Mike Lee

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, energy manufacturing jobs survive and thrive when there is less Federal intrusion, not more, to my friend and colleague from Georgia. What is more, the American people want less. The American people understand that, with the Federal Government out of the way by cutting redtape, innovation thrives, and the American people do better. I urge all within the sound of my voice to oppose this motion.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I respect my friend and colleague from Oregon, but I disagree with every word he just uttered including ``but,'' ``and,'' and ``the.'' Look, the energy and natural resources title of this bill is one of the most consequential pieces of energy legislation we have had in decades. It increases production on Federal lands. It eliminates wasteful spending at both the Interior and Energy Departments that have prioritized intermittent, nonreliable, nonbaseload sources of power, ultimately driving up the cost of living and the cost of power. We can and do reduce energy prices by increasing development of our vast energy natural resources. I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. Vote on Motion to Commit

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I have got colleagues ready to speak, and I just need 10 seconds here. I respect and appreciate my friend and colleague from Oregon. It is not to him, personally, about taking bills hostage. But this is a process that has happened in the past over and over and over again. This is how it is playing out. As to these bills, I reiterate there is not one Republican Senator objecting to them. Bring them forward. Let's pass them now. If there are problems, I don't know what they are, why they would arise. They are on the Democrat side, not ours. But that is not our problem. It shouldn't be an impediment for Senator Cornyn's bill or Senator Lankford's bill or Senator Gillibrand's bill or Senator King's bill that the Democrats can't get their act together, that, for some reason, they are not willing to support that legislation. This is unfortunate. We have got to fix it.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I appreciate the kind words from my friend and colleague the distinguished Senator from Oregon. I know my time is short, but I need to respond to a couple of points. First, the bills to which my Democratic colleagues are referring have been cleared. They have been cleared through what is known as our hotline, cleared for passage on the Republican side--not one objection from one Republican. It is the Democrats that are holding it up here. We are not the ones. Secondly, I want to make very clear: This is a very unfortunate occurrence in the Senate. It is a bad habit that we have gotten into, and it is a habit that we must break. The habit involves raising an objection. One of the things you did not hear from my friend and colleague from Oregon is a single objection, not on the merits, not on any legitimate procedural ground to any of the bills that I just mentioned--not a single one. No, these bills are drawing an objection today, not allowed to pass the Senate today--even though they passed in the past unanimously, and they don't have any substantive objection. They are objecting to these not because they are unpopular but because they are popular. When they are popular, when the need for them is due and undisputed, when there is no legitimate argument against them, when the House delegation, the local population, the Senate delegation is all supportive of them, they use them and take them as hostages. And they use them so that the way these things can happen is they will cuddle together a whole bunch of bills, and these bills all accomplish similar things. They have a lot of commonalities. They do similar things. They enjoy similar amounts of support. They have passed in the past. The local communities overwhelmingly support them. It makes sense to offer these up together. We opt to do them individually as often as we can. But what they want to do is what has been done in the past, is you cuddle together a whole bunch of bills--sometimes a dozen or more, maybe dozens of them--and then time the introduction of that package to a moment just before a major holiday or long-scheduled recess, they bring them forward, and they say: Take them or leave them. You must take all of them or have none of them. And what that does to public land States like mine, where 67 percent of the land is owned by the U.S. Government or beholden to everything, is it puts us in an impossible decision. Usually, these deals are put together by two or three people in secret, and they bring it forward at the last possible minute when there is no time for debate, no time for amendments, no time to say, OK, this one doesn't belong, the others are fine. Take it or leave it. It is extortion. We have got to end that process. There is not one legitimate reason why we shouldn't pass any one of these four bills. Let's get it done today. I find it tragic that this drew an objection.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, last year this body, the United States Senate, passed 41 bills from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And 25 of those bills have been reintroduced. They all have bipartisan support. They all have been vetted in committee. They all are ready to move. Today, I am asking that we pass four of them at the same time as a modest step forward for the kind of open, Member-driven process for which the Senate was built and has long existed. The first, from Senator King of Maine, would expand access to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument--something that passed this body unanimously last year. The second, from Senator Cornyn of Texas, would adjust the boundaries of Big Bend National Park--again, a commonsense proposal with bipartisan support. The third, from Senator Gillibrand of New York, would establish a national historic park at Fort Ontario--the site of the only Holocaust refugee shelter in American history. And fourth, from Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, would designate the Historic Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street, as a national monument. The Greenwood District in Tulsa was once a thriving community of Black-owned businesses, professionals, and families until the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 tragically burned it to the ground. Hundreds were killed, and thousands were left homeless. Designating this site as a national monument is long overdue. And this month, May 31--in fact, just a few days from now--marks the anniversary of that tragic, tragic massacre. With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Natural Resources be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc: S. 282, the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument access from Senator King; S. 1051, the Historic Greenwood District--Black Wall Street--National Monument from Senator Lankford; S. 432, Fort Ontario Holocaust Refugee Shelter National Historic Park Establishment Act from Senator Gillibrand; and S. 1112, the Big Bend National Park Boundary Adjustment Act from Senator Cornyn; further, that the bills be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Madam President, with great respect to my friend and colleague the distinguished senior Senator from California, he has suggested that the SAVE Act, which merely requires some type of proof of citizenship when someone registers to vote in U.S. elections--that the SAVE Act itself is a solution in search of a problem. My friend also suggests that no documentary proof of citizenship is or should be made necessary, even considering the Supreme Court's ruling that States are not even allowed to request such documentation where they may deem it necessary. He suggests that this is the case because, as he puts it, the occurrence of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections is not only rare, but it is exceedingly, exceedingly, exceedingly rare, as he puts it. I don't know exactly what that means, but I do know that, taken to its logical conclusion, that same logical leap could and would lead us to all kinds of outcomes that we would never dream of. There are all sorts of things that may be rare by some standard or another. Sure, it is true that most of the people voting in U.S. elections are not noncitizens. In fact, I would say that they would be a small, small, small minority of those casting votes because most people here in the United States, most people voting in U.S. elections, are, in fact, U.S. citizens. But taken to its logical conclusion, that would suggest that there is no need for TSA, which, actually, I would be fine with for all sorts of reasons. But taken to its logical conclusion, it would suggest there is no need for you to identify yourself when you go through TSA because instances of terrorism are exceedingly rare or instances of people boarding an airplane in somebody else's name are exceedingly rare. Sure, that happens. Taken to its logical conclusion, it would also suggest that because instances of people starting a job, beginning employment in the United States as an American citizen or as a noncitizen pretending to be an American citizen, are exceedingly, exceedingly, exceedingly rare, as he puts it, therefore we should require no documentary evidence of either U.S. citizenship on one hand or work eligibility with a visa on the other hand. I could go on and on. But it is not an answer to the need for the SAVE Act, to the demand that 80-plus percent of the American people agree with, which is noncitizens shouldn't vote in U.S. elections. It is not an answer to that demand, to that widely held bipartisan supermajority view, not an answer to that to suggest that because noncitizen voting is rare, we need not require any proof of citizenship ever. Why? Well, there are so many reasons why, but here is the simplest one. When we make that easy, more people would do it. Some elections are decided by large margins; others are decided by, to use his words, exceedingly, exceedingly, exceedingly small margins. We would be doing ourselves and the American people and the American Republic and the U.S. Constitution a grave, grave disservice if we didn't take that risk very seriously. Foreign election interference and meddling in our system is a real threat. We need to take it seriously. It is tragic and unfortunate. In fact, it is shameful that we haven't passed the SAVE Act. This is not the end of this issue. I will be back. We will get this passed. But between now and whenever we do get it passed, the American people are taking on a risk because of this body's unwillingness to act. And it is not this body. Let's face it. It is Members of this body on one side of the aisle, and not on the other, who are willing to incur this risk. That, tragically, is a sacrifice they are willing to make. We, tragically, are a sacrifice they are willing to make. Let's not let them continue to make it. Let's pass the SAVE Act. (Mr. MORENO assumed the Chair.)

Mr. LEE. Madam President, we need to remember a couple of things. First, when someone has gone through the process of immigrating to the United States, they have completed a journey--perhaps a lengthy odyssey--of moving to the United States, applying for and ultimately obtaining U.S. citizenship. They have provided a lot of documentation. They have done a lot of things to make that happen. And it would be an insult to those who are U.S. citizens, whether natural-born or naturalized citizens, to make it easy for people to cheapen that, to undermine it, to dilute that by coming in and saying: You know, I am filling out my driver's license application, and all I have to do here is check a box--check a box, sign my name saying, yes, I am a U.S. citizen. Well, you know, that is not an option in other areas where citizenship is required. It is absolutely not an option, for example, in applying for a passport, which is one of the documents that can be provided and often is provided when someone completes the process of filling out an I-9 and thereby establishing their work eligibility as a U.S. citizen. One of the forms that they can provide to help establish that is a U.S. passport. But regardless of what combination of identification they use, they do have to establish their citizenship. Why? Well, because that is the law. There are very good reasons why we have those laws in place to make sure that, when someone starts a job, they are either a U.S. citizen or they have a visa with some type of work authorization in it. So it makes zero sense, for something as significant and important to the very foundations of our constitutional Republic as the right to vote, that we could just so lightly cast aside the need to verify citizenship when we go out of our way in other contexts, like starting a new job, to make sure that they prove it. So, sure. My friend and colleague points out, when people fill out that driver's license application, they do have to check that box, and they do have to sign their name, but why make it so that someone could lie, especially when read against the backdrop of the Supreme Court ruling 12 years ago, concluding--wrongly, in my view but concluding nonetheless, and that decision is on the books--that not only do they not have to prove citizenship, but no State official, when receiving the driver license application form, may even inquire, even if they have reasons to doubt that the person has committed something or otherwise--they can't ask, even if there has been a wave in that State or in that area or across the country of noncitizens registering to vote and that State wants to make a decision--you know, we really ought to provide some degree of documentation--they are not allowed to do any of that. So this is filling that gap, and it is important to do that. To that end, Madam President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 22, the SAVE Act, which is at the desk. I further ask unanimous consent 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. LEE. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I want to thank my friend and colleague the senior Senator from the State of California for his passion in pursuing what is itself a laudable goal, which is helping newly sworn-in, newly naturalized U.S. citizens to register to vote. But I have no choice but to object to this unanimous consent request, this effort to pass it without further debate--without any debate today. I want to point out that this is a bill that hasn't gone through any of the regular processes. It is therefore inappropriate for us to consider it at this point. Look, the bill itself was just barely introduced. It hasn't had a hearing, hasn't had a markup before the Senate Judiciary Committee on which we both serve or otherwise, nor has there been any debate on this topic. No doubt it is important to make sure that our newly naturalized citizens have the opportunity to register to vote, but that puts the cart before the horse in many regards. If we haven't done our homework, we could cause problems. No one disputes the fact--at least no one disputes the fact now that there are, in fact, noncitizens voting in Federal elections. No one disputes that there are already laws on the books making it a crime for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections. U.S. Federal elections are for U.S. citizens and no one else, and it is a crime to do otherwise. We have had some of these discussions over the last year, and in the months leading up to the 2024 general election, there were a lot of unsubstantiated claims made to the effect that noncitizens don't vote. We know now that that is not true. There have been a number of documented instances from this last general election alone in which that happened. This reflects the fact that we often do a poor job of making sure noncitizens don't vote. On the current voter registration form, the Federal voter registration form, there is just a box, a little box that one checks for the applicant to indicate whether he or she is a U.S. citizen. Provided that he or she checks that box and later signs the form for a driver's license, that person can then obtain voter registration in the same State in which he or she has applied for a driver's license. All we have to go on is that person's word as to citizenship. No one asks for documentary proof of citizenship--no. One might ask: Why? Why has no one asked for this, especially if it is a known problem? Well, this dates back to an interpretation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, the NVRA, which is also sometimes referred to as the Motor Voter law. It was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that interpreted provisions of the NVRA as prohibiting the State officials administering that form, receiving that form, from asking for any kind of proof of citizenship. Now, that interpretation was, in my view, wrong. I agree with Justice Alito's dissent in that case saying that the statute contains no such requirement; there is nothing in there prohibiting States from doing that. Nonetheless, that ruling stands, remains on the books today, prohibiting State officials, when receiving those forms, from doing any verification, requesting any proof as to citizenship. That is why I, last year, introduced a bill called the SAFE Act that would amend the National Voter Registration Act to make clear what I believe was already clear but that the Supreme Court got wrong, allowing State officials to request proof of citizenship at the time these documents are submitted and setting requirements for that to happen. The SAFE Act identifies, establishes, and outlines acceptable documentation for proving citizenship, and it requires the States to set up alternative verification processes for citizens who don't have the normal, necessary, contemplated documentation, including for those instances--very, very common instances--in which a woman marries and thereafter changes her name to a married name not evident on any birth certificate she may have. When you contemplate the many dozens of women who support the SAVE Act in this Chamber and in the other and who voted for it in the other Chamber, who were part of the process of drafting this bill--they and I and the others who were involved in its drafting, we all went out of our way to make sure that these documentation standards were not unduly onerous. In fact, if anything, they are less onerous than those requirements, those documentation standards that already exist in other areas of the law. Take, for example, labor and employment. Anytime any American citizen starts a new job as an employee, he or she is required to fill out a form called the I-9. The I-9 form requires an American citizen to provide proof of citizenship. And if you are not an American citizen, then you have to provide proof of your work eligibility, providing proof of your visa and the documentation that goes along with that. Now, just as it is true that married women who have changed their name to their married name, a married last name that is different than that found on their birth certificate--just as women every single day across this country are able to start a new job without that being an impediment, we have made sure that the SAVE Act would leave things the same way. If anything, we made it easier in the context of casting this sacred, important vote and registering to become eligible to cast such a vote. The legislation, the SAVE Act, also compels States to purge noncitizens from voter rolls and establishes Federal penalties for intentionally registering noncitizens to vote in Federal elections. Over the last 4 years, many, many millions upon millions of illegal aliens have entered our country's borders, and of those, a nonzero but ultimately unknown number of them were improperly registered to vote. No one disputes that this has happened. They don't now; they didn't last summer; they don't now because the proof is there, and it remains undisputed. At a time when trust in voting is as important as it has ever been, if not more so, we must stop any avenue for foreign election interference, and we need to pass the SAVE Act. Voting is both a sacred right and an important responsibility that accompanies American citizenship, and allowing people--people of other countries, people of other countries who are not citizens of our country--to violate the law and to access our elections and vote in our elections contrary to the law is a great blow to our security and to our self-governance. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the SAVE Act a few weeks ago, and now it is our turn to pass the SAVE Act and that we must do. In light of the foregoing and in light of the fact that, if we were to take a step like that contemplated and proposed by my friend and colleague--and he is both, the senior Senator from California--without putting in place these additional safeguards that we need in the SAVE Act, safeguards that are no more intrusive--and, in fact, if anything, are less intrusive--than those already in existence in everyday events like starting a new job, I must object, and I hereby do object.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, it is an honor to serve with my friend John Curtis. Sharon and I love John and his wife Sue. I have known them for a long time, and he is a dear friend. As you can tell, anyone who knows him loves him. Anyone who doesn't know him, from watching his speech, can tell that he is a man of great intellect, great conviction, and also he is a really likable person. I feel so fortunate to work with him. Welcome to the Senate, and congratulations on absolutely a fantastic maiden speech. I am relieved you decided not to try to break Cory Booker's record today. We will save that one for another day.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, it is my distinct pleasure to recognize 21 exemplary men and women who are among the best and brightest that Utah has to offer. These individuals have answered the call to service by applying and receiving appointments to the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Naval Academy. As a Member of Congress, it is my privilege under title 10 of the U.S. Code to nominate young men and women to these iconic service academies. However, receiving a congressional nomination does not guarantee acceptance. To be admitted, each applicant must meet--on his or her own merits--the academies' rigorous standards. I am happy to report that each individual has done this and more. They have demonstrated their impressive mental and physical aptitude, which are essential in meeting the standard of excellence upon which our service academies are built. Perhaps more importantly, they have shown their high moral character and capacity for leadership, courage, honesty, prudence, and self-discipline. They maintain a steadfast commitment to stand up for our country. I can say without hesitation or exaggeration that you would be hard- pressed to find a more accomplished, talented, patriotic group of citizens than these young Americans. They will be a credit to our Nation as they begin their training in Colorado Springs, Kings Point, West Point, and Annapolis. I look forward to seeing what they do in their academic years and beyond. It is one of my greatest honors to recognize and congratulate these fine Utahns in the U.S. Senate: Wilford William Beck, from Highland, Utah, will join his brother at the U.S. Naval Academy as a midshipman. He maintained a 4.0 GPA at Lone Peak High School while taking challenging classes. Wil lettered in cross country and tennis, where he also served as captain and helped lead his team to a state championship. He participated in the Chinese Club and provided community service with his church youth group and at the VA hospital. He participated in multiple medical mission trips to Honduras to provide assistance to those in need. Kohler C. Beckstrand has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A student of Davis High School, Kohler challenged himself in both academics, where he took a high number of AP classes, and athletics, where he ran cross country and track. He was a member of the National Honor Society and the Health Organization Students of America (HOSA). He plays trumpet and earned superior ratings in the Solo and Ensemble festival. Kohler is active in his community serving neighbors and leading food drives. Asher Randall Bowcutt after graduating from Copper Hills High School will enter the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served as captain of both the football team, where he earned Academic All-State Honors, and the track and field team, where he holds school records in the shot put and discus, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Asher enjoys snowboarding, chess, drawing, and working as a welder with Hardwick Machinery. He will follow his grandfather, aunts, and uncles into Army service. Dawson Lee Douglas accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. From Sandy, Utah, he will graduate from Alta High School where he took a high number of AP classes and was awarded AP Scholar with Distinction. He stays active in sports and volunteers in his neighborhood and community, where his church youth group annually puts flags on the graves of our veterans. He routinely challenges himself academically and physically and is looking forward to the challenges of the academy. Lucas McCoy Fassio will be attending the U.S. Air Force Academy after graduating from Park City High School. He stayed busy in school taking a high number of AP classes while at the same time competing for the cross-country ski team, where he has qualified for both the U.S. Junior and Senior National Cross-Country Championships. He served as captain of the Park City Ski and Snowboard Club, a member of the Park City Ski and Snowboard Leadership Athlete Council, and as an officer in the Aviation Club. Bradley Joseph Floyd, will be joining the cadets of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point following his graduation from Syracuse High School. Bradley has proven himself a leader and someone who can inspire others as the president of the band, captain of the track team, and president of his church youth group. He plays the trombone and has received superior ratings in Solo and Ensemble and Jazz and Wind festivals. Bradley said his father is his inspiration and he will be following his father into the Army. Aadi Garg graduated from Providence Hall Charter School and has been attending the University of Utah. He has now accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He prepared himself by participating in Navy JROTC where he served as the platoon leader and was on the academic, orienteering, and PT teams. He played tennis and ran on the cross-country and track and field teams. He earned Academic All-State awards and was named student of the year. He served his community with the National Honor Society and the Red Cross. Zoe Lee Hein, from West Jordan, has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She is serving as Senior Class President of Copper Hills High School and is captain of the track and field team where she holds several school records in the long jump, 100M, 200m, and relays. She is an AAU All American. She maintains a 4.0 with a rigorous academic schedule and is a member of the National Honor Society. She descends from a long line of military service members and will be the first female in her family to serve. Malcolm Johnson accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. A graduate last year of Herriman High School, Malcolm has spent this year at the Naval Academy Preparatory School. In high school, Malcolm was captain of the basketball team, was awarded the school's Male Athlete of the Year, and earned Academic All-State Honors. He worked in his community serving in food kitchens and gathering supplies for those in need. He is known for his natural leadership abilities and unwavering work ethic. Aedan Frederick Marr will be attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point after his graduation from Corner Canyon High School. He served as captain of the track and field team and lettered on the state champion football team. The Eagle Scout earned two Gold Eagle Palms, a Silver Eagle Palm, and two Bronze Eagle Palms. He was a leader in JROTC, serving as a squad leader, platoon sergeant, and acting company commander. He lived in Germany where both his mother and father served in the Army. Keon Matinkhah, from Salt Lake City, has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He attended the Northwestern Preparatory Academy after graduating from the American Preparatory Academy, where he served two years as student body president. As captain of the Speech and Debate team, he took first in the state for Oratory. He is an accomplished road cyclist and was a member of the Ascent Cycling Club. He participates in Ironman and Spartan races and has raised money for cancer research through his racing. Kaitlyn Olivia Meyer was proud to accept her appointment to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. She will soon graduate from Skyridge High School in Lehi. Kait attended Girls State, is a member of the National Honor Society, and is active in her church youth group. She joined the Air Force JROTC and participated on the Raiders team. Kait is captain of the track and field team and was a leader on both her high school and club soccer teams, where she was the game MVP five times and the defensive MVP eight times. Ian McKay Nielsen will join the midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy after graduating from West High School. A 4.0 student with a heavy load of AP classes, Ian still found time for the Arabic Club and the Boy Scouts. He led the wrestling team in high school and is a champion Sport Bike and SuperMoto racer. He joins a long family legacy of military service that includes his brother, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 2025, his sister in Air Force ROTC, and grandfathers, who each have their own noble records of service. Samantha Pope will follow in her father's footsteps and attend the U.S. Air Force Academy. The volleyball captain helped her Lone Peak High School volleyball team earn two state championships. Not to be outdone, her basketball team also earned two state championships. Sam has been preparing academically and physically for the academy since she was young. The natural leader remembered those who helped her with her community service as she prepared bags for 2,500 teachers through Show Up For Teachers. Theodore Sun Seigrist will be joining his sister at the U.S. Naval Academy. He has been living in Hong Kong with his family and attending the Chinese International School. Teo has made a name for himself as a champion rugby athlete. While challenging himself with an International Baccalaureate class load, he has also tutored refugees in Hong Kong, and helped develop a video game, through Games for Change, to educate young people about ocean pollution. He plays piano and enjoys studying military history and taking time out to ski and scuba dive. Joseph M. Smith, from Santa Clara, has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A 4.0 student from Snow Canyon High School, Joseph excelled in his AP and concurrent enrollment classes. The senior class president attended Boys State and served as a youth city councilman, and as captain of his football team. His skill in javelin helped his track and field team win two state championships. He participated in Air Force JROTC where he served as staff sergeant. Joseph hosts a religious podcast and enjoys hunting and pickleball. William Nakanelua Stant will be attending the U.S. Air Force Academy after graduating from Pine View High School in St. George. Active in Air Force ROTC, William served in many leadership positions--including drill commander and the unit executive officer--and participated in the JROTC drill team, color guard, and Raiders team. He earned the Air & Space Forces Association. He was captain of the high school swimming team and vice-president of the Ping Pong club. He joins several members of his family in military service, including his great-uncle who was a Navajo Code Talker. Abigail Thornton, a student of West High School, will join her brother and other cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She was very active in high school, taking a number of AP and International Baccalaureate courses and joining the soccer, basketball, and track and field teams. In addition to serving as the captain of her high school soccer team and twice earning the team MVP, she also plays for a number of club soccer teams. She was a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, Hope Squad, and Environmental club. Bradley Rex Thornton will be returning to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with his sister after serving a church mission in Texas Fort Worth. He graduated from West High School where he served as captain of the basketball team and as a student body officer. He coordinated school assemblies and joined both the German Club and Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA). Bradley was active in the Boy Scouts and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Caleb Bradley Watson will be returning to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point after serving a church mission in Mision Chile Concepcion. Caleb originally entered the academy in 2022 after graduating from Hillcrest High School. During high school, he was captain of the baseball team and was a member of the National Honor Society. He attended Boys State and served on the Draper Mayor's Youth City Council. He was active in the Boy Scouts where he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Preston Lee Whatcott accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The Corner Canyon High School student continues the academy and military tradition in his family but wanted West Point over following his brother and father to the Air Force Academy. He is an excellent student, who has been studying Chinese for over twelve years. Preston is an Eagle Scout and has been a leader in his church youth group and on the Draper Mayor's Youth City Council. In addition to playing football, he also enjoys golf, track, and filming and editing videos. It has been inspiring to meet with and nominate each of these exceptional young men and women. They give me great hope for the future of our armed services and confidence in the future of our Nation. To these 21 appointees and to all their future classmates from around the country, I thank you for your commitment to service and commend your achievements. While this is but the beginning of your journey, I urge you to remember the foundation of your success thus far. You would not have arrived at this point without the dedication and example of your parents, family, teachers, coaches, and mentors. Moreover, you would not have arrived at this point without your own sacrifice and hard work. Strive to continue on the path of strong moral character, and to keep love of country as a guiding principle. Look to the past with gratitude and to the future with conviction. If you stay this course, I have no doubt that your future holds great things in store. I look forward to your continued service to our country.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, do not let the false hype from these sponsors fool you. All this amendment does is to stop the proceeds for any land sales from being used to pay down the deficit. It doesn't stop land sales. In fact, just last year, the author of this amendment passed a law to dispose of Federal land in Colorado. If you are from a State like mine, where the Federal Government owns two-thirds of the land and restricts our ability to do anything, everything--develop land; build houses, which we desperately need; even to fund our schools, our search and rescue, our police services--then, all of a sudden, we are told that when land sales occur, as they routinely do, we cannot use that to pay down our $36 trillion debt. This is disgraceful. We must vote it down. I encourage my colleagues to vote, emphatically, no. Vote on Amendment No. 2107

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, this amendment asks us to believe a lie, and the lie is that FEMA provides nonpartisan disaster relief. Until a few months ago, many of us hoped and expected that that would be the case. Alas, it was not. During a contentious election cycle and in the wake of catastrophic damage by hurricanes and amidst lawfare galore, FEMA officials directed its relief workers to avoid giving aid to Florida homes displaying Trump signs. One FEMA official, speaking on a condition of remaining anonymous, said that it is a longstanding practice and an open secret to avoid White or conservative-dominated areas. Several FEMA officials have been fired since the investigation is ongoing. My counterpart from Florida, Representative Steube, has reported 35 credible claims of widespread discrimination against conservatives. This kind of behavior is reprehensible, and it is un- American. Look, the amendment is a clear attempt to paper over this egregious malpractice of a rogue and unaccountable Agency. President Trump was right when he said FEMA should not have the central role providing disaster relief. FEMA needs to get out of the way and let States handle disaster recovery. We are not going to paper over it. Not now, not ever.

Mr. LEE

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

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Madam President, the State of Utah, last night, lost a dedicated public servant, a loving mother, and a trailblazing leader, as well as a friend to many: Mia Love returned home to her Heavenly Father at the age of 49 after a courageous battle with glioblastoma, leaving behind a legacy of faith, service, and an unshakable belief in the American dream. Mia was a woman of many firsts. She was the first Haitian American elected to Congress. She was also the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress; a first generation American whose parents immigrated to this country with just $10 in their pockets but with the firm belief that America was and still is a land of opportunity. She was never one to follow a script, at least not one written by someone else. Mia spoke her mind and never allowed others to define her. Mia knew that this country wasn't defined by where you start but by the opportunities you seize and the work you put in. Her parents Marie and Jean Maxime Bourdeau fled the brutal dictatorship of Francois Duvalier and came to the United States in search of freedom. Born in Brooklyn on December 6, 1975, Mia grew up watching her parents' sacrifices and learning the value of hard work: [T]he America I came to know growing up was filled with all the excitement found in living the American dream, she once wrote. Her family moved to Connecticut in 1981, and later, while she was attending the University of Hartford, Mia's life would drastically change in two ways: She became a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and met Jason, then a young missionary for that church. After Jason had completed his mission, the two would later reconnect, marry, and move to Utah, building a life together and raising three wonderful children: Alessa, Abigaile, and Peyton. Utah quickly realized the natural-born leader in Mia. She cited that one of the driving factors in her decision to run for Congress was an episode in which the Supreme Court was considering a case to remove the words ``under God'' from the Pledge of Allegiance. She believed that words mattered, and those words mattered in particular so much so that she got into the business of politics. Her convictions carried her through her time on the Saratoga Springs City Council, throughout her tenure as mayor, and later in her historic election and service to Congress. It quickly became apparent to everyone watching that Mia Love was a rising star in politics, not just throughout the State of Utah but throughout America, and we saw the beginning stages of that when Mia made the decision to run against a then-Democratic incumbent Congressman, Representative Jim Matheson, who is a member of one of Utah's most prominent political families. The GOP field that year was crowded in the race to replace the Democrat, Matheson, with a Republican, but Mia Love delivered many powerful speeches that election season, including on the day of the Republican Convention, in 2012. Those speeches would make her an icon on the national Republican stage. Her narrow loss in that race in 2012 would not deter her. If anything, her loss that year spurred her to action, returning her to the field with a reinvigorated sense of enthusiasm for pursuing office. She ran for Congress again and was elected in 2014, defeating Democratic incumbent Doug Owens in one of the most competitive districts in the country. She would go on to defeat Owens a second time to win reelection in 2016. Mia Love never backed down from a challenge, whether it was breaking barriers, standing up for constituents, or taking on difficult fights, like her relentless efforts to bring Josh Holt home after 2 years of unjust imprisonment in Venezuela. When Josh Holt finally stepped off the plane in Salt Lake City, Mia was there to welcome him home. But that, of course, was the end and not the beginning of that process. She had actually been there the day before, when she met Josh in person for the first time. You see, Mia fought for 2 years to get this man out of a Venezuelan prison--a man she had never met, but she recognized him as a Utahn overseas in need of help. I discovered that day, at the White House, while visiting with President Trump and Mia Love and a few others that were gathered there, that Mia had taken on this challenge and had been in constant contact with Josh Holt's family the entire time he was in prison. She would not let go until he was home, and she got him home. Even when faced with her greatest personal challenge, she leaned on the same principles that guided her throughout her entire life: her faith, her optimism, and her refusal to give up. ``Don't underestimate the power of a positive attitude,'' she told CNN's Jake Tapper after her diagnosis, and she never, ever did give up. Mia knew she had a role to play in our Nation's future. She was a fighter, a leader, and, above all, a woman of deep conviction who lived her life in service to her faith, to her family, and to her country. I hope the Nation will join me in praying for Mia Love's family and remembering her as the friend, the mother, the trailblazer, and the patriot we all knew. One of my favorite characteristics of Mia Love--one that surfaced in my every interaction with her--was her defiant positivity. No matter how hard things were in Washington at any given time, every single time I saw Mia, she had a smile on her face, and she had words of encouragement for me and for everyone around her. Whether they agreed with her on a particular issue or not, she was there offering encouragement and a way forward. That is the kind of leader we all benefit from knowing and the kind of friend that I feel very blessed to have made. May Mia Love rest in peace, and may the great things that she worked for in this life inspire the people of Utah--and all Americans, for that matter--to better serve each other, our families, and our country. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I have nine 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 agriculture, nutrition, and forestry The Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing. committee on commerce, science, and transportation The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 11 a.m., to conduct a hearing. committee on environment and public works The Committee on Environment and Public Works is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing. committee on the judiciary The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 10:15 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. committee on small business and entrepreneurship The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing. committee on veterans' affairs The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 10 a.m., to conduct a joint hearing. special committee on aging The Special Committee on Aging is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 3:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing. select committee on intelligence The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed business meeting followed by a closed briefing. subcommittee on digital assets The Subcommittee on Digital Assets of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, in accordance with rule XXVI, paragraph 2, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I submit the rules governing the procedure of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for publication in the Congressional Record. I ask unanimous consent that they be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, the American people are being told once again not to trust their own eyes. Democrats are telling them not to worry about their soaring electricity bills, telling them to ignore rolling blackouts. Republicans are just fearmongering, they say. But, of course, the reality is that Americans have seen the power shortages. They have paid the higher bills. They have felt the weight of the past 4 years of the failed policies of the Biden administration, and we cannot ignore the resulting crisis anymore. The power grid is buckling, energy demand is exploding, and the very people who created this mess are now telling us, quite audaciously, that there is no emergency. Why? Well, they claim that the United States is producing more energy than we have in American history, but what they conveniently omit is that we are consuming more energy than at any time in American history, and we are expected to need much, much more within just the next few years--much more than we are producing, much more than we ever have produced. So it is not enough to just look at how much we are producing relative to what we have produced in the past when you don't take into account the demand, what we need, and what we need is going way, way up. Now, according to Goldman Sachs, artificial intelligence alone--just artificial intelligence, nothing else; not population growth, not any other uses, household or industrial, of energy--just artificial intelligence alone is likely to drive a 160-percent increase in data center power demand by 2030. The largest data centers can consume more power than 700,000 households. That is equivalent to the energy use of a city of 1.8 million people. But there is no emergency, according to them. According to the sponsors of this resolution, this is just a handout. It is a handout to Big Oil, as they characterize it. Now, good luck with that. Try telling that to the American families and businesses that struggled during the January 2025 polar vortex when the U.S. power grid was pushed to its absolute limits. Electricity demand hit historic highs, forcing grid operators to rely heavily on coal and natural gas-- the very sources of power that Democrats want to eliminate and have been working aggressively, with some effectiveness, to do precisely that: to eliminate--just to keep the lights on. It is not Big Oil that will suffer in the winters if we fail to keep the power on. Across multiple power market regions, electricity demand during that event set new single-day records, as heating demand across sectors spiked. In response, grid operators had to rely heavily on dispatchable generation--primarily coal and natural gas--to ensure system reliability and stabilize supply during the extreme event. Now, during that time, coal-fired powerplants dramatically increased their electric power output--that is, those coal-fired powerplants that have not yet been torn down at the demand of Democratic-backed policies. In many regions, coal capacity factors soared above 80 percent, far exceeding typical winter levels. On the other hand, wind and solar were challenged by unfavorable weather conditions. On peak days, wind and solar generated only 3 percent and 0.2 percent of the incremental electricity needed to meet demand. But what exactly are Democrats worried about? What is their concern amidst that very emergency? If that is not an emergency, I don't know what is. What is it they are worried about? Not grid failures. Not surging energy costs. Not the reliability of our power supply. No. No. They are concerned that President Trump is making things worse by canceling the wind and solar projects that failed to generate enough power to meet demand at those peak moments when it was so badly needed. They are using the same old playbook that they always have: Do anything to prevent President Trump from getting a win regardless of whether his policies might actually bring relief to the American people, which, of course, they would. I have spent my career fighting against unchecked Executive power. I authored the ARTICLE ONE Act to curb the abuse of Presidential emergency declarations, requiring congressional approval within 30 days. But let me be clear. This is not an abuse of those powers--not by a mile; not at all; not in any way, shape, or form. It is a real emergency, and if President Trump's declaration were put to a vote today, this Chamber would affirm it. Congress has had countless chances to fix this problem and failed every time. Republicans have fought for years to reform our outdated permitting laws, only to be met with Democratic resistance at every turn. NEPA, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act--Democrats treat these laws as if they were sacred texts, untouchable even when they are clearly broken; a sacred text that can't be not just repealed but even amended meaningfully to avert the disaster that they have created--especially created in the hands of the previous administration. Now, at this moment, we hear that they are ready to play ball. Now and only now do they say: Oh, yeah, we need to deal with this. Now, if that is true, great, but let's see. If Democrats are serious about fixing it, now is the time to prove it. Until Congress acts, how can anyone really blame the President for stepping in to address this emergency? Which it is, which it has become, which it undeniably is. In some cases, an emergency can be created by the government itself or at least severely exacerbated, and that is the case here. His Executive order tells Agencies to do exactly what Congress has neglected to do for years, exactly what Congress has been unable to do--in large part because Democrats have resisted that, getting back to the sacred text theory of these same laws that have become part of the problem. However, rather than working with President Trump and Republicans in a productive way to try to make energy more accessible for Americans and more reliable and, of course, remain affordable, Senate Democrats are forcing a vote on a resolution to terminate President Trump's declaration and reinstate the restrictive energy policies from the Biden administration's Green New Deal. Look at where those policies have left us, where they have put us, where we are, and where we are headed. Energy prices increased by 30.54 percent, gasoline prices increased by 30.5 percent, electricity prices increased by 28.55 percent, and natural gas prices increased by 33.3 percent. Meanwhile, Democrats' message to American families is clear: Pay more, expect less. That is the sort of gospel of scarcity, the idea that we have to live off of scarcity because that is what they demand because government wants it that way for reasons that only they can fully articulate but that the American people do not find persuasive. This is a problem. The United States is, in fact, in an energy emergency--not because of a lack of resources but because the Biden administration's unrelenting regulatory assault on domestic oil and gas production in blind adherence to the climate cartel has put us in this position. Now, President Biden's Executive orders--including orders he issued on his very first day as President of the United States back in January of 2021--pausing all new oil and gas leasing on Federal lands, where nearly 25 percent of U.S. oil production occurs, significantly hindered U.S. energy independence. Even after courts mandated the resumption of these leasing programs essential to our energy development, Secretary Haaland slow-walked the process, offering the fewest acres for lease since World War II and holding a record-low number of offshore lease sales. The chilling effect of the Biden administration's anti-production policies is as undeniable as it is indefensible as a matter of public policy. Oil companies are withdrawing from investments in Federal lands due to the uncertainty created by erratic leasing decisions and hostile regulatory policies. Now, let's remember, of course, this is made more severe by virtue of the fact that the U.S. Government is not just the largest landowner in the United States, but it owns around 28 percent--between one-quarter and one-third of all land in the United States. We compound that by giving enormous discretion to Federal land management Agencies, to the executive branch, and then you put in place an administration that wants to preach and live by the gospel of scarcity, and that is a recipe for disaster. Biden's EPA contributed meaningfully to the problem as well. The Biden EPA introduced methane fees starting at $900 per metric ton in 2025 and increasing to $1,500 over just a fairly short period of time. That imposes significant financial burdens on producers, particularly small operators. Now, lest anyone led by the Democratic talking points might be tempted to look at this and say ``Oh, but they are businesses. They can afford it. Suck it up. Just deal with it,'' that is not really who pays for this, no. These things get passed on. The wealthy folks--at least the wealthy folks who own these businesses--they are not the ones hardest hit by this. Those hardest hit are American families, particularly in low- and middle-income brackets, those who, like so many Americans, live paycheck to paycheck. It is those people whose way of life, whose livelihood, whose ability to afford life is so dramatically affected by these regulatory intrusions into the marketplace. Those are the people who get hurt, and that really is a problem. Meanwhile, as our domestic production slows, our reliance on foreign oil increases. In 2023, we imported 1.3 million barrels per day from OPEC, up nearly 50 percent from 2020 levels. Meanwhile, critical mineral dependencies on foreign nations--particularly China--threaten everything from titanium in pacemakers, to cobalt in batteries, to copper in transmission lines and antimony in semiconductors. The absence of just one of these minerals would devastate the sectors they serve. Yet the Biden administration, with its vast discretion as it invented and reinvented Federal regulations and as it presided over this Byzantine labyrinth of Federal regulations--laws put in place by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats--can make those things much worse, and it did make those things much worse, and the American people, hard- working Americans, are paying too high a price. The American people are done. They are done with Joe Biden's failed policies. Over 77 million Americans voted for President Trump just a few months ago, and a recent poll shows that 60 percent of Americans support expanding American oil and gas production. Senate Republicans will not let Democrats delay and obstruct any longer. They have created and exacerbated an emergency. President Trump is addressing it, as the law allows him to do. We will ensure the President has the tools necessary to deliver the results that the American people justifiably expect, demand, and truly do deserve, because the facts are undeniable. America is in an energy emergency because of the Federal Government and specifically because of the previous administration's failed policies. Instead of embracing abundant, affordable, and reliable energy, Democrats--again preaching and living by the gospel of scarcity to which they are so closely wedded--are doubling down on a radical agenda to make everything, from gasoline to electricity, more expensive for working families. Remember, as the price of those energy inputs goes up, so, too, does the price of everything else because it becomes more expensive to make, to process, to buy, to sell, to transport all of those same things. Instead of learning from those failures, Senate Democrats are trying to block President Trump from taking action to fix it. What? Are they too afraid that their own policies will be exposed as the source of a significant amount of the problem? You will have to ask them about that. But one could certainly make that argument, and it certainly appears to many that this is the case. They are standing in the way of relief for American families, hoping that if they delay long enough, the American people will simply accept high costs as the new normal. Only in Washington could you light the house on fire and then act shocked when someone else tries to put it out. Make no mistake, that is exactly what is happening here. We refuse to let that happen. We applaud President Trump for taking action to address an emergency created by our own government--presided over, directed, embraced, and now defended by the Democratic Party. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this resolution.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, Congress, not unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats, should be making our laws. Article I, section 7 of the Constitution requires nothing less. And yet we generate about 100,000 pages of new laws a year. This is choking the American people. The prior administration imposed countless rules and regulations that imposed trillions in new economic costs on the private sector. Many of these rules have been estimated to increase Federal spending, Federal mandatory outlays, by hundreds of billions of dollars without congressional approval. The Federal Government already spends too much money. This has contributed to persistent inflation the last couple of years and a debt level that will soon reach record-level highs that we cannot sustain. Congress shouldn't allow regulatory-driven spending to continue to worsen our country's fiscal and economic health. I encourage my colleagues to support my amendment and demonstrate to the American people that they are serious about reducing excessive regulatory burdens. What we are trying to do is to push ``pause'' on these to bring about the reduction in these mandatory outlays. I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 922 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, article II of the U.S. Constitution declares the President of the United States to be the person who holds the executive power. He has the discretion to hire and fire those who work in executive branch Agencies. Now, for decades, staffing for the Federal land and wildlife management and outdoor recreation Agencies has been a bipartisan issue. This amendment does not do that. Instead, it attempts to turn Federal land management Agency employment into a political football. As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address issues affecting Federal land management and Federal land management employees, including finding innovative solutions for their housing, working to ensure the concessionaires have flexibility and are not held up in endless paperwork, and giving land managers flexibility to work with their counties and gateway communities to hire qualified employees and work with gateway community businesses. This is not that amendment. This goes the wrong way, and I oppose it.

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, reducing energy costs for all Americans starts with reducing rent pay to develop our energy resources. If we built more gas pipelines, if we built more powerplants, more transmission lines, it will lower costs for consumers across the country. Now, our friends on the other side of the aisle, the Democrats, spent decades attempting to force unreliable, expensive nonbaseload sources of power--things like solar, wind, and battery storage--not using the free market, using mandates and subsidies. That is not how we do things. It doesn't actually reduce costs. This just forces American taxpayers to subsidize those industries. If we end the clean energy mandates and cut through the redtape that is stifling the energy development, we can make energy affordable and reliable for all Americans. But, look, since the amendment does not meet the standard required by law, I raise a point of order against the amendment under section 305(b)(2)of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Motion to Waive

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Madam President, you don't need to be an economist to know that something went terribly wrong over the last 4 years. Just ask any family paying their utility bills and buying appliances or filling up their cars with gas at the pump. Prices skyrocketed, and wages haven't kept pace--not even close. When Americans opened their energy bills, they didn't see climate plans; they saw costs piling up and questions they couldn't answer: Why is this so expensive? Why is Washington making it so much worse? With America's abundant resources of oil, gas, nuclear, geothermal, hydropower, et cetera, Biden's Secretary of Energy could have spearheaded an era of energy dominance and energy abundance. Instead, the opposite happened. Secretary Granholm used her position to funnel taxpayer dollars to her friends in Michigan, while the rest of the country struggled under soaring energy prices and mounting inflation. Under Secretary Granholm, the Department of Energy was reduced to a taxpayer-funded piggy bank for political allies and for her pet projects. Rather than unleashing American energy, the DOE green-lit almost $23 billion in last-minute loan guarantees, with nearly 70 percent flowing to Granholm's home State of Michigan. Talk about suspicious math. The Department of Energy is a powerhouse that can help make or break our economy, our national security, and our ability to lead on the world stage. Yet, under the Biden administration, the DOE mismanaged Federal loan programs, rubberstamped regulations that raised consumer prices, and did very little to support the development of critical infrastructure that we need. The former administration's so-called clean energy policies became a subsidy machine for well-connected corporations--companies that pocketed billions while everyday Americans paid more for gas, electricity, appliances, and groceries. The Biden administration drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level in decades. This was an unfortunate move. They weaponized environmental regulations to block the development of critical pipelines, making it nearly impossible to transport energy across the country, and they made us more reliant on foreign energy resources, putting American security in the hands of OPEC and other adversarial nations. That is all about to change. It is all about to change under soon-to- be Secretary Chris Wright. Chris Wright understands that affordable, abundant energy is imperative to our national security. It is what allows families to heat their homes in the winter without going broke. It is what enables businesses to grow, hire, and compete globally; and it is what keeps America secure, independent, and free from the whims of foreign suppliers. At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Wright commented on a lot of this and made commitments to rein in waste, fraud, and abuse, especially at the Loan Programs Office, which Granholm used to dole out loan commitments at a pace exponentially faster than what we have seen in years past. This kind of reckless spending didn't lead to breakthroughs in efficiency or cost savings for consumers. No. Instead, it drove up the national debt and lined the pockets of the well-connected. Chris Wright won't treat the Department of Energy as a slush fund of sorts for political favors. No, his vision is simple: Get the DOE back on track--back to work on prioritizing energy abundance, technological innovation, and exports that strengthen our position on the global stage rather than weaken it. Mr. Wright also promised to review the DOE's Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, which has become another example of how the previous administration drove up costs, all under the guise of energy savings. As nearly every American can attest, these regulations on common household appliances like dishwashers, dryers, and stoves--just to name a few--haven't made appliances work better or last longer; they have mostly made things more expensive and work not nearly as well. It is important to remember the extent to which they really have made things more expensive. Chris Wright understands that innovation doesn't come from forcing inferior products on consumers. It comes from creating an environment where better technologies can thrive. It is telling that even my colleagues across the aisle recognized Mr. Wright's competence by giving him really strong bipartisan support out of committee. Chris Wright deserves that same bipartisan support on the floor today. He deserves it because we all understand that continuing down this path--our current path, the path we have been on for the last 4 years, this path of reckless spending and ideological crusades--is unsustainable. Chris Wright, of course, must do more than reverse the damage. He must rebuild trust with the American people and secure our place as the dominant global energy leader. We have a new path ahead. Mr. Wright offers us a path where the Department of Energy serves the American people, not special interests; a future where entrepreneurs, not bureaucrats, are the ones who drive innovation; a future where energy abundance lowers costs, grows our economy, and protects our national security. We can continue down the path of inflated prices, foreign dependence, and mismanaged resources, or we can choose a better path. We can make a clean break. We can choose leadership prioritizing the American worker, the American family, the American consumer, and the American future. The failures of the past don't have to define our future. We find ourselves in the position where we can look at this and chart a course--a course directed at what can be unburdened by what has been. With Chris Wright leading the way at DOE, we can unleash American energy and ensure prosperity for generations to come. It is time for us to confirm Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I have six 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 commerce, science, and transportation The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 10 a.m., to conduct an executive session. committee on commerce, science, and transportation The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination. committee on finance The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination. committee on the judiciary The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 9 a.m., to conduct an executive business meeting. committee on small business and entrepreneurship The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 3:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination. special committee on aging The Special Committee on Aging is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 3:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. LEE

Mr. LEE. Mr. President, Americans are paying more and getting less for just about everything--more for energy, more for housing, more for the most basic necessities--and, frankly, they are tired of it. Across the country, businesses are struggling with higher costs. Families are burdened by rising prices, and entire industries are stalling under the weight of heavyhanded regulations handed down from unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC. The Department of the Interior could and should be part of the solution. Instead, it has been part of the problem. In fact, in many instances, in countless respects, it is the problem. The worst part is that it didn't have to be this way. Under Secretary Deb Haaland, the Biden administration had a choice. They had the tools at their disposal to alleviate the struggles of millions of Americans and to ensure affordable, reliable energy. Instead, it chose to abandon them. Instead, it chose to surrender to ideological zealotry and foreign powers that do not have our best interests at heart. Now Americans are paying the price. The Department of the Interior is not an Agency of limited consequence. It governs nearly one-fifth of the land mass of the entire United States. It wields the power to dictate the fate of energy production, water rights, wildlife conservation, and the livelihoods of millions of Americans, especially in public land-rich States like my home State of Utah. And yet, for the last 4 years, Secretary Haaland stood idly by, doubling down on policies that throttled domestic production while begging foreign adversaries to fill the gap. Governor Doug Burgum understands what Secretary Haaland apparently forgot--that abundant, affordable energy is a fundamental pillar of our national security as Americans. But Secretary Haaland's failures don't stop at energy. The Department of the Interior touches nearly every aspect of life in the West, from land management to water rights, often to the detriment of those who depend on it. Now, for States like Utah, where two-thirds of the land is owned by the Federal Government, Washington's mismanagement is not an abstract or a theoretical debate. The consequences that we face as a result of decisions made at Interior affect us in a real and profound way. Expanding national monuments without local input and contrary to what local input was given, imposing suffocating land use restrictions, and burying--quite deliberately--resource development under an avalanche of redtape are not the actions of a government that serves them. They are the actions of a government that rules and lords over them. The consequences of that mismanagement stretch higher than elevated prices at the pump. As wildfires ravaged the West, reducing homes to ash and livelihoods to memory, Secretary Haaland and President Biden condescendingly lectured the American people that climate change was to blame. Unfortunately, for them, the reality is far less convenient. Decades of Federal neglect have transformed our forests into kindling. Their refusal to engage in responsible forest management to clear the dead wood and to thin the overgrowth has created a veritable tinderbox of catastrophic proportions. And still, they offered nothing but platitudes and punitive regulations that all but ensured that the cycle of destruction would continue. The West faces another government-made crisis--housing. Entire generations are locked out of homeownership as Federal mismanagement hoards vast swaths of land that could be used to alleviate the crisis. The Department of the Interior could be an instrument of relief, identifying underutilized Federal lands and unlocking them for development. My bill, the HOUSES Act, shows how we can do this. But for the past 4 years, the government has lamented housing shortages while ensuring their permanence. It has drawn near to the plight of the American people with its lips, but its heart has been shown to be far from those they are supposed to serve. Then, of course, there is water. The Colorado River, a lifeline of the West, is withering, strangled by indecision and regulatory paralysis. States plead for coordination to create a coherent strategy to preserve this resource for millions. What they receive, instead, are ditherings from an administration more interested in virtue-signaling than problem-solving. DOI desperately needs a leader who will act. Governor Burgum is that leader. We need a leader who grasps that our national parks--America's crown jewels--have great potential to be economic engines, drawing millions and sustaining, in some cases, entire communities. Yet infrastructure crumbles, visitor access is restricted, and the Federal Government's response is as lethargic as it is incompetent. Governor Burgum understands what is at stake. He has spent his entire career bringing people together to solve problems. He has earned the trust of Tribes, of businesses, conservationists, and working families alike. He understands that we cannot regulate our way into prosperity, nor can we regulate our way into abundance. He understands that it is not just numbers on a balance sheet or reports gathering dust in Washington. It is real; and for many of us, it is deeply, deeply personal. A rancher in Utah is watching his grazing rights disappear under arbitrary Federal decrees. A miner in West Virginia sees his livelihood strangled by regulations written by people who have never even set foot in a coal town. A small business in Arizona is struggling with soaring energy costs that make it harder to keep the lights on. A farmer in Wyoming is fighting for water that once flowed freely but is now trapped. These are the people who suffer when the Department of the Interior forgets its mission. These are the families who pay the price when Washington prioritizes leftist ideology over reality. Governor Doug Burgum's leadership offers a clear alternative: a future where the Department of the Interior serves the people rather than ruling over them; a future where energy abundance strengthens our economy and our national security; a future where public lands are managed with the input of those who depend on them, not dictated by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats far off in Washington, DC; a future where housing is within reach, water is safeguarded, and natural resources are used responsibly to support the communities that rely on them; a future where Americans can depend on more than just serendipity; they can rely on sound policies designed to benefit them. Americans can and should be getting more for their dollar. Governor Burgum understands that and has the experience and vision to make it happen. It is time for us to confirm Governor Doug Burgum as the next Secretary of the Interior. It is time for us to move forward. It is time to accept that freedom is the destiny and birthright of the American people; that government exists to serve us, not the other way around. I urge my colleagues, with all the urgency I am capable of communicating, to swiftly and resoundingly confirm Governor Doug Burgum.