Pete Ricketts

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Reserving the right to object. The Chinese Communist Party is our chief foreign adversary in the world and the only external existential threat to our Nation. They threaten our freedom, our prosperity, our security, and our very way of life. When I was Governor of Nebraska, I was the first Governor to ban TikTok on State devices because of the threat it posed. Why did I do that? Well, because Xi Jinping said that he wants to replace us as the world leader. Dictators tend to say what they are going to do and try and do it. We should take him seriously. TikTok is one of the ways that he is trying to do it, trying to undermine what we do around the world. The Chinese Communist Party wants to replace us; TikTok is one of the ways they are trying to influence our downfall. As many as 150 million Americans use TikTok. Fifty-two percent of them say they regularly get news through TikTok, and we know that the CCP uses TikTok to slant the news. This is part of their propaganda. Data shows, for example, my esteemed colleague from Arkansas referenced it, the anti-Semitism on TikTok. If you go back and look, you can see 50 times the posts on pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian content, 50 times the views, despite the fact that overwhelmingly Americans support Israel--the polling shows it--and that is just one of the issues that they get involved with. We wouldn't allow any foreign adversary, TV stations, radio stations, or newspapers to reach 150 million Americans. Why are we allowing our chief adversary in the world, one that seeks our downfall, to have that kind of access? It makes absolutely no sense. And, of course, the Chinese Communist Party has no free rights in America. Those belong to American citizens. We need to make sure we take a step against this. And last April, we did, overwhelmingly, bipartisan, bicameral because this Congress saw the threat that TikTok poses by the Chinese Communist Party being able to influence ByteDance because they have to. ByteDance is a Chinese company. It has to do whatever the Chinese Communist Party says. That is their law. They have to do what the Chinese Communist Party says, so, therefore, they push the propaganda. As my colleague from Arkansas pointed out, they spy on Americans, collect data on Americans. So we saw a bipartisan effort, over 350 votes in the House, to pass this bill and, by the way, the same bipartisan support here in the Senate, passing 79 to 18. The law gathered so much bipartisan, bicameral support because we recognized this was about keeping America and Americans safe; that ByteDance needed to divest TikTok so that we could be assured that the Chinese Communist Party wasn't pushing its propaganda or spying on us. We acted with conviction against that threat, and of course we know from our classified briefings what that threat for TikTok was. And this threat is not something far off or imagined. We have seen TikTok's interference in elections elsewhere around the world, most recently in Romania. The European Commission just opened an investigation on TikTok's failure to limit election interference in Romania's election, and that has caused all sorts of disruption in that country. India has banned TikTok for the very same reason that they are seeing the push of Chinese propaganda slants on their news media the same way we see it here in America. Albania, worried about Romania, banned TikTok. We passed a law that did not ban TikTok. We passed a law that said you have to have an American owner like, I don't know, radio stations, TV stations, newspapers. The Senator from Massachusetts would like to give us a 270- day extension. What is going to be different? What is going to be different? ByteDance has had 270 days, and rather than making legitimate attempts to find a buyer--and, by the way, you all recall the news stories when this law was being discussed and being passed. There were a number of Americans who said they would be interested in buying them. ByteDance didn't do anything. Rather than looking for an American buyer, they decided to hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers to try and subvert the will of the Congress. They spent the last 270 days trying to avoid being sold. As my colleague said, the Chinese Communist Party will not let them be sold. That, in and of itself, should tell you everything you need to know about this. If the Chinese Communist Party is refusing ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American buyer, you know they are using it to push their propaganda and to collect data on us. They don't want those algorithms coming to America because then they will be exposed. That is what this is about. This is a national security threat. That is why we took action last April. They have had these 270 days. They did nothing with them. To extend would mean nothing as well, except give the Chinese Communist Party another 270 days to push their propaganda and to spy on more Americans. Finally, today, in our Foreign Relations Committee hearing, we had the confirmation hearing for Senator Rubio, who has been nominated for Secretary of State. I asked him in his confirmation hearing earlier today why average Americans in Nebraska should care about the threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to our way of life, and he had a great response, and I want to read it here. He said: If we stay on the road we're on right now, in less than ten years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not. Folks, this is a clear test of whether America is going to get off that road. Are we willing to change direction? Are we willing to say to the Chinese Communist Party enough, no further, not now? We are changing. We are getting away from the bad practices of the past that the Chinese Communist Party is taking advantage of. Let's send a clear signal to Beijing that America's national security is going to take priority. Let's stand strong. Let's remember, we passed this law for a reason, and it is to keep Americans safe, and, therefore, I object.

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, President Biden's open border policies have created a national security, humanitarian, and drug catastrophe in our country. In 2023, law enforcement encounters at the border found 169 people on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist. In previous years, under the Trump administration, that number was in the single digits. We have had 10.5 million border encounters since Biden took office. On a single day in December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 12,600 people trying to illegally enter into our country. That is just along the southern border--12,600. It set an alltime, single-day record for the number of people trying to break into our country. In years past, administration officials have said: If there are 1,000 people encountered at our southern border trying to get in, that is a crisis. So 12,600 is a catastrophe. Record amounts of deadly drugs have also flown into our country since President Biden opened our borders. We experienced this directly in Nebraska. In 2019, when I was Governor, Nebraska law enforcement took 46 pills laced with fentanyl off of our streets--46. Then, after Biden became President, in just the first 6 months of 2021, Nebraska law enforcement took 151,000 pills off our streets--from 46 to 151,000. While I was Governor, after Biden became President, we saw that our law enforcement started confiscating twice as much methamphetamine, 3 times as much fentanyl, and 10 times as much cocaine because of our open southern border and the cartels taking advantage of it. And just like all around the country, our young people paid the price as well. Taryn Lee Griffith was a young mom of two who took a pill that was laced with fentanyl and died because of it. The single largest killer of Americans 18 to 45 is fentanyl overdose, all facilitated by President Biden's open border policies along our southern border. Jose Ibarra was a different kind of problem. Jose Ibarra was a Venezuelan national who crossed our border illegally in the Texas area and asked for asylum. His wife said he just wanted a better job, but regardless, the Biden administration released him into this country. He was bused to New York City, and there he was arrested for ``acting in a manner to endanger a child under the age of 17.'' However, New York City is a sanctuary city. He was not detained or deported, as he ought to have been. He was released. He made his way to Georgia, and once again he was arrested; this time for shoplifting. But once again he was not detained or deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And because he was not, he went on to brutally murder Laken Riley. This tragedy could have been avoided if President Biden had been protecting our southern border, if illegal immigrants were being detained and deported. People who break the laws in our country need to be held accountable. That is what the Laken Riley Act does. It requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain people who are breaking our laws. When people come here illegally, and they are breaking our laws, they need to be held accountable. With the Laken Riley Act, if you are committing theft, burglary, shoplifting, you will be detained and tragedies like Laken Riley can be avoided. This is just common sense that we need to enforce our laws. To me, it is common sense that we need to protect our borders. And thank goodness, starting in a few days, we will have a President who understands the safety of the American people is the priority, and President Trump will secure our borders. The election results were overwhelming; President Trump has a mandate to secure our borders. Senate Republicans will stand up to help him do just that. The Laken Riley Act is our first step to be able to help him do that. And I call upon my colleagues from the other side of the aisle to continue to support this bill as they have done on the previous votes. Let's get this bill passed. Let's make sure other families don't have to live through the tragedy that Laken Riley's family had to live through. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS. I just want to briefly build upon my colleague from Arkansas. Two quick points: One, our colleague from Massachusetts has called this a TikTok ban. That is inaccurate. The law that was passed, as my colleague pointed out, was about foreign adversaries and required TikTok to be sold to an American owner. If it had been sold, TikTok could continue to be in operation. And my understanding is, even if it is forced to close down because it hasn't sold by Sunday, if it is sold in the future, it will be able to reestablish operations, as long as it is to an American buyer. So it is not a ban. The reason it is a ban is because TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party chose to make it a ban. ByteDance has not tried to parallel-path this, which was my colleague from Massachusetts' point. They could have been trying to sell it, the same time they were going through the court, and had that ready. In fact, they could have written a document saying: I am only going to sell if the Supreme Court says I have to. They could have found a buyer and written a contract that way-- absolutely. They didn't have to make this a ban. And with regard to my colleague from Massachusetts' other point, I did offer a proof point based upon data here in the United States about how TikTok pushes a Chinese Communist Party agenda to push their propaganda. In this case, it was anti-Semitism against Israel by promoting pro-Hamas, the terrorist group, posts--its posts--and then pro-Palestinian posts versus Israeli pro-Israel ones. So I gave data there. But this is exactly the same kind of pushing of propaganda which has led, I presume, India to ban TikTok, as well, because the Chinese Communist Party is doing the same thing to them. So a couple of points on this, and, again, I don't think anything will be different 270 days from now because the Chinese Communist Party will not allow TikTok to be sold because their algorithm would be exposed. With that, I would just end by saying that China must be deterred. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I rise today to compliment my esteemed colleague from Iowa, who is the founding member of the DOGE Caucus, as well as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for their effort to be able to create the Department of Government Efficiency. This is something that is near and dear to my heart because as Governor of Nebraska, this is what we did. We focused on how we could drive efficiency through our State operations. Now, if you want to think about the big argument between Republicans and Democrats on a really macro scale--what it is--it comes down to what should government properly do. What should be the size and scope of government? Well, there are actually things we agree that government should do between Republicans and Democrats; and for those things, we should do them really, really well. All too often, government fails because it is not properly managed, because we don't do a good job; and when we don't do a good job, we end up wasting taxpayers' dollars. As the Governor of Nebraska, this is one of the things I focused on to be able to do a better job on--take my private sector experiences, in coming from the business world, and applying them to the running of State government. We showed that the things you do in the private sector will work in running the public sector as well. In the State of Nebraska, we implemented Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology. There are a number of them out there, and this is the one we chose. What it does is you break down an operation; you count what the steps are and what the steps, you know, should be; you get the frontline people engaged--the people actually doing the work involved in looking at those steps; and see if you can cut the waste in the number of steps and everything else so that you can make the process more efficient. That is how you can do a better job of actually providing services while reducing costs at the same time. That is the thing. Every time you get to government, they say: Oh, we want to cut expenses, blah, blah, blah. Oh, you are going to cut services. No. No. No. In the private sector, you can't go to your customers and say: Well, I am going to reduce your prices, but I am going to also reduce your service, because your customers will go someplace else. It doesn't work that way. So the private sector figures out how to do a better job of providing services while reducing their expenses. We can do the same thing in government. In the private sector, you have competition that is going to drive inefficient businesses out. In the government sector, it is going to require people like Elon, Vivek, and the Senators here in this room to be able to drive that through our government Agencies to get that efficiency. I want to talk a little bit about what we did, because it was very effective. I mentioned that you measure the steps. You count how many steps there are, and see where the overlaps are. One area we did it was in air construction permits. We had 190 steps that it took to issue that permit. We cut that down to 22 steps. By doing that--sorry. It was 110 steps that we cut down to 22. By doing that, we cut it down from 190 days to be able to issue that permit to 65 days. Now, we can't change any of the environmental regulations. That was just a better job of issuing those permits. And, when you free up your teammates' time because they are not wasting time on all those extra steps, they can do more work--they are more productive--and can focus on things that are going to be more important--for example, more difficult permits. We used this in a variety of ways, and we showed lots of improvement. For example, in our economic assistance line in August of 2014, it was taking about 23 minutes to answer that phone call. We set a goal of setting 5 minutes or less to answer those phone calls for those people who were calling in seeking our assistance. We hit that goal all the way up until the pandemic. It was taking us 40 days to issue SNAP applications--food stamps. Again, if you are one of those families in need and it is taking 40 days to process that application, what is that saying about how we think about it? We set a goal of getting applications done in 10 days. We hit that all the way up until we hit the pandemic. Then, even when we got out of compliance--when we started going above 10 days--we knew we were above it, and we took the steps to start getting that number back down again. We were able to do it in a variety of other ways; like, for example, with the Department of Motor Vehicles, getting you your driver's license. In our Centers of Excellence, we were able to get that from 22 minutes down to 8 minutes in getting people in and out the door. With our Green Sheets, which is what we used in our Department of Transportation to be able to make sure that our contractors were doing the right things with regard to the environment or antiquities or whatever--making sure they were following all the rules--we were able to cut that from 16 days down to 3 days so that those contractors could get into the field faster and get our projects moving faster. Here is another one: We would issue reimbursement checks to families with children who have special needs. Often, these special needs children will have to have specialized care. Families will have to travel to that hospital to go get that. They would get reimbursed for those expenses, but it was taking us 13 to 15 days to reimburse those expenses. Well, what is wrong with that? That is over a 2-week pay period. Those families had to float those costs from one paycheck to the next paycheck. You know and I know that a lot of families live paycheck to paycheck, so that put a financial burden on those families with kids with special needs. We were able to cut that time down to 2 days to be able to make sure we could get those expense checks back to those families in need so that they wouldn't have to float that and experience that financial hardship from one payment to the next. Well, what did we have to do to do that? We had to get everybody on board--our entire team. At the end of the day, in the State of Nebraska, we trained over 30,000 of our teammates in the Lean Six Sigma process. There were wipeouts kind of in the introductory one. Over 6,200 of our mid-level managers in the yellow belts, the next level up. We trained 248 executive green belts. Those are the upper level executives--again, more training. Then we trained nine black belts. Those are the folks who oversee the whole program. By implementing all of that, we were able to save over 900,000 hours of our teammates' time. We did over 1,000 different projects. We saved $115 million in hard savings. Because of those processes, for example, we were able to reduce the square footage that we were occupying as the State of Nebraska by 60,000. It was 60,000 square feet we took off our rolls; we reduced our employment by 3\1/2\ percent; and we were able to control spending. Before I became Governor, our budget was growing at 6\1/2\ percent a year. I would say that was not sustainable. We were able to, on average, while I was Governor, keep that growth of our budget to 2.8 percent a year--just 2.8 percent a year on average. I might just contrast that to what we are doing here in the Federal Government right now. In 2019, we spent $4.4 trillion. In 2024, that was closer to $6.8 trillion, $6.9 trillion. That is, roughly, a 55-percent increase in just 5 years. Folks, that is not sustainable. That is why what this Department of Government Efficiency, the DOGE, and what this incoming administration are going to do is so important. We have got to be able to get our spending under control. It is a risk to our country. We have got to get this under control, and we can do it. We can do a better job of providing services and keeping our expenses down just like the private sector does by leveraging tools like Lean Six Sigma, just like the private sector does.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 928, which is at the desk.

Mr. RICKETTS. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, that 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. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a great Nebraskan and a great American, John Edmund Gottschalk. John Gottschalk was born in Omaha in 1943 and grew up in a small town in Nebraska called Rushville. He was a Boy Scout, and he went on to attend the University of Nebraska, majoring in political science and journalism. His father started the Sheridan County Star, and John worked there as well, really getting his break into journalism, the newspaper business. In 1972, John bought the Sidney Telegraph in Sidney, NE, and became mayor of the town of Sidney. In 1975, he joined the Omaha World-Herald as an assistant to the president. He eventually worked his way up to become the publisher and CEO in 1998, and he remained that until 2009. Actually, 1989. I got those numbers flipped around. In 1989, he became CEO and publisher. John and his wife Carmen were extraordinary people. John led the Omaha World-Herald into the digital age and also spearheaded a number of the efforts to increase the technology and its spread throughout the State of Nebraska, different communities. He made the Omaha World-Herald a standard for how newspapers should be run. He himself was known for his integrity and his courage. He was never shy about being direct with a budding politician to let that politician know when he believed that politician might have erred. He was one of those people that cared about the community. As I mentioned, he was a Boy Scout. He served as chairman of our local Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts but also became national president of Boy Scouts of America. He served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the USO, cared about our veterans and wanted to make sure we were serving them, cared about our military people. He also cared about the arts and was chairman of Omaha Performing Arts. He and his wife Carmen cared about people. Together, they fostered more than 100 infants awaiting adoption. John was an outdoorsman and a conservationist. He really was one of those people we would describe as a renaissance man--running a fantastic business, giving back to the community. He was the kind of American that built this country. John passed away last month, leaving a legacy that is having a lasting imprint on our community of Omaha, the State of Nebraska, and indeed our entire country. I greatly admire John Gottschalk for the kind of man he was, the example he set for the rest of us. He will be greatly missed, and I will miss him greatly. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I have always said that keeping people safe is one of the most fundamental roles the government plays: keeping people safe. For 4 years, the Biden-Harris administration has failed at this most fundamental mandate the government has. About a month ago, the American people delivered a message that they were no longer going to stand for a government that was failing to keep them safe. The Biden-Harris appeasement-first foreign policy strategy has made America weaker and less safe. The world that the Biden administration is leaving is a more dangerous place today than it was 4 years ago when they took over. Weakness and appeasement have defined the current administration, starting with their disastrous pullout of Afghanistan. That pullout in Afghanistan cost American lives, including a Nebraskan, Marine Cpl Daegan Page. We also left behind Americans, unbelievably, and we also left behind our Afghan security partners--abandoned them--in addition to the billions of dollars of American equipment, through this poorly executed debacle. Since then, we have seen foreign policy fumbles and flip-flops that have left our allies questioning our commitment and, worse yet, has the bad guys--Russia, China, Iran, North Korea--questioning our resolve. The most disturbing example of this is Iran. Under the Trump administration, they knew that the way to deal with a dictator--like we had in Ali Khamenei in Iran--is through strength and imposing sanctions. The sanctions the Trump administration imposed took Iran's foreign reserves down from $122.5 billion to less than $14 billion dollars. And what did that mean? Well, that meant that they couldn't fund the terrorism around the world that they have been doing for the last 4 years. When you cut off their money supply, they couldn't give it to Hamas or Hezbollah, and so those terrorist organizations were going broke. They didn't have the resources to be able to fund that terrorist group. And then came along Joe Biden. Joe Biden and his administration relaxed the sanctions on Iran through a naive policy that, somehow, if we just give them enough money, they are going to be nice to us. But that is not the way it works with dictators. It enabled Iran to generate $100 billion in oil money, and that has consequences. It was because of this appeasement-first policy and giving money to Iran that Hamas had the ability to attack our ally Israel on October 7; and how Hezbollah has since attacked Israel, as well; how the Houthis have been able to shoot at ships in the Red Sea. Iranian proxies--like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis--have been emboldened by Biden's appeasement-first policy. This is what is causing the chaos we are seeing right now in the Middle East. And while these attacks may seem far away, we must remember that Iran not only chants ``Death to Israel''; they chant ``Death to America.'' Over 40 Americans were killed on October 7. Three American servicemembers were killed by Iranian proxy drone attacks in January. The Houthis continue to shoot at American ships in the Red Sea. Islamic terrorists have crossed our open border. And for crying out loud, Iran is trying to kill President Trump. And what has the Biden administration done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There has been no price for Iran to pay for all of this. Our adversaries, they see this and understand the weakness. The Chinese Communist Party has been emboldened. They have repeatedly violated our sovereignty. Spy balloons have been allowed to travel across our country, spying on our sensitive military installations. We have seen the espionage operations set up in New York City. And fentanyl has been killing Americans across our country. And while it may be coming across the southern border, the precursors are being made in China. We have also seen what Vladimir Putin has done when Russia invaded Ukraine. Our freedoms, our way of life depend on peace. And how do we maintain peace? We maintain peace through strength. That is what the American people chose a month ago when they elected President Donald Trump. Under President Trump's first administration, we saw the dismantling of the ISIS caliphate and historic peace deals in the Middle East--the Middle East's first peace agreement in 26 years. And, by the way, that should have been cause for a Nobel Prize to be awarded to President Trump, but the Nobel Prize committee didn't see it that way. They couldn't bring themselves to acknowledge the great work that President Trump did. By returning President Trump to the White House, the American people are sending a clear message: There is a new sheriff in town. The Biden-Harris age of appeasement is ending. The resurgence of American strength is about to begin, and I am excited to see what the future holds.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until December, 6, 2024: Phoebe Coote and Emmanuel Ogundipe.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. BD Columbus is at the forefront of innovation and excellence. It celebrated its 50th anniversary of cannula production in 2017, and it has undergone a transformative expansion to become a flagship plastic injection molding manufacturing center. This state-of- the-art facility stands as a testament to BD's legacy of improving lives both locally, within the Columbus workforce, and globally, as it provides critical medical supplies to healthcare systems across the world.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until July 26, 2024: Esme Vroom, Preston Kotik, Turner Vaughn, and Caitlyn Haggstrom.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, Israel is our strongest and closest ally in the Middle East. It is in our mutual interest to provide Israel the support they need to be able to destroy the terrorist group Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages. I am committed to doing that. My colleagues joining me today are committed to doing that. Yet the Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly appeased the radical pro-Hamas elements of their base. In fact, President Biden had to be pressured to put a meeting on the calendar with the Prime Minister. That should have been a no-brainer. Vice President Kamala Harris, whose only constitutional duty is to preside over the Senate, didn't even attend today's speech. She has one job--and I understand that being the presumptive nominee is new, but she does have a day job. Instead, she chose a petty snub of our closest ally in the Middle East and a democratically elected leader. This is not how America should treat its allies. Sadly, this is one part of a larger pattern. The Biden-Harris administration has consistently undermined Israel's democratically elected government. After taking office, this administration gave $730 million to UNRWA, an organization that has been described as essentially being a branch of Hamas. President Trump had ended their U.S. taxpayer funding. President Biden and Vice President Harris brought it back. Their actions caused American taxpayer dollars to directly support Hamas terrorists in their attacks on our ally and our citizens. At least 12 UNRWA employees, funded in part by Biden-Harris, directly participated in the barbaric terror attack on October 7. Over 100 UNRWA employees have ties to Hamas or other Islamic jihad entities. Over 1,200 Israelis were killed, including nearly two dozen American citizens. Many were taken as hostages. Eight Americans are still being held hostage today somewhere in Gaza 291 days after October 7. We need to stand with Israel until Israel completes its mission to free the hostages, bring justice to the terrorists, and restore peace. That is the best solution for the Israelis. That is the best solution for the Gazans. That is the best solution, period. The Biden-Harris administration has also pressured Israel toward a cease-fire with the same barbaric Hamas terrorists who want to kill Jews and have pledged to continue to perpetrate atrocities like October 7. Meanwhile, Biden and Harris have repeatedly withheld or delayed critical shipments of weapons needed to destroy Hamas. They have attacked the legitimacy of Israel's democratically elected leader. So much for ``ironclad.'' Americans stand with Israel. My colleagues and I stand with Israel. We are proud to stand with Israel. The Biden-Harris administration should do the same. Thank you to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for his comments earlier today. They reminded us why it is so important that Israel is successful in destroying Hamas. They will be doing the world and civilization a favor in doing so. Thank you to my colleagues for joining me today on the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, today I stand before you to express my gratitude and admiration for the exceptional students who joined our team as summer interns in 2024. These talented young women and men brought a unique blend of enthusiasm, dedication, and a passion for making a difference to my offices in Washington, DC, office and across the State of Nebraska. Our interns have consistently shown a motivation to learn and a strong commitment to our State. Their presence has not only enriched our workspace, but also inspired my team and me. As the torchbearers of the next generation, their spirit and determination fill us with anticipation for what the future holds. As they leave our office, I want to take a moment to extend my sincerest thanks to: Caitlyn Haggstrom, Preston Kotik, Turner Vaughn, and Esme Vroom, who served in my Washington, DC, office; Carson Kreager, who served in my Kearney office; Bayleigh Donahoe, who served in my Omaha office; and Mackenzie Hamilton, who served in my Lincoln office. Your dedication and contributions have truly made our team stronger. I hope you will carry the lessons learned here into your bright future. Congratulations, and best of luck.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Reserving the right to object.

Mr. RICKETTS. Welcome to another day of the Democratic summer of show votes. We need to be clear why the majority leader is holding this show vote. The Supreme Court made a decision last week he didn't like. A 6- to-3 majority Supreme Court ruled the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives overstepped their authority when they tried to reclassify bump stocks as machineguns. The Supreme Court made the right decision. In January, I joined Senator Lummis and other colleagues filing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to do what they did. But the majority leader and his Democratic colleagues supported the gun-grabbing overreach. The majority leader decided to bring up a bill called the BUMP Act. He claims this bill will ban bump stocks. Just like his previously misnamed bills, if you actually read the bill, that is not what it does at all. The BUMP Act targets common firearm accessories, not just bump stocks. This is from the text of the bill. The bill bans ``any manual, power-driven, or electronic device primarily designed, or redesigned, so that when the device is attached to a semiautomatic firearm, the device--[i] materially increases the rate of fire on the firearm.'' In short, this doesn't ban bump stocks. This bill would ban literally any item that makes a firearm easier and, in some cases, safer to shoot. We are talking about competition or adjustable triggers. We are also talking about items that reduce the distance between a shooter's hand or trigger, like certain firearm stocks and grips. It is not just about bump stocks. That is why the disabled veterans hate this bill. I have heard about veterans in Nebraska who are concerned about this bill. Sometimes veterans who are disabled or elderly choose to adjust the stock or grip on a firearm to make it easier and safer to shoot. The Constitution protects their right to do so through the Second Amendment. This bill would take that constitutional right away from the same men and women who fought for our Constitution. The other problem with this bill is it doesn't even define what it is trying to regulate. The bill uses the phrase ``rate of fire'' 500 times. Three of those times, the bill said it would ban a device that materially increases the rate of fire in the firearm. Nowhere in the bill does it define what constitutes the ``rate of fire'' increase. The other two times, it says it would ban a device that approximates the action of a rate of fire of a machinegun. But under Federal law, it is not the rate of fire that makes something a machinegun. Under 26 U.S.C. 5845(b), it is a mechanical function. So either this ``rate of fire'' section was written by someone who had no idea what they are talking about, or it is a cynical attempt to include more firearm accessories than just bump stocks. I would bet the latter. And let's be honest. Does anyone seriously believe this lawless Biden administration would interpret this law in a way that respects law- abiding gun owners? Not. On this and other issues, the Biden administration has repeatedly expanded previous interpretations of our laws in ways that go far beyond what even the Obama administration was coupled with, and they were no friends of the Second Amendment. We cannot allow unelected bureaucrats at the ATF to abuse their authority and interpret laws in ways Congress clearly never intended. So this bill may be called the BUMP Act, but it is not really about bump stocks. This bill is about banning as many firearm accessories as possible, giving the ATF broad authority to ban most semiautomatic firearms. It is an unconstitutional attack on law-abiding gun owners. Under this bill, owners of any semiautomatic firearm that has been modified to make it easier to fire will be forced to register their firearms alongside actual machineguns in the ATF's National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record Database. And if they don't, they would be in violation of the law. That is really, really scary. If this bill becomes law, it would give the Biden administration the authority to force confiscation of any common semiautomatic firearm that has been modified to make it easier to shoot. The majority leader knows this bill will not pass. It won't pass because enough people in this building still believe in the Constitution, and the Constitution affords Americans the right to own a firearm. This vague, overreaching bill directly infringes upon that right. For safety, we ought to better enforce existing gun laws and address mental health issues. This bill doesn't do that. In fact, it doesn't do anything to address the root causes of gun violence. We are not addressing mental health or cultural issues driving men and women to commit these horrible crimes--the failed family structures, the depression, the division and glorification of violence on social media. If Democrats really cared about gun violence, they would be trying to build support for a bill that could actually pass. Instead, we have a show vote on a bill that uses vague language to ban as many firearms accessories as possible and limit the Second Amendment rights of disabled and elderly Americans who may need certain accessories to use a firearm safely. We should be working on things that actually keep America safe, like the National Defense Authorization Act. For these reasons, therefore, I object.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues in condemning the Biden administration's continuous overreach. Specifically, today we are talking about the EPA's delusional tailpipe emissions regulations. They are effectively an EV mandate. This delusional rule would require up to two-thirds of all new cars being sold in 2032 to be electric vehicles. I don't have anything against electric vehicles--they are cool to drive--but the Federal Government shouldn't be picking winners and losers in the marketplace. The free market and consumers should drive American innovation, not mandates from the Biden administration. That is why I have introduced Congressional Review Act legislation, along with Senator Sullivan, to overturn Biden's EV mandate. There are a lot of reasons an EV mandate just isn't feasible. My first concern is the cost to consumers. At an event I held last year bringing experts from across the country to Nebraska to talk about what these mandates would mean, one of our experts from Harvard and the Breakthrough Institute told us that auto ownership is the most critical tool for people getting out of poverty. Certainly in a State like Nebraska, that is true. It is the ticket to being able to get to a job. Yet buying and maintaining an electric vehicle is unaffordable to our low-income families. The average low-income family spends $12,000 on a vehicle. An EV costs $53,000. A $7,500 tax credit is not going to get you anywhere. It is an unacceptable burden and barrier to our low-income families to be able to get that car so they can get to work. The second problem is that Biden administration officials have admitted they have no idea how they are going to be able to accomplish their goal. One person I talked to said they are going to run into two big problems: math and physics. They have no idea how they are going to be able to generate and transmit the power needed to be able to charge all these cars. In fact, on the one hand, while they are trying to get us to use more electric vehicles and have those be charged, on the other hand, the Biden administration is passing rules that are attacking American energy. They are passing regulations for our power-generating plants that, for example, would require 78 percent of coal-generation plants to shut down between 2028 and 2040. They are blocking the mining of critical minerals as well that we need to build the batteries--so Ambler Road, for example, in Alaska, where there is one of our major copper mine deposits, or think about all the lithium mine resources we have in this country. They are blocking our ability to get the resources and therefore are going to make us dependent on China, which processes between 60 to 80 percent of all these critical and rare earth elements that we need to be able to build these batteries. There are also limitations on the technology that goes along with electric vehicles. It just doesn't make it feasible in States like Nebraska. For example, EVs are not reliable in cold weather. According to the AAA, when the temperature drops below 20 degrees, EVs' driving range can be reduced by as much as 41 percent. Nebraskans tell me they feel like Washington, DC, bureaucrats have no idea how their policies will affect them in the middle part of the country. Of our 147 communities in Nebraska, designated cities, 99 do not have chargers. In fact, if you are in places like Valentine or Bloomfield or Alliance, you are 45 minutes away from the nearest charging station. If we are going to set national standards, those standards need to work in every State. I promised my constituents I would fight these delusional mandates with every tool I have. My Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval would overturn Biden's EV mandate. It is a bipartisan effort that has the support of 48 of my colleagues. In the coming months, every Member of this body will have the opportunity to join in this commonsense effort. Anyone who votes against these will have to explain to their constituents why they don't want our low-income families to be able to get a job by buying a car or why they don't want folks in rural areas to be able to get to work. I am confident that our CRA will earn bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate so we can send it to President Biden's desk. I want to thank all of my colleagues who have joined in this effort. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

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

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a great Nebraskan and great American, Patrick Gottsch. Growing up on his family farm in Elkhorn, NE, Patrick learned to love rural America and the Western lifestyle. His father grew corn and had a cattle feedlot. After college, he worked as a commodities broker for 5 years in Chicago and in Omaha. On the day his daughter was born, Patrick came down the hill from the hospital and saw a guy trying to put a satellite dish together. He decided to help. After 6 hours of work, the dish was installed, and Patrick was hooked on satellite television. Patrick then started E.T. Installations, which was a pioneer in the home satellite industry. During this time, Patrick first began exploring the idea of a TV channel devoted to the issues and interests of rural America, but at that moment, it was only a dream. Patrick worked hard making that dream a reality. In 1991, Patrick moved to Texas. He worked as the director of sales for Superior Livestock Auction, which pioneered satellite marketing in the livestock industry. Because of Patrick's innovations, Superior Livestock became the largest livestock auction enterprise in the country. In 2000, Patrick decided to take a leap of faith. He committed full time to the task of creating a 24-hour TV network for rural America. He called his company Rural Media Group. Patrick Gottsch's dream was becoming a reality. Rural Free Delivery Television, RFD-TV, launched with DISH Network in September of 2000. Distribution quickly increased. Today, RFD-TV is available in more than 50 million homes nationwide. Patrick's Rural Media Group continued to expand, adding RFD The Magazine, RFD HD, Rural TV, Rural Radio, and the RFD-TV Now app. In 2017, Patrick launched the Cowboy Channel, the first 24-hour network devoted entirely to Western sports like rodeo. The Cowboy Channel is now the official network of ProRodeo, bringing the talents of world-class cowboys and cowgirls to people all over the world. In addition, Patrick last year launched the Cowgirl Channel, dedicated exclusively to women in Western sports and the modern-day cowgirl. Patrick Gottsch loved rural America. He loved its people, its values, and its lifestyle. His visionary leadership brought the best of rural America to tens of millions of homes around the world. He reconnected the city and the country. His contributions to broadcasting, ranching, rodeo, and business will long be remembered. My wife Susanne and I send our condolences to Patrick's beloved wife Angie; his three daughters, Raquel, Gatsby, and Rose; and his grandchildren. I am grateful to Senator Hyde-Smith for leading the resolution to honor Patrick Gottsch's life and legacy. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues in expressing my complete support for the State of Israel and the war against Hamas terrorists. There was a cease-fire in place prior to October 7. Hamas broke that cease-fire. Hamas attacked Israel and murdered over 1,200 Israelis and Americans. They also took hundreds of hostages, including Americans as well. Hamas is responsible for every death on October 7 and every death since that day. They need to surrender. Hamas must surrender. If Hamas surrenders and releases the hostages, aid can freely flow into Gaza to support the Gazans. Instead, Hamas continues to prosecute this war. In fact, after October 7, they said they would continue to do atrocities like October 7, if given the chance. They will continue to try to destroy Israel. They will continue to murder Israeli citizens. They just don't chant ``Death to Israel.'' They chant ``Death to America'' as well. Terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah represent an existential threat to Israel. They have repeatedly declared their intention to wipe Israel off the map. Israel has the right and the obligation to destroy the terrorist group Hamas. They must have the ability to defend themselves. And they will be doing the world a favor by destroying Hamas. We need to support Israel and their efforts to do just that. Part of that support means pushing back on anti-Semitic organizations, like the United Nations or the International Criminal Court, that attack Israel's legitimacy and their sovereignty. The International Criminal Court's ludicrous decision to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel's defense chief is the most recent example of their anti- Semitism. This outrageous decision not only emboldens terrorists around the world but creates problems for us here in the United States as well. In the statement, the ICC prosecutor describes crimes that have been committed on ``the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine.'' That is exactly backward. He should have said ``the State of Israel and the territories of Palestine.'' But that was intentional. It is a continuation of the rampant anti-Semitism in these organizations, like the ICC and the U.N. It is designed to delegitimize the State of Israel. And the crazy thing is, the ICC's action, in itself, is illegitimate. It lacks legal basis. Under its own charter, the ICC is banned from moving forward with prosecutions unless the relevant government is unwilling or unable to police themselves. The ICC knows Israel has a robust and independent judiciary. The ICC knows and has admitted that Israel has trained lawyers who advise commanders and a robust system intended to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law. By moving forward with these arrest warrants, the ICC is calling Israel's laws, government, and democracy illegitimate. It is wrong. There is no moral equivalency between the State of Israel, democracy, and the terrorist organization Hamas. There is no moral equivalency between Hamas's terrorist actions and atrocities on October 7 and Israel's right to defend itself and to take action to destroy that terrorist organization. Hamas terrorists have shot unarmed civilians, dismembered soldiers, raped women, and massacred children. Meanwhile, Israel has fought its war while taking great pains to avoid unnecessary civilian casualties. We need to be supporting Israel in its mission, not undermining the Israeli Government. It is in our interest to do so. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC. Both countries are outside of the ICC's jurisdiction. Yet the ICC is going after Israel anyway. America should take note. If the ICC can violate Israel's sovereignty, it can violate America's sovereignty. The ICC needs to face the consequences of its anti-Israel policies. While it is good that President Biden has condemned the arrest warrants as ``outrageous,'' Israel needs more than words. It needs actions. Last month, my Republican colleagues and I sent a letter to the ICC with a warning: If the ICC moved forward with arrest warrants for Israelis, we would push to end all American support for this disgraceful organization. We are here today to tell President Biden one simple thing: If your commitment to Israel is really ironclad, as you say, you will join us in holding these anti-Semitic organizations accountable. Let's sanction the ICC's employees and associates and prevent them from coming to the United States. Let's work with our allies to ensure that they refuse to honor the ICC's indictments against either Israel or the United States. Let's truly demonstrate our ironclad support and stand with our ally Israel in its hour of need.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I join my colleagues in expressing my support and admiration for the women and men who put on the blue. Whether it is our southern border or our own backyards, these members of law enforcement are essential to protecting our safety and security. They are the guardians of our neighborhoods, protectors of our families. They take deadly drugs like fentanyl off of our streets. As we celebrate National Police Week, let's recognize the service of those among us and the jobs they do that require the utmost integrity, skill, and dedication. We must never forget the sacrifices that the members of law enforcement and their families make on our behalf. They work long hours in challenging conditions and dangerous areas to serve and protect us. Yet, despite the dangers they face, they remain steadfast in their commitment to our communities. They are the ``thin blue line'' that protects us while we sleep. In recent years, we have seen a disturbing trend of not just disrespect toward law enforcement but violence. It is not just wrong, it is dangerous. It undermines the rule of law and threatens the safety and security of our communities. We must send a clear message that violence against the women and men in blue will not be tolerated. We must stand with them and support them in their vital mission in our communities. On Monday night, I had the opportunity to walk in a vigil, walk the beat, to honor the more than 149 members of law enforcement who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in my home State of Nebraska. Their names are reflected on the Nebraska Law Enforcement Memorial in Grand Island, NE, and they are remembered in the hearts of their fellow citizens today and throughout the year. We remember Ross Bartlett, who died last month after 30 years of service with the Ceresco Police Department. We remember Detective Kerrie Orozco, who was murdered in 2015--1 day before she was supposed to go on maternity leave. We remember Investigator Mario Herrera, who was killed trying to serve an arrest warrant. We remember all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe. They were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. They were heroes, and their bravery is eternal. The women and men in blue are the backbone of our communities. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay, but we can show our appreciation for them, show our support for them. I am proud that in Nebraska, while other communities are trying to defund the police, we support the police. In Nebraska, we back the blue. When I was Governor, we had the largest package of pro-public safety and law enforcement legislation passed in years. We invested $47.7 million in our Grand Island Law Enforcement Training Center to ensure that our law enforcement officers would get the highest level of training. We invested $16.9 million in our State Patrol Crime Lab to make sure we could solve crimes and give the victims of crime the justice they deserve. Instead of reducing penalties for violent crimes, my home city of Omaha, NE, has used community engagement, like Omaha 360, to be able to reduce homicides. The Omaha Police Department and the Omaha community have reduced homicides in each of the last 3 years. ABC News said that the Omaha Police Department could be a model for the rest the Nation. In addition, last year, Omaha police had a 100-percent clearance rate on homicides. There were 28 murders and 28 homicide cases cleared. When the national clearance rate is just over 50 percent, a 100-percent rate is truly remarkable. As usual, America can learn a lot from our proven solutions in Nebraska. The Federal Government must also back the blue. We need to secure our border and put an end to the scourge of drugs that are killing our young people here in America. We need to pass the Back the Blue Act to increase the penalties for criminals who target law enforcement officers. We need to provide new tools to officers to protect themselves. We need to block anti-cop, soft-on-crime policies that would hinder law enforcement's ability to do their jobs with excellence. I am committed to working with anyone who wants to make this happen. The women and men in blue have earned our respect and our gratitude-- not just during Police Week but all year round. Once again, thank you to the members of our law enforcement. Thank you to their families, who sacrifice alongside them. You are heroes, and we are forever in your debt. I am grateful for all that you have done for our communities, and I know, on behalf of all Nebraskans, we support law enforcement. God bless our law enforcement officers as they keep us safe. God bless the great State of Nebraska. And God bless our Nation. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues in opposing the Biden administration's anti-energy policies. From the EV mandate to the so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0, the Biden administration's war on American energy threatens the livelihoods of millions of Americans and American families. Let's start with the EPA's delusional and reckless electric vehicle mandate. It requires up to two-thirds of all cars and light trucks being sold in 2032 to be electric vehicles. It is delusional because it will block low-income families from owning a car. Owning a car is a pathway out of poverty for many Americans, including many people in my State, and Biden's EV mandate will drive up the cost of those used vehicles. It is delusional because the Biden administration has no plan for how we are going to generate the power needed to be able to charge these cars or the transmission lines needed to transmit the energy from where it is being produced to where it is going to be needed. It is also delusional because this EV mandate will make us more dependent on the Chinese Communist Party, which controls about 60 to 80 percent of all the critical minerals that are necessary to be able to make the batteries for EVs, and they are leading us in this EV battery technology. This is how crazy stupid this administration is: They want to mandate EVs on the one hand, but they also want to attack any project that may allow us to be able to mine the minerals that we need to be able to create the batteries for EVs. For example, EVs can use up to four times the amount of copper that a regular car uses. At the same time, though, the Biden administration has blocked a road that would go to the Ambler Mining District in Alaska. The Ambler Mining District is one of the places where we have a lot of copper. It is a major copper deposit. We need this copper. Yet the Biden administration is blocking us from being able to get to it. It makes no sense. Another thing that makes no sense is an EV mandate that requires dramatically increasing our energy production and transmission on the one hand, and then, on the other hand, we have the Clean Power Plan 2.0, which is going to attack our energy production. It is a classic example of ``bureaucrats gone wild.'' It forces coal- or gas-generating electric plants to reduce up to 90 percent of their carbon emissions by the year 2039. First, the Clean Power Plan 2.0 is illegal, explicitly countering the Supreme Court's decision in West Virginia v. EPA. Second, the rule will stifle our industry not only in Nebraska but nationwide. In Nebraska, 49 percent of our electricity comes from coal- fired plants. It is the baseload generation we have. Nebraska, actually, ranks pretty high when it comes to renewable energy. We have over 31 percent of our electricity coming from renewable energy, but we still need that baseload. Nebraska, in 2022, also ranked No. 3 nationwide for the most industrial electricity customers of any State. It just ranked behind Texas and California with regard to those industrial consumers of electricity. Fossil fuel plants generate about 60 percent of U.S. electricity nationwide, and coal contributes about 16.2 percent of all the electricity in this country. Under this rule, more than 78 percent of coal-powered plants would have to retire between the years 2028 and 2040 while coal remains the primary source of electricity in 18 of our States. Currently, a quarter of the existing 200 plants are scheduled to retire within the next 5 years. We don't have enough new plants coming online to be able to replace the power that is going offline. This plan will close down the reliable and affordable fossil fuel plants, and American consumers will end up paying the price. Again, for us in Nebraska, when you are driving up these costs, you are hurting our families and, of course, our businesses that create the jobs that allow families to be able to send their kids to school, to go on the family vacation, and so forth. The EPA does not have the authority--the legal authority--to force a complete shift in energy production through bureaucratic fiat, but the Biden administration doesn't care, and they are going ahead with it anyway. The Biden administration's anti-energy agenda doesn't just stop there. President Biden's imposed moratorium on new oil and gas leases is also an attack on our energy system. The administration has slow- walked these permits for new construction and has added new layers of bureaucracy that hinder job-creating energy projects. Instead of supporting high-skilled, high-waged jobs, this administration has prioritized the interests of coastal elites and radical environmentalists. They would rather see fossil fuel plants closed and thousands of workers lose their jobs than stand up to these activists. This appeasement of the far-left, radical, environmentalist wing of the Democratic Party is wrong. It must stop. We must reverse course. We must have some common sense. I am here today to join my colleagues in standing up for American energy, for American workers, and for our way of life. Together, we are going to do all we can to overturn this anti-energy agenda through Congressional Review Act legislation and other means. We are going to support an ``all of the above'' energy strategy. We are going to continue to fight to make sure our workers remain employed, our communities remain prosperous, and our Nation remains energy independent. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I live in the best place in the world--Nebraska. One of the reasons it is the best place in the world is because of the people and the community that pull together in times of disaster. We just experienced one of those disasters on Friday. According to the National Weather Service, we had 14 tornadoes. Five of them measured as an EF3. They impacted much of the eastern part of our State. We had 450 homes that were destroyed and many more damaged, millions of dollars in damaged public infrastructure, but thanks to a number of people, Nebraska was able to avoid any fatalities--in fact, had no serious injuries. I want to thank the people at the National Weather Service and our broadcasters, who helped make sure we got the message out. These occurred on a Friday afternoon. Educators kept kids in schools and kept them sheltered. People got the advanced warning, thanks to our broadcasters, and sought shelter. That is one of the reasons we were able to avoid any serious injuries--Nebraskans knew what to do. I want all Nebraskans who have been impacted by this to know that my wife Susanne and I continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Then came the reaction, all of the groups who worked to protect Nebraskans. I want to thank our first responders, especially those in Douglas and Washington Counties, for the work they did. I want to thank the Nebraska State Patrol, the Nebraska National Guard, and the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. All of those organizations did a fantastic job of responding, as they always do in these disasters. As Nebraskans always do, when their neighbor needs help, they step up, and we saw it time and time again--neighbors helping neighbors, the lines of people showing up at churches and other points of collection to drop off packages of bottled water, Gatorade, food. I had a chance to tour some of the neighborhoods that were impacted on Saturday morning and saw all the volunteers who had shown up--the wood chippers out there chipping up the wood, people cleaning up, volunteering, showing up with saws and hammers to be able to help out their neighbors. There was one house that I went by in particular that the roof had been torn off, and already people were on that roof fixing that damage, and an American flag was flying high at that house. It is the Nebraska way. We live in such a great place because of the people who respond, and this disaster, like the other disasters we have, is just another shining example of Nebraska's spirit and how we come together to help our neighbors. My office has been in touch with Governor Pillen's office, and he has declared an emergency, a disaster area. As the Federal delegation pulls together here, we will support Governor Pillen's request and stand by to make sure that any Federal resource that is available goes to help us recover in Nebraska. We will make sure those resources get to the people who need them, and we will recover. That is an example of how communities work, of how government works.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, does anybody believe that hashtag ``StandwithKashmir'' is organically more popular than hashtag ``TaylorSwift''? No, of course not, but right now, on TikTok, hashtag ``StandwithKashmir'' has 20 times more posts than hashtag ``TaylorSwift.'' This is a direct example of the Chinese Communist Party using their control of TikTok to skew public opinion on foreign events in their favor. China is our chief foreign adversary in the world. They are a threat to our national security, our values, our economy, and the CCP works tirelessly every day to undermine our entire way of life. TikTok is one of the ways they are doing that. I understood that as Governor. That is why I was the first Governor in the country to ban the use of TikTok on State devices back in 2020, and that is why I will be voting for this bill today. Today, we are taking action to end the Chinese Communist Party's ability to own and operate TikTok in the United States. TikTok's active users include over 150 million Americans. That is almost half of our country's entire population. It has become the most influential news platform in the country. The percentage of TikTok users who regularly get their news from this app has doubled since 2020. The problem, however, is that what that news is, what slant that news has, is being entirely controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. We don't allow this for TV stations or radio stations. You have to be a U.S. citizen to own a TV station or a radio station in this country. Why are we letting our greatest adversary in the world own a news platform? TikTok, under CCP ownership, promotes or demotes content based on whether it aligns with the CCP's interests and its agenda. This has major, real-world implications here at home and around the world. Look at what is happening on our college campuses right now in this country. Pro-Hamas activists are taking over public spaces and making it impossible for campuses to operate. Jewish students are being told to leave campus because their universities can't guarantee their safety. There are a lot of other things wrong with this, including the failure to prioritize student safety over appeasement of terrorist sympathizers. But why is this happening? Well, let's look at where young people are getting their news. Nearly a third of adults 18 to 29 years old--these young people in the United States--are regularly getting their news exclusively from TikTok. Pro- Palestinian and pro-Hamas hashtags are generating 50 times the views on TikTok right now despite the fact that polling shows Americans overwhelmingly support Israel over Hamas. These videos have more reach than the top 10 news websites combined. This is not a coincidence. The Chinese Communist Party is doing this on purpose. They are pushing this racist agenda with the intention of undermining our democratic values, and if you look at what is happening at Columbia University and other campuses across the country right now, they are winning. I want to talk about another example that means a lot to folks back home whom I represent in Nebraska. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in China. Instagram and TikTok currently have about the same number of users in the United States; However, if you look at the content, there is a 400-to-1 ratio for content that blames China for this pandemic on Instagram compared to TikTok. Again, Instagram has 400 times the number of posts blaming China for COVID than on TikTok. On TikTok, the Chinese Communist Party has quashed dissent or criticism. They have done this for Tiananmen Square--which, again, on Instagram, there are 80 times the posts around Tiananmen Square than there are on TikTok, and on Hong Kong, there are 180 times the posts on Hong Kong being censored or being repressed versus on TikTok. The Federal Government's job is to protect Americans against foreign and domestic threats. TikTok is a major foreign threat. The bill we are passing today puts an end to that. This bill ensures that our citizens are not improperly targeted, surveilled, or influenced by any foreign adversary. Right now, the major threat is TikTok, but China can make another TikTok. That is why, instead of going after any specific app, this bill simply prohibits marketplaces, like the App Store or Google Play, from hosting applications controlled by foreign adversaries. This is just common sense. It also establishes a narrow framework to protect against future apps. It allows the Federal Government to require divestment of applications controlled by a foreign adversary or face a prohibition on app stores and be denied access to web-hosting services in the United States. That power has very strict guidelines. The authority can only be exercised if an application is under the control of an adversarial foreign entity, presents a national security threat, and has over 1 million active users annually. It also protects individual users. No enforcement action can be taken against individual users of banned applications. Civil enforcement actions may only be initiated against companies that violate the act. The bill incentivizes China to divest from TikTok or TikTok will face a ban. If TikTok is divested from the CCP, it can continue to operate in the United States. If the restrictions are already in effect and TikTok is divested later, the restrictions will be lifted. I believe the Chinese Communist Party is the greatest threat we face in this Nation. They are fighting smart, trying to undermine us from within, and using technology like TikTok to do it. Together, by passing this bill, it is my hope that we will send a loud message and a clear message that America is not open to the CCP for influence. We are taking a stand to protect our own, protect our values, and end a major Communist Chinese Party tool to attack us. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, today I stand before you to express my gratitude and admiration for the exceptional students who joined our team as spring interns in 2024. These talented young women and men brought a unique blend of enthusiasm, dedication, and a passion for making a difference to my offices in Washington, DC, office and across the State of Nebraska. Our interns have consistently shown a motivation to learn and a strong commitment to our State. Their presence has not only enriched our workspace, but also inspired my team and me. As the torchbearers of the next generation, their spirit and determination fill us with anticipation for what the future holds. As they leave our office, I want to take a moment to extend my sincerest thanks to: Reese Clarke, Nathan Muilenburg, and Jack Smith, who served in my Washington, DC, office; Paxton Robertson, who served in my Kearney office; Abbie Russman, who served in my Omaha office; and William Funke, who served in my Lincoln office. Your dedication and contributions have truly made our team stronger. I hope you will carry the lessons learned here into your bright futures. Congratulations, and best of luck.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I am joining my colleagues today in resisting the EV mandate and commend them for attempting to defund this EV mandate. This mandate would require two-thirds of all new vehicles being sold in the United States in 2032 to be electric vehicles. It is going to be incredibly harmful to our American families, especially low-income families. The cost to consumers is going to be great. The average low-income family spends about $12,000 on a used vehicle to be able to get around. Frankly, for many families, especially families in States like mine of Nebraska, this is the pathway out of poverty: getting that vehicle, spending that $12,000, being able to get to a job, being able to increase your income. That is how American families get to work in States like mine. We are going to be robbing those families of that opportunity with this EV mandate, harming those low-income families. It is also going to be harmful for families in rural areas. In States like Nebraska, people drive long distances in rural areas to get to work. Right now, for example, you see that 99 of our 147 cities don't have a charger. If you are in some of our cities like Bloomfield or Alliance or Valentine, you are 45 minutes from the nearest charging station. That is not practical. Oh, and by the way, guess what. It gets cold in Nebraska. When the temperature drops below 20 degrees, you lose 40 percent of your charge on an EV. So not only will you not be able to find a charging station, you won't have very much charge to be able to get there. It is harmful for agriculture because you are not going to be able just to pull over on the side of the road if you have got a truck that is hauling cattle and stopped in 95-degree heat for 2 or 3 hours. This EV mandate makes no sense. It does not work for vast stretch of this country. Again, I think EVs are cool. They have fast acceleration, and they work in urban areas, like perhaps here on the east coast. But in States like mine, they are impractical. My esteemed colleague from West Virginia was talking about how the Biden administration has not thought this through. I sit on the Environment and Public Works Committee. I have had the chance to question officials who support this, and let me tell you, they have no plan for the power generation. They have no plan for the transmission. And by the way, just so the American public knows, they are assuming that every EV is charged with 100 percent renewable energy. Folks, that is a lie. That does not exist anywhere in this country where you can find a State that 100 percent of their energy comes from renewable energy. The highest State for it is South Dakota at 50 percent. States on the East Coast are generally single digits as far as the percent of their electricity generated from renewable energy. So they are also selling you a lie. It is not true. So for those reasons, I also urge my colleagues to support this Congressional Review Act. I want to compliment the senior Senators from Idaho and from West Virginia for bringing this attempt to defund this EV mandate. Now that this EV mandate has been published in the Federal Register, the Senator from Alaska and I will be bringing another CRA to stop the implementation of this rule as well. I yield the floor.