftwing pet projects that don't benefit us here at home, that actively work against our interests and do not help those in need around the world. I believe that American taxpayer dollars should be spent making lives better for Americans and better for those around the world who have far less than we have. I have been talking about our national debt since I was first elected to Congress in 2009. At that time, our national debt was just turning over from $9 trillion to $10 trillion. I was apoplectic. How can we let our national debt get over $9 trillion? Today, our national debt is $36 trillion. That is absolutely inconceivable. It is inconceivable to the American people. It is certainly inconceivable to the people in my State. They want answers. They want to know, where is all this money going? That is why they elected Donald Trump. They didn't like seeing people come into our country illegally. They didn't like seeing inflation make their lives harder, make their family pay $1,000 to $1,500 more per month with no change in their lifestyle. Inflation is eating away at the lives of American people. They are working harder than ever, and our dollar is going less far. So now we are talking about Elon Musk being to blame. I am proud that President Trump chose to include Elon Musk in his administration because President Trump is already getting results--the kind of results that the Congress has turned a blind eye toward. We all know that Washington is addicted to spending, and it isn't getting any better. For too long, my colleagues have had meltdowns anytime somebody suggests we should cut spending. But I had always thought that we all agreed we need to take a look at some of the Federal programs into which we are pouring taxpayer money. Well, thanks to President Trump, we finally have the opportunity to get started assessing what we are spending money on, and what we are finding in some instances is, it is not very pretty. This week, we learned just how much USAID has been weaponized by the far left. They are pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into liberal programs and causes, and I will bet some of these, even my colleagues on the left have no idea about. This is wildly out of keeping with stated American interests for how we will spend taxpayer dollars abroad. Here are some of the ways the last administration has wasted your money: more than $4.5 million to ``combat disinformation'' in Kazakhstan--and just whose disinformation is it; I think that is probably in the eye of the beholder--$20 million for a new Sesame Street show in Iraq; $25 million for Deloitte to promote ``green transportation'' in the country of Georgia; nearly $8 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid ``binary-gendered language''-- binary-gendered language in Sri Lanka; you have got to be kidding me-- $5 million to EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key NGOs, nongovernment organizations, funding bat virus research at the Wuhan lab; $20 million for a group related, by the way, to a key player in the Russiagate impeachment hoax; $1.5 million to ``rebuild'' the Cuban media ecosystem; $1.5 million on DEI programs in Serbia--diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Serbia. Mr. President, I could probably go on for another hour. President Trump isn't just talking about cleaning up the waste and abuse of your taxpayer dollars; his administration is doing something about it. These bureaucrats are accountable. They must be accountable. They have to be accountable to us, to Congress, to the American people, and President Trump is holding them accountable. Because of DOGE, which is led by Elon Musk, the Trump administration is taking action where we wouldn't. Congress wouldn't uncover the waste, fraud, and abuse that are going on in our foreign aid programs. Thanks to DOGE, the Trump administration has already terminated some 36 contracts, saving taxpayers more than $165 million. The administration has canceled underutilized leases, saving taxpayers close to $50 million. That is after 2 weeks in office. This is just the first step toward reclaiming control of our government and our budget. I would think my colleagues from all over the country--both parties-- would be pleased that we are uncovering waste, fraud, and abuse. That is why the American people elected Donald Trump. President Trump and Elon Musk are threatening to turn off the DC spigot that has flowed taxpayer money into far-left organizations and causes. Now, I want to respond to some of the claims from my friends across the aisle calling this a constitutional crisis. I am grateful that Democrats realize that we are the article I branch and we control the power of the purse. I am also happy to hear that most of us want to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. That is why I ask my colleagues to join us now. Regardless of party, regardless of State, join us now. We have a funding bill coming up and reconciliation. Let's work together and do our job: rooting out government waste and making real cuts during our appropriations process. I am serious about this because the fiscal crisis before us could not be more serious. No nation has lasted very long when their debt exceeded 100 percent of GDP, but that is where we are. That is where we are today. It is time to act. We must clean up this debt-and-spending crisis. Our fiscal future is on an unsustainable path and a scary path, and everybody says that, including the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He says it is unsustainable. With higher interest costs on our record debt, we are in trouble. In 2024, the interest on the national debt was over $880 billion. That is more than we spend on defense or Medicaid. That number will only increase. Projections put interest payments on the national debt at more than $13 trillion over the next decade. That is $13 trillion that isn't going to further our interests to help with foreign aid. It is not going to help our children. It is a debt burden on this entire Nation. Rooting out wasteful spending should not be controversial. Every taxpayer should want their tax dollars to be spent wisely and on things that make our country stronger, our goals more closely held to heart around the world. But that hasn't been the case. What has been the response of some in the minority party regarding the disclosure of this wasteful spending? Instead of joining in a bipartisan effort to get our fiscal house in order, we are seeing protests. We are seeing Elon Musk demonized. It is starting to look like blaming Elon Musk is trying to change the subject, trying to blame Elon Musk for shining a light on Congress's wasteful spending. I am sorry to see it because it is beyond time to get serious about our national finances. The people of Wyoming are grateful. I hear it when I go home. I see it in their eyes. People will come up to me in the feed store, in the grocery store, and say they are grateful to President Trump for creating DOGE; they are grateful to the patriots working hard at DOGE to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in these programs and to start the process of cutting reckless spending. So speaking on behalf of the people of Wyoming, I want to say thank you. Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for bringing in a group of people to help us shine a light on how we can make America better in just the way that the American people yearned for, wanted, expect, and celebrate. I yield the floor.

Ms. LUMMIS

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

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Laken Riley Act. Nearly a year ago, Laken Riley--a college girl more than 1,000 miles from our southern border--was jogging on her university's intramural fields. Also more than 1,000 miles from our southern border, an illegal criminal in our country brutally attacked and murdered her in broad daylight. For 18 minutes, Laken Riley--that young woman in the prime of her life, with boundless potential--fought for her life against an assailant who never should have been in this country to begin with. The Biden administration's open border policies served the criminal's depravity more than Laken's and her family's. In fact, they served the criminal every bit as much as they failed Laken and her family. Laken's killer easily crossed our southern border with millions of others; and when he committed several crimes and was arrested, a Biden administration-led ICE made no effort to deport him. Had he been appropriately prosecuted for his previous crimes, the Riley family would have celebrated Riley's birthday instead of mourning an empty chair. On February 22, 2024, it would have been an ordinary day for their family instead of the worst day of their lives. No family should face the nightmare Laken's family endured, and it is our responsibility as lawmakers to correct the glaring failures in our system that led to her tragic and preventable death. The Laken Riley Act won't bring Laken back, but it is a vehicle for turning the Riley family's pain into purpose and partnering together to protect American families. This legislation's sole goal is to hold known criminal illegal aliens accountable for their actions and enable States to bring civil charges against Federal officials who fail to uphold our immigration laws. Like all of us serving in this body, I came to the U.S. Senate because I wanted to make a positive difference for the American people. This is one of those opportunities. We have the ability to do that right now by getting this bill to the President's desk. Let's honor Laken's legacy by passing this bipartisan legislation to protect millions of Americans across our country. I yield the floor.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, I am proud to support H.R. 4385, the Drought Preparedness Act, which I joined my colleague from Colorado in introducing. Senator Hickenlooper has been fabulous to work with, as have all of the Senators from the States that headwater and utilize the Colorado River, including yourself, Madam President. This bill would reauthorize the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act and allow the Department of the Interior to prepare drought contingency plans and provide technical assistance to State, local, and Tribal governments on their drought contingency plans. This is one of the many bills I have had the pleasure of partnering with Senator Hickenlooper on, and I look forward to the President signing it into law. Again, Madam President, I appreciate your help on these matters as well. I am also pleased to support H.R. 5770, the Water Data Improvement Act, also sponsoring and introducing with my colleague Senator Hickenlooper, to reauthorize three water data programs at the U.S. Geological Survey that address water scarcity in the West. The West continues to lead the Nation in water conservation and management practices and is home to some of the best and brightest experts in this field. By extending these successful programs, we will improve water quality, secure our water infrastructure, and ensure we remain good stewards of our natural resources. Again, with my appreciation for my fellow Colorado River Senators, with whom we have been working for the last couple of years on these measures and others to support our State's engineers in the more than 100-year-old Colorado River Compact, I thank you and look forward to continuing to work with you to address the important Colorado River issues to the West and to our country. I yield the floor.

Ms. LUMMIS

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

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, with the August work period just around the corner, preparations are being made and events are being scheduled for several weeks back home in Wyoming. The Cowboy State is truly wonderful all 12 months of the year, but August brings a lot of opportunities for outdoor activities, family gatherings, and one of my favorite events of the year: the Wyoming State Fair. For more than 120 years, the Wyoming State Fair has taken place in Douglas and has been the perfect place to take in a rodeo, play carnival games, eat some terrific fair food, and celebrate Wyoming agriculture. As a lifelong rancher, the Wyoming State Fair has always held a special place in my heart. It is a place to welcome and witness the next generation of ranchers and to honor those who have made so much of a difference to agriculture in Wyoming with an induction into the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame. Today, I have the distinct honor to welcome Laurie Boner of Glenrock, WY, to the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame. In every walk of life, the Hall of Fame is synonymous with excellence. Not only in ones profession, but also in their character. It is traditionally a place reserved for those who have made significant contributions to ensure growth in their industry and who have left a lasting impact for future generations to look up to. Laurie personifies all of these attributes, and being inducted into the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame is a fitting and well-deserved honor and recognition for her. It did not take long for Laurie to begin showing an interest in agriculture. At a young age, she would spend time with her grandparents who raised sheep and cattle and grew up with quarter horses, which were raised and trained by her mother. The influence and knowledge they shared ultimately sparked an interest in Laurie's heart which has since developed into a passion for ranching and agriculture in addition to her love for Wyoming. This passion soon transitioned into a career. After her graduation from the University of Wyoming, Laurie spent more than 15 years working for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, where she was able to use her knowledge and expertise to guide Federal and State agriculture policies in Wyoming. Laurie, however, felt she had more to offer and so much more she could do. This led her to join numerous associations to help advocate for Wyoming's ranching and agriculture industries. She has served on the Wyoming Quarter Horse Association (WQHA), Wyoming Wool Growers Association (WWGA), Converse County Stock Growers, the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust Board, the Wyoming State Fair Board, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA), and was appointed by the Governor to the Wyoming Livestock Board (WLSB), where she served for 6 years. During her busy career, she still found the time to start up LB Designs, a business specializing in website design and print-ready promotional materials. That is a resume that truly stands out and clearly is representative of someone who wants what is best for agriculture in her State and is willing to put in whatever needs to be done. Laurie is also no stranger to awards and recognitions. In 2021, she was honored as the recipient of the Heart of Agriculture Award. When I learned of this, I wrote her and told her how special it is to be recognized by your neighbors and peers who have decided that you are part of what makes living, working, and just being a part of agriculture in Wyoming so wonderful. I pushed her to use that award as a catalyst to continue to challenge herself to make a difference. I do not think she needed my advice as she was already well on the path to success, and I can't think of anyone more deserving of this hall of fame recognition than Laurie Boner. I look forward to welcoming Laurie to the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame. While I do not anticipate her slowing down anytime soon, the legacy she has established is truly remarkable and an example for others to aspire to. I tip my hat to her.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, today I wish to congratulate this year's winners of the Congressional Award. The Congressional Award was established by Congress in 1979 and, for many years, has recognized the spectacular achievements of young people in the areas of volunteerism, personal development, fitness, and expedition. The brilliant design of this program allows individuals to set their own goals based on personal interest and work toward either a bronze, silver, or gold certificate or medal. It is incredible to see what young people can achieve when they are personally invested in setting and achieving their goals. I am impressed to hear of the combined impact and can only imagine the overwhelming benefits to communities across the country. It is a privilege to recognize the great work of this year's recipients. I urge these young people to continue aiming high and setting a positive example for their peers. I include in the Record a list of this year's Congressional Award Gold Medalists from around the country: Alaska: Madeline Anderson Alabama: Amanda Browning, Lily Hoyle Arkansas: Abigail Catron Arizona: Billal Abulfotuh, Adelina Grotenhuis, Thomasina (Tamsin) Hurlbut, Zaid Jamal, Timothy Jiang, Payton Kelly, Ronald (Ronnie) Keyes, Shea Lee, Colin Lifshitz, Mustafa Nalbantoglu, Zack Okun, Borislava Panayotova, Cutter Papritz, Sofia Reyes, Alyson Small, Elyzabeth Small, Mason Takeuchi, Ivanna Viloria Enciso California: Annika Agarwal, Nathaniel Arrogante, Emin Aslan, Shijoon Bae, Adrian Baek, Zoey Bahng, Brianna Bailey, Pravin Balasingam, Daniel Bang, Naim Bayraktar, Wolfram Bikel, Lachlan Black, Reenie Cao, Tenzing Carvalho, Hyunwoo Cha, Olivia Cha, Ethan Chang, David Chang, Shruti Chari, Mina Chen, Steven Cheng, Hemkesh Chenupati, Emilie Chi, Alexander Chiao, Jamie Cho, Jessica Cho, Nathan Cho, Nagyung (Anna) Cho, Rosa Cho, Michelle Cho, Mason Choey, Ellie Choi, Minjoon Choi, Samuel Choi, Sophia Chou, Taylor Chu, Chloe Chung, Brandon Chung, Hatice Sevde Deniz, Diya Dipak, Claire Dokko, Elliot Dokko, Jason Dong, Feodora Douplitzky-Lunati, Renee Duan, Azra Erdogan, Madeleine Freeland, Aarushi Ghildyal, Xinyue (Cindy) Gong, Sophie Gopen, Amita Gowda, Radhika Goyal, Athena Guan, Aaron Han, Paul Han, Junhyeok Han, Yahya Hasan, Xihao He, Qingchun He, Dia Hemanth, Katherine Hion, Evan Ho, Jeongmin Hong, Eric Hong, Ian Hong, Daniel Hong, Yixian Huang, Celine Huh, Cat-Tam Huynh, Jung Jin Hwang, Priscilla Ibarra, Nolan Ironhill, Carter Jackson, Ria Jain, Hanlee Jang, Shriya Janolkar, Jaeyoung (Ryan) Jeon, Ella Jeon, Minhyeok Jeong, Noah Jeong, Eliana Jeong, Benjamin Jiang, Claire Jin, Jaehee Jung, Jessica Jung, Heidi Jung, Hailey Jiwon Kang, Shreyas Kapavarapu, Garrett Kath, Sudhakhar Katta, Ava Khossravi, Julian Kim, Ryan Kim, Chloe Kim, Rachel Kim, Stanley Kim, Daeyong Kim, Theodore Kim, Baron Kim, Sean Kim, Eric Kim, Jonathan Kim, Hennah Kim, Skyler Kim, Lauren Kim, Clair Kim, Christine Kim, Kayleen Kim, Ivy Kim, Isaac Kim, Choyoung (Kaylee) Kim, Yoonho Kim, Niklas Kinne, Amit Krishna, Shivam Kumar, Chris Kwon, Hannah Lee, Eunchan Lee, Nicole Lee, ChunPo Lee, Jayden Lee, Ashley Lee, Kunwoo Lee, Kayla Lee, Alexis Lee, Seongjae (Alex) Lee, Claire Lee, Aiden Lee, Yennie Lee, Hyunmin (Paul) Lee, Brandon Lee, Logan Lee, Nathan Lee, Angelina Lee, Hyunwoo Lee, Nahyun Lee, Eunice Lee, Nayun Lee, Jeongwoo Lee, Ian Lee, Tabitha Lee Chon, Michelle Li, Jessica Li, Qiuxian (Lily) Li, Darell Lien, Ryan Lim, Zoe Lin, Vito Lin, Sebastian Liong, Danny Willow Liu, Ziyi (Eva) Liu, Bryan Louie, Audrey Lowell, Alex Lu, Mallika Maddukuri, Simon March-Cunningham, Addison Marrs, Tejas Mathai, Mihir Mathai, Robert McPhie, Xuefeng Mei, Ryan Min, Avery Mizrahi, Maya Mohan, Antoinette Morales, Kea Morshed, Jane Moyer, Heeju Nam, Sriya Neti, Yishan Ni, Alex Nicholson, Hyunmin Noh, Ethan Noh, Abigail Norman, Justin Oh, Azra Oten, Matthew Paek, Iris Paek, Ethan Paik, Noah Pak, Andrew Park, Michelle Park, Michelle Park, Keilah Park, Joanne Park, Sydney Park, Lena Park, Aiden Park, Gunwoo Park, Ryan Park, Arin Parsa, Safia Peer, Shay Pema, Abhinav Penagalapati, Devyn (Divya) Ponnuvelu, Arya Prince, Sanam Punjabi, Tengjie (Jay) Qiu, Kate Quach, Tanush Rachamalla, Zachery Ramos, Maanasa Ramprasad, Neel Rangan, Nevin Rao, Mahika Redla, Aidan Reyes, David Rivera, Jonathan Ryu, Hoon Ryu, Simran Saluja, Katherine Scannell, Jeremy Schabilion, Samyuktha Senthilnathan, Sienna Shah, Sidharth Sharma, Anthony Shen, HaJoon Shim, Chloe Shim, Yeonsu Shim, Christine Shin, Yuna Shin, Hojun Son, Ryan Song, Jocelyn Soo, Jacob St. George, Raymond Suh, Erin Ji Sun, Bridget Swineford, Emily Tae, Alex Tak, Shiyan (Judy) Tao, Alyssa Taylor, Maia Tumbokon, Sashan Umashankar, Sriram Vaidhyanathan, Ved Vedere, Tanya Vidhun, Nathan Wan, Kylie Wang, Terry Wang, Tiffany Wang, Dylan West, Aaron Won, Chelsea Won, Avery Wong, Andrew Woo, Jiyun Woo, Kari Wu, Wenkai Wu, Jiaze (Leo) Xu, Adora Yan, Lindsay Yao, Noah Yi, Jaewon (Justin) Yi, Boaz Earl Yoo, Calista Yoo, Jaden Yoo, Jeremy Yoo, Hayley Yoon, Faith Yoon, Juneho Yoon, Ethan Yoon, Allison Yu, Zihang Yu, Jackson Zagone, Zhongwen Zhang, Wenyao (William) Zhao, Cindy Zhao, Ruiyu (Rayer) Zhou, Jackson Zinn Colorado: Seif Abouyoussef, Henry Bae, Elizabeth Batenburg, Ria Ghosh, Gracie Woo Connecticut: Reid Barry, Martin Jara, Ava Leshem, Alisha Patel, Madeline Phelan, Emily Roy, Natalia Schaffer, Liam Tomaszewski, Neha Tungaturthy, Zach Yung Delaware: Nitya Singh, Anirudh Singh Florida: Keziah Anderson, Jessie Baxter, Flavio Canello, Caleigh Carter, Coen Chilver, Colton Chilver, Luke Cooper, Landon Dabney, Clayton Didier, Zakaria El-Helw, Emily Feichthaler, Keira Rose Finelli, Tarang Gaddam, Anjali Gusani, Chase Hartman, Maddox Hoffman, John Humphreys, Jake Julien, Jessa-Chloe Katzeff, Neeharika Kota, Aditya Krishnan, Fisher Ledbetter, Calder Ledbetter, Robert Linton, Ramsey McClure, Isabella Mendelson, Aaditya Nair, Arjun Nanduri, Adam Oakes, Sophia Olsinski, Dhruv Pandya, Grace Pleinis, Emma Rawlson, Aubrey Rosenhaus, Julian Sant, Ava Shelly, Charles Stacy, Jonathan Steffen, Christopher (Thor) Warnken Georgia: Katherine Elizabeth Aide, David Blanco, Ashley Choi, Raine Cox, Jayden Daniel, Christian Flournoy, Lauren Foglesong, Joseph Ivey, Rishi Jeyamurthy, Akhil Kalva, Achintya Murugaraj, Sanjana Pawar, Danica Resha, Ella Shaffer, Ananya Tadepalli, Pranavi Vedula Guam: Julie Ann Laxamana Hawaii: Barbara Goldyn, Jay Rhymer Iowa: Alexander Hennig, Tiff Lieberman, Nadia Patel Idaho: Ireland Clark, Elliott Lochard Illinois: Grace Catherine Bourbon, Christian Goodall, Cora Koch, Anne Reidenbach, Bela Sanghavi Indiana: Liam Blank, Audrey Booher, Zoe Carpenter, Aditi Dey, Brandon Kruger, Theodore Lach, Thomas S. Pemberton Kansas: Samiksha Aitha, Liane Bdair, Afraah Hawa, Ella Heitmann, Daniel John Kentucky: Jackson Robbins, Isaac Stricker Louisiana: Elliott Gomes Massachusetts: Madison Cable, Matthew Church, Aden Geonhee Lee, Tain Leonard-Peck, Chen-An Lin, Prisha Shrivastava, Jason Zhou Maryland: Ellis Chung, Elijah Cockey, Isabel Cockey, Mason Denny, Emily Dong, David Hamman, Zander Hine, Adam Jackson, Jessica Li, Aidan McCrohan, Amari Mhoon, Rithwik Reddy, Andrew Sha, Joseph Simak, Guy Taylor, Boyan-Jise Tiwang Michigan: Elizabeth Cook, Benjamin Hayes, Miles Hopkins, Grace Pantea, Jeff Roseman Minnesota: Alluri Akshay, Jonathan Erickson, Abigail Hudson, Gabriella Hudson, Mark Swanson Missouri: Brandon Barrett, Lydia Brodbeck, Alex Chen, Cole Dannull, Gianna Francis, Lindsey Gordon, John Hayes, Savannah King, Melissa Matlalcuatzi Pluma, Liam Smith, Alina Stribling, Helton W. Walker, Ethan Wood Mississippi: Hayden Barnett, Ashley Grace Bassett, Colt Bergman, Lauren Hobson, Hannah Sanders North Carolina: Nachammai Annamalai, Hannah Bauer, Ava Beninati, Lula Bovino, Sabrina Bradford, Mina Cayli, Ayse Civelek, Ava Copeland, Ciela Crane, Philip Dai, Jonah Dickerson, Anna Goldsmith, Rayna Hamilton, Karis Hunt, Ameya Kandula, Avery King, Ally Kryzalka, Sloane Lewis, Sofia Liotino, Robert Lyda, Caroline Mautner, Graham Mills, Niharika Parui, Dawson Raynes, Shravan Selvavel, Hemharsith Sivakumar Gayathri, Asmithaa Vinukonda, Katya Withrow, Allison Witte, Truett Wolf Nebraska: Meruni Are, Alejandro Gonzalez Ba os, Francisco Gonzalez Ba os, Landry Lehan New Hampshire: Adele Mamedova New Jersey: Suheyla Akman, Riya Atluri, Burak Cebe, Canon Chiu, Autumn Chiu, James Crowley, Jack DeVirgilio, Kaitlin Dowling, Sriram Elango, Ryan Gilmartin, Alyssia Gomez, Nathaniel Han, Riya Jain, Rohan Jay, Ahmet Kaval, Muhammed Keskin, Elif Kilinc, Jonah Klein, Naishada Kotagiri, Emily Kukal, Sonal Lakhani, Chase Mazur, Benjamin Miller, Tyler Minn, Senthilkumar Nithyanandam, Udgita Pamidigantam, Rishi Parikh, Rahil Patel, Dev Patel, Samhita Pokkunuri, Mili Raghavan, Pallavi Routray, Shaunak Sabbani, Gavin Tripido, Jonathan Yoo Nevada: Jenna Becker, Lorelani Riley Ladislao, Taha Lahlou, Diesel Leano, Jia Mahesh, Emily Mattox, Ignatius Miller, Gianna Nakhle, Randy Pahang, Momoka Utsumi, Tamara Young New York: David Barlow, Jonathan Barlow, Luke Bonifacio, Ethan Chiu, Lillianna Cognato, Yana Dhingra, Victoria D'Ovidio, Thomas Fernandez, Cassandra Fitzpatrick, Akshar Gopa, Miyana Holden, Ava Johnson, Riha Kyatham, Ryan Leonard, Jasmine-Sixian Li, Nitin Malepati, Ciara McGroary, Phillip Muller, Viraj Pahuja, Ana Lee Palmer, Saharsh Peddireddy, Sahil Polepalle, Alexander Ren, Hailey Richman, Ziyue Wang, Haluk Yavas, Eugene Yoo, Elle Yormak, Youwei Zhen Ohio: Laasya Acharya, Pragalya Arumugam, Micah Burkhard, Shashank Chanamolu, Zachary DeVor, Adam Howe, Gabrielle Kirwin, Madeline Morrison, Megha Nadagouda, Maya Nayar, Carter Norvell, Naisha Patel, Keeran Patel, Meera Rajeev, Vaidika Ravi, Maggie Skelly, John Snethkamp, Keshav Sriram, Shreemayi Trichy Oklahoma: Andrew Ebert, Timothy Martin, Anna Parry, Alanya Abou-Elmajd Oregon: Sophia D'Antonio, McKenna Erickson Pennsylvania: Maura Campbell, Eleanor Day, S bastien Guillotin, Lucas Hayes, Ryan Kraychik, Delia Maldonado, Sabrina Maldonado, Alex Porambo, Shivika Varshney, Vanessa Wehinger, Max Zhang Puerto Rico: Gerardo Juan Jos Mena-Fernandez, Meghna (Chili) Pramoda South Carolina: Alex Bohnen, Grant Bohnen, Harmonie Frederick, Nina Gallo, Tyler Hanson, Caitlyn Horton, James Reaves, Alexander Ring South Dakota: Grace Belcher, Ronan Maher Tennessee: Jaishva Bhatt, Daniel Clark, Joshua Clark, Zeynep Dibi, Ethan Elder, Blake Freeman, Rachel Oppmann, Hannah Skaar Texas: Heather Adams, Alyssa Anderson, Nikita Basappa, Praneel Bhagavatula, Brooke Carol Billedo, Mehmet Bisen, Andrew Boisson, Nicholas Boling, Ethan Bosita, Carson Bosita, Oliver Burke, Ananya Chandak, Josh Chandra, Sanjith Chandran, Riya Chauhan, Elijah Chen, Isaiah Clark, Shloak Dalal, Charli Davis, Dominique de Waal, Anagha Deepak, Thomas Dorsey, Andon Epp, Nursel Eski, Mahek Goel, Kyler Hester, Abdullah Hussein, Jonah Ismael, Sally Ismael, Trisha Jha, Abraar Khan, Shiza Khan, Ivy Koh, Kaden Mabey, Tanya Mahesh, William Martin, Margot Martin, Justin Mathew, Ayaan Moledina, Abi Newell, Nayonika Pande, Aryan Patel, Aliya Patel, Duane Pfeiffer, Aditi Ramesh Iyer, Shawn Ray, Aubrey Reeves, Zeynep Sahin, Justin Simms, Nikhil Srinivas, Suhaani Srireddy, Julian Stewart, Daniel Thomas, Gracie Wakefield, Sophia Wei, April White, Hazel White, Benjamin Who, William Witherspoon Utah: Anvar Boskailo, Elorah Dobrinski, Zuhal Kariparduc, Katherine Kim, Alexandar Straley Virginia: Timothy Cline, Rudra Dave, Eren Demirel, Nicholas Flanigan, Namith Gangireddyvari, Kendan Hopkins, Begum Hussain, Zara Sophia Javeri, Evan Kinsel, Joshua Lee, Pierson Lee, Daniel Lian, Yashvir Sabharwal, Serena Sindhi, Rishika Singh, Mark Wilson, Burhan Yasakci, Mert Esat Yercel Vermont: Katherine Bartlett, Megan Henderson Washington: Irene Batta, Celeste Blair, Sara Cambron, Amalia (Molly) Dudley, Lauren Evans, Varshini Hari, Jason Kim, Ryan Kinder, Lilah Moore, Betul Orhan, Raigan Ryhter, Naren Selvam, Jonathan Tang, Liam Urie, Anisha Vaish Wisconsin: Jessica Becker, Michael Brierton, Sandra Brierton, Pranav Nair Wyoming: Thomas Audley, Jonnina Edmunds, Cambry Jenks, Aidan Kim-Miller, Caleb Miller, Jackson Neishabouri, Elise Newton, Hunter Sabat, Isabell Salas, Aubrey Smedley, Greyson Smith, Ava Taylor

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I strongly support the intent behind this legislation. We must combat the deeply harmful practice of nonconsensual deepfake pornography. It is as serious as the gentleman from Illinois just described. But I am troubled that this bill, as currently drafted, is overly broad in scope. The expansive definitions and wide net of liability in this bill could lead to unintended consequences that stifle American technological innovation and development. By extending liability to third-party platforms that may unknowingly host this illicit content, I worry this bill places an untenable burden on online services to constantly police user-generated posts. Even platforms making good-faith efforts to remove illegal deepfakes could become inundated with frivolous litigation. A more prudent approach would be to tailor legislation to focus on publishers and knowing distributors. And such legislation exists. It is the Cruz-Klobuchar bill. We must ensure that, in our noble efforts to prevent abuse, we do not inadvertently impose overbroad restrictions and spur excessive lawsuits that would chill the development of American emerging technologies. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to find this crucial balance. For these reasons, I object.

Ms. LUMMIS

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

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in favor of my Congressional Review Act resolution, S.J. Res. 59, and its House companion, H.J. Res. 109, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to ``Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121.'' Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, or SAB 121, is a rule under the Administrative Procedure Act disguised as an accounting guidance. It was published by the SEC staff without the approval of the majority of the Commission. Accounting guidance is not something that normally would catch the attention of Congress, but, in this case, a bipartisan group in the Senate and House has uncovered serious concerns with SAB 121 and the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nearly 2 years ago, I started this process by sending a request for a legal opinion on SAB 121 to the Government Accountability Office. That office found that SAB 121 is, in fact, a rule and subject to the Congressional Review Office. Shortly after this finding, I introduced the Senate resolution to overturn this guidance in the Senate, and Congressmen Mike Flood and Wiley Nickel introduced the House companion. I congratulate them and House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry on the strong bipartisan passage of this resolution in the House. Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 puts consumers at risk. By requiring a covered institution to place consumer assets on its balance sheet, it gives creditors a way to claim those assets in the event of a bankruptcy. We have seen how this plays out for consumers. Their assets are frozen for months or even years while the bankruptcy plays out. In some cases, they lose their assets entirely. They have entrusted these assets to the custodian. It is the custodian that is in bankruptcy, and yet their assets are the assets that are at risk. So this does not protect consumers at all. Under SAB 121, the ownership of more than $100 trillion in assets placed for safekeeping with America's custodians are in jeopardy. The safest place for digital assets is in a self-hosted wallet, but not everyone can custody their own digital assets, including institutional investors that the SEC requires to use a qualified custodian. Regardless of what each Senator thinks about digital assets, they should want consumers and institutional investors to have the option of placing their assets in the safekeeping of prudentially regulated institutions. Unfortunately, Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 prevents this. By placing customer assets on the balance sheet of the custodian, SAB 121 also means that capital requirements apply. Banks would have to hold as much as $1 of capital for every dollar of customer assets. As much as the SEC would have you believe otherwise, the bank regulators have no discretion on this point. Banks must follow U.S. generally accepted accounting principles when calculating capital requirements. Finally, SAB 121 demonstrates how the SEC will push forward its regulatory agenda at the cost of transparency and the stakeholder input that is required by law. The Senate could have avoided this if SEC Chair Gary Gensler was willing to direct staff to revise Accounting Bulletin 121 to keep customer digital assets off the balance sheets of custodians and engage in a transparent process. Refusing to revisit this policy after bipartisan criticism is odd. The majority of the SEC Staff Accounting Bulletins from the last 30 years have been revisions and rescissions of prior guidance. Revisiting and fixing accounting standards, especially when there is a new technology, is warranted and encouraged. Guidance is meant to be flexible. It is not meant to set policy, which would require notice and comment by those who would be regulated pursuant to that regulatory process. But, apparently, Chairman Gensler would rather politicize accounting standards to achieve policy goals in the banking industry--an industry, I would like to remind him, he does not regulate--rather than conduct a transparent policymaking process. Maybe it is because Chairman Gensler knows that putting customer assets on the balance sheet is bad policy that would not garner enough support to finalize a rule. Maybe it is because he is committed to an ill-informed and unworkable fight against the digital asset industry at any cost. Unfortunately, SAB 121 does nothing to protect consumers--nothing to protect consumers. It hurts them. I hope that all of my colleagues will recognize this and join me in voting in support of H.J. Res. 109. I yield the floor.

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. LUMMIS

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

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, every 5 years, Congress has the responsibility to fully fund the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to ensure airports across the country have the resources they need to bolster security measures and fulfill costs associated with meeting the demands of both national and global travel. As the Cowboy State continues growing, making sure the people of Wyoming have reliable, safe, and affordable access to travel is critical to maintaining our State's economy. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 stands to not only further boost our thriving tourism industry but eliminates burdensome regulations that challenge small airports across Wyoming and across the Nation. For more than a year, I have fought to ensure that millions of Wyoming's tax dollars sent to Washington will be put to work to improve air travel across Wyoming. Wyoming is home to many small airports that serve what would otherwise be isolated parts of our State. This bill reauthorizes the Essential Air Service that supports flights for Cody and Laramie and increases funding for the program that multiple Wyoming airports use for capital projects. As the Presiding Officer knows, Cody is the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It is home to the Buffalo Bill historical center, which is a world-class museum, and it is an important tourism and art destination. Laramie is the home of the University of Wyoming and many activities that improve our Nation, including efforts at carbon sequestration technologies. These are communities that need air transportation. The bill counters Federal overreach that has threatened to burden airports by slapping them with multi-million-dollar expenses following arbitrary changes to Federal funding criteria for airport runways and taxiways or plunge essential renovations into sort of a regulatory purgatory. But thanks to critical improvements in this FAA reauthorization, not only will the Rock Springs Airport be spared from arbitrary, new FAA requirements to pay for the upkeep of runways and taxiways, but Wyoming airports can now move forward with projects costing less than $6 million in Federal funds without being subject to unnecessary redtape. These are the sizes of airports that we have in Wyoming, and to have these regulatory burdens and shackles taken off so these airports can improve runways and taxiways, which are essential to having an operational airport, is a true benefit of this bill. I want to thank the full committee, and I want to thank the chair and the ranking member for understanding the importance of our small airports. For too long, Congress has delivered FAA reauthorization bills that prioritize big aviation and overlook the needs of our rural airports, but this bill takes many of those rural airports into consideration. States like Wyoming rely on small airports to support entire regions of our State, and previous versions of this bill have reflected that misunderstanding. The bill we have in front of us fixes that misunderstanding. I am very, very pleased with how the treatment of small airports in this bill considers the needs of those small airports. While we work to meet the needs of the Nation's largest airports, we cannot forget the smallest ones that work hard to serve rural America, and we have a responsibility to make sure this bill creates an environment where they can thrive and not just struggle to survive. My provisions included in this legislation help airports like Casper/ Natrona County International address air traffic control staffing shortages and waive unrealistic rules that require EMTs to be on site at every airport when rural areas are already grappling with medical personnel shortages. Unfortunately, these aren't the only challenges Wyoming airports face. My western colleagues and I know better than anyone how critical these small airports are, not only for serving our rural communities but also in fighting wildfires. Wildfires continue to devastate our western habitats, and we need every tool readily available to mitigate the damage. Yet current regulatory hurdles dramatically slow response times. Every minute wasted trying to gain access to restricted airspace results in irreparable damage to wildlife, homes, and may even cost lives. My provision to this legislation eliminates costly hurdles to fighting wildfires, and establishes a reimbursement program for airport sponsors to replace firefighting agents and equipment that meet military specifications. This legislation is a win for the State of Wyoming that will offer much needed support for our small airports and bolster our economy. Together, we have created a bipartisan and workable reauthorization that improves access to our Nation's Capital for all Americans, eliminates onerous regulations, and creates an environment where smaller airports can do more than just survive. I want to thank the members of the Commerce Committee, including the Presiding Officer. I want to thank Chair Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz, who worked together to create a bipartisan work product of which the committee can be proud, and they have prepared this FAA reauthorization for bipartisan passage. I yield the floor.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until May 9, 2024. They are: Georgina Ringley, Jessica Yang, and Elizabeth Michael.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, in 1948, President Harry Truman famously said, ``If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog'' There is a very clear exception to President Truman's saying. All of Washington, especially those of us who work on Capitol Hill, have a wonderful friend nearby. He is the manager at The Monocle, Nick Selimos, who has greeted guests at the famous establishment for 50 years. Just steps from the Capitol, The Monocle had always been a fine establishment, but Nick's charming personality and steadfast commitment to hospitality turned it into the iconic pillar of Capitol Hill it is today. Since his first day in 1974, much has changed in Washington, on Capitol Hill, and even at The Monocle, but Nick has been the one constant. His friendly face has greeted members of Congress taking a break from debating major pieces of legislation, foreign dignitaries visiting from every corner of the globe, and everyday Americans stopping in for a bite to eat after some sightseeing in the Nation's Capital. No matter who walked through the doors of The Monocle, Nick made them feel like his personal guests and made a point to remember them the next time they stopped by. He has lent an ear, told a story, and laughed with more Members of Congress than even most congressional leaders. Nick Selimos might be the one man in Washington whose friendly countenance and kind spirit transcend partisan politics and is mutually beloved by all. Had President Truman known Nick Selimos, the President's famous saying might have been, ``Unless you dine at The Monocle and have the privilege of knowing Nick Selimos, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.'' Let us all raise a glass and cheers to Nick's 50 years at The Monocle and his remarkable positive impact on this city and our country.

Ms. LUMMIS

Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I have such respect for the remarks of the gentleman who just completed his remarks. I know he feels very passionately. And I agree with him about what he said, especially about Israel and what they are going through. The attacks on October 7 were unspeakable horrors imposed on the people of Israel, and I want to come to their defense. I want to come to their defense so badly that I have joined my colleagues repeatedly to pass stand-alone $14 billion funding for Israel multiple times since October 7. By unanimous consent, we came to the floor multiple times and said: Let's send money to Israel. And who stopped it? The Democrats. The Democrats stopped money going to Israel. Now we are here with a package of bundled things so we can roll enough stuff together so that we can get passage of a piece of legislation that is highly imperfect. One of the main things that my constituents object to is that we are spending money for every country in this bill except our own. We will not defend our southern border. We will not spend money to protect our country from the invasion of terrorists and people whom we don't know, and we don't know why they are here. The number of people who are coming into this country whom we don't know, we don't know why they are here, we are not identifying them, and we are turning them loose in this country is a crazy way to then turn around and say: We are not going to protect our borders. Y'all come, but we are going to send $95 billion to other countries to protect their borders. That doesn't fly with my constituents. But, interestingly, that is not even my biggest concern about this bill. Regarding this bill, I filed an amendment to ensure the $95 billion pricetag of this package is fully paid for by reducing the Fiscal Responsibility Act spending caps for fiscal year 2025 in both nondefense and defense areas. In other words, this is yet another thing we are doing that is not paid for. If we are that passionate about helping our friends in Ukraine, in Taiwan, in Israel, then let's pay for it. The American people are living paycheck to paycheck right now. They are going to the grocery store and paying twice as much for food, in some cases, than they were in 2020. The price of gas is up. The price of food is up. The price of rent is up. More people right now are living paycheck to paycheck in this country than were in 2020. They can't afford health insurance, and they are cutting back on important things in their diets and for their families. So we are going to let our people endure these kinds of insults that are brought on by us, and yet we want to send $95 billion to other countries that we are going to pay for with borrowed money? We are $34 trillion in debt. In 22 months during COVID, the U.S. Government printed 80 percent of all the money that has ever been printed in the entire history of the United States. In 22 months during COVID, we printed 80 percent of all the money that the United States has ever printed in its history. Now, when you print that much money and you put it in an economy, you get inflation. Why? Because you have too much money facing too few goods. That is kind of the definition of inflation. We got ourselves into this. Between the Federal Reserve and Treasury, that printed money, with nothing behind it except the full faith and credit of the United States--which is not nothing--but when they did, they put us in a position where this year, we are going to owe more interest on the national debt than our entire defense budget and our entire budget for Medicare. And last year, we already passed legislation spending more on interest than the entire budget for Medicaid. We are spending money on interest because we refuse to pay for the things we think are critical. I agree with the last gentleman who spoke. The world is in crisis, and I agree that we should help them. But we should pay for helping them, not run up debt, not put this burden on people in this country in the future. This is wrong, and I am voting no. If we vote no, this bill is not the end of it. How many bills have we dealt with since October 7 dealing with funding for Ukraine or Taiwan or Israel or some combination of them? Both parties have people who want to help Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. We understand the world risks that are posed by China if we sit on our hands, the risks that are posed by Russia if we sit on our hands and Iran and North Korea, and we are not going to sit on our hands. We are going to pass a bill. We are going to fund these things. But since we know we are going to do it, why don't we do it right? Why don't we pay for it? You know, if we had only passed a budget a few weeks ago that was at fiscal year 2019 levels--we actually collect enough revenue in this country to pay for that--we could have had a year where we balanced our budget. Now hearken back to 2019. Is there anything the government is doing now that they weren't doing in 2019 that is a total game changer in your life? I will bet the answer is no. So if we only would have gone back to the spending levels of 2019, I don't think it would have made a difference in anybody's lives, the way that they live their personal lives, and we would have balanced the budget. But we keep spending more and more money that is not paid for. Our national debt per citizen now exceeds $103,000. Debt per taxpayer is nearly $267,000. Since I became a Senator in 2021, our national debt has increased $7.8 trillion. When I first entered Congress in 2008, our national debt was just over $10 trillion--$10 trillion. Now we are at $34 trillion. This is not sustainable. In just 15 years, our national debt has more than tripled. Our debt is the greatest threat our country faces today-- not China, not Russia. The American people will continue to shoulder the burden of our unhinged spending. When we have changing priorities, we should be doing what we do in our own personal lives. If something is more important to me than something else, I don't do this; I do the thing that is more important to me. We never have those discussions here. In fact, the way our committees work, they never talk to each other. The people on the committee that crafts the budget don't talk to the people who are spending the money. They don't talk to the committee that is collecting the taxes. Once the budget is set, the appropriators go to work. Are they talking to the committee that collects the taxes and oversees our Tax Code? No. They don't talk to each other. In fact, they are completely divorced of each other. If you look at the charts around here that are spread around the Senate, it will show you how much we are spending on discretionary spending and mandatory spending and defense and nondefense, but where does it ever compare it to the revenues we are taking in? We don't talk to each other about it. We are $34 trillion in debt, and, by golly, we ought to start talking about it. Now, in the last few weeks, we turned the Constitution on its head. The U.S. House sent over impeachment articles that they had worked hard on. Now, whether or not you thought that Alejandro Mayorkas was guilty of the crimes that were asserted and whether or not you felt that you would vote to impeach him doesn't matter. The Constitution set up a process where the House impeaches and the Senate sits as the jury. For the first time in our history, we didn't have a trial. We didn't get a chance to say he is guilty or he is not guilty. And given the partisan politics of the day, we would have found him not guilty--you know. But people in this body didn't want to hear the evidence against him. People in this body don't want to know how many terrorists are coming across our border, how many people are coming across the border and we don't know whether they came from a Venezuelan prison. So the motion was tabled, and then we dismissed it. We pushed it under the rug. Now, the same week, we had a bill come over from the House on section 702 of FISA. We were told that it was just an extension of the expiring provisions of section 702. It wasn't. It expanded 702. It expanded the opportunity for the government to tell communications providers: You will give us this information without a warrant. They expanded the warrantless searches in that bill. The Fourth Amendment was under attack, and there again, we just swept it under the rug. Now we are passing a bill to spend $95 billion that is unpaid for. You know, we have good reasons for making the decisions we do around here. My colleague Senator Graham just voiced very articulately why we should help Ukraine, why we should help Israel, why we should help Taiwan, that our enemies are watching. Well, let's fix this bill and make it better and then pass it. But we are not allowed to do that. We are not allowed to have a debate. We are not allowed to have amendments. We are not allowed to make it better. We have one choice: yes or no. If you vote no, by golly, you must be an isolationist. Well, I am voting no. I am not an isolationist. I have previously voted many times to help Israel. I have helped bring motions to fund Israel specifically to the floor of this Senate as a stand-alone bill, and the Democrats shot us down. And the Democrats shot us down from having a trial that was required by the Constitution. Further, we didn't get to amend the bill that came to us regarding section 702 of FISA. Now, that debate was bipartisan. There were a lot of Democrats and Republicans who wanted to join together and fix that bill, and the people who encouraged us to vote for that bill knew it was faulty. They knew it was faulty. They knew that language was too broad. They knew we should fix it. They said: You know what, let's pass it now because the time is about to expire. It is 11:30 p.m. FISA 702 expires in half an hour, and we don't have time to fix it. Yet we sat on our hands and fiddled around the whole day. We could have fixed that, but the proponents--on both sides of the aisle, by the way--said: No, no. Let's fix it later. We need to get this passed now. It is important to get it done before the clock expires, but we will work on it maybe when we get to the NDAA. We put off the big decisions. We are trying to get things done, but we don't care if they are right. Let's just sweep this one under the rug. Let's let this one pass today and deal with it another time. That is what we are doing with this bill. We are saying: Yeah, let's help Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan. We are not going to pay for it. Let's worry about that later. But the American people expect more of us, and we should demand more of ourselves. What we are doing here is wrong. We have been wrong year after year by ignoring this debt. You know, I rarely come to the floor and make this argument, especially when people want to go home. I mean, this is a week we were supposed to be out of session. We were supposed to be getting a week off, and it would have been richly deserved because what happened here last week had a lot of people ready for a cooling-off period. But we don't get a cooling-off period because it was decided by the leadership that we need to march forward with this. We can't amend it because then we would have to send it back to the House, and the House isn't in session. You know, this is not the way this institution was designed to function. We shouldn't ram things down each other's throats. We shouldn't use the calendar as a weapon to force people to vote for things that could be fixed, that could be better. I would like to vote for this bill, but I am not voting for something that is not paid for. In 2008, after the financial crisis, we printed $3 trillion basically to bail out the banks, and we got addicted to easy money--to quantitative easing, it is called. Then, when COVID came around, we printed $5 trillion more. We are so addicted to easy money, to money where we just turn on the printing press and keep it going 24/7, that we are causing inflation and we are making it worse. Last week, the International Monetary Fund said the United States faces ``significant risks'' from ``loose fiscal policy'' stemming from ``fundamental imbalances between spending and revenues.'' It is sad that the IMF has to point that out to us. Additionally, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell remarked recently that ``the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path'' and that ``effectively, we are borrowing from future generations.'' These are quotes from the Chairman of the Fed. I have been working on bipartisan legislation since I was elected to the Senate to address our addiction to spending. I introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Sustainable Budget Act in 2021 and 2023 to establish a fiscal Commission. There are so many proposals outside of that that we could address. We ought to be listening to our fellow Senator Bill Cassidy, who is coming up with some great ideas that we can sustain and reform and nurture and keep the solvency of Social Security. Social Security is going to go broke in 2034. We are down to 10 years. The law says that when Social Security is drained of its excess funds, by law, the amount of money that comes in and is collected each year is the amount that can go out. We can't subsidize it in another way. If that happened, 70 million Americans would see their Social Security benefits cut by a quarter. The highway trust fund goes broke in about 2028. We haven't fixed that. We are not talking about fixing that. Yet we know that EVs-- electric vehicles--don't pay fuel taxes, and the more EVs that are on the road, the less money we collect to maintain our roads. Our highway trust fund is going broke. It is going to be insolvent in about 4 years. We are not talking about fixing that. Let's look at Medicare Part A. That is hospitalization. It goes insolvent in the 2030s. We are not talking about that. We are talking about spending $95 billion more today so we can pat our chests and say we did something great for our colleagues around the world. In fact, we are doing something great for them, but we are doing something that is extremely harmful to ourselves because we will not address our own unsustainable fiscal path. You know, I sit in my office and listen to my colleagues, and there are so many really worthy arguments, brilliant arguments, articulate people in this body. And I rarely come to the floor and have these conversations because I feel: I know this bill is going to pass tonight. I am going to vote no. The vast majority of people are voting yes. Nobody cares that we are spending this much money and it is unpaid for. I am tired. I woke up at 2 a.m. in Wyoming this morning to try to get back here for these votes. I am tired. A lot of people want to go home tomorrow. A lot of people wish this debate was not occurring because the vote is a foregone conclusion. But, you know, I have been here now for 3\1/2\ years, and I have watched all of this happen, all this spending that we never pay for--we never pay for it. We don't talk about it. We pretend it is not a problem. We hear it is unsustainable. We hope the Nation doesn't go broke while we are here. Maybe people who are sitting in our chairs can deal with it when we are gone, but we are leaving them an unsustainable fiscal path and a big mess. I would like to support this bill tonight. I would like to vote yes. But it is not paid for, and I will be voting no. I encourage my colleagues to want to do better. We can do better. We can improve these bills. But we have to be allowed to amend them. We have to have these conversations before the tree is filled, as we say in the Senate, before amendment opportunities are lost. This process is designed to cram the product down the throats of U.S. Senators and their constituents, without debate, meaning without the opportunity to amend and debate the amendments. I know we can do better because I know the people in this room. There are so many smart, thoughtful, patriotic, caring Senators on both sides of the aisle. I know we can do better. But we have to want to. We have to want to deal with the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room is that we are $34 trillion in debt, and we will not talk about it. We will not address it. We will not try to fix it. Every time, in the last year, that we have been talking about Ukraine funding, I have said: Let's go get our money that we have at the IMF and lend it, interest-free, for, heck, 30 years to Ukraine. Nobody wants to talk about that. I don't know why. We just want to use taxpayer dollars to pay for things--taxpayer dollars, meaning printed money down at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. Just churn those printing presses, send money out the door, and export to other countries our inflation. Other countries use our dollar because we are the world's reserve currency and because they are trying to do business with us and among other countries, in some common language, some common fiat currency, and the common fiat currency of the world is the U.S. dollar. Well, the more we print it and send out monopoly money, the more we export to other countries our inflation. Every Senator in this room makes $174,000 a year. That is our salary. By the way, our salary is the exact same as it was when I arrived in Congress in 2009. Congressional salaries have been frozen since 2009. So $174,000 then is worth $122,000 today. That is how much inflation has eroded the paychecks of every Member of Congress. Yet we think we can live with frozen salaries since 2009. Why can't other people live with frozen dollars in Federal Agencies? Do you know that our Federal Government is bigger than China's? This place has got to do some homework about its own spending, about its own fiscal situation, about what we are doing to the value of our dollar, about how we are threatening the dollar as the world's reserve currency because we are not nurturing and caring for and being good stewards of the U.S. fiat currency. It is time to face reality. So this isn't the first time nor is it the last time that I will be discussing this on the floor of the Senate. And I wish that we could work together to have a more perfect Union. I know my colleagues and I can do it, but we have got to have the will, the gumption, the moral integrity, the virtue, the faith, and the freedom to do it. I yield the floor. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.