Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, for months, the brave people of Ukraine have been fighting valiantly in a war they did not ask for. Their defense of their homeland from the Russian invasion has already far surpassed the expectations of all the skeptics. Ukraine is not asking anybody else to do their fighting for them. They ask only for the resources they need to defend themselves against this lawless aggression. I strongly support the next package of lethal military assistance which the House has passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority. I hope the Senate can reach an agreement to consider and pass this legislation today. The Ukrainians need it. We need to do it today. Helping Ukraine is not an instance of mere philanthropy. It bears directly on America's national security and vital interests that Russia's naked aggression not succeed and carries significant costs. If Ukraine fails to repel Russian aggression, there is no question that the threat to America and European security will actually grow. Our Nation's history is packed--packed--with painful reminders that America cannot wish away global problems that affect us and our allies simply by burying our head in the sand. I applaud the strong Republican vote for this crucial assistance over in the House and urge my Senate colleagues on both sides to help us pass this urgent funding bill today.

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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, as I said earlier today, the Ukraine people are fighting valiantly in a war they didn't ask for. Their brave self-defense has literally shocked the skeptics and inspired freedom- loving people all around the world. Ukraine is not asking us to fight this war. They are only asking for the resources they need to defend themselves against this deranged invasion, and they need this help right now. Sending lethal assistance to Ukraine is not just some kind of philanthropy; this conflict has direct and major consequences for America's national security and America's national interests. Russia's aggression cannot--cannot--be allowed to continue cost-free. I understand my friend and colleague from Kentucky would like changes to the bill. Those changes are not acceptable to the Democratic majority, as we have just heard. So I think there is a simple way to solve this. We should vote on Senator Paul's amendment, and then we should pass the supplemental, and we should do it today.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on a different matter, this week, our colleagues want a second run on some controversial nominees who stalled out last month. Today, Senate Democrats will try again to confirm Professor Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve Board. Professor Cook has no proven expertise in monetary economics at all, much less fighting inflation. One of her main supposed qualifications for this position is that she sits on the regional Fed Board in Chicago. The problem is, she was literally appointed to that position a few days before she was nominated for this one. Professor Cook is a proven partisan who has promoted leftwing conspiracy theories and called for a fellow academic to be fired because that person did not support defunding the police. The American people deserve an independent, nonpartisan inflation fighter for this important post. Likewise, the Federal Trade Commission is an important Agency that gets wide latitude to oversee our private sector. The American people need its Commissioners to be levelheaded experts who will put aside ideological ax-grinding. The two current Commissioners who were appointed by a Republican President were so qualified and uncontroversial, the Senate approved each of them on a voice vote. But to serve as their newest colleague, President Biden has picked a radical partisan named Alvaro Bedoya. Mr. Bedoya is such a poor fit that the first time Leader Schumer tried to shut down debate on his nomination, he lacked the votes and had to call it off. But Democrats want this hardcore partisan confirmed very badly, so here we are once again. Mr. Bedoya has publicly attacked police and law enforcement and demanded that our country not enforce--not enforce--our immigration laws. He has called for States to essentially nullify Federal immigration law, saying: Maryland police have no business working with ICE [and] I think it's high time that state legislators understand that they can do something about this. He has volunteered statements that align with ``defund the police,'' demanding that none of the Democrats' trillions in stimulus waste should go to provide for law enforcement. Mr. Bedoya's social media feeds have read like the rantings of a far- left activist with no aspiration to ever receive Senate confirmation. He has embraced socialized medicine, critical race theory, and cracking down on citizens' Second Amendment rights. He has launched political attacks on current Senators and called the National Republican Party Convention a--listen to this--``White supremacist rally''--a ``White supremacist rally,'' the Republican National Convention. The rabid partisanship is not just an extracurricular activity. We know Mr. Bedoya would apply it specifically to the work of the FTC. He is already on the record calling for the elimination of longstanding bipartisan FTC policy statements. He supports excluding minority party Commissioners from investigations. This nominee would not be fit to neutrally oversee major economic decisions, no matter what the makeup of the Senate was. But he is an essentially foolish choice--foolish--when the American people handed this administration a 50-50 Senate. I would urge my colleagues on both sides to stop this awful nomination so the President can reconsider and send us somebody suitable.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this all-Democratic government has managed a unique kind of economic turnaround. They took an economy that was ready to soar, turned it around, and drove it into the ground. American families are being crushed by 8.5 percent inflation. Democrats' policies have unleashed the worst inflation in more than 40 years. Last March, the Senate Democratic leader said: I do not think the dangers of inflation . . . are very real. At that time, the most recent inflation figure was 1.7 percent. Inflation has more than quadrupled since Leader Schumer said he wasn't worried. Now, remember, the same Democrats predicted the Republicans' 2017 tax reform bill would harm the economy and hurt working people. Instead, what it produced is the best economic moment for American workers in modern history. Falling unemployment, low inflation, and wages grew faster for the bottom 25 percent of earners than for the top. So Democrats' worldview has been proven absolutely wrong. But, of course, last year, they put it into action anyway. Democrats dumped $2 trillion on a recovering economy and paid people a bonus to stay home from work, even after vaccines were available, and the American people are hurting as a result. American workers' real average weekly earnings declined 3.6 percent over the last year. Inflation has more than wiped out the average worker's wage gains. President Biden has handed the average American a big pay cut--a pay cut. The cost of the essentials that families need have been skyrocketing. Gas prices are now the highest they have ever been in American history--ever. Americans are now paying roughly $4.40 per gallon. That is up about 2 whole dollars from when President Biden put his hand on the Bible. Grocery prices have shot up 10 percent over the past year. Housing costs are up more than 6 percent. Clothing is up nearly 7 percent. Each category is the worst it has been since at least the early 1980s. Remember, if and when the inflation rate begins to gradually slow, that does not mean all of these sky-high prices for goods and services will actually fall back down. In many cases, this painful and preventable inflation will be baked into prices going forward. These Democratic price hikes will likely be American families' new normal at the checkout counter, a permanent--permanent--direct result of their failed policies.

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, 2 years ago, the Senate Democratic leader rallied a crowd on the steps of the Supreme Court and threatened Justices by name if they did not resolve an abortion case the way he wanted. Here was the quote: I want to tell you, Gorsuch; I want to tell you, Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions. This incitement triggered rare public rebukes from the Chief Justice himself and even the liberal American Bar Association. But, apparently, the radical left heard their marching orders loud and clear. Since the precedent-setting leak of a draft opinion last week, the left has set out to harass and intimidate sitting judges as they consider a pending case. We have seen angry crowds assemble at Justices' private family homes. Activists publish a map of their addresses. Law enforcement has had to install a security fence around the Supreme Court itself. Trying--trying--to scare Federal judges into ruling a certain way is far outside the bounds of First Amendment speech or protest; it is an attempt to replace the rule of law with the rule of mobs. It appears this may possibly be flatout illegal. There is a Federal law on the books that criminalizes ``pickets or parades with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer'' at locations--listen to this--that include a judge's ``residence.'' Last year, Attorney General Garland's Justice Department was quick to treat the concerned parents of America like potential domestic terrorists. But, curiously, I haven't heard any announcement about how the DOJ may handle these intimidation tactics aimed directly at Federal judges. Washington Democrats have gone out of their way to fuel the hysterical, potentially dangerous, climate. The President's statement about the unprecedented leak didn't condemn it. His Press Secretary has repeatedly appeared to endorse rallies at judge's private family residences as long as they don't turn into outright violence. The senior Senator from Massachusetts stood on the Supreme Court steps and shouted: We are gonna fight back. Democrats are renewing their calls to break the Senate in order to pack the Court. They want to destroy two institutions for the price of one. One liberal Georgetown law professor helpfully summarized their mission as follows: He explained this past weekend that the key moral difference between this pressure campaign and the January 6 riot is that, in this case--now listen to this--``the mob is right.'' So what has generated this reckless outrage? What is the Armageddon over which Democrats want to break the Senate, pack the Court, and condone potentially illegal rallies outside judges' family homes? Here is the case in question: whether the State of Mississippi can enact an abortion law that would still be more liberal--more liberal--than laws in Germany, France, and Switzerland. This is the case that is driving these hysterics, the possibility that abortion laws might begin to move away from China and North Korea and closer to Germany, France, and Switzerland? That is what has prompted the calls to destroy our institutions and surround Justices' family homes. That is why a pro-life nonprofit in Wisconsin got a Molotov cocktail through its window and activists called for disruptions of Sunday worship. Today's Democratic Party is profoundly out of step with the American people on this issue. Their extreme position ignores modern science and public opinion. Leader Schumer wants the Senate to vote again on a Democratic bill that would effectively legalize abortion-on-demand through all 9 months. Their bill is written to protect abortionists rather than mothers. It would roll back health regulations. It would attack America's conscience rights and religious freedoms. It would overturn modest and overwhelmingly popular safeguards like waiting periods, informed consent laws, and possibly even parental notification. And it is written so that, in practice, it would allow elective abortion until birth. Democrats' extreme position is radical on a global scale and wildly unpopular with the American people. Only 34 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases into the second trimester. That drops to 19 percent in the third trimester, but that is what the Democrats' bill would allow in practice. Every Senate Democrat but two and every House Democrat except a handful has put their name on this as cosponsors. That means 97 percent of Washington Democrats support a position that only 19 percent of Americans actually want. I will say that again. Ninety-seven percent of Democrats in Congress are cosponsors of an outcome that has 19 percent public support. Notwithstanding inflation, energy insecurity, open borders, a violent crimewave, and a war in Europe, Democrats want to spend this week explaining their extremism. Some Democrats even want to try again to break the Senate in order to ram this through. I have clearly stated I will never, never support smashing the legislative filibuster on this issue or any other. Yet Democrats want to wreck our institutions over their fringe position that Americans do not share. I can understand why my colleagues want to distract from their governing record. Their policies have created a living nightmare for working families. But Democrats' extreme and unpopular position on abortion is not going to bail them out. It just gives Americans yet another reminder that the radicals are running the show. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in Albany, NY, a grandmother of four reported recently that rising prices have forced her and her husband, a retired New York police officer, to cut back on eating out. ``I feel it in the pocketbook,'' she said. In Grand Rapids, MI, one young family reported that, before inflation took off, ``the paycheck went a little bit further.'' Now, on essentials like gas and groceries, ``there's no wiggle room.'' In Springfield, MO, a food truck owner said that he and his wife are having to take business farther and farther from home despite gas prices. Stories like these aren't exceptions; they are the rule. Working Americans have been absolutely swamped by rising prices. Two-thirds of Americans told one recent survey that inflation has been difficult or even a hardship for their families. Fewer than one in five says the Biden administration's policies have done anything to improve economic conditions, and yet, as we speak, with the economy already scuffling, Washington Democrats are proposing more reckless spending and the biggest tax hike in American history. For example, President Biden is considering trying to buy up his sinking approval ratings by magically waving away $1.6 trillion in student loan obligations. So let's put a few things into perspective. More than a third of Americans did not pursue education beyond high school. Of the Americans who did receive additional schooling, barely one in four holds any student debt at all. In fact, an outright majority of the $1.6 trillion in Federal student debt is held by professionals with advanced degrees. Working people who chose to avoid taking on debt should not have to bail out high-earning doctors, lawyers, and dentists or adults who borrowed six figures for an Ivy League master's. President Biden wants to effectively funnel money away from people who decided to learn a trade, away from people who chose community college, away from people who made tough sacrifices to actually pay off their loans in order to buy more enthusiasm from one of the Democrats' loudest and farthest left constituencies. Young liberal professionals with elite degrees and massive earning potential get a giant handout, and working people in rural America get the bill. As one scholar from a left-leaning think tank puts it: Almost a third of all student debt is owed by the wealthiest 20 percent of households [while] only 8 percent by the bottom 20 percent. He concludes: Student debt is concentrated among high-wealth households, and loan forgiveness is regressive whether measured by income, educational attainment, or wealth. Even among the small slice of Americans who do have some student debt, the majority owes less than $20,000. Ah, but the senior Senator from Massachusetts has proposed a cap that would cover debt up to 2\1/ 2\ times that amount. She is laser focused on giving the future lawyers and future doctors of Cambridge, MA, this massive gift before this November. You literally have Democrat State attorneys general writing the administration, demanding the Federal government ``exercise its authority to cancel federal student loan debt for every [single] borrower.'' Student loan socialism would be a giant slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college; to every graduate who paid their debt; to every worker who made a different career choice so they could stay debt-free. Now, a little more than a year ago, President Biden was saying: I don't think I have the authority to do it by signing with a pen. Speaker Pelosi affirmed that view, saying: People think the president . . . has the power for debt forgiveness--he does not. Even the former general counsel at the Obama Education Department concluded: The Executive Branch likely does not have the unilateral authority to engage in mass student debt cancelation. But, apparently, lackluster poll numbers have the President considering breaking the law and plowing ahead anyway. So think about this very concretely. Democrats want construction workers, police officers, and small business owners in Kentucky to effectively eat the student loans of surgeons, corporate lawyers, and people in New York City who chose to borrow $180,000 for a master's from the Columbia film school, with no plan whatsoever for paying it back. In addition to making inflation even worse across the board, this jubilee for the elites would do nothing to combat runaway costs in higher education. Mindless subsidies would just make the runaway costs even worse. I would like to see one single Democrat visit the working people in Kentucky and defend this proposal with a straight face. Democrats' policies already have working Americans facing the worst inflation in more than 40 years as well as the risk of a recession. But instead of trying to help middle-class families, Democrats are cooking up massive bailouts for Ivy League graduates. You can hardly dream up something more unfair.

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 week before last, it was my honor to sit down with a number of law enforcement officials in my hometown of Louisville, but I wish we could have met under happier circumstances. Our city is contending with a tragic and record-setting jump in crime. Last year, Louisville saw 188 homicides--the most in any year on record. In the last 2 years, carjackings have tripled, and deadly drugs are becoming so prevalent on our streets that Jefferson County saw 500 overdose deaths in 2021. Unfortunately, the historic wave of crime that has swept my hometown is challenging communities all across America. The murder rates of at least a dozen other major cities set alltime records last year. Chicago saw its most carjackings in 20 years, and in the first quarter of 2022, New York's crime rate was already up--listen to this--44 percent. Needless to say, this is a time for strong law enforcement. Studies show that fewer police and less active policing make crime worse and leave the most vulnerable communities particularly worse off. But our Nation's police officers aren't just facing higher volumes of crime; they are facing more direct, personal risks to confront it. Last year, as overall homicide counts continued to climb past 2020's record total, killings of police officers saw a staggering 59-percent spike of their own: 73--73--men and women sworn to protect and serve their communities were killed in 2021 while trying to do exactly that, and, already, 2022 has seen more than 100 more officers shot in the line of duty. The surge in anti-police violence that boiled over in the summer of 2020 has taken its toll on the men and women of law enforcement. An exhaustive report compiled by the city of Louisville last year found that morale-- morale--among our officers is alarmingly low. A full 75 percent would leave for another police department. Not surprisingly, this has led to a severe staffing shortage on the force. Our police chief even took out billboard ads in Atlanta--in Atlanta--to try to recruit officers from other cities. Now more than ever, we need to fund law enforcement, support police officers, and back the blue, but too many Democrats are apparently bent on doing just the opposite. The far left's call to defund the police has taken root at every level of government. Elected officials--sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution--have chosen instead to amplify distrust of the men and women who work every day to enforce our laws. So let's just consider whom the Biden administration has prioritized for confirmation to top jobs in the Justice Department. There is the new U.S. attorney with a reputation for pushing to cancel entire categories of the Criminal Code and the assistant attorneys general who have advocated for efforts to ``decrease police budgets'' and ``invest less in police.'' There is the newly minted Supreme Court Justice who advocated in her last job that the COVID pandemic was an appropriate reason to let inmates out of jail right here in Washington. Just last week, our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee considered a nominee to the circuit court with an unapologetic record of hostility toward law enforcement. Without any basis in fact, Nusrat Choudhury suggested that police murdering unarmed Black men ``happens every day.'' Happens every day? When our colleague the junior Senator from Louisiana called her out on it, the nominee tried to claim that she had only made the statement as an act of ``rhetorical advocacy''--``rhetorical advocacy''--on behalf of a client. Unsurprisingly, that answer hasn't done much to ease the concerns of America's law enforcement community. Major organizations representing officers--from the Sergeants Benevolent Association to the National Sheriffs' Association, to the Fraternal Order of Police--have voiced strong, strong opposition and called on President Biden to ``take a stand against this dangerous and absurdly''--absurdly--``divisive rhetoric.'' Well, needless to say, the President and his administration need to do a lot more than that to prove to the men and women of law enforcement that they have their backs.

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, for years, the radical left has attacked the institution of the Supreme Court. Last night, it appears their campaign hit a new low. Historically, the Justices, clerks, and staff have prized and protected the Court's confidentiality. The Justices must be able to discuss and deliberate in an environment of total trust and privacy. Americans cannot receive a fair trial if politicians, pundits, bullies, and mobs get a say in court. Judicial independence is vital, but the far left has spent years shamelessly attacking it. Democrats in Congress have endorsed plans for partisan Court packing. They have sent the Justices threatening legal briefs. They have scheduled sham hearings to smear judges. In 2020, the Senate Democratic leader marched across the street to the Court and shouted threats--threats--at multiple Justices by name if they didn't rule how he wanted. In 2018, activists literally chased Senators around the Capitol. Now, last night, a shocking--shocking--new breach: Somebody--likely somebody inside the Court itself--leaked a confidential internal draft to the press, almost certainly in an effort to stir up an inappropriate pressure campaign to sway an outcome. The radical left immediately rallied around the toxic stunt. The cheerleaders for partisan Court packing applauded what they suggested was the work of ``a brave clerk'' making ``a last-ditch Hail Mary attempt'' to cause a political firestorm and ``cause the Court to reconsider.'' Liberals want to rip the blindfold off Lady Justice. They want to override impartiality with intimidation. They want to elevate mob rule over the rule of law. The same political movement that used a leak to move up the timeline of Justice Breyer's retirement process is trying to use yet another leak to make the Court less secure and less impartial. Never before--never before--in modern history has an internal draft been leaked to the public while the Justices were still deciding the case. Never before. Whoever committed this lawless act knew exactly what it could bring about. The Justices already require security. Less than 2 weeks ago, an unbalanced person lit himself on fire on the Court steps. Less than 3 years ago, a liberal mob tried to storm the Court, shoving past law enforcement and pounding on the doors. Look, everybody knows what kind of climate the far left is trying to fuel: one that is antithetical--antithetical--to the rule of law. Right on cue, top Democrats began publishing wild statements about what the Court might decide, packed with using unhinged rhetoric that could easily incite, light a match. So what else happened? Activists flocked to the Court. An angry crowd surrounded the Court, chanting Justices' names--their renewed call to smash the institutions of both the Senate and the Court at the same time. One of the Court's most essential and sacred features was smashed just to buy the outraged industrial complex a few extra days to scream nonsense about what the Court might rule. This lawless action should be investigated and punished to the fullest extent possible--fullest extent possible. I am certain the Chief Justice will seek to get to the bottom of this. If a crime was committed, the Department of Justice must pursue it completely. So, listen, I want all nine Justices to know there are still principled Senators who have their backs no matter what. There are still some people in this Capitol--and a majority in the Senate--whose support for the rule of law is not conditional, not conditional. The Court should tune out the bad-faith noise and feel completely free to do their jobs. They should follow the facts and the law wherever that leads. As I have warned in the past, courts bowing to activist pressure would never enhance judicial legitimacy. It could only erode it. And the hostage takers would never settle for half a loaf.

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, inflation has hit a staggering 8.5 percent on Democrats' watch as a result of Democrats' policies. Last week, the Commerce Department announced that personal consumption expenditures climbed at their fastest rate this past year since 1982--40 years ago. Americans are paying 10 percent more on groceries than they were a year ago and about $1.25 more for a gallon of gas. In every aisle of the supermarket, in every big box store, the prices families pay for essentials have skyrocketed. As the owner of a coffeehouse in my hometown of Louisville put it, ``We are trying not to pass on too much to the customers, but it comes to a time when you just have to.'' The owner of a longstanding butcher shop nearby said: ``We're all holding our breath.'' That goes for small business owners and shoppers alike. One new poll found that 94 percent of Americans are upset or concerned about inflation, and they are overwhelmingly not happy--not happy--with what the Biden administration is doing about it. Just 28 percent of the country approved of President Biden's handling of inflation. The worst part is that this pain was certainly not inevitable. American families could have been spared all of this. Last spring, Democrats inherited an economy that was ready for a historic comeback. Even top liberal economists such as Larry Summers and Jason Furman--both senior advisers to the Obama White House-- warned--warned--that Democrats' $2 trillion spending binge was completely out of proportion to the remaining output gap. The country didn't need anything like it. Summers warned of ``inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.'' Furman said: It's definitely too big for the moment. But Democratic politicians didn't listen. Here in the Senate, the Democratic leader said: I do not think the dangers of inflation, at least in the near-term, are very real. That was Leader Schumer last March. So they spent all that money anyway, and, sadly, for the American people, the rest is now history. Democrats spent $2 trillion of the American people's money and purchased the worst inflation in more than 40 years. Well, actually, that is not all it purchased.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, sure, the Democrats' $2 trillion didn't buy our country anything lasting like a Hoover Dam or an Interstate Highway System--nothing like that--but the money had to go someplace--and, boy, did it ever. Democrats and lots of the media spent most of 2020 and 2021 shouting that Republicans were risking calamity because we didn't want to dump endless sums into slush funds for State and local governments. It turns out we were right, and they were wrong. State and local governments are now so awash in Democrat bailout money they can't even figure out where to put it. One recent news report found this bonanza has ``provided a boon for localities seeking to build or upgrade their pickleball amenities.'' Yes, you heard that right. Dozens of municipalities are adding pickleball courts to their park and recreation offerings--and many are using a slice of their coronavirus aid package to underwrite the construction boom. If the Hoover Dam and the Lincoln Tunnel are enduring monuments to the New Deal's infrastructure spending, perhaps pickleball courts will become a lasting legacy of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. In New York, one county set aside $12 million in so-called relief funds to renovate a minor league baseball stadium. In Iowa, county officials put aside $2 million--listen to this--to buy a private ski area. In Colorado, two golf courses are getting their irrigation systems replaced, thank goodness. In Wisconsin, a skate park is getting a million-dollar makeover. The American Rescue Plan didn't rescue working people from anything. It only rescued bureaucrats from any semblance--any semblance--of fiscal sanity. Remember, Democrats openly admitted they viewed pandemic relief as an ideological Trojan horse. They called this terrible, deadly virus ``a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.'' And so right on cue, their so-called rescue plan has funded environmental justice grants to address something called inequitable tree canopy cover in Massachusetts. Some public school systems, in the vice grip of Big Labor, are using their windfalls to advance bizarre indoctrination in things like critical race theory. The rescue plan dollars have funded staff trainings to make sure the educators paid to look after young kids are up on all of the latest ``woke'' buzzwords and causes. The American people wouldn't want this junk if it were free. They definitely don't want it for the pricetag of $2 trillion of their money and the worst inflation in a generation. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, when a tornado tore through the city of Mayfield, KY, last December, America's eyes turned to the community. Volunteers, FEMA workers, and elected officials quickly rushed to the scene to offer our help. But in the aftermath of the devastating storm, amid all the commotion, one figure stood out above all the rest, rallying her town, coordinating recovery efforts, and promising that Mayfield would bounce back, no matter how long it took to rebuild. That inspiring leader was Mayfield Mayor Kathy O'Nan, and today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mayor O'Nan for her leadership and for recently earning recognition as the Mayfield-Graves County Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year. In the past few months, Mayor O'Nan has become a familiar figure to anyone tracking Western Kentucky's recovery from last year's tornados. To the residents of Mayfield, though, she has long served as a standalone advocate for their town and an exemplary community leader. Mayor O'Nan got her start in Mayfield as a high school teacher and church choir director and still knows how to command a rowdy room, whether it is full of students or national reporters. She uses those skills to wear the many hats required of a mayor in a tight-knit town like Mayfield, from community cheerleader, to event coordinator, to business developer. When I first arrived in Mayfield after last December's storms, Mayor O'Nan came up to me immediately, rattling off all the Federal help her community needed to recover. On every subsequent visit, she has been there front and center, ready to discuss storm relief. We have worked closely to provide Western Kentucky with the resources required to rebuild. I am incredibly grateful to have such a hard-working, knowledgeable, and capable friend on the ground. Mayor O'Nan's leadership has been noticed by figures around the country in the past few months. But, as always, her first priority is Mayfield, so I am confident her Woman of the Year Award from the Mayfield-Graves County Chamber of Commerce means more to her than any outside recognition ever could. After all, the residents of Mayfield aren't just her constituents. They are also her neighbors, family, and friends. Mr. President, the Mayfield Messenger highlighted Mayor O'Nan's recognition as the Mayfield-Graves County Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year in a recent article. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the Record.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, runaway inflation is crushing working American families on Democrats' watch. The share of Americans who say the economy is our most important problem hasn't been this high since the last time Democrats controlled the White House. Just this morning, we got a devastating quarterly GDP report. The economy actually shrank 1.4 percent over the last 3 months. No longer are Democrats just presiding over a disappointing recovery. Now they have thrown the recovery into reverse, and we are actually going backward. We haven't seen inflation this bad in more than 40 years-- month after month of skyrocketing prices. It is exactly what everyone knew would happen if Democrats dumped $2 trillion in printed money on an economy that was already ready for a comeback. But Democrats rammed through the far-left spending. So working Americans are paying dearly. This week, the same Washington Democrats who drove this inflation have finally figured out their response. They want to raise taxes on the American people. The Democratic leader said this Tuesday: If you want to get rid of inflation, the only way to do it is to undo a lot of the Trump tax cuts and raise rates. No Republican is ever going to do that. So the only way to get rid of inflation is through reconciliation. Said the Democratic leader. Now, remember, Senator Schumer is the same person who said in March 2021: I do not think the dangers of inflation, at least in the near term, are very real. Now the same person who predicted that inflation would not happen is saying we have to fight inflation by dramatically raising taxes on the American people. The answer for Democrats hurting families once is for Democrats to hurt families twice. This is literally the Democratic economic agenda for your family: high prices and less money. Republicans' 2017 tax cuts just about doubled the standard deduction for households. We created a brandnew zero percent tax bracket for the first $24,000 that a married couple brings in. Repealing that law would cut that in half and raise your taxes. That is what repealing the 2017 tax bill actually means. Republican tax cuts also double the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000, a tremendous help for working families. Repealing the 2017 tax law would slash those credits in half, but that is what Democrats say they want to do because of the inflation that they created. This is Senate Democrats' position: Because their bad decisions have hurt Americans once, the solution is to hurt Americans twice. First, they hurt you with inflation, and now, they want to hurt you with tax hikes. We will see what our citizens have to say about that later this year. Immigration Mr. President, now, on another matter, yesterday Secretary Mayorkas testified: ``We will not lose operational control of the border.'' But, of course, the truth is they already have. The Secretary's own Customs and Border Protection personnel are struggling to keep up with the massive, massive numbers. Only halfway through the fiscal year, they have already encountered a million people trying to enter our country illegally, and that doesn't count all the people they actually never caught. But now President Biden wants to rip away the one remaining bandaid preserving any semblance of law and order. He is canceling the pandemic authorities that let CBP immediately turn people around and actually send them back home. This week, the administration put out a laughable excuse for a new border security plan. In this new memo, Secretary Mayorkas says he aims to have a total capacity to hold 18,000 illegal immigrants in custody at one time. But here is the problem: That is the number of illegal immigrants that some CBP officials fear we could soon be seeing every single day. Let me say that again. The administration hopes they will soon be able to hold 18,000 people total in custody, while the experts warn we could soon have 18,000 coming in every single day. So perhaps that is why the second main point in this Mayorkas memo is this: ``moving with deliberate speed to mitigate potential overcrowding at Border Patrol stations.'' So if you translate that from Washington speak into plain English, it means they want to speed up catch-and- release a whole lot faster. They don't have a plan to secure the border. They have a plan to keep the turnstiles greased up and spinning as fast as possible--a total abdication and the opposite of what the American people expect. National Defense Mr. President, now, on one final matter, the free world has rallied behind Ukraine, including by supplying lethal aid that Ukrainians need to actually fight and win this war. But it is not enough for Americans and our allies to help arm Ukraine; we need to modernize and grow our own defenses at the same time. After just 2 months, our aid to Ukraine has drawn down a quarter--a quarter--of our entire stockpile of Stinger anti-air missiles and a third of our Javelin antitank missiles. Our eastern flank allies' stockpiles of similar weapons have also shrunk as well. So this is a wake-up call and not just about our ability to support the current fight; Ukraine's expenditure rate of critical munitions should cause us to question whether our own wartime requirements for weapons systems and munitions are sufficient. This would be less of a problem if we had a robust defense industrial base to quickly refill our armories. But defense manufacturers have admitted that the production lines for some critical components have actually dried up, and it could be years before they could replace the weapons that we have already sent to Ukraine. We live in a dangerous world. Whether it is the prospect of escalation by Russia against NATO today or the threat of aggression by China, Iran, North Korea, or some other adversary tomorrow, America must be prepared to project power all over the globe. We cannot assume our adversaries will give us time to prepare for battle or to restock in the middle of one. For the sake of deterring the next conflict or winning it if deterrence fails, we must invest in our military readiness. For 2 years in a row, the administration has submitted budgets that do not adequately resource our military. They have failed to even keep pace with President Biden's inflation, meaning a net cut in funding. And with prices soaring, it won't just take longer to build new Stingers and Javelins; it will cost more for them as well. Congress has already given the administration significant tools and authorities to help America's defense industry address the urgent and growing demand for critical munitions and weapons systems. This is precisely--precisely--the situation the Defense Production Act was designed to address. But instead of invoking the DPA as intended, this administration has entertained far-left schemes to use it for unrelated liberal goals like environmental policy. But I am glad to hear President Biden will be traveling to Alabama next week to visit a facility that manufactures Javelins. While he is there, I hope he will reconsider what his administration is doing to ramp up production of other critical munitions and weapons systems. I hope he will recognize what is needed to enhance America's security and that of our NATO eastern flank allies and Asian partners threatened by China. The President should use the powerful tools he already has-- he already has--to fix this shortfall before it is too late. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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, along with others, had the opportunity to say goodbye to Madeleine Albright this morning--a truly remarkable life: first woman Secretary of State, a remarkable diplomat, and a friend. We had an opportunity to bond over an issue I am about to discuss: the people of Burma and the plight that they have had to endure over the years. Regretfully, as her life came to an end, things did not go in the right direction in Burma--at least not yet. I know she would not have given up hope; nor have I.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Louisville, KY, makes its mark on American life as the host of the Kentucky Derby, the producer of the iconic Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and a place to sample America's signature spirit, bourbon. Many Americans may not know that my hometown leaves its fingerprints on their lives in another way: as the home of the world's largest automated package handling facility, the UPS Worldport. This massive warehouse--at 5.2 million square feet, it is larger than the Mall of America--sorts millions of packages every day, speedily shipping them to consumers across the globe. It serves as the keystone of the vast UPS supply chain, linking consumers to businesses all over the country. Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the retirement of one of the key figures in the Worldport's development, UPS Airlines president Brendan Canavan. To many, the UPS Worldport might seem like something out of a science fiction movie. Standing in the facility, you would be struck by the sheer scale of thousands of packages whirring about on a complicated system of conveyor belts, scanners, and lifts. This enormous warehouse sorts the average package in just 13 minutes. Human hands only touch packages twice. It is an amazing feat of modern technology and supply chain efficiency. It would take an extraordinarily visionary business leader to have planned and executed such a facility. Its scale and complexity are almost too vast to fathom. But Brendan Canavan moved to Louisville in 2004 and did just that. In only a few years, he helped turn Louisville into a global supply chain hub and brought new levels of speed to the process. Brendan knows so much about UPS's operations because he has performed many of them himself. While in college in his hometown of Philadelphia, he worked as a UPS loader and driver. He later stepped into management roles around the country, coming into leadership positions just as computer technology began to take a greater role in the supply chain logistics industry. As a rising star in the company, Brendan was tasked with the development of Louisville's Worldport facility in 2004. He came to our city and quickly got to work developing the warehouse, which now processes roughly 300 flights of UPS shipments every single day. For his outstanding work developing the Worldport, he was rewarded with greater and greater roles in UPS's leadership structure. By 2014, Brendan had ascended to the presidency of UPS Airlines. In that role, he oversaw nearly 300 individual airplanes and thousands of pilots, operating all over the world at all hours of the day. As the coordinator of such a vast organization, he ensured his company maintained its technological prowess, allowing UPS to keep up with the ever-changing demands of its global consumers. Two years ago, Brendan faced a challenge unlike any UPS had ever seen: the coronavirus pandemic. Across the world, airports shut down and supply chains became hopelessly gnarled. Still, Brendan wielded his decades of on-the-ground experience to hold UPS's systems together, continuing to perform vital services even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Now, after what must have been some of the most difficult years of his career, Brendan is taking a step back to spend more time with his family and devote extra energy to volunteering. His desire to aid others has not diminished one bit, and he continues to make a mark on Louisville. I want to thank Brendan for his decades of service to our country, his outstanding leadership at UPS, and his hard work to make Louisville a capital of global supply chain logistics. On behalf of the Senate, I share my congratulations with Brendan on his extraordinary career and wish him the best in his retirement.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Biden administration's bad decisions have brought many crises upon our country. One of the worst is the collapse of law and order on our southern border. Last month, Customs and Border Protection reported over 221,000 apprehensions. That is up 33 percent just since February. It is the highest monthly total in 22 years. We have already hit more than 1 million encounters in just the first half of this fiscal year. But, alas, this could still be just the beginning. The Department of Homeland Security is bracing for an even bigger surge in the weeks and months to come. Authorities are steeling for the possibility that we could see 18,000 new people showing up every single day. In 2020, President-elect Biden said that ``end[ing] up with two million people on our border'' would be ``the last thing we need,'' but his own policies went on to produce exactly that outcome. In 2021, on President Biden's watch, 2 million people from at least-- listen to this--160 different countries were stopped along our southern border, and now immigration officials are anticipating totals that could more than triple--triple--last year's record. Against this backdrop, with illegal immigrants and deadly fentanyl pouring into our country, any administration living in reality would be working overtime to actually secure the border. Instead, even now, President Biden is trying to throw away what little security still exists. For 2 years, since the start of the pandemic, a legal authority called title 42 has empowered the government to simply turn around a large share of the people they catch and send them right back where they came from. Every month, CBP uses this tool to keep tens of thousands of illegal immigrants out of the catch-and-release pipeline and send them back to their home countries, but now, unbelievably, President Biden has announced he is going to cancel these legal authorities. He wants to rip off the one remaining bandaid that has preserved at least some shred of law and order. The Biden administration is claiming the pandemic is over and finished on our southern border. Now, they don't believe the pandemic is over, however, for American citizens--oh, no. Democrats actually want Congress to approve more funding specifically because COVID is not finished. The Biden administration's official position is that the pandemic is over for illegal immigrants but not for the American people. Every day brings more confusing spin from President Biden and his staff. Their latest claim is that Congress needs to fix their problem for them--that if these title 42 authorities end after President Biden has announced he will end them, it will somehow be Congress's fault. That is absurd. The administration has the discretion. The legislative branch has already given them the tool. It is the same tool they have been using this whole time. They just need to have the courage to tell the radical left to take a hike and keep sending these folks back to their home countries. Apparently, that is asking too much. The Biden administration is stumbling through this core governing responsibility with no vision, no plan, and backward priorities. Democrats would rather appease their radical base with functional open borders than conduct the bare minimum--bare minimum--in enforcement. The administration's decision is so obviously crazy that even a number of our Senate Democratic colleagues who have been marching in lockstep with the President for more than a year are now scrambling to make it look like they are breaking ranks. Well, I welcome our colleagues who are finally making angry noises about this border crisis. The problem is that their lockstep, Democratic votes for over a year have helped, actually, to produce it. For over a year, Senate Democrats have rubberstamped every single aspect of the Biden administration's failed border policy. Not a single Senate Democrat opposed the confirmations of the heads of DHS and HHS, who have presided over this crisis. Not a single Senate Democrat voted for commonsense Republican amendments to do things like preserve the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy and defund sanctuary cities, and the cost of their bad decisions gets worse every day. Last week, a heroic American servicemember paid the ultimate price. Specialist Bishop E. Evans of the Texas National Guard had been assigned to help contend with the flow of immigrants across the Rio Grande. He lost his own life in trying to save people who had gotten into deadly trouble. And the White House's response? Their spokeswoman was asked yesterday about this tragic loss. She brushed it off. She said he was there on behalf of Texas, not the Federal Government. That unbelievably tone-deaf response perfectly captures the administration's failure to take responsibility. Democrats have built this border crisis by letting the radical left run the show for more than a year. If my friends across the aisle really have experienced a conversion of heart and now believe in border security, they will have to do a lot more than issue indignant press releases and call it a day. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, as the Senate convenes today, we are mourning the loss of our dear friend and legendary former colleague, Orrin Hatch. When Senator Hatch retired 3 years ago, this body lost its longest serving Republican and its President pro tem. We also lost one of the kindest and best humored colleagues any of us had ever served with and, for that matter, the Senate's only former band manager of a Mormon folk music group. Orrin Hatch led an incredibly full, interesting, and accomplished life. By the end of his tenure, our very funny colleague liked to poke fun at his own longevity. I remember when Orrin, a former Judiciary Committee chairman, would pretend to wistfully recall his work on Justice Joseph Story's confirmation back in 1811. Humor aside, the reality was impressive enough. Orrin's dogged service for Utah and our Nation was a constant in this Chamber for 42 years. He was an accomplished, influential chairman of three major committees: HELP, Judiciary, and Finance. He was an essential legislator behind a long list of landmark laws--from the Hatch-Waxman law on generic drugs in the 1980s to the Americans with Disabilities Act, to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program--all back in the 1990s--all the way through to the historic 2017 tax reform that Orrin shepherded as Finance chairman. That helped engineer the best economic moment for American workers and families in modern history. There were also countless specific achievements for the great State of Utah that Orrin loved so much. Amid all that legislative heavy lifting, Orrin was also a pivotal player concerning the Senate's part in the personnel business. Amazingly, at the time of Orrin's retirement, he had personally participated in the confirmations for more than half--half--of all the article III judges who had ever served in American history. Orrin came into the Senate as a young, conservative firebrand. His first campaign for any public office of any kind was the 1976 campaign that landed him here. He left the Senate as a widely admired and universally liked elder statesman. His legacy is peppered with both big, principled victories, bipartisan collaborations, and a roster of friends that spanned the entire political spectrum and sometimes transcended politics altogether. But there was never any confusing what Orrin viewed as his proudest accomplishment of all. That would be his remarkable marriage to Elaine and their loving family. Alphabetical order has perhaps never served any man better than when ``Hatch, Orrin'' was assigned the chair next to ``Hansen, Elaine'' in a Brigham Young University classroom. Decades later, Orrin said, ``I can't remember a doggone thing from that astronomy class,'' but the two of them got 65 inspiring years of marriage and a big, happy brood of kids and grandkids out of the bargain. So, today, the entire Senate stands with Elaine, the Hatch family, and the huge, huge network of friends, former staffers, and admirers whom Orrin leaves behind across Utah and across our country. We mourn this great loss, and we honor this great life.

Mr. McCONNELL

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