Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Vladimir Putin's reelection campaign is employing a slogan that the Russian people--and the rest of the world-- have actually heard before. Here is what it is: ``Russia's borders do not end anywhere.'' ``Russia's borders do not end anywhere.'' That is Vladimir Putin. The map of Europe illustrates what he means in the starkest possible terms. A brazen war of conquest is headed toward its 11th year. Two years of Russia's brutal escalation in Ukraine has subjected a sovereign nation to horrific losses and heinous war crimes. Since well before Russian troops made their first run toward Kyiv in February of 2022, I have been pushing for the decisive capabilities Ukraine needed to defend itself. And I have held President Biden to account for not doing more sooner to give our friends a decisive edge against Putin's aggression and for not investing more seriously in rebuilding America's military strength. But I have never been under any delusion about why America was backing Ukraine's fight. This has never been about charity. It is not about charity. It is not about virtue signaling or abstract principles of international relations. This is about cold, hard American interests. It is in the United States' direct interest for authoritarians not to feel free to redraw maps by force. It is in our interest to help degrade the military of a major adversary without committing American lives to the effort. It is in our interest to help blunt aggressive behavior before it triggers wider conflict and directly threatens our closest allies and trading partners. We cannot pretend that America is inoculated against the consequences of a war in Europe. We can't afford to harbor the notion that leaving Russian aggression unchecked would somehow enhance America's posture and strategic competition with China. Accelerating Russian defeat in Europe is precisely what will help ensure we don't wind up dealing with simultaneous aggression from adversaries in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Even as a global superpower, this is not a burden America should resign to bear alone, and, fortunately, we don't have to. Over the past 2 years, our European allies have taken a more serious and sober accounting of the requirements of a collective defense. They are now fast overtaking America's share of overall security assistance to Ukraine, and we already trail the contributions of 13 allies measured as a share of GDP. This is certainly good news for collective defense and for the urgent demands that press upon American strength. The United Kingdom, for example, just pledged to invest more than $3 billion in Ukraine's fight over the next 2 years. This is on top of the tremendous leadership Great Britain has displayed since the earliest days of Putin's escalation. Germany created a =100 billion special defense fund, enacted major military reforms, and continues to make progress toward NATO's 2 percent defense spending target. Denmark is expanding its domestic industrial base and participating alongside U.S. forces in coalition operations in the Red Sea. Smaller frontline allies like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are continuing to make massive relative commitments to the cause. Estonia has pledged $1.3 billion to Ukraine over the next 4 years. Just today, even the new, right-leaning Government of Slovakia expressed clear support for the Ukrainian cause in a visit to Ukraine. More good news came yesterday. NATO is one step closer to admitting another strong and capable member to the transatlantic alliance. I am glad that Turkey's Parliament voted to ratify Sweden's accession. Unfortunately, this step took far too long and created unnecessary friction within the alliance. Sweden will bring major defense and technological capabilities into NATO on day one. The Swedes are increasing their defense budget and expanding their defense industrial capacity. This is not just good for NATO; Sweden's entry into NATO, just like Finland's before hers, is in our national interest. I know colleagues on both sides of the aisle share my expectation that Hungary--the final remaining ally to approve Sweden's accession-- will act soon to finish the job. Washington is watching. These are promising developments. Allies are taking important steps toward greater burden-sharing, but we cannot mistakenly conclude from this progress that there is also declining demand for American leadership--quite the opposite. The West's efforts to deter and defend against our adversaries in Europe, in the Middle East, and in the Indo- Pacific still require an engaged America. They require that we continue to invest heavily in new capabilities for our Armed Forces and in greater defense industrial capacity to meet soaring demand and sustain long-term competition. This is what national security supplemental legislation would do: invest tens of billions of dollars right here at home and continue to bring new, cutting-edge capabilities--made in America by American workers--into our arsenal. The Senate will very soon have a chance to restore our sovereignty at the southern border, to invest in our strategic competition with China, and to rebuild our credibility in the eyes of allies and adversaries alike.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the goals of supplemental national security legislation are pretty straightforward. We need to restore security and order at our southern border. We need to help the fight against authoritarian aggression in Europe, we need to invest seriously in competition with our top strategic adversary. And we need to stand side by side with Israel and other allies to impose real costs and restore real deterrence against Iran and its terrorist proxies. Keeping America safe, securing our interests, standing with our allies--it is a basic appeal to a fundamental governing responsibility. But, unfortunately, it is especially evident in the Middle East that the Biden administration and some of our colleagues here in the Congress have yet to muster the resolve and clarity to fulfill this responsibility. Three and a half months after Iran-backed terrorists slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on October 7, the resolve among some Washington Democrats to help our allies fight back seems to be flagging. I have said repeatedly that Israel deserves the time, space, and support it needs to restore its security. But, increasingly, the administration and some of our colleagues have expressed a different sentiment--that America deserves the final say in how Israel conducts its defense. Just consider the renewed fixation with rushing--rushing--to a two- state solution. First, why would any of us think it is a good idea to reward Hamas and the Palestinians who rejoiced on October 7 with a state? Who, I might ask, do our colleagues expect is ready to govern such a state? We know the answer is not Hamas. Every time those terrorists have faced a choice between improving the lives of Palestinians and taking the lives of Israelis, Hamas has chosen the latter. Billions upon billions of dollars in international aid and yet the only thing Gaza's rulers appear to have chosen to invest in is lethal weapons and terror tunnels. Hamas certainly doesn't want a two-state solution. It wants to destroy Israel ``from the river to the sea.'' Palestinians have endured the raw oppression of their supposed leaders' corruption and terrorism for generations. Make no mistake, the most prominent alternative to Hamas is not substantially better than the darlings of Iran's terrorist network. Leaders of the Palestinian Authority, from Arafat to Abu Mazen, have rejected every chance at an agreement to live in peace. The PA is also relentlessly and thoroughly corrupt. Their officials may skim off the top to line their own pockets rather than line terrorist tunnels with concrete like Hamas, but the result for average Palestinians is not dissimilar. I cannot understand why some of my Democratic colleagues, including the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, who pushed so hard to pass legislation combating global corruption, now want to shovel billions of taxpayer dollars to one of the most corrupt entities on the entire planet. If we are serious about countering corruption, there is no choice. There is no better place to start than with the Palestinian Authority. If there is a path to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, it is not through rewarding terror. It is through new Palestinian leaders and reformed institutions focused on improving lives, not radicalizing a generation of martyrs to destroy Israel. And yet some Washington Democrats seem infected by a new form of BDS. I don't mean the vile ``Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions'' agenda that seeks to delegitimize the Jewish State, although the growing prominence of this movement on the left is also truly worrisome. I mean ``Bibi Derangement Syndrome''--``Bibi Derangement Syndrome.'' My colleagues seem to allow their personal feelings about Israel's democratically elected Prime Minister to cloud their views about Israel. More recently, the American left is outraged that the Prime Minister would cast doubt on the Biden administration's desire to leap back into negotiations about a two-state solution. Perhaps they should listen to Israel's President, Isaac Herzog, a long-standing leader of the Israeli left. Just last week, President Herzog put to rest any notion that Prime Minister Netanyahu is the obstacle to peace. ``No Israeli in his right mind,'' he said, is focused on peace negotiations. He went on to explain that ``Israelis lost trust in the peace process because they see that terror is glorified by our neighbors.'' But he also reiterated a more fundamental point, one that my colleagues might do well to consider. Here is what he said: ``The world has to face it point blank: there is an empire of evil emanating from Iran,'' and Iran's activities undermine any chance for peace and stability. If we are serious about giving peace any hope of success, America must continue to stand with our ally Israel as it removes Hamas terrorists from any calculus of Palestinians' future. We must demand significant reforms of the Palestinian Authority, and we must lead the international effort to impose real--real--costs on Tehran until it changes its behavior.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Now, on a recent matter, I have spoken recently about the existential choice facing America's most elite universities. In the wake of October 7, an alarming surge of anti-Semitic hate swirled around the loftiest campuses in our country. And, as we are all painfully aware by now, the responses of university administrators were not exactly profiles in courage--from the equivocations and weak public statements to the absurd double standard invoked in testimony before Congress. After months of alumni uproar and pressure from the public, Harvard and Penn appeared to recognize that it was time for new management. As I have said, universities shopping for presidents would do well to focus their search on rigorous scholarly integrity, moral clarity, and a rock-solid commitment to the even enforcement of free speech. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to see any real signs that these universities have actually taken the lessons of the past few months to heart. Harvard, for its part, rolled out a new Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Semitism to much fanfare. It sounds promising--that is, until you learn that the choice for the cochair of the panel has a record of calling Israel a ``regime of apartheid.'' The university has also made no plans to terminate an exchange partnership with the university in the West Bank that proclaimed ``glory for Martyrs'' in the wake of October 7 and whose students have even been arrested for planning a terrorist attack with weapons supplied by Hamas. So you would be forgiven for assuming that cutting overt ties with terrorist-affiliated organizations would be step one in any serious effort to reform a university. These responses would be laughable if they didn't have such clear, measurable, dangerous consequences. Just last month, a poll showed one in five Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 doubts--doubts--that the Holocaust happened. Let me say that again. Just last month, a poll showed 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 doubting that the Holocaust happened. Perhaps this shouldn't surprise us when we look at young people in post-modern critical theory that subjectivizes norms and endlessly deconstructs the wisdom of the ages and problematizes and assails the very notion of objective truth. The Holocaust is not an alternative fact. It is not simply a narrative to be questioned by a student's lived experiences; yet 20 percent of the young people in this country doubt whether the most vile and systematic genocide of Jews in the history of the world ever happened. The most elite universities vying to shape their minds have now spent months in an embarrassing public struggle to avoid reckoning with their role in a rise in anti-Semitic hate. If these institutions ever hope to reclaim any mantle of cultural authority they once held, they might want to start with taking the world's oldest form of hate a bit more seriously.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this week, Senator Lankford and several colleagues continue their work to finalize the most substantial border security policy in 30 years. This agreement would come not a moment too soon. Over the past 3 years, we have watched the flood of illegal immigration tick past 6.7 million encounters--6.7 million since President Biden took office and an especially alarming surge just last year. December reportedly saw the highest monthly total for border encounters on record. The President's open borders have meant booming business for the cartels who specialize in trafficking humans and smuggling drugs and far harsher realities for American communities grappling with lethal fentanyl and the thousands of people who have died trying to cross. This is a crisis, whether the Washington Democrats are willing to call it one or not. The American people recognize what CBP and ICE are up against, even if their Commander in Chief does not. And the entire world understands what is at stake here in the Senate in the coming weeks. America's national security begins with securing and maintaining our borders. It is a matter of basic sovereignty.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, the Biden administration added the Houthis to the government's terrorist list in light of the group's sustained terrorist violence against U.S. military and commercial ships in the Red Sea. It might seem like the sensible response of a clear-eyed Commander in Chief, except that Iran-backed Houthi terror isn't new. For years, this group has made no secret of its aims. Here is their motto: God is great. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory for Islam. Why on Earth did President Biden remove the Houthis from the Terror Watchlist in the first place? And why did it take so long to admit that denying a reality of Iran-backed Houthi terror was a mistake? It is good that the President finally mustered the fortitude to authorize strikes against the terrorists who threaten America. But just like its response to Putin's war against Ukraine, the Biden administration's response to Iran-backed terrorism has been hesitant, half-measured, and openly conflicted over the risk of escalation. It is Iran that should fear the cost of escalation, not the United States and our allies. Iran must fear that terror against America's interests will result in military responses against its interests; that its complicity in Houthi attacks on global shipping will produce devastating economic pressure from all across the free world; that continued terrorism, whether by proxies or by Iranian personnel themselves, will be met with swift and costly retribution. It is all well and good for President Biden to authorize yet another round of strikes against Houthi missiles, but having to do so multiple times in the span of a week is a pretty good indication that his initial effort did not exactly send the desired message to Tehran or its proxies. The world's most active state sponsor of terrorism is actually stepping up its violence against U.S. personnel in the Middle East precisely because it doesn't believe we have the resolve to respond with strength and impose serious costs. And the chronic, compulsive effort to tie our hands only validates this assumption. It only encourages our adversaries to lash out with impunity. We know exactly what an undeterred Iran looks like. After 3 years of the Biden administration's desperate policy of conciliation, it is what we are experiencing right now. Regardless of which corners of our politics are willing to acknowledge it, America cannot hope to deter aggression with weakness. We need to start investing seriously in the capabilities and capacity to meet the tasks at hand. We are facing an axis of connected threats that stretch from Moscow to Beijing and Tehran to Pyongyang. Our adversaries speak the language of strength. Americans can't afford not to be fluent. Economic Recovery Now on another matter, this year, like last year, President Biden is still taking to the road trying to sell the American people on the wonders of Bidenomics, but working families still see right through him. On average they are spending more than $11,000 more than they were when the President took office, just to maintain the same standard of living. Less take-home pay means less spending, and small businesses are feeling the pinch. Out in Iowa, the owner of a one-of-a-kind manufacturing operation is closing its doors after 125 years in business, and the owner says lower discretionary spending is to blame. A mother of three in Arizona recently lamented to reporters: It has probably been one of the worst years. It's been very difficult for us . . . It's been difficult just buying groceries and paying bills. And across the country, working families sympathize. One poll last month found that just 14 percent of Americans thought that Biden's economic policies were actually--actually--helping them. So the President can moonlight as a traveling salesman all he wants, but pretty soon he will have to face facts: Bidenomics is a dud. Nomination of Adeel A. Mangi Mr. President, on one final matter: Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will decide whether to recommend a lifetime appointment for Adeel Mangi on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Mangi's nomination is just the latest example of the Biden administration's practice of rewarding bad behavior in the personnel business. As I explained last month, this nominee served on the board of a law school organization with an international reputation for amplifying the voices of anti-Semites and terrorist sympathizers. As a letter from the Coalition for Jewish Values recently noted, Mr. Mangi's affiliation ``raises genuine concerns about his judgment and his commitment to American principles.'' Unfortunately, the nominee's testimony before the Judiciary Committee last month did nothing to assuage these concerns. In fact, even after claiming ignorance of this disgusting and well-documented history of the organization with which he chose to affiliate, he declined repeatedly--repeatedly--to disavow it. It would be hard to sum up Mr. Mangi's record more succinctly than the joint statement of several other American Jewish organizations: [He] ``repeatedly donated to [an] extreme anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-American terrorist-affiliated organization; evaded vital questions; made improbable claims of ignorance; [and] has no judicial record.'' At some point, the Senate has to decide that this is unbecoming of a nominee to a lifetime tenure on the Federal Bench. I would urge my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to reject this nomination. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, over the weekend, President Biden once again refused to describe the situation at the southern border as a crisis. Apparently, according to the Commander in Chief, 10,000 illegal border crossings in a day--and the busiest month and year on record at the border--is, somehow, not a crisis. Needless to say, I am glad that Senator Lankford and our colleagues working on meaningful border security policy don't share that view. I am glad that we may soon be able to address an urgent crisis with urgent action. Negotiators are making headway toward the most significant border enhancements in almost 30 years. They are getting closer to delivering serious, lasting solutions to the unprecedented humanitarian and national security catastrophe that has unfolded on President Biden's watch. That is certainly good news. Of course, our colleagues' work is also the linchpin of our broader efforts to address the national security challenges we face around the world, from Russian aggression in Europe to Iran-backed terror in Israel and the Middle East, to competition with China. China Mr. President, an increasingly aggressive China represents the greatest strategic challenge of the century, and recent events in the Indo-Pacific remind us exactly what is at stake. The PRC is an expansionist, revisionist, and repressive power all at the same time. It wants to impose its will on its neighbors, regardless of their views or values, just like it does at home. Just consider the free, fair, and hotly contested elections that took place in Taiwan this past Saturday. The people of Taiwan have resisted Beijing's blatant efforts to interfere in their politics, and the PRC is clearly unhappy with the outcome of the election, which saw the DPP maintain its hold on the Presidency. But it wasn't just the results of Taiwan's elections that the PRC views as a threat. It is also the basic process itself. The idea of self-determination--of citizens actually getting a choice--terrifies the leaders in Beijing. Of course, it is impossible to watch Taiwan's defiant self-expression without thinking how fragile this autonomy can be. Just remember how swiftly the PRC has acted to snuff out forces of democracy in Hong Kong. Right now, my old friend Jimmy Lai, prolific publisher and a proud Hongkonger, is on trial. He is facing the possibility of life in prison simply for committing the crime of journalism, of seeking to publish the truth at variance with the party's definition of it. See, the Chinese Communist Party doesn't just fear its own people. It fears the pursuit of truth. And, on both counts, Beijing finds common cause with fellow authoritarians in Moscow, Tehran, and Pyongyang. These regimes, and the would-be imperialists who lead them, understand that their most precious currency isn't truth or legitimacy, but control and fear. The PRC subjects its citizens to extensive surveillance, censorship, and repression. And in the case of ethnic minorities like the Uighurs, Beijing has employed detention, sterilization, and outright genocide. Beijing fears difference. It fears dissent, and not just at home. The PRC's interference in Taiwan's democracy is emblematic of the shadow of intimidation Beijing hopes to cast further across that region. The PRC is building a military with the capacity to bend Beijing's neighbors to its will. It is putting U.S. allies like the Philippines directly in its crosshairs. It is aiming to impose direct, prohibitive cost on the United States, and it isn't pinching pennies to achieve those aims. For more than two decades, its investments in new military equipment and capabilities have grown by an average of 10 percent per year. So it has become quite fashionable in Washington to talk about how we are not taking competition with China seriously enough. But the resource this competition demands most urgently is not a stern lecture from a climate diplomat. What America and our allies need most in the race to outcompete our top strategic adversary and systemic rival is hard power. At its essence, winning the competition means credibly deterring Beijing's worst impulses, which, for us, means investing in American strength. Outcompeting the PRC will require greater investment in our military capabilities and in our industrial capacity to produce them. The West cannot be caught unprepared for this challenge. We cannot afford to neglect the lessons of history. The Senate has opportunities ahead to demonstrate that we understand what is at stake. We will have chances to take hard power investments seriously. We need to be ready to take them. Electric Vehicles Mr. President, now on a related matter, the Biden administration is continuing to wage war on the affordable and reliable American energy that makes America competitive. The administration's climate policy isn't just weakening American workers and businesses; it is actually making China's economy stronger. President Biden's EPA recently issued new emissions standards that, as several of my Republican colleagues pointed out last year, ``are so stringent they effectively mandate automakers to produce electric vehicles, even if Americans do not want them.'' The move is shockingly out of step with the needs of American consumers, the capacity of American industry, and our Nation's strategic interest. The whimsical desire for universal electric vehicles caters to the preferences of wealthy coastal liberals, but working families simply aren't buying it. The average EV on the market costs over $16,000 more than the average gas-powered car. As one automaker recently put it, the Biden administration has been ``far too focused on . . . the well-heeled one-to-two percenters . . . forgetting about the people where a car is not a luxury--it's a necessity.'' Sure enough, a $16,000 premium is more than most sensible Americans are willing to pay. Electric vehicles account for less than 8 percent of new vehicle sales in the United States. Less than 8 percent of Americans shopping for a new car are buying an EV. That, however, hasn't stopped the Biden administration from powering ahead for an absurd goal for electric vehicles to make up two-thirds of the car sales by 2032. American businesses are not buying this nonsense either. In fact, auto dealers in Kentucky and across the Nation recently sounded alarm bells in a letter to the President. Here is what they said: This attempted electric vehicle mandate is unrealistic based on current and forecasted customer demand. Already, electric vehicles are stacking up on our lots. And just earlier this month, Hertz announced plans to sell off a third of its electric vehicle rental fleet due to sparse demand and heavy repair costs. Meanwhile, State utilities are becoming concerned that a massive uptick of EV use could overload power grids that are already on the edge of blackouts. Talk about a lose-lose proposition. But there is one party that stands to benefit from Washington Democrats' climate scheme, and that is the Chinese Communist Party. As I mentioned before, China controls nearly 70 percent of the supply chain for the batteries required to manufacture EVs. A Chinese automaker just became the world's top seller of electric cars. And thanks to Washington Democrats' so-called Inflation Reduction Act, leased cars from China qualify for a major tax credit. This means hard-working Americans like the Kentuckians I represent are directly subsidizing California millionaires and the CCP all at the same time. So it is one thing for the Biden administration's outgoing climate czar to spend his time begging China to voluntarily engage in unenforceable green diplomacy, but it is quite another for Washington Democrats to forcibly create a pipeline that pumps working Americans' tax dollars into the pockets of our biggest strategic adversary. It is time for President Biden to choose between the American people and a leftwing dream that communist China can't wait for us to realize. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, our Nation honored one of the most consequential lives in American history. The America in which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., labored for change was the same America in which I grew up. I was fortunate to be raised by parents who believed deeply in equal rights, but the scourge of segregation was not unfamiliar in the places I spent my formative years. As I have shared with some of our colleagues before, I was especially lucky to witness one of the most climatic moments of the civil rights movement as I was a congressional intern here in Washington. I remember stepping outside my office on August 28, 1963, and taking in the enormous crowds that had flocked to participate in the March on Washington. I remember looking down toward the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial beyond. I was too far away to hear Dr. King's immortal words with my own ears, but I was proud to be a witness to that remarkable history he wrote that day and throughout his extraordinary life. Government Funding Mr. President, now an entirely different matter, House and Senate negotiators worked hard and reached an agreement on top-line government funding levels for the current fiscal year, and work continues to deliver full-year appropriations through regular order. Shutting down the government, even part of it, would interrupt this important progress. That is why, today, the Senate will begin the process of passing a short-term extension of government funding to allow this work to continue. I am grateful that the Speaker of the House was able to secure serious rollbacks on reckless spending, but it remains to be seen whether the Biden administration can get serious on its responsibility to provide for the common defense. For 3 straight years, the President has turned in budget requests with real dollar cuts to funding America's Armed Forces. Even a quick glance around the world shows how little we can afford to shortchange the men and women defending the United States and our interests. We need to take this responsibility seriously. Iran Mr. President, now, on another matter, 3 years ago, I warned the Biden administration that it needed to take a tougher approach to growing threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies. I warned against removing the Houthis from the Terrorist Watchlist, and I called attention to how, even then, Iran was increasing its shipments of ever deadlier and longer range weapons to the terrorists in Yemen. But from the beginning, the administration chose to meet Iranian aggression with accommodation. The President's team operated on a profoundly naive assessment of the threat that we face. They abandoned pressure and squandered leverage in an attempt to revive a failed nuclear deal. They hectored regional partners under attack, as if their defensive actions against Houthi terrorists had provoked these Iranian proxies in the first place. And then they trumpeted the utterly fictional successes of their approach. Remember how the President's National Security Advisor described the state of the world last September--just last September--in an incredibly timed essay in Foreign Affairs. Just weeks before Iran- backed terrorists would slaughter 1,200 Israelis on October 7, he claimed the United States had an ``enhanced deterrence'' to deter ``further [Iranian] aggression'' and that the Middle East was ``quieter than it has been for decades.'' And 3 years in, the price of these delusions has become inescapably obvious. To the extent that President Biden sought detente with the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, he was woefully ill- advised about the nature of the Iranian regime. To the extent that this administration ever seriously sought to deter Iran and its proxies, their efforts have demonstrably failed. So let's be absolutely clear. The United States is capable of destroying those who threaten our allies, our interests, and American lives. A global superpower is equipped to bring enormous force to bear against its enemies. But deterrence isn't just about capabilities. It is not enough for Iran to know that America has the means to demolish its military and its network of terrorists. No. Deterrence requires that our adversaries actually believe we are willing to use these capabilities. It requires credibility. And when credibility is eroded, it is not easily restored. It will be difficult for the Biden administration to convince Tehran and its agents that after 3 years spent scolding our partners for wanting to defend themselves from Houthi terrorist attacks, America now intends to do the same thing. It will be difficult for the administration to convince our adversaries that, after years of bending over backwards to accommodate Iran and wringing our hands over the use of military force against its proxies, we are now prepared to respond directly against Iranian targets. Restoring credible deterrence means identifying what our adversaries hold dear and proving we are willing to hold it at risk. Now, I am certain, Mr. President, that there are things Tehran considers more precious than empty terrorist warehouses in Syria or Houthi radar systems in Yemen. Iran uses proxies precisely because they consider them expendable. Taking pains to avoid killing these proxies or targeting Iranian forces and interests themselves tells Tehran that its strategy is actually working. President Biden owes it to the American people to explain how, exactly, he intends to compel Iran and its proxies to actually change their behavior. He owes it to the Nation to start explaining how the stakes of conflict in the Middle East ripple across the world; how the challenges we face in the Red Sea, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific are all connected; and how the cost of failing to meet them compounds. Unfortunately, the Biden administration is not alone in its failure to take its responsibility seriously. This afternoon, the Senate must take it upon ourselves to reject an attempt to degrade our Nation's credibility even further. The resolution brought forward by Senator Sanders is little more than performative leftwing politics. It is not, as our colleague would suggest, about authorizing a report on aid to Israel. It is not even about human rights. It is about tying the hands of a close ally locked in a necessary battle against savage terrorists. It is a gift to the leftwing anti-Israel activists. So colleagues who share a concern about the plight of innocent people in Gaza should set their attention on the Hamas terrorists who orchestrate their suffering--the terrorists who take hostages, steal humanitarian aid, and use their own citizens as human shields; the terrorists who go to loathsome extremes to imperil innocent human life. America's ally Israel takes extraordinary risks to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iran's other proxies across the region go to extraordinary lengths to maximize senseless death. We must not confuse one for the other. The distinction here is clear and boldfaced. Any colleague considering a vote for the Sanders resolution ought to consider what message they would like to send to America's allies and partners facing shared threats around the world and what message they would like to send our adversaries who doubt our resolve. Israel deserves America's firm support as it roots out terrorist killers and restores its security. Soon, the Senate will have an opportunity to make necessary investments in our capacity to support Israel and other threatened partners from Ukraine to Taiwan or the Philippines. As the threats to our interests grow, so do the costs of defending them. In just the time the Senate has been working on the national security supplemental, operational costs for U.S. forces in the Middle East have risen. As I have warned for weeks, using million-dollar missiles to defend against thousand-dollar drones strains an already insufficient inventory of long-range capabilities. The supplemental is our chance to expand our capacity to meet the national security challenges we face. The American people deserve leaders who are willing to take these challenges seriously. I suggest the absence of a quorum

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as I noted earlier this week, the Senate's first major business of the year is addressing a historic array of national security challenges. For the first time since 1945, there is a land war in Europe. A Russian imperialist is deploying North Korean and Iranian weapons in his assault on Ukraine, with additional support from the People's Republic of China. After the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, there is a land war in the Middle East. Iran, the world's most active state sponsor of terror, is living up to its title, underwriting multiprong aggression against Israel, brazen attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria, and a growing war on the global commerce in the Red Sea. And just today--just today--Iran itself has reportedly hijacked an international oil shipment on the high seas, a further reminder that the Biden administration's failure to impose serious costs and restore credible deterrence is emboldening Tehran. Our single greatest strategic adversary is supporting this worldwide challenge to the West, interfering more aggressively with peaceful neighbors and investing relentlessly in the capabilities to outcompete us. Meanwhile, record-setting illegal arrivals have rendered America's own southwest border functionally nonexistent. This is the most serious crisis of America's credibility in decades, and I don't use the word ``crisis'' lightly. It implies that a situation requires urgent action. Of course, that is exactly why the Biden administration spent years twisting itself in knots to avoid acknowledging the record-shattering humanitarian and security crisis that unfolded on their watch and because of their policies at the southern border. Remember how the White House engaged in damage control back in 2021 when the President himself slipped up and called the situation facing CBP and ICE a crisis. It was a big deal because a crisis is something that requires action. Well, right now, the Senate is very close to an opportunity to finally do something meaningful to address the Biden administration's border crisis. Thanks to our colleague Senator Lankford, we are inching closer to a chance to restore sanity, commonsense enforcement mechanisms, and the rule of law. Our colleague's efforts are the foundation of supplemental legislation to address each of the glaring national security challenges that we face: securing America's sovereign borders, investing heavily in American leadership and strength, and equipping America's military with critical capabilities and expanding our defense industrial capacity to deter threats from major adversaries like China. These requirements go hand in hand, and the world is watching to see whether we are willing to meet them. With an arsenal stocked by North Korea and Iran, Russia, literally, mocks Western hesitation. With brazen terrorist aggression, Iran defies American strength. With intense focus, China bets against America's resolve. So none of the challenges we face from our southern border to the Red Sea get any easier the longer we wait to address them. Unfortunately, our own allies and adversaries alike have every reason to doubt us. Three years of this administration's hesitation, self-deterrence, and half measures have exacted a steep price. So our work this month is the clearest possible test of America's credibility as a global superpower, as the leader of allies, and as the nation capable of upholding our own sovereignty. The Senate simply must not fail this test.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, here on the floor yesterday, I warned that the administration's efforts to deter Iranian-backed Houthi threats to international shipping and American credibility were grossly insufficient. Just hours later, the Houthis proved my point with a significant escalation in the Red Sea. Tehran's proxies fired more than 18 suicide drones, along with anti- ship cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, into one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. At great cost, American and British Navy vessels launched expensive interceptors to defend against these relatively inexpensive Houthi weapons. On January 3, America and coalition partners warned that ``the Houthis will bear responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region's critical waterways.'' Well, the Houthis crossed that redline. The question is now whether President Biden will finally impose sufficient consequences on the Houthis and their patrons in Tehran. The world is watching. But American credibility and security isn't just on the line in the Red Sea; our Nation is facing the most serious array of national security challenges since the fall of the Soviet Union. The Senate's responsibility to address them remains unfilled. Take the first major land war in Europe since 1945. On one side of the war in Ukraine is a free world that recognizes sovereignty; on the other is an autocrat with imperial ambitions that extend beyond Ukraine's sovereign borders. With assistance from a nuclear-armed, rogue state--the most active state sponsor of terrorism--and a friendship without limits with America's top strategic adversary, Russia has spent a decade trying to subjugate Ukraine militarily. Putin is waging a war of torture and brutality. In some cases, his forces' crimes--like those of the Hamas terrorists responsible for October 7--are documented proudly by the perpetrators themselves. And Moscow has mobilized a war economy, ramping up military production while also tapping into the industrial capacity of its axis partners in Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang. The war has clearly jolted our European allies out of a holiday from history. Producers in Norway are racing a streamline production of critical air defense systems. Governments like Poland and Germany have announced major increases in defense spending. Denmark, for example, has resurrected an entire dormant industry to contribute ammunition. But even these historic, overdue investments have not yet turned the tide. This conflict has also exposed the glaring shortcomings of America's own arsenal and supply chains for critical capabilities. As I have explained repeatedly and in great detail here on the floor, our supplemental appropriations to support Ukraine included heavy investments in expanding our defense industrial base and purchasing the cutting-edge weapons that our own forces need to deter our biggest adversaries. The legislation we are considering this month would do even more to help meet urgent requirements of our own Armed Forces. It will increase procurement of critical munitions, long-range fires, and air defenses, and invest in our own defense industrial capacity. This is essential for long-term competition with China and Russia. America and our allies still face serious shortcomings, and they extend well beyond the war in Ukraine. By one recent tally, Russia and China's arsenal of land-based air defense systems far exceeds the combined stockpile of the United States, Europe, and Japan combined. The West is outgunned in critical capabilities. So let's not waste time indulging the misconception that standing by our European allies is an obstacle to competition with China. Let's give no credence to the idea that America should cut and run from our own allies and partners--precisely as our adversaries work closer and closer together. With continued American leadership, European allies are shouldering more and more of the burden of collective security on the continent. There is just no question that our NATO allies are building military capacity and taking on more responsibility for restoring and maintaining the sovereignty of America's closest trading partners. But America is a global superpower, and retreating from our leadership of NATO before seeing the job through won't make competition with China any easier. Handing Russia a victory in Ukraine on account of a waning attention span will only shred America's credibility, weaken critical alliances, and force us to contend even more directly with two major adversaries at once. I honestly can't think of a more shortsighted strategic gamble. Only time will offer a full accounting of the missed opportunities of the past 3 years, but it is already clear that hesitation and self- deterrence on the part of our Commander in Chief cost Ukrainian lives and chances at swift victory over Russian aggression. Of course, the brazen violence of Iran's terror network reminds us that this weakness and timidity is contagious. We cannot let them spread. We cannot let shortsightedness govern our approach to the strategic competition that will define the next century of American history. We cannot give China any more reasons than this administration already has to doubt America's resolve to stand with sovereign democracies and to vigorously defend our interests. In the very near future, it will be time for the Senate to demonstrate that we understand what time it is.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 3 months after the massacre of October 7, Israel's Defense Minister observed that his country was fighting ``an axis, not a single enemy.'' He was talking about Iran's terrorist proxies, arrayed to attack Israel on multiple fronts. But the reality of facing interconnected threats isn't unique to Israel. Around the world, our adversaries are colluding in new and aggressive ways. Authoritarians who disdain the West are arming and underwriting one another's aggression. And, as the Senate continues our work on supplemental national security legislation, we would do well to keep this in mind. Israel reports that it has succeeded in significantly degrading Hamas's military capacity in northern Gaza. But while the pace of operations may have slowed, Israel continues to face a dug-in Hamas threat in southern Gaza. And their terrorist enemies continue to exploit innocent civilians in their bid for survival. Hamas fighters brazenly steal international aid shipments, use Gazans as human shields, and hold more than 130 hostages, including Americans. So Israel's operations will continue because the threats to Israel remain. As I have said before, Israel needs the time, space, and support to restore its security. Unfortunately, that is not what the Biden administration has been providing. In fact, as the left wing of the Democratic Party grows more loudly and stridently anti-Israel, its leaders are second-guessing America's closest ally in the Middle East. Administration officials have taken to anonymously and shamefully accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu of seeking conflict with Hezbollah for domestic political reasons. Of course, reality is quite the opposite. For decades, it has been Hezbollah that seeks conflict with Israel and the West. It is the terrorists with Israeli and American blood on their hands who have chosen violence regardless of the current governments in Israel or the United States. And Hezbollah's attacks against Israel have only grown since October 7. It is not Prime Minister Netanyahu who forced tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate their homes in northern Israel. It was Hezbollah threats. By now, we all know about Hamas's terror tunnels. Well, Hezbollah has built them too. I led a delegation to Israel, and we saw them with our own eyes--efforts to infiltrate northern Israel for the same purpose that Hamas struck in Israel's south. And it is not a myth conjured by the Prime Minister. It is a real and growing threat that even his leading political opponent and fellow member of Israel's war cabinet Benny Gantz also warns about. Rather than sniping at Israel's war cabinet for taking Hezbollah seriously, the administration should tell Congress and our ally how it proposes to change the murderous calculus of Iran and its proxy. So the best way we can help our friends is to restore our own credibility in the region and take bolder steps to respond to our common aggressor Iran. The Biden administration has work to do to repair the damage done by 3 years of retreat. The first thing they could do is admit they have a problem. Instead, they are busy patting themselves on the back. Last week, an administration spokesperson declared with pride that the President was taking a proactive approach to threats from Iran-backed terrorists. Honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of aggressively targeting the launch facilities and Houthi terrorists responsible for harassing global shipping and U.S. naval assets or sinking the Iranian spy vessel reportedly facilitating Houthi strikes, President Biden's passive policy means the Navy is expending million-dollar missiles to swat away thousand-dollar drones--million- dollar missiles to take out thousand-dollar drones because, apparently, we don't have the nerve to target launch facilities. Rather than imposing costs on our enemy, we are allowing the enemy to impose costs on us. In response to more than 100 attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria, the President has authorized isolated jabs at low-consequence, peripheral targets. No wonder. No wonder Iran isn't deterred. Tehran's strategy is actually working. If Hamas's capacity for violence is not destroyed, Palestinians and Israelis alike--including the hostages still in captivity--are going to continue to suffer. If the Houthis' capacity for violence is left intact, they will continue to attack civilian ships and disrupt the global economy. If Iran does not pay a price for its insidious support of terror from Israel and across the Middle East to Ukraine, it will continue to underwrite violence and claim innocent lives. America owes our ally Israel our continued support, and we owe Iran's web of terror the firm deterrence and swift justice it has always deserved.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I would like to begin by wishing our colleagues a very happy new year and welcoming everyone back to begin a new session. There is a tremendous amount on the Senate's plate, beginning with the unfinished business of the year that just ended. Yesterday, negotiators announced they had agreed on a path to completing full year appropriations for the fiscal year that began 3 months ago. Delivering on this basic governing responsibility in a timely manner has proven a tough row to hoe, and building broad recognition of the most urgent priorities facing our Nation remains difficult. Here is the truth. Threats to U.S. national security are growing, and the Biden administration's habit of proposing real-dollar cuts to defense funding is a streak that must end at three. With its forthcoming budget request for fiscal year 2025, the administration needs to finally start taking the long-term needs of America's national security seriously. But Congress's most immediate opportunity to address urgent national security priorities will be supplemental legislation in the coming weeks. I was encouraged to see that Senator Lankford and our Democratic colleagues made progress toward an agreement to put meaningful border security policy at the heart of this supplemental. As negotiations continued over the holiday break, Customs and Border Protection reported that December set a new, alltime monthly tally for southern border apprehensions. The Biden administration's border crisis is not going to fix itself, and the status quo is unacceptable. The answer, as Republicans have been saying, literally for years, is to restore meaningful border enforcement and fix the broken policies that the cartels are exploiting to devastating effect. And I am grateful to Senator Lankford for continuing to insist on such commonsense steps at the negotiating table. The stakes here are quite high. We have an opportunity to make the most comprehensive headway on border security in a generation. But our national security challenges don't end at our own borders. The threats we face are intertwined, and the coming days will show the world whether America is willing to treat them accordingly. Allies and adversaries alike will be curious what we do with news that Russia is now attacking targets in Ukraine with ballistic missiles supplied by the rogue Kim regime in North Korea, following the suicide drones provided by Iran. Yet again, it is abundantly clear that authoritarians support authoritarians--as if our clear-eyed Pacific partners like Japan, South Korea, and Australia needed more evidence that what happens in Ukraine matters in their own neighborhood; as if we needed yet another reminder that facing down an expanded industrial base in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea will require America and our allies and partners to invest more seriously in our own defense production capacity. Meanwhile, terrorists in Yemen are spelling out in painful detail just how wide the ripples of Iran's war machine extend. The world's most active state sponsor of terror isn't just a destabilizing force in the Middle East. Tehran isn't just sowing chaos for American-minded partners in the region. Tehran's bloody influence isn't even limited to helping to train the Hamas and PIJ terrorists who conducted the horrific massacre of Israeli Jews on October 7, or to building Hezbollah into a top-tier international terrorist organization, or to the repeated attacks its proxies have carried out against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria. The Houthis' campaign against civilian ships in the Red Sea is an assault on the global economy that the world has no choice but to address. Once more, an adversary's initiative has forced a reluctant administration to act. With fawning conciliation and half measures, the Biden administration has squandered deterrence against Iran. Russia is openly mocking the fickleness of Western support for Ukraine. And China, our single greatest strategic adversary, is watching closely to see if America can still manage to lead or sustain credible resistance to authoritarian violence. So these are the stakes after 3 years of the administration's foreign policy. The world is asking not when or how but whether the world's greatest superpower will start acting like one, which makes our work on the supplemental national security legislation even more urgent. Beginning at the southern border, we must demonstrate that America is up for the challenges we face. The Senate cannot afford to get this wrong. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask consent that the Senate recess until 1:45 p.m.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, negotiations on border security continue to make headway. I am grateful to Senator Lankford for his uninterrupted focus on the task at hand, which is meaningful policy changes. Our colleagues at the negotiating table are under no illusions about how difficult it is to fix our Nation's broken asylum and parole system. They are working on what would be the first serious repair in more than 30 years. But there is no longer any disagreement that the situation at the southern border is unsustainable and requires the Senate to act. This is the core of America's national security. It will be an essential part of supplemental legislation to address pressing security challenges, and negotiations will continue in earnest until we get there. The Senate cannot afford to get this wrong. From South Texas to Southeast Asia and from the Black Sea to the Red Sea, it is a historically challenging and consequential time to protect America's interests, our allies, and our own people.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the world is witnessing the first land war in Europe since 1945. Ukraine's citizen soldiers are in the trenches right now, resisting Russian aggression with Western assistance. American leadership has strengthened the NATO alliance, prompted our closest allies and trading partners to share more of the burden of collective defense, and driven historic investments in the military strength and industrial capacity we need here at home to compete with our biggest adversaries. Finishing the job will require more of that leadership. Meanwhile, Israel is responding to the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Our ally needs the time, the space, and the support required to eliminate the terrorist savages responsible for the horrors of October 7, and the entire region needs American leadership to restore deterrence against Iran and its terrorist proxies who attack U.S. personnel with impunity. From the other side of the world, our friends in the Indo-Pacific are watching closely what goes on in Europe and the Middle East and investing seriously in their own military strength because they know that China is doing the same. Our single greatest strategic adversary is growing increasingly aggressive, increasingly advanced, and increasingly keen to seize an edge over a global superpower that has failed to act like one. So the stakes are high this holiday season for our allies and partners on the frontlines of authoritarian aggression. The challenges are real for brave American servicemembers who are spending this time of the year far from home and loved ones to keep us safe. It is a dangerous world, one that doesn't reward weakness. America needs to show that we haven't forgotten how to lead and that we are committed to restoring the hard power that leadership requires. So I am encouraged by our colleagues' commitment to keep working toward an agreement on national security, beginning with security here at home. The Senate will not let the challenges we face go unanswered.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as the Senate convened this week, our colleagues negotiating on border security were still at the table making slow and steady progress. They are chipping away at years of failure to enact basic commonsense border security policy. Reaching an agreement that can pass Congress and become law is easier said than done. But I am very grateful to Senator Lankford for sticking with it. Our colleagues' effort to address the glaring national security challenge here at home is the foundation of our broader responsibility to meet the linked threats we are facing around the world, from the Indo- Pacific to Europe, to the Middle East. Needless to say, it is a particularly dangerous time for nations that care about protecting their sovereignty from totalitarian thugs and savage terrorists. The headlines are filled with evidence that America's most dangerous adversaries are demonstrably not deterred, and it might have something to do with the Biden administration's penchant for deterring itself instead. America is a global superpower, but far too often, our Commander in Chief has conducted our foreign affairs with hesitation and weakness. Remember his administration's overwrought fears of ``escalation'' that kept essential capabilities out of Ukrainian hands or the feeble half measures in response to an ongoing surge in attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria. Reports that the Biden administration now wants to constrain Israel's efforts to destroy Hamas are disappointing but not surprising. Two months ago, the administration was encouraging Israel to slow down its response before entering Gaza. Now, it is telling Israel to hasten its operations and wind them down to a close. America cannot afford to lose sight of reality. We must not blur the boldface line between a sovereign democracy that takes great pains to avoid civilian casualties and a terrorist organization that steals humanitarian aid from vulnerable Gazans to fuel its war of hate. Israel did not choose this conflict. It ended the occupation of Gaza nearly two decades ago, but its policy of seeking to lower tensions was rewarded on October 7 when Hamas unilaterally shattered the cease-fire with rape, torture, terror, and murder: Hamas, the terrorists who diverted mountains of foreign assistance intended for civilian infrastructure to build miles of elaborate terror tunnels instead; Hamas, the cowards who intentionally hide their fighters and weapons in schools and hospitals. Hamas has repeatedly faced the choice between improving the lives of Palestinians and killing Israelis. Every time, to date, it has chosen violence. And if Hamas survives with its military capabilities and leadership intact, it will make that choice again and again. This is the reality Israel faces. Its war cabinet knows they must see this fight through. It is the same reality that recent American Presidents have confronted in the fight against al-Qaida and Isis. But for Israel, the determined terrorist threat is on its very borders and its own citizen soldiers are on the line. So I will repeat what I have said so many times before. Our responsibility as an ally is to provide the time, space, and support Israel needs to finish the job, to condemn shameful attempts at moral equivalence to excuse the genocidal violence of Hamas terrorists and apply double standards to Israel and to offer counsel to our ally in private, not in front page genuflections to the President's leftwing base. Administration officials and world leaders who care about the Palestinians would do well to focus less on constraining Israel in the short term and more on the challenge of ensuring Palestinian leaders and organizations in Gaza and the West Bank actually care about improving the lives of their fellow citizens in the long term. Palestinians deserve better than Hamas's cult of death in Gaza. They deserve better than a corrupt and sclerotic Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, over the weekend, our colleagues continued to make progress toward an agreement on border security. I am especially grateful to Senator Lankford for stewarding Senate Republicans' efforts to produce meaningful policy changes, fix our broken asylum system, and secure the southern border. Addressing the border crisis at home is a fundamental part of legislation that will help America meet each of the most glaring national security challenges we face around the world. And there are a number of significant issues our colleagues are still working to resolve. The effects of years of failed border enforcement are compounded. Border security policy is complex. And our colleagues at the negotiating table are clear-eyed about the fact that getting this agreement right and producing legislative text is going to require some time. Senate Republicans will not make up for others showing up late to the table by waving our responsibility to carefully negotiate and review any agreement before voting on it. I am encouraged by our colleagues' commitment to keep making steady progress in negotiations over the coming week and beyond. America is facing a never-before-seen border crisis. An imperialist thug is trying to redraw the map of Europe. A repressive authoritarian state is preparing to put more of the Indo-Pacific under its control. And the world's largest state sponsor of terror is showing us it is as determined as ever to kill American servicemembers and disrupt global commerce. There is simply no room for falling short here. We cannot afford to get this wrong.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it has been nearly 8 weeks since President Biden submitted his supplemental funding request and identified four key national security priorities. For 8 weeks, Senate Republicans have been working hard to produce legislation that takes appropriate action on all four fronts: helping Ukraine defeat Putin in Europe, helping Israel fight Iranian terror in the Middle East, helping Asian partners deter Chinese aggression, and helping the men and women of Border Patrol get the crisis at our southern border under control. At the same time, we have had to spend several weeks now trying to convince some of our Democratic colleagues not to tank the entire effort just because they wish a Democratic President had not put border security in his request. A number of Senate Republicans have been working in good faith to make sure that supplemental legislation makes substantive policy changes at the border, instead of just throwing money at the problem. Meanwhile, we have had to explain to Members of President Biden's own party why the border security issue he included in his proposal was not extraneous to America's national security. So here we are. Some very important conversations are ongoing. And here is the bottom line: The Senate cannot claim to address major national security challenges without a solution to the one we are facing on the southern border. We can't pretend to be serious about threats facing America and our allies without fixing the broken system that lets 10,000 illegal aliens cross our border in a single day. I am serious. Senate Republicans are serious, and I hope our colleagues are as well.

Mr. McCONNELL

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