Bernie Moreno

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. So who voted for the expiration date of 2025?

Mr. MORENO. So, just to be clear, the Democrats voted to have these subsidies expire this year, correct?

Mr. MORENO. To your knowledge, was there a hearing last year, in 2024, in which the Democrats got together and said: ``Whoa, of these Biden-era COVID ObamaCare subsidies, we set them to expire in 2025. We should really make them permanent or extend them''? Was there a single hearing in your committee about that topic?

Mr. MORENO. Wait. I am confused. They set the expiration date of 2025, and then they didn't have one hearing to say: ``My God.'' Now, how about in December of 2024? They knew they had lost the election. Did they have an emergency meeting in December of 2024 and say: ``These Biden-era COVID ObamaCare subsidies are going to expire. We don't know if the Republicans are going to extend them. We need to do that''? Did they add it to the continuing resolution then that funded the government in December when they had total control of this Chamber? Did they do it then?

Mr. MORENO. So this is a political stunt, and the American people need to see it for what it is. In my career, I have negotiated my whole life. Negotiation is about leverage. Would you agree?

Mr. MORENO. What leverage are the Democrats using in this negotiation?

Mr. MORENO. What does that mean, ``shutting down the government''? Who is the leverage? Is it the air traffic controllers who aren't getting paid or the Capitol Police who aren't getting paid? Yesterday, we tried to fund Federal workers who are forced to work; is that true?

Mr. MORENO. The Democrats voted that down; is that correct?

Mr. MORENO. Would you have a hard time walking into this building, Senator, and seeing those Capitol Police officers out there and your staff and knowing that you voted not to pay them?

Mr. MORENO. Knowing that you walk by TSA to go to your lobbyist retreat in the Napa Valley, and you know that you are responsible for their not getting paid and that they are your leverage and SNAP recipients and Head Start recipients? They are using the American people's suffering as political leverage. That is how far gone the Democrat Party is. What you are offering would hurt insurance companies' pocketbooks; would it not?

Mr. MORENO. But this would hurt their pocketbooks?

Mr. MORENO. Two final questions, then I will yield the floor. Our great Senator from West Virginia needs to speak. Twenty-six billion dollars--$26 billion--a number that most Americans can't even conceive of. The government is staying closed because Democrats want to give $26 billion more to insurance companies, and you are proposing to give that to the American people instead. Is that accurate?

Mr. MORENO. Last question: The COVID-era Biden subsidies were set to expire in 2025, by Democrats. Did you know that when they had power, they set the EV--electric vehicle--subsidies to expire in 2032?

Mr. MORENO. Correct. And they were $7,500. You could lease a Rolls- Royce, a Mercedes, a Lamborghini, and if you did that, the government would give you $7,500. I want the American people to think about that when they understand how far gone the Democrat party has gone. Thank you for your presentation.

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Democratic leader, no later than Friday, October 10, S.J. Res. 71 be discharged from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; further, that there be 6 hours for debate only, with the time equally divided between the leaders or their designees on the joint resolution and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the joint resolution be read a third time and the Senate vote on the resolution.

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I have 12 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to Rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 400, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. MORENO. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in recess until 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 18; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; further, following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the nominations en bloc pursuant to S. Res. 377; finally, that all time during recess and leader remarks count postcloture on the nominations en bloc.

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand in recess under the previous order, following the remarks of my Democratic colleagues.

Mr. MORENO

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, let me say to my colleague from Nevada that neither one of us represent Florida. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution is clear that the Federal Government has a limited set of powers, and most powers are delegated to the States. I think we should let decisions for the people of Florida be made by the elected representatives of the people of Florida. Let me just also address real quickly some of the statements that were just made about children going to school. It is decently ironic, given that during COVID, kids were prevented from going to school because schools were closed. Schools were closed, in some cases, up to a year and a half. If we look at the epidemic of childhood violence, youth violence in this country, we can directly trace that to the enormous mistakes made during COVID by locking kids up, by forcing children to get a COVID vaccine that we now know, objectively, absolutely should not have been given to children. Let me make also another point. You can't, on one side, bemoan the termination of a CDC Director and, on the other side, having not voted to confirm said CDC Director--so when you voted no, you can't also say: Well, why was that person fired, because you wouldn't have hired him in the first place. That doesn't make any sense. Let me just make one final point. This is very important. Any vaccine that any parent wants to get is available. What R.F.K. is saying--our Secretary of Health is saying is: We are not going to mandate that people have to put things into their body that they choose not to put in their body. In fact, I believe over my lifetime, what I have seen the Democrats say is: My body, my choice. I guess that only applies when you are murdering babies. It is very simple. If we don't have sovereignty over what goes in our body, we are not free people. I believe that people should make a choice, an educated choice. I have faith in the American people that they can make the decisions that they feel are right for them. For that reason, I object.

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of my bill, the HIRE Act, which is at the desk; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. MORENO. I withhold my request with some remarks.

Mr. MORENO. I think one of the things that I can agree on with my colleague from Nevada--and there are a lot of things I think we can work together on. I think she is a good person--the one thing we can agree on is we want stronger families. We want strong family structures. That means that a mom or a dad can have one job that allows them to provide a family-sustaining wage to be able to raise kids so that parents could stay home with their kids--again, a mom or a dad-- and provide those kinds of resources that are necessary. But, right now, corporations are taking a lot of good jobs and shipping those jobs overseas. For example, where I started my career, believe it or not, right out of college, was in a call center. I helped start the Saturn Corporation's customer assistance center. I can tell you firsthand, those are good jobs. I can also say that the people who do the best job at call centers are people with some form of disability. Whether it is blindness, they are in a wheelchair, they don't have a lot of other opportunities for good, high-paying jobs. That used to be the case. They have much higher levels of empathy. They speak our language. They know our culture. But corporations, unfortunately, chase slave wages in other parts of the world where they can pay people $5 a day. And our calls--our American consumers that need help and assistance are calling these foreign countries. They have a language barrier, a culture barrier, and more importantly, that money is leaving our country to go into those communities versus having that money stay here in America. So that call center operator can go pay rent, go to the grocery store, buy a car, et cetera. We could create that ecosystem. I know having been in your State just recently, that there are a lot of needs for jobs there--a lot of needs for jobs. Let's agree that we want these jobs to stay here in America. My bill is very simple. We are not going to control what corporations do, but we can create guardrails. So what my bill does is very simple. If you outsource American jobs to a foreign country, you will pay a 25-percent fee for the value of that contract. And here is the best part, we take that 25-percent fee that we collect, and we use it to fund trade schools to upskill workers to be able to step up into a better, higher paying job. The bill is called the HIRE Act. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of my bill, the HIRE Act, which is at the desk; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.