Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Reserving the right to object.

Mr. McCONNELL

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I am glad to share that, a few minutes ago, I received a booster vaccination for COVID-19. All throughout the pandemic, I have followed the best advice from experts and especially from my own healthcare providers. It was an easy decision to receive a booster. I am a survivor of childhood polio from before vaccines--before vaccines eradicated that disease here in our country and around the world now. So I have been a lifelong champion of vaccinations. Mountains of evidence tell us these shots are safe, effective, and dramatically shrink the odds of severe disease or death from COVID. Like I have been saying for months, these safe and effective vaccines are the way to defend ourselves and our families from this terrible virus. They are also how we stay on offense against COVID as a country. All Americans should speak with their doctors and get vaccinated. Economy Madam President, now, on a completely different matter, it is not unusual for a President to have a rough spell. Every administration faces a stretch of time where nothing seems to go their way. But what we are witnessing today is entirely different. President Biden has not been dealt a bad hand by forces outside his control. This White House is not sailing through some unavoidable patch of choppy water. No, the Democrats have steered our country straight into a storm of serious crises all of their own making. On issue after issue, Americans are hurting because of specific policy choices that Democrats have made over the objections of people who actually knew better. Democrats did not inherit most of the painful inflation that is hammering working families. Their decisions have fueled it. Even liberal economists warned the President that runaway liberal spending could send costs soaring--soaring--for the middle class. Now working Americans are paying dearly at the grocery store, at the gas station, and practically everywhere that matters to families. And what are Democrats doing today? Putting together yet another reckless taxing-and-spending spree behind closed doors that would make inflation even worse. Now, President Biden did not inherit humiliation in Afghanistan either; he deliberately chose that as well. The Biden administration's own experts warned the White House that a reckless withdrawal would embolden terrorists and harm our ability to gather intelligence that keeps us safe. But the President clung to his made-up deadline, handed huge momentum to the Taliban and their terrorist friends, and broke his explicit promise to leave no American behind who wanted out. As one former Democratic Member of Congress said last week, ``The way the administration executed that withdrawal last week has been an utter and abject disaster.'' Democrats did not inherit this border crisis either. This security nightmare and human tragedy is yet another direct result of their own policies. President Biden and his allies spent 2 years campaigning on the concept of Big Government giveaways to people here illegally. Then they took office and began dismantling enforcement on the border. So what do they expect? Wave after wave of vulnerable people have been lured into hellish conditions by the mirage the Democrats have set up-- cruelty masquerading as compassion. Untold thousands of people have simply been released into our country with what amounts to a polite invitation to show up--show up--for a hearing. Even before the Biden surge, only about half of individuals actually showed up. One self-created crisis after another from our unified Democratic Party government. The latest additions are their confusion about how to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling. For more than 2 months now, Senate Republicans have been completely clear about how this process will play out, so let me make it abundantly clear one more time. We will support a clean continuing resolution that will prevent a government shutdown, get disaster relief to Louisiana, help properly vetted Afghan refugees who put themselves on the line for America, and support the Iron Dome assistance for our ally Israel. We will not provide Republican votes for raising the debt limit. As we speak, Democrats are behind closed doors, assembling a multitrillion-dollar reckless taxing-and-spending spree. There is no chance Republicans will help lift Democrats' credit limit so they can immediately steamroll through a socialist binge that will hurt families and help China. There is no particular tradition that the minority will always vote for debt limit hikes during united government. When Republicans had unified control in the early 2000s, then-Senators Biden and Schumer voted no on a debt limit increase and made the party in power handle it on their own--exactly the situation we are in now. The roles were reversed. Bipartisanship is not a light switch--a light switch--that Democrats get to flip on when they need to borrow money and switch off when they want to spend money. The debt suspension that expired in August covered all the debt that had been accumulated to that point. This is an argument about the future. Democrats want to use this temporary pandemic as a Trojan horse for permanent socialism. They have all but said so. And that is what millions and millions of Americans elected 50 Republican Senators to fight against. For 10 weeks now--10 weeks--Democrats have known what kind of government funding legislation could pass the Senate and what kind would fail. Republicans are not rooting for a shutdown or debt limit breach. We have given the united Democratic government total clarity about how each can be avoided. Republicans have explained exactly what kind of continuing resolution can pass the Senate with our support. Late last week, the House Democratic leader publicly said House Democrats are ready to swallow whatever CR the Senate can send them. So the House is ready. Senate Republicans are ready. We could have a bipartisan vote to fund the government today if not for the odd tactics of the Senate Democratic leader. Before we vote this afternoon, I will ask consent to strike the partisan CR that is dead on arrival and instead have the Senate vote on a clean continuing resolution that could pass this Chamber easily. We will see if Washington Democrats actually want to govern or whether they want to add the prospect of a government shutdown to the list of inflation, Afghanistan, the border, and all the other national crises that are the direct results of their own decisions. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Cassidy, Kennedy, and I be allowed to complete our remarks prior to the vote.

Mr. McCONNELL. So, Madam President, the Democratic leader has scheduled a vote today that he knows will fail. For more than 2 months, since July, Republicans have been clear about where we stand: We are willing to work together to keep the government open. We are not willing to help Democrats raise the debt ceiling while they write a reckless taxing-and-spending spree of historic proportions behind closed doors. Democrats control the entire government--the Senate, the House, the White House. They intend to sideline Republicans and go it alone to slam American families with historic tax hikes and borrowing. So they will need to raise the debt limit on a partisan basis as well. And they have known that for 2 months now--2 months. Just like then-Senator Biden and Senator Schumer voted no on a debt limit increase and made a unified Republican government handle it alone back in the early 2000s, this has happened before. Earlier this year, Senate Democrats requested and won additional flexibility to make policy on party lines. They have every single tool they need to do their job. The Democratic leader, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the United States have had 10 weeks--10--to plan for funding the government and addressing the debt limit. There never had to be one ounce of drama to any of this. Any drama here is self-created by the Democrats. Republicans continue to try to help our Democratic friends avoid multiple new crises of their own making. On the debt limit, Democrats have all the time and all the tools to do what they have to do, and I have explained in detail how they need to proceed. Because Democrats ignored our warning back in July, they must amend their previous budget resolution with debt limit instructions and proceed through a fast-track process. On the more urgent issue, government funding, Senator Shelby and I have a clean CR that could pass today. Our bill tracks with bipartisan talks. It would keep the government open, fund disaster relief for Louisiana, and fund defensive assistance for our ally Israel and their Iron Dome, and it drops the debt limit language that Democrats have known is a nonstarter for more than 2 months. The Senate could advance this bill tonight. If Democrats will let us, we could take a bipartisan step tonight toward guaranteeing there will be no government shutdown. If the Democratic leader lets us, the Senate could advance government funding legislation with a big bipartisan vote yet tonight. The House Democratic majority leader has said they will take up whatever CR the Senate sends them. The House is ready. Senate Republicans are ready. The only holdout is the Senate Democratic leader and his partisan tactics. So, in just a moment, I will ask consent that Democrats forget about the vote they know will fail and instead let the Senate vote on a bill that can actually pass. It is up to the Democrats. We can either move this legislation forward tonight or we can have a show vote, which they know will fail, and inch closer toward another crisis of their own making.

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 137, H.R. 5305. I further ask that the first amendment in order be the Shelby-McConnell amendment to the text of which is identical to Calendar No. 135, S. 2789; that there be 2 hours of debate, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Shelby- McConnell amendment be agreed to; finally, upon disposition of the Shelby-McConnell amendment, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with a 60- affirmative-vote threshold required for passage.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Republicans are shining a spotlight on the reckless taxing-and-spending spree that Washington Democrats are writing behind closed doors. The radical left is pushing in all their chips. They want to use this terrible but temporary pandemic as a Trojan horse for permanent socialism. And President Biden, who ran as a unifying moderate, is either powerless to stop them or does not wish to. An avalanche--an avalanche--of crushing tax hikes that would hurt families and would help China; a government power grab over more of Americans' healthcare decisions, childcare choices, family finances, and daily lives; trillions upon trillions more in government spending when families are already facing inflation--none of this, of course, will get a single Republican vote in either Chamber. Democrats have not even consulted us. They haven't tried to earn our votes. From the start, they have planned to use a party-line, fast- track process to ram through the Senate this version of their vision of America. That is why Republicans will not help this unified Democratic government with its basic duty to raise the debt ceiling. This could not be simpler. If they want to tax, borrow, and spend historic sums of money without our input, they will have to raise the debt limit without our help. This is the reality. I have been saying this very clearly since July, and I think our Democratic colleagues are finally getting it because now they are fumbling for bogus excuses. They remain confident they can spend trillions of dollars to remake the entire economy in a couple of weeks, but, supposedly, they just cannot clear this much smaller procedural hurdle without Republican help. Really? Give me a break. Earlier this year, Senate Democrats specifically requested and received extra flexibility around the reconciliation process. They have every procedural tool they need to promptly advance a separate stand- alone piece of legislation addressing the debt limit without a single Republican vote. Our colleagues have plenty of time to get this done. It is laughable--laughable--to hear some Democrats claiming they simply don't have enough time. Last month, Democrats introduced a sweeping budget resolution on August 9 and passed it before sunrise on August 11--3 days. Our Democratic colleagues have about a month--a month--plenty of time to do their job as a unified government and protect the full faith and credit of the United States. The Democratic chairman of the House Budget Committee admitted last weekend that Democrats could--could--tackle the debt limit alone, but they just don't want to. Some Senate Democrats have said similar things. This may be inconvenient for them, but it is totally possible. And this Democratic government must not manufacture an avoidable crisis for the sake of their own convenience. Senate Democrats know what they need to do. Let me lay it out. They will need to write a short resolution amending their previous budget resolution with new debt limit instructions. You have to take that to the Budget Committee, which will probably deadlock, so they will vote to discharge it like they have done for other bills and nominations. Then a vote to proceed on the floor, a limited vote-a-rama, and a vote on final passage. And then, once the budget has been amended, House and Senate Democrats will use the same fast-track process on a short and simple bill to actually raise the debt limit. This won't be a multiweek process. It is probably about a week of the Senate's time or a little more. And they won't have to wait on their reckless taxing-and-spending spree either. They can move a stand-alone debt limit bill all on its own. I understand our Democratic colleagues may feel inconvenienced by this. I understand this may slightly delay their partisan bill, but that is a complaint. That is a complaint, not an excuse. We have a unified Democratic government that has decided to govern alone. They cannot put partisan ambitions ahead of basic duties. The party-line authors of this reckless taxing-and-spending spree will be the party-line owners of raising the debt limit.

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, this morning, I had the honor to meet with Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom, and later today, I will meet with Prime Minister Morrison of Australia as well. Any day Congress has the opportunity to strengthen working relationships with two of our Nation's closest friends and allies is a good day indeed. Our meetings today come at a time when our most important trans- Atlantic and trans-Pacific alliances are facing growing threats to collective security and to prosperity. In the face of Russia's meddling, China's expansionism, a reinflamed War on Terror, and further threats to democracy and human rights around the world, the steady leadership of committed partners is more crucial than ever. So I specifically wanted to thank our friends in Australia and the United Kingdom for their years of loyal friendship that have underpinned coalition operations in Afghanistan and our joint efforts elsewhere to check the most pressing threats to our nations and to the kind of world that will help us thrive. I will be reaffirming my own commitment that America must be the reliable, committed, and globally engaged ally that our closest friends deserve.

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, now on a related matter, yesterday evening, Senator Shelby and I introduced a continuing resolution that could pass the Senate and prevent a government shutdown. Our legislation would fund the government through December. It would restore the defensive assistance for our ally Israel that House Democrats stripped out to appease some of the worst elements of the far left. As one frustrated Democratic Congressman stated yesterday, ``A missile defense system [like] Iron Dome defends civilians from missiles. Hence the name. Only in a morally inverted universe would this be considered a `controversy.' '' That is a House Democrat describing the action yesterday of House Democrats. Our bill also removes the debt limit language that Democrats have known since July--since July--will not receive bipartisan support from Senate Republicans. As one of my colleagues put it succinctly, if Washington Democrats want to jam through trillions of dollars in reckless spending all by themselves, they can raise the debt limit all by themselves. If they want to do one, they will need to do the other. To do one, if they need to do one, they will do the other. It is that simple.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Now, one final matter. The American people are watching a terrible sight unfold down on our southern border. Many thousands of people, largely from Haiti, are literally huddled together underneath a bridge in Del Rio, TX, just across the Rio Grande. Temperatures have been in the triple digits. The conditions are unsanitary and inhumane. This nightmare is the direct result of the leftwing policies and leftwing messages pushed by the Biden administration. They say their approach to immigration is the compassionate path, the one that reflects the soul of America. They are wrong. In no way does it honor America's soul or uphold American values to tolerate a major border security crisis and unending--unending--humanitarian disaster that appear to be permanent features of life under the Biden administration. This false choice is the constant refrain from the left. Either we adopt Democratic policies that lure people into literal squalor and effectively open our borders in the middle of a pandemic or else we are somehow betraying the spirit of the Statue of Liberty? That is simply nonsense. Legal, orderly immigration has been a proud strength of our country and a core pillar of the American way of life literally for generations. That is completely different than Washington Democrats sabotaging our border while publicly advertising a catalog--a catalog-- of socialist benefits they say they will provide for illegal immigrants who manage to make it in. When President Biden was sworn in, thousands and thousands of people took his far-left campaign rhetoric seriously and began streaming toward our borders. One person at the border directly told the Washington Post they came because they heard ``President Biden was letting people in.'' First, in the springtime, his administration called this a seasonal surge. Well, so much for that. We have had more than 150,000 border apprehensions every single month for the past 6 months. Encounters usually fall off during the hot summer months, but on President Biden's watch, the opposite has happened. Listen to one recent example of the chaos. A few days ago, the Biden administration filled a big bus with illegal immigrants from this encampment. The bus set out for somewhere else in Texas. But according to news reporting, partway through the journey, the illegal immigrants on board revolted, took control of the bus, and broke out. But more broadly, it sounds like catch-and-release may be the de facto Biden policy. Just this morning, the Associated Press reports that according to government officials, ``Haitian migrants camped in a . . . Texas border town are being released in the United States . . . on a very, very large scale . . . undercutting the Biden administration's public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion.'' Nobody believes Democrats that this lawlessness, chaos, and human suffering is the fair and compassionate way to govern our country. Nobody buys that. An average of recent surveys shows that only 36 percent--36 percent--of the country approves of President Biden's handling of immigration, while 56 percent disapprove. Look, Americans know a train wreck when they see one. Our citizens deserve better than this failure--utter failure--of leadership, and so do the people Democrats are luring here with a mirage. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, over the past several months, American families have had to contend with a historic amount of painful, painful inflation. This summer, we saw the prices for core personal consumption soar at the fastest pace in nearly 30 years. Last month, the Producer Price Index notched its steepest year- on-year jump in more than a decade. All across the country, across the economy, families and businesses are being hit hard. One measure of construction materials is reporting that homebuilders are facing materials costs that are 22 percent higher than just last year--22 percent higher than just last year. Homeowners and renters are approaching a fall and winter in which heating costs are projected to reach a 13-year high. Eighty-six percent of respondents told one recent poll they were either ``extremely'' or ``very worried'' about inflation. Now, this is exactly what Republicans, independent experts, and even liberal economists warned would happen if Democrats started ramming through massive, massive inflationary spending. Back in the springtime, Larry Summers, the top economic adviser to both President Clinton and President Obama, warned at the time that runaway spending could ``set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.'' And, of course, that is exactly what has happened. Well, just ask any working family in this country about their last trip to the gas station, the grocery store, or the car dealership. Inflation has gotten so bad on Democrats' watch that it has wiped out every ounce of the average American worker's pay growth during this economic recovery and then some. Annual real wage growth is negative even though employers have been handing out raises because--because--of inflation. Remember, at the start of the year, working Americans had an economy that was teed up for a roaring recovery. So when Washington Democrats rolled out their first springtime spending spree, even the Washington Post cautioned that ``the improving picture is raising questions about whether the stimulus bill is mismatched to the needs of the current moment.'' That was the Washington Post on the so-called rescue package that passed back in March. You might think that the disastrous consequences of Democrats' last spending binge for working Americans might give our colleagues some pause about the next one, but, alas, no such luck. Behind closed doors, they are putting together another, even more reckless taxing-and- spending spree. They want to take the last bill, which Democrats called the most leftwing law in American history, and actually dwarf even that. Massive tax hikes on Americans that will hurt families and help China. Let me say that again. Massive tax hikes on Americans that will hurt families and help China. A socialist transformation that nobody voted for last year. Another invitation for even more painful inflation that will hit working Americans right where it hurts. The American people don't want it, and Senate Republicans won't support it.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on a different matter. Last week, Senate Democrats announced what was marketed as a compromise on carving out a bigger role for Washington in elections all across our country. It was hardly the first time our Democratic colleagues had given their takeover of 50 States' election laws a makeover. Over the years, it has sometimes been sold as an urgent overhaul of our democracy; other times as just a set of narrow tweaks. But for all of their attempts to change up the pitch, the unfortunate fact is that the bones of the Democrats' proposal are still the same. The latest version is only a compromise in the sense that the center left compromised with the far left. Under the hood is the same Frankenstein's monster that has been there since 2019, years--years-- before the State-level actions which Democrats now claim have made it all necessary. It still makes Washington bureaucrats the de facto board of elections for all 50 States, dictating the terms of things like automatic and same-day voter registration. It still insists on impeding State efforts to ensure integrity of voter rolls through popular, commonsense voter ID measures. It still has government dollars going directly to politicians' campaigns--that is the public funds for bumper stickers and attack ads. It still empowers partisan regulators to circumvent the bipartisan FEC and engage in even more intimidation of private citizens who engage in political speech. And these, of course, are just to name a few. Now, surely, as the Senate continues to do its job and strike down misguided ideas like these, we will hear plenty from folks who consider it evidence that this body is broken. But, of course, that simply is not true. The Senate is fully capable of taking landmark, bipartisan action that makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat. Back in 2002, I was involved, along with my colleague Chris Dodd, in passing the Help America Vote Act. I was one of the leaders on that. We empowered State and local election systems to follow commonsense guideposts for integrity and accessibility. It provided basically a grant program to States to help them upgrade their voter systems after the Florida election in 2000. And the Senate passed it 92 to 2--92 to 2. So if our Democratic colleagues really want to find common ground and act on common sense, the roadmap is right there. But, unfortunately, we know that has never been the case. Unfortunately, this latest ``compromise'' is just a repackaging of what even reporters called a messaging bill that was headed nowhere. The substance is not really changing, so neither will the result.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the senior House Democrat told us back in March of 2020 that COVID presented ``a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.'' President Biden said last week that ``while this pandemic has been godawful for so many reasons . . . it does present us with an opportunity.'' The reckless taxing-and-spending spree that Washington Democrats are assembling behind closed doors would put more debt, more borrowing, and more inflation on the shoulders of American families. It would make Washington, DC, dramatically more involved in families' childcare, their health coverage, their local energy utilities, and on and on. There are so many controversial changes being crammed into one mega bill that it must be a deliberate strategy: try to achieve everything the far left has wanted for 20 years in one fell swoop before the country has time to realize what hit it. So today, I am going to focus on just one example. Let's look at the tax hikes, a staggering historic set of tax hikes; tax hikes on small business, tax hikes on family farms, tax hikes on Americans that would shatter the pledge to spare people earning less than $400,000 a year, tax hikes that would put even more Americans into unfair double taxation of the death tax, massive taxes on the U.S. economy that would give us one of the least competitive tax structures in the developed world. For example, even Communist China taxes their own businesses significantly less than President Biden and his allies want America to tax ours. Tax hike after tax hike after tax hike--a smothering wet blanket thrown onto an economy that is already struggling to fully recover because of the inflation and worker shortages that Democrats' policies have already unleashed. So when you add it all up, Democrats want to ram through one of the largest peacetime tax hikes on record, if not the single largest. So let me say that again. Behind closed doors, Washington Democrats are drafting what may very well be the largest peacetime tax hike that our country has literally ever seen. But this isn't to say that nobody gets a leg up in this bill. So listen to this. Somehow, mysteriously, many of the Democrats' favorite groups and special interests come out just fine. Isn't that fascinating? For example, their legislation would allow ordinary Americans' charitable deduction on top of the standard deduction to expire. Ah, but they would replace it with a brandnew tax break of almost exactly the same dollar amount for union dues that go to Big Labor. So you take out a charitable deduction for regular Americans, put in a new one for union dues that would benefit Big Labor. They are scrapping Americans' extra deduction for donating to charity and replacing it with a special subsidy for union dues for Big Labor. Really, you can't make this stuff up. Sorry, Red Cross. Sorry, local churches and houses of worship. Sorry, soup kitchens. Democrats think the Teamsters and the SEIU need the money more than you do. And they aren't the only group that Democrats favor, who literally make out like bandits. Look at high-income earners in coastal blue States. The bill that raises taxes on everything that moves somehow-- somehow--makes room for a special, gigantic tax cut for wealthy people who choose to live in high-tax States. More than half the benefit of the so-called SALT policy would go to the top 1 percent of households. There is also a special tax break for people who choose to purchase expensive electric cars. You get the picture: make U.S. industry less competitive than China in order to massively subsidize the coastal cosmopolitan lifestyle. That is what the Democrats want. This bill would also create a new national dragnet for ordinary Americans' banking information. Community banks and credit unions would be hammered with new requirements to report to the feds whenever citizens make transactions--listen to this--in excess of $600. Community banks and credit unions would have new requirements to report to the Federal Government whenever citizens make transactions in excess of $600. Big Brother wants to peer into America's bank accounts. Here is how one local Kentucky lender described this concept to me: a ``flagrant violation of privacy and offense to liberty.'' That pretty well sums it up. So, huge tax hikes on Americans, expensive giveaways for coastal elites, and new government snooping-- snooping--into families' finances. So that is just one corner of this reckless taxing-and-spending spree that should never see the light of day.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, over the past year and a half, senior Democratic leaders decided the upheaval and hardship of a once-in-a- century pandemic was actually a chance to justify radical leftwing change. This isn't just me conjecturing; it is what they keep saying. Right at the start of the crisis, March 2020, the House Democratic Whip said the pandemic offered ``a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.'' Just last week, President Biden said: ``This pandemic has been God- awful for so many reasons. . . . But''--``but,'' he said--``it does present us with an opportunity.'' So they get points for honesty, at least. The reckless taxing-and-spending spree the Democrats are writing behind closed doors is designed to leave Americans with a socialist country they never voted for and a country that working families, in many ways, would barely recognize. Last night, one of those many efforts hit a stumbling block. Senate Democrats were reminded the rules of this institution will not permit them to shove a massive amnesty for illegal immigrants into a reckless taxing-and-spending spree they want to ram through on a party-line basis. Our Democratic colleagues cannot pretend that massive transformational policy changes are mere budgetary tweaks. As no less an authority than our colleague now-Chairman Bernie Sanders said just a few years ago, ``the function of reconciliation is to adjust federal spending and revenue, not''--not--``to enact major changes in social policy.'' That is Chairman Sanders a few years ago. That is a lesson he and his caucus need to relearn. Even with the border as insecure as it has ever been, the far left wanted sweeping amnesty, and Democratic leaders dutifully tried their very best. It just goes to show you how radical this legislation is going to be. Democrats want to tamper with Americans' Medicare and stretch the program even thinner, while it already faces fiscal challenges. They want to interfere massively with the States that choose not to bow to Obamacare mandates on Medicaid; they want to use healthcare dollars to line the pockets of special interests with big union giveaways; and they want to impose socialist price controls on Americans' medicines that would leave us with fewer new treatments and new cures in the future. It adds up to a massive leap toward socialized medicine. But somehow this still only scratches the surface. Democrats are also trying to force through an unprecedented Federal takeover of American families' childcare options that may leave faith- based childcare providers high and dry. They want an all-out assault on affordable, reliable, homegrown American energy so the entire country could be marched toward California utility prices, California gas prices, and California electricity blackouts--just what families want. Look, I could go on all day. The reckless taxing-and-spending spree that Democrats are writing behind closed doors is shaping up to be exactly what they promised: an effort to exploit this terrible but temporary pandemic as a Trojan horse for permanent socialism. Now, on a related matter, Democrats have united, unified control of the Senate, the House, and the White House. Their strategy for all this transformational borrowing, spending, and tax hikes was deliberately designed to include no Republican input and to receive no Republican votes. Since Democrats decided to go it alone, they will not get Senate Republicans' help with raising the debt limit. I have explained this clearly and consistently for over 2 months. We do not have divided government. Democrats do not need our help. They have every tool to address the debt limit on their own--the same party-line process they used to ram through inflationary spending in March and already plan to use once again this fall. Now, look, this might inconvenience Democrats. It might delay their next reckless taxing-and-spending spree, but Democrats cannot risk the full faith and credit of our Nation to serve their own partisan timelines. Democrats decided to govern alone. Their unified Democratic government must put basic governing duties ahead of partisan wish lists. If they don't, the consequences for our country would be catastrophic. Senate Republicans would support a clean continuing resolution that includes appropriate disaster relief and targeted Afghan assistance. We will not support legislation that raises the debt limit. Remember, when the debt suspension lapsed in August, the debt limit was automatically ratcheted up to account for all of the borrowing that had occurred up to that date. This isn't about the past. It is about the future. And Democrats want to build a partisan future without our input. So Democrats will not get bipartisan facilitators for their purely partisan spending binge. Democrats are fully capable of owning this step themselves. The Democratic chairman of the House Budget Committee admitted just yesterday: ``We can do it through reconciliation. [But] [l]eadership has said they don't want to do that.'' One party controls the entire government. They have the power to address this alone. And as I have warned since July, that is what they will need to do.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now, on a completely different matter, providing for the common defense and protecting the American people is one of the fundamental responsibilities our Founders entrusted to the Federal Government. It is a core obligation of the Commander in Chief. Yet, to a deadly degree, a parade of mistakes in Afghanistan tells us President Biden and his team have failed this most basic test of competence. For 20 years, the United States has successfully kept terrorists from staging another major attack on our homeland. Over the years, we have reduced our own military presence in Afghanistan, secured greater assistance in foreign partners, and supported local Afghan forces who did the vast majority of the fighting. This strategy kept al-Qaida on the run. It kept the Taliban from taking control, and it kept Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terror. In only a matter of months, President Biden and his team have squandered all of that--squandered it. The collapse we witnessed wasn't inevitable. It didn't happen on its own. It happened because President Biden pulled the plug on our Afghan partners and pulled the rug out from under our allies who were with us in this shared fight. Everyone seemed to realize this is a historic disaster for the United States, except maybe the President and his loyal retainers. Secretary Blinken points to the frantic evacuation of 100,000 desperate people as a huge success. Seriously? They initially didn't envision having to evacuate anyone. The number of people evacuated is not a metric of success for this administration; it is a measure of their failure. Back in April, my colleague the Democratic leader heaped praise on what he called President Biden's ``careful and thought-out plan with a real timetable and a firm end date.'' Does he stand by this lavish praise for a careful and thought-out plan? Crickets. Was it wise to conduct our retreat during the height of the fighting season? Was it sound strategy to preemptively abandon the strategic Bagram Air Base in the middle of the night without telling our partners? Was it careful and prudent to tie our departure to the 20th anniversary of September 11? Our botched retreat from a so-called endless war cost more American lives than nearly the prior 2 years combined. And make no mistake, the war against terror hasn't ended--far, far from it. In a rare moment of candor, the Biden administration's own experts have admitted explicitly that we will face new terrorist threats from inside Afghanistan sooner rather than later. We will have to face a more entrenched and emboldened enemy with fewer resources, fewer friends, and more constraints. So virtually every reason and advantage that President Biden said this policy would bring about has already proven absolutely false. The administration said leaving Afghanistan would let us focus more resources on China, but its catastrophic retreat has tied up even more resources, including strategic naval assets from the Indo-Pacific. And while the administration's officials are consumed--consumed--with this catastrophe, China is cultivating deeper ties with the Taliban. The administration told us our military and intelligence community could keep terrorists at bay with over-the-horizon capabilities, but longer distances, fewer assets, and less intelligence are already taking their toll, and innocent civilians appear to be paying the price. Even still, the White House continues to peddle misleading comparisons with operations in other theaters, ignoring the unique challenges of keeping close eyes on a landlocked country with a hostile government thousands of miles from U.S. bases. Administration officials like to say there is no imminent threat posed by al-Qaida emanating from Afghanistan. But their abandonment of Afghanistan has already allowed that threat to grow, and we will have fewer resources with which to confront the gathering threat. According to press reporting, just this very morning, the Deputy Director of the CIA has acknowledged they are seeing al-Qaida terrorists flowing back-- back--into Afghanistan, and our intelligence capabilities are already diminished. But there is a larger pattern of broken promises. The President said that everyone who wanted to get out would be able to do so, that we would leave no one behind. Instead, we left Americans and vulnerable Afghans behind. Secretary Blinken said the Taliban committed to allow Americans and vulnerable Afghans safe passage to the airport. Instead, we know Americans and Afghans were prevented from getting to the airport. Many still cannot leave. The administration said that we would have tremendous leverage over the Taliban, that they would need international recognition and funding. Yet the Taliban doesn't seem to be terribly concerned with global PR. The administration said they would hold the Taliban accountable. They haven't. The administration seems to believe the Taliban would establish an inclusive and representational government. Look, we are talking about a government of medieval theocrats--medieval theocrats--the same killers, kidnappers, and hostage-takers who aided and abetted the terrorist architects of 9/11. Well, their government is, however, inclusive in one way. It is inclusive in one way. Listen to this. It includes four--four--of the Guantanamo Bay terrorists released by President Obama in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl; four people who were at GTMO, exchanged for Bowe Bergdahl. And that is only part of the government. It also includes a senior Haqqani terrorist with a $5 million bounty on his head and American blood on his hands--another top official in the government. This is not a government that cares about staying in the good graces of the so-called international community. Enough fluff. Enough spin. It is time for hard truths and accountability. The Biden administration's conduct over the past several months demands thorough instigation by the Senate. That will begin with Secretary Blinken's hearing at the Foreign Relations Committee today. I hope the Secretary and the administration he represents are prepared to answer some tough questions about past decisions, as well as future plans. The American people and the vulnerable partners we have left behind deserve nothing less.

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 is a quote to start the day: I do think we're in very serious danger of repeating almost all the mistakes of the 1960s and early 1970s. That is Larry Summers, the senior advisor to two Democratic Presidents, about the risk of inflation we face today. As one report explained: The former Treasury secretary has been warning since February that President Joe Biden's big-spending agenda was creating the risk of an inflation spike this year, potentially cutting into the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Oh, but Washington Democrats have spent trillions--trillions--of dollars on pet liberal projects. They have been printing and wasting money like there is no tomorrow, and American families are hurting as a result. Inflation has more than overtaken the average worker's wage growth since last year. Employers are raising wages higher and higher, but their workers' paychecks go less and less far. Families' incomes and savings are eroding right before their eyes. Democrats have done this proudly--proudly--on a party-line basis. Back in 2020, during the teeth of the COVID emergency, Congress worked across party lines to pass massive rescue packages that Republicans and Democrats had written together. Virtually every serious expert agreed that after the last relief bill that we passed in December, the economy was primed and ready to go. But our Democratic colleagues wanted more. Like they admitted from the start of the pandemic, they wanted to use the crisis to ``restructure things to fit [their] vision'' [from a temporary emergency to permanent socialism]. They bragged the bipartisan bill they passed in March was the most leftwing legislation in American history. Now they want to dwarf that bill with a reckless taxing-and-spending spree that would cost trillions more and bury the country in job-killing tax hikes. When it comes to spending and the economy, President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and the Democratic leader have made a conscious decision: They don't want Republican-governing partners. They want to go it alone. Well, with one exception--just one exception. No, Republicans won't have any input into the massive, reckless taxing-and-spending spree that will stick middle-class families with higher costs, lower wages, and a socialist country they didn't vote for. But Democrats do want Republicans' help with just one thing. They want us to help raise the credit limit to make it happen. They want us to help clear the path for their partisan, job-killing agenda, which we oppose. So let's make this perfectly clear, in case anybody is in doubt. The debt suspension that just expired in August automatically covered the borrowing that had been accumulated before that date. This is the discussion about the future. This isn't the last 4 years, when we were reaching bipartisan government funding agreements, bipartisan appropriations, and bipartisan COVID bills. Democrats have made a different choice. They want to make policy all by themselves. So they can come up with the financing on their own as well. The Democratic leaders have every tool and procedure they need to handle the debt limit on a partisan basis, just like they are choosing to handle everything else.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, over the State work period, as Senators attended business back home, the Biden administration's reckless decision to retreat from Afghanistan was carried through to a damaging and deadly end. The consequences of its hasty retreat were not just foreseeable; they were actually foreseen. And yet, against the advice of Members from both parties and even its own national security experts, the administration plowed right ahead. Just weeks after abandoning our strategic airbase in the dead of night, the Biden administration told Americans and vulnerable Afghan partners they were largely on their own to make it to the commercial airport in Kabul if they wanted out of Afghanistan. And by the White House's own admission, some of the Americans who wanted to come home were left behind. So let's let that sink in. President Biden left Americans who wanted to escape behind, in the clutches of the Taliban. Of course, Americans aren't the only people we left behind. In order to meet an arbitrary political deadline, the Biden administration also pulled out before we helped all the brave Afghans who stuck their necks out to assist American servicemembers and build a better future for their country. Our Nation made a promise of aid and safety in exchange for their service; and on this President's watch, we actually failed to keep the promise. We left Americans and vulnerable Afghans behind. The administration naively expected the Taliban to behave like any law-abiding member of the so-called international community, supposedly subject to tremendous leverage for recognition and for funding. Well, our adversaries are sending emissaries to the Taliban, and the terrorists in Kabul seem unconcerned with diplomacy. Trust in the Taliban to ensure safe passage to the airport for evacuees was fatally misplaced. Anyone who expected the group to become ``inclusive'' should now rightly expect to literally be laughed out of the room. The administration confidently insisted it would own the consequences of its withdrawal efforts; but as soon as their lack of planning bore real, deadly consequences, it pointed the blame at everyone but the reflection in the mirror. Now, in a bizarre twist of narcissism, the White House is now holding up its belated and frantic evacuations as worthy of praise and credit. So where are we now? A wall outside the compound that, until recently, housed the U.S. Embassy in Kabul now bears a mural of the Taliban flag. Four terrorists once detained at Guantanamo Bay now hold senior positions in the Taliban regime. And in the void left by our coalition's withdrawal, we are less able to collect intelligence and fight terrorists on their own soil. This failure was entirely avoidable; the consequences were totally foreseeable; and the stain on our retreat has left America more endangered, less credible, and with fewer capabilities in the face of real and growing terrorist threats.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on another matter, the international stage isn't the only area where the Biden administration's policies have caused damage that was both foreseeable and foreseen. Back in the springtime, Washington Democrats dumped trillions of dollars in liberal borrowing and spending onto the American people. They pretended it was a COVID relief bill. What it was, was a recipe for rampant inflation, a silent tax hike on American families. It was clear what would happen. Even liberal economists warned this was a bad idea that would cause inflation. But just like in Afghanistan, Democrats had made up their minds long ago and were certainly not going to be deterred. Now working Americans are paying the price. Annual inflation is up 5.4 percent, tied for the worst inflation in over a decade. It has more than swamped American workers' wage gains over the last year. The Democrats' inflation is turning American workers' pay raises into effective pay cuts, essentially pick-pocketing American families. You might think this would give our Democratic friends some pause and encourage them to deal in reality; but, alas, that is not what is happening. Instead, they are eager to jam through yet another massive multitrillion-dollar reckless taxing-and-spending spree in an effort to move our country to the left, literally, forever. Massive new government intrusion into Americans' childcare arrangements, into Americans' medical prescriptions, into the power grid; new welfare spending that hands out cash with zero--zero--work requirements; socialist price setting that would leave our medical system with fewer new cures; and a thousand more awful, far-left policies just like these, all accompanied by a suite of staggering-- literally staggering--tax hikes that would kill jobs, hurt families, and crush our competitiveness with the Chinese. Details are already emerging about the seismic tax hikes that Democrats are cooking up: more higher taxes on employers and job creators, targeted tax hikes to hit small businesses and family farms, pulling more Americans into the death tax. This tax-hiking wish list would add up to one of the biggest tax hikes in American history at exactly the time their liberal policies already have our economy sputtering. So it is the very last thing American workers need. It is the last thing American families can afford, and Republicans are going to fight these terrible, painful policies tooth and nail.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, later today, Senate Democrats want to take their next big step toward playing Russian roulette with our country. They want to begin pushing through a reckless taxing-and- spending spree that was authored by our self-described socialist colleague, Chairman Sanders. Today, the American people will learn exactly where each of their Senators stand. The American people elected a 50-50 Senate, an incredibly close House of Representatives, and a President who pledged to govern down the middle and unify the country. But as soon as President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Schumer got the keys, they handed them right over to the far left. Remember, Democrats inherited three safe and effective vaccines that were already rolling out nationwide and an economy that was primed to come roaring back, but our colleagues pressed ahead with a massive springtime spending package that even liberal experts said would drive inflation, and, of course, it did. Overall inflation has risen at the fastest rate in nearly 13 years. Core inflation hit its highest level in almost 30 years. Families are getting hit by higher prices everywhere, from the grocery store to the gas station, to their housing costs. Small businesses have had trouble reopening because would-be workers are getting a government bonus to actually stay home. So the country is still working through the side effects of the borrowing and spending the Democrats forced through back in the spring, but Democrats don't want to just refill their socialist prescription; they want to double the dose--double the dose. According to what they just released, Democrats want to unite behind Chairman Sanders' resolution to spend a staggering $4.2 trillion more. Of course, outside experts estimate the real cost will be even higher still. If it is even close to fully offset, as they claim it is, this seems almost certain to be the largest peacetime tax hike on record. So let that sink in--the largest peacetime tax hike on record. Even though their rough sketch of these tax hikes would shatter President Biden's promise not to raise taxes on the middle class, families earning well under the President's stated threshold would get hit and hit hard. This new reckless taxing-and-spending spree will fall like a hammer blow on workers and middle-class families: fewer jobs, lower wages, more inflation pushing costs higher and higher. What our colleagues are proposing and planning is absolutely jaw- dropping. People want to pretend this is just business as usual, just liberals doing liberal things using Senate procedure. Make no mistake, this reckless taxing-and-spending spree is nothing like we have seen-- nothing. The basic math of their taxing and spending is toxic enough, but the radicalism that we will be debating on the floor goes well beyond dollars and cents. The policies they want to put behind this budget resolution read like somebody walked across the Rotunda to the House and handed the Squad a pen and piece of paper: sweeping--sweeping-- amnesty for illegal immigrants in the middle of a border crisis, regulations that are so radical that our colleague Senator Markey said: The green new deal is in the DNA of this . . . budget resolution. All of the things that are in [this], we talked about in the green new deal. Senator Markey. They want to induce 49 other States to make their electric grids more like California's; make it more expensive to mine critical minerals we need to compete with China; they want to take working families' child tax credit and turn it into a permanent welfare program--listen to this--with no work requirement; they want to tamper with the prescription drug industry in ways that would leave Americans with fewer new treatments and fewer new cures; they want to put government's thumb on the scale of families' childcare choices and selectively subsidize parents whose households work the way Washington wants; and they want to tax more money out of Americans' pockets while reviving a special tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits wealthy people in blue States. So let's face it. The brute facts of the Senate's rules mean that, if 50 Democrats plus the Vice President stick together, Republicans will probably not be able to save our colleagues from themselves. If all 50 Democrats want to help Chairman Sanders hurt middle-class families, even if our colleagues who claim they are moderates want to follow the far left off this cliff, well, that is their prerogative, but we are going to argue it out right here on the floor at some length. Every single Senator will be going on record over and over and over. Senate Republicans will be bringing forward commonsense amendments that represent what Americans actually want and actually need. Our colleagues can look forward to votes on national security and funding our Armed Forces; votes to remove backdoor tax cuts for wealthy liberals; votes to protect family-owned small businesses and family farms from crushing tax hikes; votes to encourage schools to finally reopen in person; to stop the catch and release of COVID-positive illegal immigrants coming into our country; to protect taxpayers from being forced to fund the horrors of abortion. And that is just a sampling. Because our Democratic colleagues missed some deadlines, it has been an all-out sprint to prepare amendments. So I want to thank our nonpartisan Senate clerks and Parliamentarians. They have worked multiple weekends, straight through. They were kept up late last night processing hundreds of amendments, and they are going to be up late with all of us yet again. If President Biden and 50 Senate Democrats want to outsource domestic policy to Chairman Sanders, if this historically reckless taxing-and- spending spree is how the modern Democratic Party wants to define itself, if they want inflation and tax hikes to be their legacy, then Republicans do not currently have the votes to spare the American families this nightmare, but we will debate and we will vote and we will stand up and we will be counted--and the people of this country will know exactly which Senators fought for them. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, well, here we go again, colleagues. We have seen this once before, and I think it is fitting that after passing this budget resolution full of reckless taxing and spending, we end the evening with an effort to Federalize--take over all elections all across America by the Federal Government. Now, we are hearing it is going to be a substitute, but what is technically before us is as follows: After ramming through this reckless taxing-and-spending spree here in the dead of night, they also want to start tearing up the ground rules of our democracy and writing new ones, of course, on a purely partisan basis. I suppose the timing actually makes sense, given the terrible votes that every Democratic Senator has just cast here tonight. I can understand why their thoughts have turned so quickly to their next elections and why they might be feeling especially anxious to tilt the playing field in their direction. This ridiculous, go-nowhere bill that is stuck in the Rules Committee would let Washington Democrats take over 50 State election laws, completely Federalize how we handle elections in this country. It would attack popular safeguards, like voter ID. It would turn the Federal Election Commission into a partisan body. It would even spend public funds on our political companies. Four-plus trillion dollars in new spending actually wasn't enough tonight. It wasn't enough. The preference of at least 49 out of 50 of them is to spend public money on our own elections; have public money finance the attack ads of people you disagree with. So, look, my view is that maybe this is just concluding the night with a little comic relief. S. 1 is an absurd and clumsy effort by one political party to literally rewrite the ground rules of our democracy to try to advantage them and disadvantage the other side. It is always a temptation when the majority wants to write the rules to make it more likely you can get the outcome you want. This isn't going to work. It isn't going to work tonight, and it isn't going to work when we get back. Vote on Motion