Rand Paul

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I move to discharge S.J. Res. 31 from the Foreign Relations Committee.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Anthony Charletta, an intern in my office, be granted floor privileges until December 17, 2021.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Madam President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize Imogene's Alterations of Bowling Green, KY, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. Located on Nutwood Street, Imogene's Alterations has served Bowling Green, KY, for over 20 years. Imogene Garmon, a longtime Bowling Green resident, embarked on her first career in the grocery sector. After 33 years working at the Kroger meat counter, she was ready for a new challenge. A self-taught seamstress, Imogene began selling fabric and doing minor alterations after leaving Kroger. Seeing a business opportunity, Imogene went on to establish a fabric shop. She thrived as a small business owner, serving the greater Bowling Green community. Word spread quickly of Imogene's talent as a seamstress. Request for alterations poured in, including everything from everyday clothing to suits and ball gowns. To meet the demand, Imogene decided to focus solely on alterations. She established Imogene's Alterations, providing full-time alterations for men and women's clothing. Today, Imogene's Alterations continues providing alterations for all types of events and special occasions. This woman-owned business has grown along with the area, moving into its current location at Nutwood Street about 20 years ago. Customers are welcomed by name and treated like family. At 88 years old, Imogene continues to be involved in every aspect of her business. From operating the store to sewing alterations, her care and attention to detail are evident in her work. Her strong sense of family has built a tight-knit, supportive team. Like many entrepreneurs, Imogene established a successful business while building community. As a mother, grandmother, and aunt, Imogene raised and continues to mentor generations of her family. Remarkably, Imogene founded Imogene's Alterations in her 60s. It took innovation and courage to pursue her goal, switching from the grocery industry which she knew well, to the tailoring sector. Imogene's Alterations is a remarkable example of the resilience and adaptability of locally owned small businesses. Small businesses like Imogene's Alterations form the heart of cities and towns across Kentucky. Congratulations to Imogene and the entire team at Imogene's Alterations. I wish them the best of luck, and I look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a fellow Kentuckian, Lisa Pisterman, from the Schnitzelburg community of Louisville, KY. You may not know this unique neighborhood that dates back to 1866. But you are all familiar with historic communities that helped form the fabric of your own hometown or metropolitan area, and you have witnessed many of them struggle to preserve their unique heritage while remaining relevant in a modern economy. To that end, Lisa Pisterman served as president of the Schnitzelburg Area Community Council during a very challenging period when the council had struggled to move forward. With Lisa at the helm, a new sense of unity and purpose has emerged, and great things are happening. In addition to her leadership on the council, Lisa has served as one of the local historians, allowing natives of the community and newcomers alike to reflect on its history and envision what is to come. Lisa is the author of ``Louisville's Germantown & Schnitzelburg'' and is currently working with other individuals to build the Germantown Schnitzelburg History Museum where visitors can study this community's contributions to our great Commonwealth. As her friends and neighbors recognize Lisa this month as Schnitzelburg's No. 1 Citizen, I want to personally thank her for all she has done and continues to do for her community and to wish her great success in the future.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize Reed Family Floral of Virgie, KY, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. In January 2020, Evan Sykes founded Reed Family Floral. Evan, who grew up in Pike County, was inspired by his family's legacy of entrepreneurship. From 1981 to 2003, his great-aunt and great- grandmother owned and operated a flower shop called Reed Floral. After graduating from Shelby Valley High School and earning an AA from Big Sandy Community and Technical College, Evan decided to honor that legacy and establish his own floral business. Starting with $500, he began making and selling wreaths. The business grew rapidly, enabling Evan to purchase a small building to house his operation. When Reed Family Floral expanded again, Evan had the perfect location in mind. In August 2021, Evan moved his business into the same building that had housed his family's flower shop decades earlier. Today, Reed Family Floral has become a local favorite. As the owner and sole full-time employee, Evan handles every aspect of the business, from accounting and marketing, to floral design and delivery. He prepares flower arrangements for any occasion, including weddings, school functions, and funerals. Evan's floral arrangements are in demand year-round, especially around Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Notably, Evan balanced his entrepreneurship and education. While running a full-time business, he is pursuing a BA in accounting at Morehead State University. As a nonessential business, Reed Family Floral was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns. Evan rose to the challenge, working with other small businesses to source supplies and adapting his contactless delivery options. Like many small business owners, Evan is active in his community. Locally, Reed Family Floral has sponsored the Pikeville High School tennis team and the Shelby Valley High School cheer team. They provide arrangements for school events, and participate in local fairs. From day one, Reed Family Floral has valued customer service and high- quality products. Recently, they were recognized by local news outlet Mountaintop Media as one of the best flower shops in the area. Reed Family Floral is a remarkable example of the critical role small businesses play in every aspect of building community. Small businesses like Reed Family Floral form the heart of towns across Kentucky, regularly stepping up to support their communities. Congratulations to Evan and the entire team at Reed Family Floral. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize Day and Day Feed Mill, a family-owned small business in Columbia, KY, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. In 1954, Garland Day established Day and Day Feed Mill in Columbia, KY. Garland decided to meet the need for a local feed mill providing dairy and beef cattle feeds and supplies. A family-run business from the start, Garland's sons, Allen and Bobby, took over Day and Day Feed Mill in the early 1960s. Continuing the family legacy, Garland's grandsons, Anthony and Gary Day, along with their cousin Ray Brock, stepped up to lead the business in the 1990s. Together, they rebuilt and expanded the business in 2009, building their new location on the same spot as the original Day and Day Feed Mill. Today, Day and Day Feed Mill continues to thrive as a farm supply store and feed retailer. The family-owned business celebrated its 67th anniversary in 2021 and is led by the third and fourth generation of Days. The full-service farm and ranch supply store plays a critical role in Adair County, providing everything from agro-chemicals and seeds to fishing and hunting supplies. Additionally, the store supports local Kentucky small businesses, selling hand-crafted goods and gifts. The Days' strong sense of family has built a tight-knit, supportive team, with some families employed there for generations. Like many small businesses, the Day family has consistently invested in and served their community. They regularly participate in local and regional events, ranging from agricultural fairs to hosting an annual customer appreciation event. Day and Day Feed Mill's outstanding service and high-quality products have consistently earned them recognition from industry groups and community members alike. They were recognized as Business of the Year by the Adair County Cattlemen's Association in 2012 and Outstanding Agriculturist of the Year in 2018 by the Columbia-Adair County Chamber of Commerce. For several years, Day and Day Feed Mill has consistently earned the Adair County Community Voice Readers' Choice Award in several categories, including Best Agriculture Store, Best Sporting Goods/Hunting Store, and Best Customer Service. Over the past year, Day and Day Feed Mills adapted to the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic and continued supporting local farmers as they kept the country fed. Day and Day Feed Mill is a remarkable example of the critical role that small, family-oriented agricultural businesses play in rural communities. Small businesses, like Day and Day Feed Mill, form the heart of towns across Kentucky and play a critical role in Kentucky's agricultural industry. Congratulations to Anthony, Gary, Ray, and the entire team at Day and Day Feed Mill. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize a family-owned small business and beloved eastern Kentucky staple, Hinton Mills of Flemingsburg, KY, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. In 1918, Frank L. Hinton and his wife, Ellora, established Hinton Mills in Goddard, KY. The general store, which provided supplies for local farmers, moved down the road to Plummers Landing in 1923. After serving in World War II, their son, Frank O. Hinton, returned to run the family business together with his wife, Maxine. Frank O., who had a passion for raising livestock, added a feed mill in 1956. By 1977, Hinton Mills had added locations in Flemingsburg, Ewing, and May's Lick, primarily serving local dairy operations and tobacco farmers. A fifth location opened in Cynthiana in 2015, enabling Hinton Mills to serve northern and eastern Kentucky. Today, Hinton Mills continues to thrive as a farm supply store and feed retailer. The family-owned business celebrated its 103rd anniversary in 2021 and is led by the third and fourth generations of Hintons. Family members serve in a number of roles, including Frank O.'s son, Bud Hinton, as president, and Bud's son, Adam Hinton, as vice president. Led by the ethos of ``Faith, Family, Friends, and Farming,'' Hinton Mills has grown along with the surrounding area. Their strong sense of family has built a tight-knit, supportive team, with some families employed there for generations. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Kentucky Gateway Museum Center hosted an exhibit in 2018 to recognize Hinton Mills and their impact on the agricultural community of eastern Kentucky. Over the past 100 years, the Hinton family has consistently invested in and served their community. They regularly participate in local and regional events, ranging from agricultural fairs and the annual Fleming County FFA Tractor Parade, to hosting their annual weeklong Seed Day customer appreciation event. Hinton Mills champions Kentucky's agriculture industry, advocating for small agricultural businesses at the local, State, and national level. They are a part of several local business and industry groups, including the Fleming County Chamber of Commerce and Kentucky Retail Federation. Notably, Adam has served on the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, the Kentucky Retail Federation Board of Directors, and the Kentucky FFA Foundation's Board of Trustees. Like many small businesses, Hinton Mills rallied to face the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic and adapted to continue supporting local farmers as they kept the country fed. Hinton Mills is a remarkable example of the resilience and adaptability of locally owned small businesses. Small businesses, like Hinton Mills, form the heart of towns across Kentucky and play a critical role in Kentucky's agricultural industry. Congratulations to Bud, Adam, and the entire team at Hinton Mills. I wish them the best of luck, and I look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Madam President, we are all indebted to the special teachers we encountered during our formal education: those who made a subject come alive for us--perhaps for the very first time--and sparked a lifelong interest in a subject or in a field of study. Today, I want to recognize a Kentucky teacher who is doing just that: bringing history and civics education to life for students at Franklin-Simpson Middle School in Franklin, KY. How many students are truly interested in history and civics in the seventh or eighth grade? But motivating his students to move beyond memorizing facts and dates is exactly what Justin Mitchell is known for. Ask his colleagues--or visit his social media sites--and you will find that he is wildly creative in his mission to make social studies education interesting, challenging, and relevant. Justin Mitchell earned degrees in social studies and history at Western Kentucky University--in my hometown of Bowling Green--and is now a doctoral candidate there. He is a McConnell scholar who regularly participates in the McConnell Center's Civics Education Program, and he deploys his leadership skills outside of the classroom by mentoring students at his church. While his fellow teachers, students, and their families have known for years that Justin is an exceptional teacher, this year, he was recognized by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History as Kentucky's History Teacher of the Year. I am pleased to congratulate Justin on this accomplishment, to thank him for the impact that he is making on his students, and to create this permanent tribute to him in the Congressional Record of the U.S. Senate.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week, I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize a woman-owned small business, Lad n' Lassie Children's Boutique of Prestonsburg, KY, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. In 1965, Dorothy Marshal founded Lad n' Lassie Children's Boutique. Noticing the lack of children's clothing retailers, Dorothy seized the opportunity to fill a gap in the local market. Over the next 32 years, Dorothy's boutique sold the finest children's clothing, shoes, and toys to her customers. She retired from Lad n' Lassie in 1997, selling the business to longtime family friend and Prestonsburg native, Cheryl Leslie. In 2021, Lad n' Lassie Children's Boutique continues serving Floyd County. The store moved to a new location in downtown Prestonsburg in 1999, where it remains today. Under Cheryl's leadership, inventory expanded to include educational products and gifts. Lad n' Lassie supports small businesses, featuring locally and regionally made items. Customers are regularly greeted by name and treated like family. The store hosts community events, including workshops with visiting artists, and participates in downtown holiday events and festivals. Lad n' Lassie is a go-to for local baby shower gift registries, supporting generations of Kentuckians as they grow their families and welcome children into the world. Like many small business owners, Cheryl is actively involved in her community. She is a member of the chamber of commerce and regularly meets with local merchants to discuss business development. For years, Lad n' Lassie has contributed to a wide range of local philanthropic organizations, sponsoring events such as the Appalachian Hospice Care's Annual Veterans' Appreciation Luncheon. They regularly support local school district events and organizations, including the sponsorship of dance, cheerleading, and sports teams. During the holiday season, Lad n' Lassie sponsors the annual Prestonsburg Police Department's ``Shop with a Cop'' event, providing holiday care packages and gift for children in need. Additionally, they sponsored Mountain Comprehensive Care Center's--MCCC--Royal Christmas Ball, which helps children impacted by behavioral health issues, developmental and intellectual disabilities, and addiction. Over the years, the boutique's outstanding service and community involvement have been recognized by local publications and organizations. Most recently, Lad n' Lassie was named the ``Best of the Best'' children's clothing store in 2021 by the local newspaper, the Floyd County Chronicle & Times. Lad n' Lassie Children's Boutique is an outstanding example of the critical role small businesses play in uplifting and advocating for their communities. Congratulations to Cheryl and the entire team at Lad n' Lassie. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Without any reform.

Mr. PAUL. Yes. And I think that you are right. Having the world's currency allows us--you know, many countries trade in dollars. You will go into marketplaces all around the world, and what they are actually exchanging is dollars. So as we have bought more goods than we have exported, we import more than we export, we paid for that in dollars. Some have described that as being able to export our inflation. People have also said: Well, the dollar isn't perfect. It is a fiat currency. It is being inflated. But everybody else is so bad that we are sort of the cleanest shirt in a closet full of dirty shirts. So, yes, I think being the reserve currency has allowed us to last longer, but there are immutable rules of economics that eventually catch up to a country, and I think we approach those. I don't think anybody can predict exactly when we get there, but I think we are approaching a time--and it may not be a gradual unraveling. You know, if you look back at the history of our marketplace, we have had these black swan events. We have had these events where the marketplace, in 7 or 8 days in our history, most of the losses have happened calamitously. Even in 2011, when the market went down, there was a debate. They said: Oh, it is because we risked the debt ceiling. Well, many of us thought that the marketplace went down at that time because we actually continued to borrow without reforming the process.

Mr. PAUL. Yes. I remember when, a couple of years after that, we actually became that--our economy was equal to our debt. So the gross domestic product--how much everything is worth that is produced in the whole country--was about 17 or 18 billion at the time, as the debt sort of crossed that. We are now, depending on how you measure it, some say at like 140 percent of our GDP, and the interesting thing is, that is about where Greece was when Greece began to declare its bankruptcy and was unable to pay its bills. It is alarming. It is foolish and unwise for us to say: Oh, there are no consequences. I think there will be consequences, and the No. 1 thing that we are seeing now is inflation.

Mr. PAUL. It is based on faith, and so when does the faith end? Faith is not something particularly--it is hard to determine faith in the dollar. One way you can determine it is, will people buy our bonds. One of the indications that people lose faith in our currency is that when, to borrow money, you see your bond prices rise; you see interest prices rise. I think that is coming. You know, we are already seeing inflation at a 5-percent rate. Typically, you will see the interest rates rise as well. And there is going to be a time there are going to be repercussions. I fully believe that you cannot continue to borrow at this rate without ultimately suffering, perhaps, an economic calamity. And I want to stop that for our country.

Mr. PAUL. I guess ``surprised'' is not the word I would choose; I would say disappointed. You know, the tea party movement--we had 100,000 people on the Mall out there. People were concerned about the debt. They were concerned about constitutional government. I remember you and I meeting for the first time and talking about how we needed to reverse some of these terrible precedents that had allowed government to grow large and that the courts need to reform government, as well as government be reformed from its elected officials. But, yes, we had a great debate that summer. In the summer of 2011, we said we wouldn't raise the debt ceiling without reform.

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, we are rapidly approaching a milestone in our country, and it is not a good one. We are rapidly approaching $30 trillion in debt. We are accumulating debt like we never have at any time in our history. We are actually accumulating debt at the rate of over $2 million per minute. Now, some say deficits don't matter. Some on the left say they have this new monetary theory: We can just print it all up. You can all have free stuff. There will be manna from Heaven. And nothing could go wrong; we are just going to give you money. If not $1,400 checks a month or a year, why don't we give you monthly checks? That is part of the new plans. The new plans of the $3\1/2\ trillion that we are facing down at this point--that will all be borrowed--is to give people free money; to give people free this, free that. But I think people are smarter than that. I think people know that, ultimately, you don't get anything in life without hard work; you don't get anything in life, really, for free. Isn't there some kind of ramification to so much borrowed money? When someone comes to you and says or they call you on the phone and they say ``Here is a thousand dollars; all you have got to do is sign up for this,'' most people immediately recoil and they say ``Well, that might be a scam. Somebody is going to be ripping me off to say that.'' Well, that is sort of the bait-and-switch of the politics we face now. People are saying: We are going to give you free college, free cars, free cell phones, free this, free that. Everything in life will be free. You won't have to work anymore. The problem is, there are ramifications. Money doesn't grow on trees. Money has got to come from somewhere. So either we borrow it and we become more indebted to foreign countries, we tax people for it, or ultimately the way we fix a lot of our deficit problems is we simply print the money. So when the Federal Reserve prints the money, as we increase the money supply, the money that we have becomes worth less and less; it loses its purchasing power. This is the insidious tax of inflation. The interesting thing about it is that inflation is a regressive tax. It doesn't affect everyone the same. In fact, the tax of inflation actually affects the working class, the people of lower incomes, and those on fixed incomes and pensions, retirees--it affects them much worse because they don't have the ability for their income to go up. So, right now, we are facing 5 percent inflation because of the massive borrowing that, really, both parties instituted in the last year. They decided that the result to the pandemic would be to close everything down, destroy the economy, and then give everyone free money. And, to a large extent, both parties actually did this last year. Now, this year, the decision has been made by Republicans to say: Whoo, this is so much. We have got to stop. We have got to get people back to work and let the economy recover. So it has primarily been Democrats this year, but both parties have a certain responsibility to this--at least some members of both parties. But, as the inflation occurs and as this effect is being transmitted to the economy, you find that those who suffer are those who cannot raise their incomes, those who have fixed incomes or low incomes. One of the things you see here is that, if we have 5-percent inflation, what does that mean? You say: Well, I don't know. It means I lose my purchasing power by 5 percent next year. But what if it happens year in and year out for a decade, and you have lost 50 percent of your purchasing power? It means, to make up for that, you really have to have a 50-percent increase in your wages. So will wages keep up with inflation? The dirty little secret is that, in some ways, wages will rise, but maybe they rise an equivalent amount or a little bit less, and you say a decade later: I am not any better off. And there become people mired and more dependent on government as government gets larger and larger. They think they are getting free stuff, but it is not really free. The allure of something for nothing-- this is the allure of socialism. This is a false allure. It is the idea that you are going to be able to get something and you are not going to have to pay for it. So we have accumulated $30 trillion in debt. Interest payments have been fairly low over the past decade or so. Interest payments are at about, you know, 1, 2, 2.5 percent, but now interest rates are rising. Even at the low interest rates, our interest rate that we pay each year has grown to about $300 billion a year. So, with $300 billion a year, people say: Well, there is a debt ceiling. If the debt ceiling doesn't come up, we will default, and Wall Street will become hysterical, and there will be a collapse of the stock market. Well, there doesn't need to be. Nobody is really for spreading discalm or spreading, you know, chaos among the marketplace. We all want the marketplace to be calm. How could we calm the marketplace? Well, what we would say to the marketplace is, we will pay our bills and we are not going to default on our currency. And the way you can pay for your bills is to pay for them with income. We bring in $3.8 trillion a year in tax revenue. The interest payment is $300 billion. It is less than we bring in in 1 month. So the annual payment on interest is less than what we bring in in tax revenue in 1 month. Why can't we pay the interest? Why would we ever not pay the interest on our debt? Why? Because we are overdrawn and because all the rest of the spending is crowded out by the interest. We have got plenty of money to pay for the interest. We just don't have enough left to pay for the cocaine studies with Japanese quail. That is, you know, about a million bucks. You say: Oh, it is only a million bucks. Well, they studied Japanese quail to see whether or not Japanese quail on cocaine are more sexually promiscuous. How did we get to a $30 trillion debt? Because there are studies like that littered throughout the budget. In fact, the group that does these studies, the National Science Foundation, we just increased their budget by two-thirds. It was mostly the Democrats, but, once again, many of the Big Government Republicans voted for this too. So we have exploded the National Science Foundation. Now, was there any warning that the National Science Foundation was one of the most wasteful parts of our government? Well, yes, since 1972. There was a Senator at the time named William Proxmire. He was a conservative, or a maverick, Democrat from the Midwest, and he started an award. He called it the Golden Fleece Award. The first award he gave was for a study from the National Science Foundation. It was over a study that was $50,000. That was when $50,000 was a lot of money. And the study was to see what makes people happy. Really? People were aghast that we were spending $50,000 on it. He complained, and he gave them a booby prize and a Golden Fleece Award. And, lo and behold, we are still doing it. The same organization, last year, did a million-and-a-half-dollar study that if you take a selfie of yourself while smiling and then look at the selfie later on, does it make you happy? That cost a million-and-a-half bucks. Why do people like each other? Why do people fall in love? These aren't studies for taxpayer dollars. But these are small ticket items. They say: Oh, you could never balance the budget on that. Well, what about the $70 million spent on a hotel in Kabul, and the contractor ran off with the money, and it was never built? What about a $48 million gas station--no; strike that--natural gas gas station in a remote area of Afghanistan? Well, very few, if anybody, in the United States has a car that runs on natural gas. Why was the U.S. Government building a natural gas gas station in Afghanistan? Because we have gone ``woke'' on the green climate. We are for the green climate. We have got to combat climate change and reduce the carbon footprint of Afghanistan. Really? I thought the military was supposed to kill the enemy and defend the country, but we are reducing the carbon footprint in Afghanistan. Somebody put this up--I think it was Rod Dreher--the other day. It was a little video clip. It was tragic, but somewhat hilarious in its tragicness. He said: This is when we lost the Afghan war. It had a picture of a urinal. I think it was by Marcel Duchamp, some Dadaist artist back in, like, 1917, and I guess he thought it would be really hilarious to put a male urinal in a museum and call it art. I don't know if it was really art or if it was a joke, but the thing is they were having these Afghan men and women in robes and veils and everything studying Dadaist art--a male urinal--and asking them what they thought of this. You could see a couple of women just sort of shaking their heads with utter incomprehension. When we are spending money sending Ph.D.s over to Afghanistan to teach Dadaist art--that a male urinal is somehow art--I think that is why some of them think that we are actually the culture that is in decay, not theirs. But the thing is we are spending money right and left. The right spends it on military adventures, and the left spends it on welfare, and the compromise that always happens around here is that right comes together with left, and they all agree: Well, you know, we might as well just spend it on both. So everything goes up. The military budget went up. We already spend more than all of the countries. More than 10 countries combined is our military budget--$750-some-odd billion. Republicans and Democrats just raised it $25 billion more. In the midst of ending a war, where is the peace dividend? What happened? We ended a war. I thought we would have a little more money left over. So, today, I tried to take $6 billion that is supposed to go to the Afghan Reconstruction Fund, to the old Afghan Government. There is no Afghan Government. They have been overrun by the Taliban. I would love for Americans who are watching this to call me today, at my office, and tell me why the Taliban should get money. I asked that we take that money away, put it back in the Treasury, and spend some of it on the Iron Dome for Israel, and it was objected to by the Democrats because, by golly, they will spend money, but they don't want to offset it with any spending cuts. Well, really? We should have zero dollars being sent to any government in Afghanistan. I asked Secretary Blinken about this, and his response was: Well, I can't guarantee it, and if they--you know, if they are meeting expectations and they are acting and behaving properly, they might get this money. Really? I don't see a scenario or a world in which U.S. taxpayer dollars would be going to the Taliban. It makes utterly no sense at all. But we have spending that is literally out of control. The only time I have ever heard a Democrat--most of the time, they are honest in that they don't care about the debt. But the only time I have ever heard them say anything about it is when they say: Well, you know, it happens because you cut taxes. Well, you know, it is verifiably false. You can go back to the Reagan tax cuts, when the rates went from 70 to 50, and then from 50 to 28. Do you know what happened? The government got more revenue because, when you tax people less, when you let them keep more of their own money, guess what. Their incentives to produce go up, and the economy grows by leaps and bounds. So when Reagan cut taxes dramatically, the economy responded and grew tremendously. When we cut taxes in 2017, it was the same thing. It was the same thing: Revenue didn't go down. Revenue went up. So how did the deficit get worse? Why did the deficit get worse? Was it because we cut taxes in 2017? No. It was because we piled on the money. We just were spending money like there was no tomorrow. So, before we got to the extraordinary times we have now, where everything is about COVID and we are just going to spend money like there is no tomorrow, we were borrowing $1 trillion a year. The main segments of government--Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, other welfare, and military--probably comprise three-fourths or more of government. If you look at that on an annual basis, before you get to the extraordinary binge over the last 2 years, we were already $1 trillion short every year--$1 trillion short. So, last year, we added a couple trillion more, and our deficit for the year--for 1 year--was $3 trillion. We have never, ever borrowed that much. There are going to be ramifications. You are already seeing some of the ramifications. You are seeing the prices in the grocery store go up; you are seeing the prices at the pump go up; you are seeing sometimes wages go up. But you are also seeing prices rising faster than wages, which often happens in an inflationary cycle. Some people have trouble comprehending these numbers. What is a billion? What is a trillion? Reagan had an analogy he did. He said: If you want to know how big ``a billion'' is, take thousand-dollar bills and put them in your hand, and when you have them about 4-inches high, you have got $1 million. But if you want to know how much or how tall a stack of $1,000 would be if you had $1 trillion, it would be 60 miles high--over 60 miles high. That is what kind of money we are talking about. That was to get to a trillion. So we have $1 trillion of institutional debt that is added every year, but now we are talking about a time when they are talking about adding, in one bill, $3.5 trillion. The bill that they have before us has $1 billion in spending for every page. Every page of the bill has an extra billion dollars in spending. It is extraordinary. We have never, ever seen anything like this. What happens when a country destroys its currency? We have examples in history. In Germany, in 1923, the money was starting to lose its value in about September. A loaf of bread might have cost 100 mark when, before, it cost 1 mark. Two weeks later, it was 1,000 marks, but then 2 weeks later, it was 10,000 marks, and then it was a million, and then it was several million. This happened in a 2-month period of time. People say: Oh, when it comes, when the currency unravels, it will be gradual. In Germany, it happened in a 2-month period. In Venezuela, the currency is completely worthless. It is the same in Germany. It is almost better to burn your currency for fuel or warmth than it is to spend it. This is what happens when you have runaway spending and out-of-control deficits. Venezuela is one of the richest countries in South America. They have more oil underground than Saudi Arabia, but, frankly, socialism doesn't work. Socialism is this borrow and spend. It has this alarming tendency to want to offer everybody everything and say it is going to be free. Many of these things backfire. For the last year, we have been saying: Oh, gosh. We feel sorry for workers, so we are going to pay them while they are unemployed. But guess what. If you pay them more than the market wage, more of them will choose unemployment, and more of them will choose unemployment, and more of them will stay unemployed for a longer period of time. We found this out in the 2008 recession. During the 2008 recession, we extended unemployment. It is normally 26 weeks, paid for by a tax, and it largely works within the confines of a State-run program. We extended it to 99 weeks--almost 2 years. But do you know what the studies found? This is part of the syndrome we have around here. It is sort of the ``big heart, small brain'' syndrome. I think many of these people want to help people; they just don't understand that what they are doing is actually hurting the same people they are trying to help. So if you extend unemployment to 99 weeks, and then, all of a sudden, the guy, at 99 weeks--or woman--says, ``I need to get a job,'' and they go to the employer and say, ``I have been out of work for 99 weeks, and I have been on unemployment,'' and the other person who is applying for the job says, ``Well, I have been out of work for 10 weeks, and I am looking for a job,'' who do you think the employer hires? Every time, it is the person out of work for 10 weeks. As for the person who hasn't worked for 99 weeks, they are like: There might be something wrong here. We might have gotten to the point where we have lost the work ethic. So what have you done to the people who you try to help? You have actually kept them out of the workplace so long that they become unemployable. After they become unemployable, what do they become? They become the permanently unemployable, the nonworking part. Do you wonder who this is? Sixty-two percent of the country is in the workforce, and 38 percent is not. These are people who are permanently out of the workforce. These aren't people who can't work. These are just people who, for one reason or another, are no longer in the workforce. Now, some of them really can't work, and we have sympathy for that, but many of them are people who just stayed out of work too long or took the wrong incentives or became addicted to drugs or alcohol because they weren't working. So there are things we can do in our country, but if we are not careful, it is going to slip away from us. I don't want our country to be Venezuela, and I don't want our country to destroy its currency, but what we are offering is a more difficult sell because the other side is going to give you free college and free daycare and free cars and free cell phones. What we are offering is opportunity. What we are offering is the freedom to try to strive. We are offering equality before the law, not equality of outcome after you have done your work, after you have tried to participate--equality before the law. One of the interesting things that I think isn't often grasped by people is that if you want equal outcomes, if you want everybody to be the same and you want to equalize everybody, you actually have to treat them unequally. In our country, it took a while, but we have gotten to the point where people truly believe in the concept of equality before the law. But if you also want to believe in equal outcomes at the end, realize you can't believe in both. They are mutually exclusive. You cannot believe in equality before the law if you want equal outcomes. If you want this so-called equity at the end, you want everybody to be equal at the end, you have to treat them unequally because some people are either born with more talent, born with more money, born with more sense, luckier, work harder--there are a lot of reasons. If you put 100 people in a room and you give them all 5 bucks, within an hour, somebody will have more. Somebody had some cigarettes. Somebody really wanted to smoke, and they have a dollar. The money spreads around the room. They have done these experiments. Money doesn't stay in one place, but it is by and large, in a free society, based on work. But once the government becomes in charge of things, it becomes less of a meritocracy and becomes more of a society based on who you know. There are rich people--don't get me wrong. When you look at socialism, there are rich people: Maduro, Chavez, Castro--incredibly rich people. They own their own islands. They have billions of dollars. Their relatives are all rich. So instead of a society mostly based on merit--we talk about the greatness of America. One of the most important things about capitalism and freedom and what happened in America is, for the first time, it wasn't based on who you were; it wasn't based on royal lineage. For the most part, Europe was, you know, longtime landowners and royalty, and a very small percentage of the public did very well. In fact, before 1820, before the Industrial Revolution, virtually everybody in the world--96, 98 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. A bare subsistence level. Barely enough to eat. There was no obesity because there was barely enough food. You just scraped by. That was 98 percent of the world. Fast-forward to today, after we have adopted what Adam Smith talked about as far as trade, division of labor, and capitalism, do you know what we have now? When you look at poverty--less than $2 a day in the world--it is less than 10 percent of the world. You won't find this on television. There is not going to be any good news on television or in the newspaper. The poorest people in our country actually are equivalent to the middle class in most countries. We are a huge success, but we are a country misguided and led astray by media that aren't honest. For example, if you watched CNN, you would think that nobody is getting vaccinated, and it is a complete disaster, and, whoa, we are stuck in this rut because no one is vaccinated. It is completely untrue. Over 90 percent of people over 65, who are the most vulnerable, are vaccinated. Now, sure, there are a lot of younger people who aren't vaccinated, and there are some older people, but 90 percent is a pretty good success. Over age 50, it is like 75, 80 percent of people. People are informed. They know this is a disease that can affect any age but affects primarily the older ages. For example, the one truth you won't be told is that an 85-year-old has a 10,000 times greater chance of dying than a 10-year-old. Now, you think we should treat them the same? If you were their doctor, do you think a 10-year-old should get the same healthcare and the same prescriptions for what they need to do as an 85-year-old? That makes no sense at all. I see 10-year-olds and I see 5-year-olds out on the Mall--my wife and I were walking down to the Lincoln Memorial the other day, and I saw 5- year-olds in groups, led by teachers, wearing masks outside. There is no science to that. We have Dr. Fauci spreading mistruths across the country, saying we have to forcibly vaccinate the kids? There is no science behind any of that. In fact, England is rejecting what we are doing. In England, because of the age skew, because of what they are seeing--that the people most at risk are of an older age--they are actually saying: Instead of forcibly vaccinating children, why don't we try to make the vaccine doses available for the elderly? Why don't we target our care to those who are at highest risk? We have a problem in our country. We have people who have so politicized science that there are people struggling and dying every day because they have never heard about monoclonal antibodies. We have people dying every day because the government, at the behest of Dr. Fauci and a few other people, has said: You can't get monoclonal antibodies if you are in the hospital. I talk to people every day who really have not yet heard of monoclonal antibodies, who get COVID again after being fully vaccinated or sometimes not being vaccinated and are not getting the treatment because Dr. Fauci says: If you are in the hospital, you don't get it. So we have medicine that is coming from on high, from a central authority like the politburo, and doctors are afraid to prescribe. This has never happened in our country before. Doctors were able to make their own decisions based on their own experience, based on studies, based on real-life examples, but using their own discretion. Now doctors are afraid to prescribe monoclonal antibodies, and many of them are disallowed from prescribing it to an inpatient. Realize the ridiculous nature of that. You are in the emergency room. You are sick, and you are coughing. You might be dying from COVID. You get to the emergency room. You don't know what to say. You can barely talk. Your spouse has to be able to tell the doctor ``Please stop'' in an emergency room. Give them the monoclonal antibodies before they are admitted because once they are admitted, we won't treat them. It is the same way with symptoms. You have to have symptoms within the first 10 days. If you don't have symptoms--if you are on day 11, you won't get monoclonal antibodies. It is completely arbitrary, it is capricious, and it has to do with government-mandated guidelines. Let's take some of the other truths or mistruths that are out there. I have said over and over again that cloth masks don't work because they don't. Peer-reviewed studies have shown time and time again that cloth masks don't work. But when Dr. Fauci tells you that all masks work, when he comes in all draped with three masks on himself with little insignias, clever insignias of different sports teams, he is actually spreading a mistruth that causes lives to be lost. Why? Let's say you have a 75-year-old woman and she gets COVID, and her husband is taking care of her. Do you think the advice to go into the room to feed her, bathe her, help her get in and out of her clothes while she is sick, while wearing a cloth mask is a good idea or a bad idea? It is malpractice. Yet, for some reason, the leftwing media has lauded this man as the second coming, and what he is telling you is absolutely verifiably dangerous to your health. The only mask that really works of any real value is the N95 mask. The surgical masks have some value but not very much. Most of the air is going around the mask. They just aren't of value. But you have to submit. The man is telling you to do it; you got to do what you got to do. But the thing is, when you tell people something is safe, they tend to react to that and have behavior, and in their behavior, they are in favor of something that may well actually be risky behavior for them. The vaccinations--because we ignore natural immunity, we directed the vaccine to the wrong people and still are. For example, because of Dr. Fauci's lead--India is accepting his lead as well, and India does not have enough vaccine. They have a billion people. They can't vaccinate enough people fast enough. So if you have a billion people and you have 200 million doses of vaccine, who do you think you should give it to? Should you give it to the 10-year-old the same as the 85-year-old? No. That is ridiculous. But what about two 65-year-olds and one of them has had COVID and one of them hasn't? The studies are plentiful. The studies are throughout that say that if you have already had it, you have natural immunity to COVID, as good or better than the vaccine. Do you think it makes good public health policy to say that everybody who is 65 should get it instead of saying: Have you had it? Why don't we check you for antibodies if you think you have had it? Maybe you should wait until we have vaccinated every 65-year-old who doesn't have immunity. These are real things. These are real discussions. But if you have these, unless it is on the Senate floor--actually, that is not even true. You can say this on the Senate floor, and YouTube will take it down. I have had it happen. I have given speeches on the floor that YouTube takes down. So this is a world in which people need to realize and get back to the ideas of classical liberalism where we debated things. Classical liberalism was about skepticism; it was about you having your opinion and me having my opinion. But the difference between the elitist or the collectivist point of view and the individual right point of view is, I believe you have every right to your opinion. But if you are a collectivist and you believe that, from the very top down, all medical decisions come from Dr. Fauci, and if he doesn't want you to fly, you don't get to fly--see, it is different from individual liberty because I think if you have a differing opinion, you are welcome to your opinion. If an airline has a policy I don't like, maybe I choose not to fly, but the idea that we are going to restrict everyone's behavior based on what they decide to do--what is next? People eat too many cheeseburgers. We are not going to give them a heart stent because we think they haven't behaved and haven't listened to the doctors on what they should be eating? There is no end to this. But in the end, if we are not careful, we are going to spend this country into oblivion. COVID is a big cause of the extra spending we have now, but I can tell you, there are ramifications that are coming quick. They are coming in the form of higher prices. But there is no reason in the world for us to default. We have plenty of money. We should simply pay for the interest based on what comes in every month. With that, I would like to reserve my time and turn it over.

Mr. PAUL. Sure.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I am disappointed that the Democrats will again today block the Iron Dome funding as paid for. I think it is important that we do support our allies. I am in support of the Iron Dome funding, but I think, at the very least, it should be paid for. We have offered them various permutations of this--either the entire $6 billion from the Afghan reconstruction fund or $1 billion. We have offered them other alternatives to look at other funding in government that already exists to see if we could pay for this. So the real reluctance is on the Democrats' part to pay for aid, and the thing is that we can't just blindly keep giving money away without repercussions. We are $30 trillion in debt. So I am disappointed today that the Democrats will block the Iron Dome funding as paid for, and I do object to the underlying proposition.

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as we speak, the Taliban is regaining control, has control over most of Afghanistan, is brutalizing women, kicking women out of school. Women will no longer be participating in the government. It is really just unconscionable that Democrats insist that money be there to give to the Taliban. Any person who believes and truly believes that the Taliban is a menace to women's rights and to women in a civilized world should join me in saying: We should make sure that no money ever goes to the Taliban. When Secretary Blinken was asked about this, he said that if there is cooperation and if they meet expectations, the $6 billion--and some say up to $10 billion--available for the previous government will be given to the Taliban, who violently overthrew this government. We are asking something very simple. We could fund Iron Dome today. Make sure that everybody who listens to this understands. This is being blocked by Democrats who don't want to pay for it. We have a proposal that would have proposed $1 billion today for Iron Dome, but it would have been paid for by taking money out of an account that has been allocated and that Secretary Blinken has indicated he will give to the Taliban if they behave. So I think it is a real problem, and it is a problem of this body that the cavalier nature of just letting our country pile on $30 trillion of debt. You ask how we got here. We got here $1 billion at a time. So rarely do we have an episode or a time where we can object. You know, I would object to a trillion if it were on the floor. I would object to $50 billion on the floor. But the billion dollars ought to be paid for. And there are so many pay-fors. But this is why government grows by leaps and bounds and becomes more and more wasteful over time. So I do object.

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I agree with the Senator from Connecticut that we should pass the proposal. In fact, I have offered a proposal to fund the Iron Dome with $1 billion that should be paid for, though. We are facing a $30 trillion debt. We borrow $2 million a minute. Inflation is rising. They are wanting to pile more debt upon our country. So, if we are going to help our ally Israel, I think we need to be strong to do it, we need to be not piling on debt without consequences, and this should be paid for. There is a very easy pay-for that I have proposed. There is $6 billion left in a reconstruction fund for the Afghan national government. Well, the Afghan national government no longer exists. In the haste to leave, the Biden administration has let the Taliban overrun the country. So I asked the other day, in committee, of Secretary Blinken: This $6 billion, are you planning on giving it to the Taliban? And he said: Well, it depends on whether they fulfill their commitments. To me, that sounds like a pretty big ``if,'' but if the Biden administration says that they fulfill their commitment and expectations, the understanding is the Biden administration is going to give $6 billion to the Taliban. So, not only do they let them take $80 billion of equipment, not only did we leave in complete disarray, Democrats now want to say: Oh, we have got to keep this money because we have to give it to the Taliban. That is obscene. We should immediately rescind all of that money. If you want to give money to Afghanistan, let's vote on it again. But you gave the money to the previous government, and now you want to give the money to the Taliban, which has overrun the country. It is a disgrace. The Taliban shouldn't get a penny. And we should pay for things, even for things that we are trying to give to allies. So I have a proposal before the desk. My proposal says to fully fund the $1 billion for the Iron Dome project. Fully fund it. We have already given billions for it. We are willing to give $1 billion more, but we are going to pay for it by not giving money to the Taliban. So it is a pretty easy sort of list. We asked every Senator on the Republican side if they objected to this, and not one Republican objected to this. So the reason the Iron Dome is being held up is because the Democrats are objecting to its being paid for. I am here today to support the Iron Dome. I am giving a proposal that would give them their $1 billion right now. It could happen today. All I ask is that it be paid for with money that has already been appropriated and that is, in all likelihood, going to be given to the Taliban if we don't take it away now. I think it is a very reasonable proposal. I am disappointed that the Democrats are objecting to Iron Dome today. It is a disappointment that they are against paying for it with a fund that is already out there, and that they so much love the idea of giving the money to the Taliban that they are going to insist on blocking Iron Dome funding because they are insistent on ``No, no, we can't get rid of the $6 billion because, if the Taliban behaves, we are going to give it to them.'' Look, I don't care if the Taliban behaves. I wouldn't give them a penny. There are other ways of trying to have a diplomatic relationship other than giving money to people. People think that somehow, if the Taliban behaves, we have got to give them money? I think that is a crazy notion. So, without question, I will object. I ask the Senator to modify his request so that, instead of his proposal and as in legislative session, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 140, H.R. 5323; further, that the only amendment in order be my substitute amendment, which is at the desk. I further ask that there be 2 hours of debate, equally divided between the two leaders, and that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Paul substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time, and that the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Madam President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week, I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize Clear Cut Phocus, LLC of Louisville, KY, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. Growing up in Louisville, John Mittel dreamed of being a doctor. As a competitive swimmer, he developed an interest in health and fitness. John's passion for innovation and engineering led him to the University of Louisville, where he earned a bachelor of science in industrial engineering. John then enrolled at the University of Louisville School of Medicine to pursue his childhood dream. Like many students, John relied on coffee, energy drinks, and soda for a caffeine boost. One night, during a late-night study session, John thought, Why not just put caffeine in water? Over the next 2 years, he worked with his mentor, Tom O'Grady, to turn that idea into a business. They spent most of 2016 developing their brand and fine-tuning the Phocus formula, launching their product in 2017. After graduating from medical school in 2018, John deferred his residency in ophthalmology to continue building his company. Today, Phocus is a thriving small business providing consumers nationwide a healthy alternative to the traditional energy drink. Headquartered in Louisville, Phocus recently celebrated its fourth anniversary. To date, Phocus has developed 11 flavors of sparkling and regular water infused with caffeine extracted from green tea, electrolytes, and the amino acid L-theanine. Unlike traditional energy drinks, Phocus beverages have zero calories and are free of sweeteners, sodium, and additives. Phocus beverages are available at several regional and national retailers and are featured in over 200 corporate offices across America. In 2020, Phocus Cola was named the Best New Product at BevNET's Best of 2020 Awards. Like many small business owners, John and Tom are actively involved in their community. Locally, Phocus regularly supports community organizations, including the Louisville City Football Club's youth soccer clinics and the American Junior Golf Association's Justin Thomas Junior Championship. During the holiday season, Phocus has teamed up with ESPN Louisville for its ``Cram the Van'' toy and clothing drive for children in need. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company donated 200,000 cans of Phocus to 472 hospitals and healthcare facilities across 40 States. In May of 2021, their ``Buy One. Gift One. A Case for Teachers.'' program donated cases of Phocus to teachers nationwide in recognition of Teacher Appreciation Month. Phocus's community involvement, success, and products have been profiled in local and national outlets, including WDRB, WAVE3, Louisville Courier-Journal, Louisville Business Journal, MarketWatch, Fox News, and CNBC. Clear Cut Phocus, LLC is a remarkable example of the resilience and adaptability of locally owned small businesses. Small businesses, like Phocus, form the heart of towns across Kentucky and play a critical role in Kentucky's beverage industry. Congratulations to John, Tom, and the entire team at Phocus. I wish them the best of luck, and I look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky, and beyond.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Madam President.

Mr. PAUL. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I think it is very clear, and very important that it be very clear, that I have offered to fully pay for the Iron Dome system with an extra billion dollars. The objection is coming from the Democrat side. They are objecting to it being paid for. We have offered this fund of $6 billion. We have offered to modify it and make it less so there will still be some remaining money in this system. We have offered other funds. We have offered a basically open invitation to the other side that we just think it ought to be paid for. So the objection from the other side is to paying for Iron Dome, to paying for the billion dollars. Interestingly, aid is already going to Afghanistan while the Taliban is in charge. Now, allegedly, that aid is going to charitable organizations. But the history of the Taliban has been to withhold, control, manipulate, and corrupt charitable organizations as well. I think it is a mistake to have money already flowing into the new government under the Taliban and to charitable organizations because it basically makes their job easier. It will make the public more pacified if they are being fed by the Western world. They wouldn't be as happy if the money is destroyed in this chaos. So, really, in some ways, you do help to stabilize the Taliban by sending more money there. But Secretary Blinken was asked this very question in committee by myself: Can you guarantee the $6 billion will not be released at any time to the Taliban? And he said no; the implication being that if the Taliban behaves, he sees this $6 billion going to the Taliban. I think it is a big mistake. This is a big issue. Iron Dome is a big issue, but it is also a big issue whether we send money to the Taliban. They already have $80 billion worth of our weapons. I think it will be a real big mistake to send money indirectly or directly to the Taliban so I object.

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

Mr. PAUL. Reserving the right to object, I join the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in being supportive of Iron Dome, but I think it should be paid for. I think the American taxpayer dollars that pay for it should come from money that could go to the Taliban. There is a fund with over $6 billion in it that was designated for the Afghan Government, and that money, I think, could be spent on the Taliban if we do not rescind that money. The justification for my proposal for paying this is simple: Only an economically strong United States can be a militarily strong ally of Israel. I support Israel. I voted for hundreds of millions of dollars to support Iron Dome. I am glad the United States has a strong bond with Israel. But the United States cannot give money it does not have, no matter how strong our relationship is. The United States is approaching $30 trillion in debt. Our out-of- control spending added $3 trillion to this debt just in this fiscal year. A day of reckoning is coming, sooner than you think. Interest on the debt will be larger than what we spent on national defense in just a few years. If the debt weakens us to the point where we have difficulty funding our own military needs, how can the United States continue to be a reliable ally to Israel? Getting our fiscal house in order does not mean that we are failing to support Israel--far from it. The billion dollars under consideration today is on top of the more than $1.6 billion the United States has already given for Iron Dome, and that is not all. The United States provides Israel with just under $4 billion in aid annually. To date, the United States has provided over $146 billion in aid to Israel. In addition to Iron Dome, the United States has helped Israel fund other missile defense systems as well. We spent $2 billion on David's Sling and $3.7 billion on Arrow programs. That means the United States has contributed $7 billion to Israel's missile defense systems. Iron Dome is an indispensable defensive tool that not only saves Israeli lives but Palestinian lives. I want an Israel strong enough so that it does not have to rely on American support. But if we are here to add an additional billion dollars in aid, all I ask is that we make sure that it is paid for. My amendment would rescind $6 billion in Afghanistan reconstruction money that otherwise might go to the Taliban. Secretary Blinken said as recently as 2 weeks ago that this money may well go to the new Taliban government. Under this arrangement, we would devote $1 billion to Israel's Iron Dome and return the rest to Treasury. This is clear to all of the Republicans. So it needs to be very clear today that Republicans support paying for Iron Dome, and they support paying for Iron Dome with taking away money that would go to the Taliban. I hope my colleagues will work with me to strengthen Israel, strengthen the United States, and strengthen our alliance. Unanimous Consent Request--Paul Amendment Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator modify his request so that instead of his proposal, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 140, H.R. 5323; further, that the only amendment in order be my substitute amendment, which is at the desk. I further ask that there be 2 hours of debate, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and upon the use or yielding back of the time, the Paul substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. PAUL

Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be given floor privileges until December 17, 2021: Paris Nguyen and Seth Ricketts.