Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Constitution charges the Senate with giving advice and, if we choose, providing our consent to the President's judicial appointments. The President nominates somebody whom he thinks ought to serve on the Federal bench, and then the nominee comes here to the Senate for a job interview. Sometimes these job interviews make news because they go spectacularly well. When the Judiciary Committee subjected now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett to a battery of questions a little over 2 years ago, she literally dazzled the country with her force of intellect. At one point, hours into a hearing, after being asked multipart questions about the finer points of constitutional law, now-Justice Barrett was asked to hold up the notepad she had been provided to keep everything straight, and it was completely blank. She hadn't even touched it. Justice Barrett is an intellectual outlier by any standard, but she is an appropriate stand-in for the judicial nominees whom Republican Senators confirmed from 2017 through 2020. As one left-leaning analysis admitted in 2020, ``based solely on objective legal credentials''-- ``solely on objective legal credentials''--the last administration's average pick for the Federal bench had ``a far more impressive resume than any past president's nominees.'' They had more circuit court clerkships, more Supreme Court clerkships--objectively, more experience in the Federal judiciary. Under President Biden, though, with his nominees, well, you might say things have gone somewhat differently. Last week, our colleague on the Judiciary Committee from Louisiana, Senator Kennedy, was quizzing a panel of President Biden's nominees, and he decided to try some very simple questions that should have been beyond basic for anybody nominated to serve as a U.S. district judge. He asked one nominee, currently a superior court judge in Spokane County, WA, to simply explain what article V of the Constitution says. That would be the article that explains how the Constitution gets amended. Here was the nominee's response: Article V is not coming to mind at the moment. Senator Kennedy came back with another, even more basic question. He asked: How about article II? As high schoolers across America learn each year, article II sets up the Presidency and the executive branch. It establishes the President's powers, including the power to nominate the person for the vacancy in question. But this sitting judge drew another blank. Article II wasn't coming to mind either--goodness gracious. Then she flunked yet another question about legal philosophy, and, then again, she flunked still another question about the most controversial Supreme Court case this term. Apparently, when this particular nominee had been asked to list the top 10 most impactful cases she had litigated in court, she could only come up with 6. At no stage of her professional career has the judge focused on Federal law. At no point had she ever even appeared in Federal court. So get this. In one of these six most significant cases she took, she lost to a defendant who forewent legal counsel and took the risky step of representing herself. This wasn't some rooky mistake either. The nominee was over a decade out of law school when she lost to an unrepresented party in one of her biggest cases. Is this the caliber of legal expert with which President Biden is filling the Federal bench--for lifetime appointments? Is the bar for merit and excellence really set this low? For years, now, Washington Democrats' rhetoric about judicial nominations has often treated actual qualifications as an afterthought. Democrats were not particularly impressed or moved by top-shelf professional excellence or the academic brilliance that the last Republican administration's nominees possessed, literally, in spades. And, apparently, they don't count those qualities as particularly high priorities now that they are the ones doing the nominating. The American people deserve an impartial judiciary that is full of the finest legal minds our country has to offer. The American people deserve the best and the brightest. Alas, but sadly, the Biden administration's questionable constitutional judgment is not limited to some of their judicial nominations. In one important constitutional case after another, the Biden administration and his lawyers have come down on the wrong side of the American people's rights and liberties and have gotten slapped down in court as a result. This last year, for example, in the Bruen case, the Biden administration threw its weight behind unconstitutional New York State restrictions on the Second Amendment that plainly violated citizens' rights to keep and bear arms. President Biden sent one of his top lawyers to help with the oral arguments, but the Democrats got the Constitution backward and lost the case. In West Virginia v. EPA, President Biden went all in trying to defend massive unconstitutional overreach by his own Environmental Protection Agency. His Solicitor General argued the case herself, but the administration lost badly. The plain meaning of our laws and our Constitution actually won out. In Carson v. Makin, President Biden fought to maintain unconstitutional anti-religious discrimination in school voucher programs. Again, he lost, and the American people and their Constitution won. Washington Democrats had their blatantly unconstitutional vaccine mandate for the private sector tossed out by the Supreme Court. They had their obviously illegal top-down mask mandate for transportation tossed out by a district judge. Oh, and, by the way, when the judge was nominated, Democrats howled that she was unqualified. But with a Supreme Court clerkship under her belt, she had incomparably more experience in Federal court than the nominee who failed Senator Kennedy's bar exam. Over and over, on issue after issue, this Democratic administration sides against the American people, against the Constitution, and against the rule of law. The American people deserve an administration that respects their rights and liberties, that understands our Constitution, and that chooses both policies and nominees accordingly. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, the new Republican House of Representatives has already done more to protect our Nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve than the single-party Democratic government did in the last 2 years. First, House Republicans passed legislation that would ban the Federal Government from selling energy from the SPR to benefit our Nation's No. 1 strategic adversary--the Chinese Communist Party. Then, last week, the House followed on by passing H.R. 21, a bipartisan bill that would require the Department of Energy to offset any nonemergency drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by expanding access to America's abundant domestic energy on Federal lands. Speaker McCarthy and Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers were right to make American energy security a top priority for their new majority. It is too bad that it is even necessary to protect our Nation's emergency energy reserves from our own Commander in Chief and his party, but unfortunately the Biden administration has proven that it is necessary. Last year, with his party hurting at the polls, President Biden released more than 200 million barrels, leaving America's strategic reserve at its lowest level since 1983. To make matters worse, this political gamble didn't just leave America less secure, it directly benefited China. President Biden's Department of Energy hadn't just sold off critical supplies; they sold some of them--listen to this-- directly to a Chinese refining company. Last year, Senate Republicans put every Democrat on the record with an amendment to clamp down on selling our strategic reserve to China. Senate Democrats blocked it. The Democratic Senators from States like West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio voted on party lines to let the Biden administration continue to sell our reserves to the CCP. Democrats' recklessness with our energy reserves actually predates this particular administration. Remember back when oil prices were at historic lows during the early days of the COVID pandemic? We Republicans tried to refill the SPR to the top. We could have totally replenished our stockpile at bargain-basement prices. But the Senate Democrat leader blocked it and bragged about blocking it. Our colleague crowed that his party had stopped a ``bailout for Big Oil.'' Of course, what he really blocked was a win-win for national security as well as the American taxpayer. Washington Democrats have been dead wrong on how to handle our strategic reserve literally for years. This is just one symptom of their deep misunderstanding about energy, about the importance of American energy dominance and the way to achieve it. Across the Atlantic, war in Ukraine has brought the vulnerability of Europe's dependence on Russian energy into stark and painful relief. Half-baked green transitions, an allergy to clean and reliable nuclear power, and an addiction to Russian gas sent our allies' energy costs through the roof, with working families and ratepayers actually footing the bills. It could have been a helpful, cautionary tale for the United States, but by last year, the Biden administration was already a year deep into their comprehensive war on abundant and affordable American energy. Remember, on day one in office, President Biden canceled further work on the Keystone XL Pipeline with the stroke of a pen--forget safe and efficient energy transport, high-paying American jobs, and lower cost, reliable power. The President had already put climate activism in the driver's seat of his own energy policy. The Biden administration has frozen new oil exploration on public lands, overhauled permitting rules to make it harder to develop natural gas resources, dragged the United States back into a climate deal that gives the Chinese Communist Party a pass to keep increasing its carbon emissions, and balked at a chance to block Vladimir Putin's latest pipeline for controlling European consumption. It is an absolutely nonsensical agenda, and it hasn't taken long for families across our country to feel the direct effects in the form of soaring prices in their heating and electricity bills, at the gas pump, as well as at the grocery store. Fortunately, millions of working Americans were fed up last November and decided to put an end to Democrats' total control here in Washington. Republicans will stand strong on the side of American energy dominance, on the side of national security, on the side of American workers, American families, and America's future. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate is witnessing an unusual sight. Our colleague from West Virginia, Senator Manchin, is trying to roll back legislation that he himself wrote and passed less than a year ago. Reports say the Senator now wants Congress to delay the new electric vehicle tax credit that he himself hand-designed just last summer until he can resolve a fight with his fellow Democrats and the administration over what their own law actually says or actually does. It would be comical if this Democrat-on-Democrat chaos weren't impacting our country. Republicans pointed out over and over that Democrats' reckless taxing-and-spending spree was unfair as well as unworkable. We said from the start this is a hugely expensive, hopelessly tangled mess of subsidies, regulations, and redtape. They raised taxes on American jobs, American families, and American energy in order to inefficiently send little chunks of the people's money back to them if they plan their lives according to unclear and changing Big Government standards. This is the classic tax-and-spend liberal logic: The IRS takes more of your money so bureaucrats can take over more of your life. Well, it is proving just as tangled and messy for the country, as we all predicted last summer. Our Democratic colleague from West Virginia is locked in some battle with the Democrats' own Treasury Department over the sweeping new regulations that need to be written. He seems to be suggesting that some Americans who have already received the EV tax credit--that he wrote--should have to actually pay it back. In the meantime, while Democrats keep fighting it out, the Senator apparently wants Congress to act again to halt or change the implementation of his own policy. So good luck to American families trying to understand what on Earth does and does not qualify for the Big Government subsidies. Good luck to American businesses trying to figure out how to direct their investments. Now, this is what happens when Democrats make it up as they go along and clumsily try to rewire huge parts of our economy on the fly. Now, remember, the senior Senator from West Virginia has already acknowledged that other Biden policies completely cancel out the supposed deficit savings from the massive climate bill. He has admitted that President Biden's student loan socialism wipes out all of their claimed deficit savings from the Green New Deal, and then some. And now, on top of all that, the redtape and expensive subsidies are so tangled that the very Senator who wrote the law now wants to delay or change it. This has been a terrible deal for the country right from the beginning. Nonpartisan experts said the Democrats' boondoggle would increase inflation in the short term and do nothing for inflation in the long term. Nonpartisan experts said it would shatter President Biden's promise not to impact middle-class families with tax hikes. Nonpartisan experts said that none of it would have any--any-- measurable impact on the global temperature. And now, apparently, even the author of the bill wants Congress to rescue the country from his own handiwork. This is no way to run a country. People need to plan their lives. Businesses need to plan their futures and their investments. How can American workers and entrepreneurs do what they do best if Washington Democrats are micromanaging the economy and changing their mind every 5 minutes? So, to summarize, we have a Senator asking Congress to delay and modify the signature bill that he himself wrote less than a year ago. We have American families being treated as pawns in a fight between Democrats and other Democrats. This bill was already an incredibly bad deal for the country, and the giant mess gets worse and worse every day.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, some things in life are just constants: The Sun rises in the east, water is wet, and Democratic administrations look for ways to let terrorists out of Guantanamo Bay. The Biden administration has already overseen the largest terrorist jailbreak in modern memory when they abandoned the Bagram Air Base prison in Afghanistan. They let the Taliban waltz in and free thousands of terrorists, reportedly including the ISIS-K suicide bomber who killed our 13 American servicemembers in Kabul during the Biden administration's botched withdrawal. Now, rumor has it they are considering writing a sequel to that jailbreak by continuing the Obama-Biden administration's literal obsession with removing terrorists from our secure and legal detention facility at Guantanamo. Let's get a few things straight. The American people are safer and more secure because monsters like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed are off the battlefield and behind bars where they belong. When the Obama administration wanted to bring these terrorists to America, introduce them into the American judicial and prison systems, the Congress, on an overwhelming, overwhelming bipartisan basis, said no. But the progressive leftists in the Biden administration don't seem to care. They seem more concerned about the views of European human rights activists than about key national security concerns and complex legal questions. So new reports suggest that President Biden and his team are trying to cut plea deals with these terrorists and war criminals. They want to cut these guys deals. What would the deals look like? No one knows. They won't tell anybody. Would they be transferred into our own taxpayer-funded justice system for American citizens? Are we going to have hardened terrorists moving through the streets of Manhattan, with terrorist lawyers getting the rights and access that pertain to defense counsel? Mayor Adams is already saying New York can't cope with President Biden's open southern border, and now the NYPD could have to babysit terrorists as well? Or is the plan military commissions, in which case, what concessions is the President planning to make to these murderers to get their activist lawyers to accept that forum? Or does the administration intend to follow the Obama administration's model and rely on third parties and other countries to do the dirty work of detention? Well, of course, if you are going to send these people to other countries, that requires allies who are reliable, responsible, and actually willing to take these terrorists. Does President Biden plan to gamble on an Iraqi Government that is increasingly under the influence of Iran? Or do they want to double down on detention facilities run by Syrian Kurdish partners in areas that are not yet under the control of the Assad regime? There is already no plan for Europe to reabsorb their citizens who fought for ISIS and are currently detained by the SDF. We are going to add to those ranks? There is a huge long list of practical problems the administration needs to consider before they toy with risky plans to shutter a perfectly good facility at Guantanamo Bay for no good reason. The Biden administration has got to rediscover some common sense. Now, I understand that liberal activists are willing to leave innocent American families in greater danger in exchange for a little bit of leftwing symbolism, but our Commander in Chief has a higher duty.

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, here on the floor yesterday, I called on America's European allies, including Germany, to do more to equip Ukraine with long-requested tanks, not just to resist Russian aggression but to defeat it. I have consistently called on the Biden administration to be more proactive and to lead by example in delivering lethal aid, like the long-range weapons, with a greater sense of urgency. I was happy to learn yesterday and this morning that, indeed, both the White House and their counterparts in Germany are finally moving forward with these overdue steps. Germany has announced it will supply Ukraine with an initial 14 Leopard 2 tanks, and the Biden administration is expected to send at least 30 M1 Abrams tanks as well. Good news. Now that Berlin has taken this step, I hope and expect that Germany and other European countries with tanks in their inventory will move expeditiously to send them to Ukraine. Modern main battle tanks will provide highly maneuverable armored firepower that will help Ukraine liberate territory and keep pressure on the Russian aggressors, but, as I have said repeatedly, time is of the essence. Of course, as we rush these long-overdue capabilities to Ukraine, the West's work is far from over. These drawdowns of Western arsenals must also prompt serious work to expand the capacity of our defense industrial base. The Biden administration's efforts on this front are overdue but important, and I hope more of our allies will follow through by moving quickly to put critical munitions and weapons systems under contract and expanding each of their industrial capacities.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, here are just a few scenes from across our country in the last few weeks. Thirty people were shot in Chicago this past weekend alone. That is up from 21 the weekend before. In Philadelphia, police are investigating a carjacking spree that is reportedly being carried out by armed juveniles: They put a gun to my head and they took the van. [And] I haven't found it back again. Out in San Francisco, just one neighborhood has seen a beating, an attempted robbery, a 2-year-old suffering fentanyl poisoning after playing in the park, and 17 car windows smashed--all on one street, all on one night. Streets, neighborhoods, and cities across our country are being swamped--literally, swamped--by a level of crime that is unsafe, uncivilized, and totally unacceptable. My hometown of Louisville, KY, saw 10 homicides in just the first 10 days of 2023, and already 5 more since then--the latest additions to the list of 500-plus homicides we have seen since the start of this violent crime wave 3 years ago. As Louisville's mayor said a few weeks ago, ``these are not just numbers; these are people.'' Many of the individuals our city lost were young, just starting out their careers and families. Far too many were children, including a 14- year-old boy we lost just 10 days ago. Of course, for every victim who lost their life to violent crime, there are even more who have been injured or traumatized or literally forced to live in fear. As one resident said, ``I got to lock my doors all the time . . . I'm worried about my children going outside. It's not fair.'' It is not fair. Of course, he is absolutely right. It is not fair that once-safe neighborhoods have become war zones. It is not fair that children are being murdered. Or look at what is happening right here in the Nation's Capital. Right here in Washington, law and order have been in a free fall. Over the weekend, in broad daylight, a rideshare driver had his car stolen by a group of men brandishing rifles. City-wide, Washington is averaging a carjacking every day. Homicides this year are up 17 percent. Just yesterday, two 18-year-olds, fresh off a carjacking spree in a nearby county, came right here to the capital, ran into two separate Capitol Police vehicles, and then tried to flee on foot. Fortunately, the Capitol Police brought them into custody. Yet the DC City Council is so completely captured by the woke far- left, they have responded to the crime wave with a new criminal code that--listen to this--reduces penalties even further. That is the response of the DC City Council. Just last week, the council overrode the mayor's veto and pushed through a measure that shreds--shreds--the maximum punishment for gun crimes. It eliminates almost all mandatory minimum sentences. It will clog up the court system with massive expansions of new jury trials for misdemeanors. Well, the good news on this front is that the U.S. Congress gets to have the final word over reckless local policies from the DC government. Senate Republicans will have a lot more to say on this subject. Stay tuned. The American people know crime is getting worse, and they know it hasn't happened by accident. From Los Angeles to Philadelphia, to Chicago, the Democratic Party has backed radical district attorneys who have tried to unilaterally take parts of the local criminal code offline. They simply decline to prosecute serious crimes, from drug possession to criminal threats, as a matter of principle. In some cases these woke prosecutors are seeking early release for felons convicted of violent crimes. Many other Democrats have spent years fanning the dangerous flames of the far-left's antipolice rhetoric. Of course, studies have proven that public hostility to police leads directly to more crime, including more homicides, in the at-risk communities that need law and order the most. Furthermore, the Biden administration and Senate Democrats have spent 2 years working to stack the Federal judiciary with former public defenders and others whose sympathies lie more with criminal defendants than with innocent victims. Nobody is arguing that criminal defenders should never become judges, but this has been a dramatic, deliberate transformation project that is skewed overwhelmingly in one direction. Even the New York Times has admitted it has been ``a sea change in the world of traditional nominations.'' The Biden administration never misses an opportunity to make crime even worse. Deaths from cocaine have quintupled over the past decade, but, just a few weeks ago, this President and his Attorney General took the radical and borderline lawless step of unilaterally reducing the penalties for dealing crack. These liberals respond to soaring overdose fatalities by going even softer on drugs. Democrats are struggling with the basics. Actually, this shouldn't be that hard. Drugs belong off the streets. Career criminals belong behind bars, and far-left politicians who put innocent citizens last belong far away from the levers of power. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 Biden administration has spent 2 years turning its back on the proven tools and policies that Republicans used to strengthen our southern border--2 years of a functionally open borders policy from Washington Democrats and 2 years of chaos and suffering as a result. Last week, Customs and Border Protection announced that an already recordbreaking year ended on a particularly catastrophic note. Illegal immigration apprehensions clocked an alltime high of more than 2.7 million during the last fiscal year--by far the highest annual total ever recorded. But then December set an astonishing record all by itself at over 250,000 apprehensions. Last month was CBP's busiest month ever recorded. The American people are outraged at this willful failure. They rate immigration and the border as one of the single biggest problems facing our country, second only to the economy. Two-thirds--two-thirds--of the country disapprove of President Biden's handling of immigration and the border. That is a 67-percent supermajority of Americans who believe this administration is failing on border security. Our Democratic friends tie themselves in knots making excuses for why they can't simply do their job, enforce Federal law, and secure our border. Their far-left base makes them pretend that we can't enforce the laws on the books unless--unless--we find new ways to be even more generous to people who come here illegally. It is nonsensical. Even local officials who belong to the Democratic Party are rapidly losing patience with the Biden administration's border incompetence. The Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has spent months sounding the alarm on the catastrophic effects of this administration's functionally open borders. He said: This is a national crisis. He said: There is no more room in New York. Yet the far left attacks him, the mayor of New York, for pointing out the problem. The Democratic Governor of Colorado is taking a cue from Governor Abbott and Governor DeSantis and arranging transportation for illegal immigrants to various liberal jurisdictions that have self-identified as so-called sanctuary cities. There is a growing bipartisan chorus that is begging--begging-- President Biden to do his job and secure our Nation. It doesn't take new laws. It doesn't take some new, grand bargain or amnesty. The administration just needs to do its job: Secure the border, and let law enforcement enforce our laws. The Biden administration has all the tools and authorities it needs to tackle this crisis--if a solution were actually what they were after.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, it has been a full year since Putin escalated Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and nearly 9 years since he began his military effort to take over the sovereign country in early 2014. Putin's nonmilitary efforts to meddle in Ukraine, undermine it, and control its population long predated even 2014. It has been 15 years since Putin invaded Georgia. A few years before that, he said publicly the breakup of the Soviet Union was ``the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.'' The former KGB agent who has run the Kremlin for two decades has been very, very consistent: repression at home, aggression abroad, assassinations, invasions, poisonings, and political interference. And whenever the rest of the world responded with accommodation rather than with resolve, Putin drew the natural conclusion that he could do whatever he wanted. But for the past 11 months, the brave men and women in Ukraine have defied the odds. They have endured tremendous hardship and stood their ground. They have fought bravely for their families, their freedom, and their country. At every step of the way, investments from the United States and our allies have equipped the Ukrainian people to exact a heavy price from the Russian invaders. Western assistance has played a key role, but it has come too slowly and haltingly. Despite my urging the Biden administration to act sooner, aid did not come early enough to help Ukraine deter Putin's escalation before it actually happened, nor to slow down Russia's brutal and rapid advance in the east and the south. It has not come quickly enough to help Ukraine sustain counteroffensives or fully defend its cities against missile and drone attacks. The United States and our friends and our partners have done enough to prevent Ukraine from losing--from losing--but we have not yet done enough to help Ukraine actually win. A protracted stalemate is neither in Ukraine's interest nor ours. The solution that is both the most humane and the most advantageous to America's interests is quite simple: Help Ukraine win this war. We know what it will take to make this possible. As our colleague Senator Wicker said, ``We can shift this war immediately in Ukraine's favor by providing a range of advanced weapons, including tanks, drones, and tactical missiles.'' And as Chairman McCaul from the House said this past weekend, it is not the United States that will be provocative if we send stronger assistance. Mr. Putin is the provocative one. . . . He invaded a sovereign territory, aggressively [and] unprovoked. Yet some of freedom's most powerful friends remain hesitant. For many months, Germany has not only resisted calls to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine but has actually also prevented other European nations from transferring their own German-produced Leopards to Ukraine. Time is short, and while Berlin agonizes over its own decision whether to provide Leopards to Ukraine, it should proactively and explicitly make clear that other allies are free to do so. What about the Biden administration here at home? The administration's latest deliveries failed to include--failed to include--the longer range missiles and more sophisticated munitions that Ukraine has been requesting literally for months--for months. Ukraine's brave resistance deserves our continued praise, but more importantly, it needs our concrete and consistent materiel support. Ukraine's strengths cannot keep self-deterring ourselves and letting the aggressors, the invaders, dictate the pace. So it is time--past time--for the Biden administration and our allies to get serious about helping Ukraine finish the job and retake their country. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Moments ago, the Senate returned to our full 100- person strength as Nebraska's new junior Senator took the oath of office. The Cornhusker State expects a lot from its leaders. For the last 8 years, Nebraskans could rest easy knowing they had Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse on the job here in Washington. And during that same time, of course, they also had an outstanding leader even closer to home. As Governor, Pete Ricketts applied private-sector savvy to the work of public administration with great effect. He secured for Nebraska families and small businesses the biggest tax relief in that State's history. He championed parents' rights and defended civics education. In the face of a global pandemic, he built the State's response on common sense--saving lives but also safeguarding livelihoods; preserving liberties and protecting kids' educations, all at the same time. The people of Nebraska chose wisely in electing and re-electing Governor Ricketts by huge margins. And their new Governor chose wisely in sending his predecessor here to this Chamber. I know I speak for the entire Senate in extending a warm welcome to Senator Ricketts and his wife Susanne. Pete, we are glad to have you here on the team. 118th Congress Madam President, on another matter, the American people want and need this 118th Congress to work differently than the past 2 years that were just finished. We just had 2 years of one-party Democratic control, 2 years of spending us into record inflation on party-line votes, 2 years of ignoring top priorities of the American people like violent crime and open borders, two years of Senate Democrats procrastinating on basic government duties in order to push radical proposals like an unprecedented elections takeover and unlimited abortion on demand for all 9 months. The American people put an end to that one-party government because they wanted change. This year, the Senate leadership must not put off our most basic jobs, like intelligently funding our Federal Government and providing for our Armed Forces, before the very last minute. Basic duties like the appropriations process and the National Defense Authorization Act need more thoughtfulness, more bipartisanship, and more regular order. And they must not be shoved into late December after the Senate Democrats waste literally months looking for ways to placate the radical left. The American people elected a bipartisan, divided government. The country voted to change Washington. So this Chamber's Democratic leadership needs to change accordingly.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, before the conclusion of the 117th Congress, I want to add a few of my own congratulations to the outgoing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as she concludes her second history-making and history-changing tenure as Speaker. It is a cliche to begin these kinds of tributes with the obligatory observation that the person speaking and the subject of the reflections had their fair share of disagreements. In this particular case, that cliche certainly applies in full. Over the course of our careers, Speaker Pelosi and I have disagreed both frequently and forcefully on practically every kind of national issue that comes before Congress. We have led opposite parties. We have spent many years fighting hard on behalf of policies, ideas, and visions that usually sharply diverged. But all of the frequent interactions that have brought our differences into sharp relief have also given me a close-up view of the formidable qualities that fueled the Speaker's historic life journey to becoming the first woman ever to lead the House and made her such an effective advocate for her party's point of view. Throughout our Nation's history, rising to prominence in Congress has often seen leaders sorted into competing archetypes of either a pragmatist or an idealist. But Speaker Pelosi's leadership has resembled a combination of both. Even while working to synthesize the views of the entire Democratic Caucus, the Speaker never relinquished her own passionate, substantive set of convictions on policy matters. Speaker Pelosi's ability to marshal her side of the aisle to support specific tactics and outcomes has been formidable. It has made her a powerful partner to multiple Democratic Presidents. These abilities paved the way for the Speaker's instrumental role in helping to deliver a long list of consequential policy changes. I have no doubt that historians will reserve Speaker Pelosi a place on their lists of the most influential and consequential Speakers that our country has seen thus far. On the very rare occasions when the Speaker and I did find ourselves rowing in the same direction--such as our shared determination that the House and Senate reconvene as soon as humanly possible on the evening of January 6, 2021, and complete our constitutional duties straightaway--I was glad to have this formidable leader in my corner. I congratulate the Speaker on the conclusion of her time leading the House.

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, President Biden's proposal for fiscal 2023 was a massive real-dollar increase for liberal domestic spending and a significant real-dollar cut for our national defense. Thanks to the tireless work from Senator Shelby and a number of our colleagues, the Government funding bill that we will be taking up this week does exactly--exactly the reverse of what the Biden administration asked for. This bill will significantly grow the baseline for defense and significantly cut the baseline for nondefense, nonveterans, after inflation, a big real-dollar increase in the defense baseline, and a big real-dollar cut for the nondefense, nonveterans baseline. This is an impressive outcome for the Republican negotiators; and, more importantly, it is the outcome that our country actually needs to keep helping Ukraine and our other friends, to keep out- innovating and out-competing Russia and China and to keep our brave men and women in uniform equipped with the best training tools and technologies the world has ever seen. The administration's original version for the Federal budget-- starving defense while shoveling cash into miscellaneous domestic spending--was so out of whack that Democrats in Congress actually joined us in rejecting it. Then there was some discussion that Democrats might only agree to make sufficient investments in our Armed Forces if they got to jack up domestic spending even higher as compensation. Of course, that didn't make any sense either. The Commander in Chief's own political party does not get to take our troops hostage in order to demand even more unrelated goodies. The Republicans' position all along was quite simple: Defending America and out-competing our rivals is a fundamental governing duty. It is the basic business that we are supposed to take care of, not something for which Democrats get special rewards. And that is precisely what is finally happening. Compared to where the negotiators started, we transferred huge sums of money away from Democrats' spending wish list, toward our national defense and Armed Forces, but without allowing the overall cost of the package to go any higher. There is no question that an omnibus spending bill less than 1 week before Christmas is not the right way to run the appropriations process or the Senate Chamber. Things should be done differently--more responsibly, with more foresight and more planning. And when Republicans controlled the majority, things were, in fact, done differently--more responsibly, with more foresight. When Republicans last controlled both chambers, we worked to conduct a more normal appropriations process. The subcommittees were more empowered to do their work. We worked to break things into multiple bills and move minibuses across the Senate floor before the 11th hour. Instead, as Republicans spent this whole year calling on the Democratic leader to prioritize his basic responsibilities like government funding and the NDAA, this majority spent literally month after month chasing shiny objects while procrastinating on core duties. So I share many of my colleagues' dissatisfaction with the dysfunctional Democratic-run process that has brought us here. But, unfortunately, as we stand here today, going back in time and forcing Democrats to spend the last 11 months running the Senate more responsibly is certainly not an option. From where we stand today, there are literally two options before us: No. 1, we can pass this bill, give our servicemembers and commanders the resources they need, flip the President's broken budget request on its head and actually cut baseline, nondefense, nonveterans spending in real dollars while we are at it; or we can fail to pass this bill and give our Armed Forces confusion and uncertainty while the Chinese Communist Party continues to help their military commanders pour money into new research and new weapons. Between the two actual options before us, this is not a close call. The Senate should pass this bill.

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, when the Biden administration put out their budget proposal, the Republicans knew it was literally wrong for the country. The administration wanted to cut funding for our Armed Forces, after inflation, while massively increasing spending on nondefense. Republicans have taken the President's bizarre position and flipped it on its head. The bipartisan government funding bill that Senators Leahy and Shelby have finished negotiating does exactly the opposite of what the Biden administration first proposed. This bill provides a substantial real-dollar increase to the defense baseline and a substantial real-dollar cut to the nondefense, nonveterans baseline. Let me say that again. President Biden wanted to cut defense spending and grow liberal domestic spending in real dollars, but Congress is rejecting the Biden administration's vision and doing the exact opposite. This bill will grow defense spending and cut nondefense, nonveterans spending after inflation. Just last week, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act on an overwhelming bipartisan basis. Senators on both sides acknowledged that President Biden and his administration had failed-- failed--to request the level of resources that our servicemembers and their commanders actually needed. So on a bipartisan basis, we ignored the administration's request and authorized what our Armed Forces actually need. But the landmark investments in upgrading and modernizing our Armed Forces that we just laid out in the NDAA will not happen unless Congress follows through and appropriates the money to pay the bills. That is what Senators Shelby and Leahy have given us the opportunity to achieve: make good on our commitments in the NDAA by following through with actual funding. Americans want our Nation to remain the preeminent global superpower. We want our country to remain the mightiest civilization the world has ever seen. We want to keep helping Ukraine, keep outcompeting Russia, and keep pace with the huge investments that China is making in their own military and new technologies. So it is a strange position, to say the least, when Republicans in Congress have to poke and prod a Democratic Commander in Chief into sufficiently funding the men and women that he actually commands. But as I said all along, funding our Armed Forces is a basic governing duty. Republicans were not going to let our Democratic colleagues demand extra leftwing goodies in exchange for doing their job and funding our troops. The President's own party does not get to take our national defense hostage and demand rewards. So I am grateful that our Democratic colleagues backed down and accepted our position. The bipartisan bill that our colleagues have negotiated equips our Armed Forces with the resources they need while cutting nondefense, nonveterans spending in real dollars. This is a strong outcome for Republicans and, much more importantly, it is the outcome that our Nation's security actually needs. So I want to thank our distinguished colleague, Senator Shelby, for his hard work, and I look forward to reviewing the full text soon.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. All year, Senate Republicans have urged Democrats to prioritize two basic governing duties, two tasks that are essential to keeping America safe, keeping us on track to remain the world's superpower, and doing right by our men and women in uniform. No. 1 is the annual Defense bill, where we authorize the investments, tools, and training that our commanders, leaders, and servicemembers need. No. 2 is passing government funding, where we back up the NDAA's ambitions with the actual dollars and cents that turn plans into reality. Bipartisan negotiators are still working on the second item. I hope they are able to produce text of a bipartisan government funding bill that can pass the Senate before our hard deadline next Thursday. Otherwise, I will support pivoting next week to a short-term continuing resolution into the new year. But I am glad that, in the very near future, the Senate will finally fulfill the first key duty and pass a strong NDAA named for our retiring ranking member, Senator Inhofe. I have spent all week discussing ways this legislation will help our Armed Forces and national security professionals, safeguard our homeland, bolster our partnerships, and keep adversaries like Russia on their back feet. Today, I want to focus on what most Senators agree is the single greatest medium-term and long-term national security challenge that our Nation faces, and that is the Chinese Communist Party. The legislation we will pass today includes provisions to extend our security assistance to Taiwan. It steps up our investments and capabilities that are essentially crucial to operations in the Indo- Pacific, from space assets to naval mines. It reprioritizes countering China's nuclear breakout by curbing the Biden administration's naive efforts to retire critical elements of our nuclear arsenal. It tightens security on our cutting-edge research and bolsters sea- launch strategic deterrent capabilities. And that is not all. This strong bipartisan bill puts new weight behind our long-term commitments to stand with both vulnerable countries in China's orbit and vulnerable people actually within its own borders. It will authorize a new Joint Force Headquarters right there in the region and make sure that U.S. military installations are not commercial destinations for goods that have been produced with Uighur slave labor in the Xinjiang Province. This bill will also help stiffen the spine of the liberal entertainment industry that apparently lacks the courage to cross Beijing without clearer incentives. This year's NDAA will prohibit the use of U.S. military assets, like ships or bases, in movies where the producers then turn around and allow Chinese censors to have final signoff. If Hollywood wants to trample on American principles of free expression in order to please the Communist Party, they won't get to use our Armed Forces as props in the process. Of course, stepping up our competition with China and limiting the risks to America from the CCP does not mean walking away from the world stage more broadly--quite the contrary. Checking the CCP will take a coordinated effort with even stronger, deeper ties between the United States and our like-minded friends and partners. That means everything from basing access to joint exercises and operations, to strengthening our own defense industrial base so that we can continue to score win-wins, in both security and economic terms, by selling our partners the defensive capabilities they need. Protecting America and winning the future does not entail pulling up our drawbridge, turning inward, and pretending the world will leave us alone. China is actively--actively--trying to undercut American interests and partnerships everywhere from Asia itself to the Middle East, to Africa and beyond. This NDAA will strengthen our hand. It prioritizes crucial partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. It adds New Zealand to the National Technological Industrial Base. It expands our ability to share cyber capabilities with operational partners, and it preserves vital security cooperation efforts in the Middle East and invests in expanding partnerships in Africa, South America, and beyond. The NDAA is only a first step toward the investments, modernization, and stronger strategies that we need to compete and to win against rivals who don't wish us well. But it is a crucial first step. Therefore, I encourage every Senator on both sides to support this important legislation. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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, the Senate is often labeled as the world's greatest deliberative body--a place where generations of titanic statesmen have asked the deep questions about America, questions like: How do we balance individual liberty with the common good? What role should we play on the world stage? and ``How should tax depreciation affect a small restaurant owner who is buying a new Fry-o- lator?'' Anyone around the Senate would recognize that last query as the work of our detail-oriented, hometown-focused, economic whiz--the junior Senator from Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey. Pat's entire sterling career--from the private sector to the House, to nonprofit activism, to the Senate--has revolved around the reality that economics is central to daily life. What can seem like dry details or esoteric issues can determine whether whole societies rise or fall and whether hard-working families struggle or succeed. For two terms in the Senate and almost two decades total in Congress, Pat's commanding mastery of economic issues has had a massive, massive impact on his State and his country. Our friend takes particular pride, as he should, in his leading role in delivering the generational tax reform of 2017. Most people involved in that massive effort found it exhausting. Pat considered it energizing. Our resident economist was actually in his element, and the work he helped lead created one of the best economic moments for working Americans in a generation, before the pandemic. But tax reform is far from the only fruit of Pat's labors. From the JOBS Act of 2012, which put financial markets more within the reach of everyday investors, to the CARES Act, where Pat helped steer our bedrock financial institutions through pandemic turmoil, we knew we were getting a principled firebrand when our friend joined the Senate. We have also gotten a collegial consensus-builder. Whether it was Pat's work on the 2011 supercommittee or his tenure at the top of the Banking Committee, Pat has blended principle, pragmatism, and persuasion. He is always professional and respectful to his colleagues, to nominees--to everybody. He is unusually skilled at fighting the fight and unusually skilled at getting an outcome. Pat's life and career have brought him a long way, but you still see the seeds that were planted by his father--a marine vet and utility worker. There wasn't any legacy fast track into the Ivy League, but thanks to a good upbringing, it was hard work and sheer brainpower that paved our friend's Path to a prep school merit scholarship and then on to Harvard. Pat cut his professional teeth as a trader in New York and Hong Kong--a free marketeer right from the start. But right as his Wall Street opportunities were taking off, Pat hit pause on his big city rise and put his economic instincts to an even higher stakes test: He actually headed back to Allentown to set up a family business from scratch. The small restaurant Pat and his brothers started was a proving ground for Pat's deep convictions in the community-building, life-changing power of free enterprise and entrepreneurship. I understand Pat's first venture into elected office, a local commission, was mostly just an effort to make sure bureaucrats didn't meddle with the success of Rookies Restaurant and others like it. The rest, of course, is history. Pat Toomey became a formidable Congressman, then a pivotal outside player, and finally a masterful and essential Senator. Pat has led the charge for his fellow Pennsylvanians on one front after another. In one instance, he responded to tragedy close to home with a solution for the entire country. Heinous buck-passing on child abuse in public schools, known as passing the trash, had let an offender who had abused a child in Pennsylvania proceed to strike again in West Virginia. With the help of the senior Senator from that State, Pat spearheaded legislation that compels States to crack down on this abhorrent practice. Another time, through sheer willpower, Pat literally became a lifesaving legislative guardian angel for a young Pennsylvanian battling cystic fibrosis. Sarah Murnaghan was only 12 years old when outdated and tangled rules around lung transplants put her young life in serious peril. Pat rallied a coalition of Members. They relentlessly lobbied the executive branch. A Federal judge weighed in, and, long story short, that young lady got her transplant and is still with us today. Pat's creative problem-solving has known few bounds. The way I hear it, one time, our colleague literally leveraged the America's Cup sailboat race as a way to get a specialized transport ship reflagged so that Pennsylvania's natural gas industry could keep moving useful byproducts to market. In the midst of all of this, Pat made sure his office's casework for Pennsylvanians was just as superlative. His team's incredibly tight turnaround for responding to constituents has earned Pat praise from unlikely corners. I understand that, one time, former President Clinton went out of his way to inform our colleague that a friend of his in the Keystone State couldn't believe how quick and substantive was a reply he or she had gotten from Senator Toomey's office. While many Capitol Hill offices struggle just to turn around the correspondence that comes in, I have it on good authority that Pat will literally go combing through local newspapers' ``Letters to the Editor'' so that he can proactively initiate contact with Pennsylvanians who haven't even sought him out. Even the most eager morning people on Pat's staff have learned to expect the lights will already be on when they get to the office--their boss, already primed with ideas and questions: ``I think we could come at this a few different ways'' or ``Have you seen how German Government bonds are trading today?'' But our colleague is also known for his thoughtful, almost fatherly leadership style. Pat holds everyone to a high standard, especially himself, but if something goes amiss, there is no quick temper, are no harsh words--just a facial expression that his team affectionately calls ``that `disappointed dad' look.'' And no matter what happens, everyone is invited to the annual pool party at Pat's house. Talk about an interesting Senate creature--a man with a brain formed on the trading floor and a heart shaped by Lehigh Valley kitchen tables. Pat's true loves are family and free enterprise. This combination has made him a formidable Senator, but it has also shown us the writing on the wall: The Senate was never going to keep our friend forever. Pat is always careful to refer to his Senate service as the ``greatest professional honor of my life.'' Note the caveat, because everyone knows what Pat sees as the greatest honor overall. We have seen our friend fiercely guard every possible moment of family normalcy with Kris and their three kids. We have seen hours blocked off on Pat's calendar on a weeknight under the label ``Duncan's Baseball Practice.'' We have heard about evening sprints to the train station in order to make it to a Christmas pageant--only to see our friend right back here the very next morning. So like I said, Madam President, family and free enterprise--the two great loves. I heard a classic Pat Toomey story where a young intern in his office was excitedly telling his friends about the prestigious ivory tower Path that he was aspiring to. Apparently, his boss, the Senator, chimed in with something to the effect of, Yeah, that sounds great, but have you ever considered opening up a small business? So while we are going to miss Pat around these parts, none of us can claim surprise that family and free enterprise have teamed up to steal him back. Since we are talking about an all-star Senate dad, let me put it this way: Pat, your colleagues and I aren't mad. We are just disappointed. (Laughter.) You have achieved so much. You have done just what you hoped to. Congratulations, and thank you.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Today is December 14. The Senate Republicans have spent months--literally months--begging our Democratic colleagues to stop fiddling with partisan nonsense and focus on two core things: the NDAA and government funding. I have been talking about the need for a strong National Defense Authorization Act all year long--all year long. I am glad we are finally going to wrap up the basic governing duty that we have in the next few days. With respect to government funding, I was glad to hear Senator Shelby announce yesterday evening that negotiators have reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework for a full-year government funding bill. Long-term continuing resolutions cheat our Armed Forces out of the resources and the certainty that our commanders and civilian leaders need to keep modernizing our forces, investing in crucial weapons, and outcompeting adversaries such as China. I am glad that our Democratic colleagues finally accepted reality and conceded to the Republican position that we need to prioritize our national security. Republicans simply were not going to lavish extra liberal spending on the Commander in Chief's own party as a reward for adequately funding our national defense. It simply wasn't going to happen. Funding defense is a basic, bipartisan duty of our government, not something that earns Democrats special treats. As Senator Shelby stated last night, this framework agreement doesn't mean the hard work is over; it means the hard work can finally start. It will take seriousness and good faith on both sides to produce actual legislation that follows the framework. Poison pills, especially far-left demands to overturn longstanding and commonsense policy riders will need to stay away from the process. And even then, the calendar will still make this a challenging sprint. Our side has made it clear that the Senate has until December 22 to complete either a full-year funding bill or a short-term CR into early next year. That is the deadline, and those are the two options. If a truly bipartisan full-year bill without poison pills is ready for final Senate passage by late next week, then I will support it, for our Armed Forces particularly. Otherwise, we will be passing a short- term continuing resolution into the new year. Inflation Mr. President, now on a different matter, against the backdrop of punishing 13.8 percent cumulative inflation since January 2021, an open borders crisis, spiking deaths from drug overdoses, and surging violent crime from coast to coast, President Biden has decided that his A-1 priority needs to be--listen to this--cracking down on charter schools and harming the educational opportunities available to millions of low- income students in the process. Charter schools have long injected a huge dose of choice and competition into the schooling options available to low-income Americans and communities of color. This became especially true and especially important back during the pandemic. Big Labor teachers unions spent the entire pandemic forcing government-run public schools to keep their doors shut long after private schools, parochial schools, and schools across Europe were all back operating safely in person. Charter schools became a haven. They offered an escape rope out of the learning loss for kids who would otherwise have been left behind. No wonder that, according to one analysis, charter school enrollment has surged since the pandemic started, even as public school enrollments have fallen off. But, sadly, whenever kids' best interests and Big Labor's pocketbooks come into conflict, we know where most of today's Democratic Party will come down. The Biden administration has dutifully written a harsh new regulation that would intentionally chip away at the Federal charter schools program and strip funding from many public charter schools. President Biden and his team are trying to force charter schools to conform to a whole new set of top-down, one-size-fits-all rules that the teachers unions want to be forced onto their competitors. The Democrats' rule is designed to hamstring charter schools and leave them more reliant on government bureaucracies in everything from what they teach to how kids get to school in the morning. Perhaps worst of all, they want charter schools' Federal funding to be heavily contingent on whether the Democrats' Federal bureaucracy agrees there is a ``need'' for their existence. This is a plan to take options away from parents, to take opportunities away from kids, to take choice away from families, and to transfer that power directly to Big Labor bosses and Big Government bureaucrats--yet another example of Democrats' trying every trick to make end-runs around parents' rights in education, stripping power away from parents, and handing it over to the bureaucrats. So I want to commend the Senator from South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott, for bringing forward a Congressional Review Act resolution to right this wrong. I would urge every Member of the Senate to put families first and vote for Senator Scott's commonsense resolution. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Senate Republicans have spent, literally, months focused on the need for a strong bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act, as well as robust funding for our Armed Forces. Defending our homeland, deterring future threats, and supporting our allies and partners should not be last-minute, low priorities. They are fundamental duties if we want to remain the strongest power in the world, and investing in strength today protects our country, our servicemembers, and the American taxpayer tomorrow. Let's take, for example, Ukraine. For nearly a year now, the free people of a sovereign nation have stood firm and battled against brutal and lawless aggression. The Ukrainians' brave stand was made possible, in part, because the United States and a number of other countries have realized that supporting their self-defense directly serves our own interests. Europe together constitutes America's largest trading partner. Instability in Europe poses a direct threat to countless American producers who sell to our friends across the Atlantic. Further, huge disruptions to European markets would only add to the inflationary challenges that the Democrats' spending has caused us already here at home. What is more, a successful Russian invasion would embolden the entire club of anti-American thug regimes to take bolder and more brazen steps toward further conflict, including direct threats to American lives. Every day Russia spends on the back foot in Ukraine degrades its own ability to wage further wars and dramatically changes the cost-benefit calculus for others who might contemplate similar violence. Continuing support for Ukraine is the popular mainstream view that stretches across the ideological spectrum. On my side of the aisle, for example, the former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said recently that supporting Ukraine ``fully and completely'' is in the best interest of the United States. The top foreign policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, James Carafano, has spoken out forcefully about the need for continued military assistance, and so has former Secretary of State Pompeo, former Vice President Pence, and virtually every other leading national security official from the previous administration. Now, while the conflict has exposed serious weaknesses in Russia's ability to wage a conventional war, it has also exposed shortcomings in the West, particularly with our defense industrial bases. Our European friends who had treated themselves to holidays from history after the Cold War, who presumed a new normal of stability and security and shifted spending disproportionately into domestic programs, have received a harsh--harsh--wake-up call. They are rushing to reinvest more in their own defenses. Some politicians here in America fell victim to the same lullaby. Now, fortunately, supplying the specific kinds of American armaments that Ukraine needs does not cut our readiness in other important regions, such as the Pacific. China and its neighbors are watching the conflict in Ukraine closely, and the CCP would be delighted if Ukraine fell to Russia. But the long lead times to replenish what we are sending still provide us with a sober reminder. We know, for a fact, that the world's foremost military and economic superpower can and should both produce all the capabilities that we need for ourselves and serve as freedom's arsenal for our friends at the same time. We just need to organize our resources and make critical, overdue investments in our defense industrial capacity. That is why the National Defense Authorization Act we will take up soon provides multiyear procurement authority for longer term certainty, planning, and efficiency. It authorizes significant investments in modernizing our forces and capabilities. But following through on these promises also requires that we pass robust appropriations. I made that clear at last week's briefing with the Biden officials. I will say it again: Providing for the common defense is a fundamental governing responsibility. It is not extra credit. Our Democratic colleagues will not receive a goody bag of domestic spending in exchange for fulfilling this solemn duty. Tribute to Richard Burr Mr. President, now on an entirely different matter, I would like to begin my tribute to another of our distinguished departing colleagues by quoting his own words from a letter written back in 2009. Here is what he said: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Carver, Thank you for entrusting me with [your son's] memorial bracelet at the Asheville Veterans Day Ceremony. I wish there had been more time to talk that day. I returned to Washington, DC with the bracelet on my wrist . . . [your son's] unrelenting courage and zeal for life are what I will think of when I look at his name on my wrist. Rest assured that I will wear [this] bracelet forever. A quiet gesture, unheralded and understated, but leaving hugely impactful ripples in its wake. A perfect case study of Senator Richard Burr. At first glance, it might appear to the uninitiated that our distinguished friend is a man of contrasts or contradictions. For example, this impeccably dressed Southern gentleman has been known to drive around town in a rickety old Volkswagen. I think that our dear departed colleague John McCain once called it ``an assault on the senses''; or take the fact that when most of us were happy enough to finish high school as either a successful jock or a successful student, Richard was both a standout scholarship football player and winner of the science fair; or consider that our unflappable, calm colleague with an easy manner--almost casual, really--has been one of this Chamber's most dogged legislators and most relentless champions across a whole array of critically important causes. That special bracelet bearing Army Chief Warrant Officer Mitch Carver's name isn't just a comfort to one Gold Star family; it is an outward sign of Richard Burr's entire approach to his job: supporting service, honoring sacrifice, and making life better for folks in North Carolina and across the Nation. For 5 years, Richard's colleagues tasked him with helming the Intelligence Committee. Some of this institution's most sensitive and critical responsibilities wound up right in his lap. But Senators on both sides knew that Richard's thoughtfulness, fairmindedness, and discretion tailor-made made him for the role--no showy victory laps, no braggy press tours. He led with the serious, collegial, and patriotic tone that the issues actually demanded. This quiet competence has been part of the Richard Burr brand from the very beginning. As a backbench House freshman, Richard spearheaded massive reforms of the Food and Drug Administration. Long before COVID- 19, he had a personal passion for helping to equip BARDA and other pandemic preparedness initiatives. Richard has authored transformational legislation that disability advocates called the most important advance for their cause in a quarter century. He reached across the aisle to help deliver justice for victims of decades-old hate crimes. He drove bipartisan consensus on a measure that has helped save students and families near $100 billion in loan payments. In a situation folks in my own State know well, he stepped up to help tobacco farmers transition to succeed in a freer market, and as the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Richard delivered much needed relief to men and women who served our Nation with the Veterans Choice Act of 2014. It is truly amazing what you can accomplish when you are willing to be patient, keep an even keel, share some credit--oh, and occasionally, even jump out a window. Let me explain. This is creative problem- solving in action. Back during sequestration, when staffing shortages had closed some of the normal entrances and exits around the Capitol campus, our friend found himself in the Russell Building while the only open exit was all the way over in Dirksen. Rather than lengthen his commute, this ever- pragmatic man of mystery found the lowest window around, grabbed his dry cleaning, shimmied out, and hopped right down to the sidewalk. Now the day is fast approaching when our colleague will escape from this institution for good, but Richard's remarkable legacy here will endure--whether that has meant using his charm and judgment of character to disarm committee witnesses and get to the bottom of complex issues under investigation or using his fluency in House-speak to translate key happenings for us, his colleagues over here in the upper Chamber. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention how Richard excels at turning up the pressure to break a stalemate. You see, if an issue is dragging out and no solution appears forthcoming, unless Richard was the point person himself, he would frequently just threaten to leave town altogether until things got worked out. We are talking about a colleague who is famous for keeping closer tabs on the Senate's weekly wrapup proceedings than just about anyone. In fact, as I understand it, Richard's team became so famous for tracking the timing of final votes so closely that some other offices would try calling Team Burr for the scoop before they would even try the cloakroom. Now, with Richard's seemingly laid-back demeanor, you might assume our friend was just eager to get out to the beach or hit the links, but that would be another one of those deceptive appearances. The truth is, Richard didn't become an expert at speedy getaways because he wanted to shortchange his duties. In fact, it was just the opposite. Even as devoted a public servant as Senator Burr is, he knew that, in the final analysis, another set of duties was even more essential. When our colleague was first elected to the House in 1994, he and his beloved wife Brooke had two young sons, and Brooke was carving out her own tremendously successful career in business. So our friend was bound and determined that serving the people of North Carolina would not mean skimping on his proudest job of all--as father to Tyler and William, and now as a grandfather as well. Through decades of committed service, he has found a way to do it all. But even so, I know Richard is excited to make up for lost time. So we thank our colleague for his outstanding work for our country. And I have it on good authority that our friend has a favorite catch phrase that he has used to bid farewell to his office after they have spent a long day doing good work. So, Richard, as you like to say, ``Dilly dilly.'' I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, the Senate gavels in today with our annual defense bill still unpassed, with less than 1 week remaining of government funding, and less than 2 weeks left until our hard stop for the holidays on December 23. That is the bad news. But the good news is that both sides have a clear understanding of what it takes to finish our work on a bipartisan basis. First, Senators Inhofe and Reed and their House counterparts have passed out a strong bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate should turn to it as soon as possible. But, of course, Congress authorizing the tools, training, and equipment that our Armed Forces need will accomplish very little if we fail to then provide the actual funding. Both sides know what it would take for the Senate to pass a full-year government funding bill into law. There is no mystery here. A funding agreement would need to fully fund our national defense at the level written into the NDAA without--without--lavishing extra funding beyond what President Biden even requested onto Democrats' partisan domestic priorities. In other words, do not go beyond what the President asked for earlier this year on the domestic side. Our Democratic colleagues have already spent 2 years massively-- massively--increasing domestic spending, using party-line reconciliation bills outside the normal appropriations process. So, clearly, our colleagues cannot now demand even more--more-- domestic spending than President Biden even requested in exchange for funding the U.S. military. Funding our national defense is a basic governing duty. The Commander in Chief's own party does not get to demand a pile of unrelated goodies in exchange for doing their job and funding our Armed Forces. If House and Senate Democratic colleagues can accept these realities in the very near future, we may still have a shot at assembling a full- year funding bill that will give our military commanders the certainty they need to invest, plan, and stay competitive with rivals like China. If our Democratic colleagues can't accept those realities, the option will be a short-term, bipartisan funding bill into early next year.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Kentucky is approaching the 1-year anniversary of one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in our Commonwealth's history--1 year since 80 lives were lost and a deep scar was cut through Western Kentucky. We still remember the lost and pray for their loved ones. A few days after the storm, I visited some of the hardest hit towns. I saw how the pictures of the damage in the newspaper and on television didn't even begin to capture the local devastation in places like Mayfield, Campbellsville, Bowling Green, and Dawson Springs. Homes were literally ripped off their foundations; trees scattered like twigs; whole neighborhoods gone in an instant. The pain is still fresh, but as I have seen in multiple return visits, slowly but surely, Western Kentucky is coming back. This weekend, Kentuckians are carving out time to honor those whose lives were lost and continue helping those whose lives were severely disrupted. Dawson Springs just erected a beautiful, solemn memorial to the 19 residents that the city lost that day. In Bowling Green, an organization is delivering handmade Christmas ornaments to storm victims. In Mayfield, even as members of the high school football team fought to rebuild their families' lives off the field, the community cheered the team to an undefeated regular season. Even in tough times-- actually, especially in tough times--Kentuckians stick together. I am thankful to all the volunteers and charities helping us in Kentucky remember this tragic anniversary and for all the men and women who spent days and weeks working tirelessly to remove debris and to rebuild. Things are looking hopeful in the region this Christmas. Homes and businesses are coming back. Families will gather again under one roof. The road to recovery remains quite long, but Kentuckians will stand shoulder to shoulder until the rebuilding is done, and I will keep standing right beside them.