Pete Ricketts

Mr. RICKETTS

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I rise today in opposition to the nomination of Nancy Abudu to the U.S. Court of Appeals. I served as Governor for 8 years, and, in that time, I had the great privilege of appointing dozens of judicial appointments to Nebraska courts. I appointed four of the current Nebraska Supreme Court justices and many more to lower courts. When I considered a prospective nominee, I was often reminded of our State's motto: ``Equality Before the law.'' That motto reflects a commonsense American principle that all people should receive equal treatment and equal opportunity, regardless of one's race or background. The women and men who serve in our courts should reflect this motto. When I considered nominees, I looked at a few things. I looked at whether they were leaders with high integrity and character. I looked at their experience, and I looked at how they understood their role as a judge. Did they think the job of a judge was to make the law or to interpret the law? I looked at if they had a respect for the law and whether they had the temperament to bring a thoughtful and fairminded approach to each case they would have at hand. I looked at whether they were respected by their peers. And I am proud of the appointments that I made. Nancy Abudu is not someone I would have considered for a judgeship. Ms. Abudu is the kind of soft-on-crime, anti-police, activist we actually must keep off of the bench. And I want to take a moment to go over her record. Ms. Abudu has argued publicly and repeatedly that American voting laws and the criminal justice system are racist and discriminatory. She has specifically maligned the three States that comprise the Eleventh Circuit that she is being considered for. In Alabama, she said that Jim Crow continues to cast a long shadow on the State's elections. She said that Florida is engaged in a ``war to strip poor and low- income people of all political power.'' And she accused Georgia State legislators of ``punishing voters and undermining democracy'' and said that the State is a ``bad actor'' and ``simply cannot be trusted to protect the rights of voters.'' At a time when Americans require certainty and security of our elections, Ms. Abudu has consistently argued dangerous and misleading positions, trying to undermine the public's trust of our elections and our voting rights. She has argued that prohibiting felons from voting is ``practically the same system as during slavery.'' She argued that requiring voters to present identification is voter suppression. My colleague, Ranking Member Grassley, described Abudu as one of the ``most activist judicial nominees we've ever seen.'' During her confirmation hearing, the Judiciary Committee heard Abudu double down in defense of her work in 2018 to challenge a Miami ordinance that banned sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school. Senator Grassley questioned Abudu about a 2016 article where she advocated for laws that ``would allow noncitizens to vote in local elections'' and suggested that opponents of such legislation are ``trying to incite hysteria that undocumented immigrants are also taking over the ballot box in addition to our country.'' When asked which election she thought noncitizens should be permitted to vote in, Abudu declined to substantively respond, saying: In the article, I noted that some cities allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Abudu about numerous partisan and inflammatory statements she has also made, including: Systemic racism [is] embedded in the criminal justice system and other parts of our society. That the ``problem'' with southern States when it comes to voting laws ``is they're not always doing the right thing and the resentment they feel is that historically, the Federal Government has not allowed them to get away with it.'' Governor DeSantis is digging his heels in to ensure poor people in his State are blocked from voting. With respect to the privatization of schools, she said: [W]e are not in an environment or a culture where we want to rely on our State legislators to do the right thing by our children, especially if they are Black or Brown. Nancy Abudu's work at the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, since 2019 and currently as the Strategic Litigation Director are also extremely concerning positions. For those unfamiliar, the Southern Poverty Law Center is a far-left activist organization that only targets conservatives whom they disagree with politically. The SPLC is well-known for, unapologetically and often without any justification, labeling conservative and religious organizations and individuals as ``hate groups'' or ``extremists.'' As a Federal judge recently found that the SPLC hate list does not ``depend upon objective data or evidence'' and its application of the ``hate group'' designation is ``entirely subjective.'' Another Federal judge ruled that SPLC's ``representation or description'' of a nonprofit organization as a hate group ``is not one `of fact.''' SPLC's Hate Map, as they call it, is ``outright fraud'' and ``a willful deception designed to scare older liberals into writing checks to the SPLC.'' Their misinformation has real-world implications ranging from careless to incendiary and deadly. Floyd Lee Corkins entered the Family Research Council's headquarters with a 9-millimeter pistol, multiple ammunition clips, and a box of extra rounds, and the intent to ``kill as many people as possible.'' Fortunately, Corkins was stopped by the building manager from carrying out this mass shooting. Under FBI interrogation, Corkins said he chose to carry out the attack on FRC after it was labeled a ``hate group'' on the Southern Poverty Law Center's website. In 2018, the SPLC paid $3.375 million in damages after brandishing British Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz as an anti-Muslim extremist. Similarly, the SPLC was compelled to issue an official apology for placing Dr. Ben Carson under their extremist watchlist back in 2014. In 2021, in Nebraska, we saw the Southern Poverty Law Center's reckless and misguided definition of ``hate groups'' used against University of Nebraska-Lincoln students. A Christian student organization called Ratio Christi filed a lawsuit alleging the University discriminated against the organization's conservative and Christian views when it denied funds for a speaker. I spoke out at the time urging the University to support speakers from a wide variety of viewpoints on campus, including Christian speakers. The group of students had secured legal defense from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious freedom organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center's designation of ADF as a hate group was then used against the students in media reports across the State. Fortunately, justice prevailed; and in a victory for free speech at public universities, a Federal court entered a partial judgment against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials who discriminated against Christian student organizations. The University revised its funding policies to provide transparency and accountability in the process. In 2023, an FBI whistleblower revealed the Bureau issued an internal memo--now rescinded--on ``radical-traditionalist Christian ideology,'' citing the SPLC. The memo characterized radical traditionalist Catholics primarily by their rejection of church developments since the Second Vatican Council--Vatican II--and opposition to homosexuality. The memo suggests the FBI should monitor these Catholics through ``the development of sources with access,'' including in places of worship. It presents a list of hate groups published by the SPLC as a place to start with this work. The SPLC's hate label destroys civil discourse and breeds contempt for those with different views. Americans want judges that understand their role to interpret our laws, not make them. Americans want judges who want to give every litigant a fair shake. Americans want judges that believe in our Founding documents. Ms. Abudu has failed to demonstrate she understands the critical role that a judge should play in our legal system. Her record proves that she is far outside the mainstream. Far-left activists do not belong on the Federal bench. I call on my colleagues to join me in opposing this radical nominee. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues in calling for the need for permitting reform for our Federal Agencies. The current system we have right now is in dire need of reform. It takes too long and costs taxpayers too much money. As Governor of Nebraska, I had direct experience with this. Let me share some of those experiences. The Natural Resources District, which is in charge of flood mitigation around Offutt Air Force Base, saw the need to raise the levees around Offutt Air Force Base. Offutt Air Force Base is very important. Not only does it house the 55th Wing, but it also is the home of Strategic Command, which controls our nuclear forces. They went about the process of getting the levees raised; however, the Army Corps of Engineers took 6 years--6 years--to grant the permit. The permit was granted, and construction was set to begin in March of 2019. March 2019 was also the same month that we experienced the most widespread flooding in our State's history. As part of that flooding, Offutt Air Force Base was damaged. Floodwaters covered the runway and damaged over a dozen buildings. Ultimately, the cost to the U.S. taxpayers was nearly $1 billion. If the Army Corps of Engineers had only given the permit in 4 years--which, by the way, still would have been horrible service--those levees would have been built up, and we could have avoided nearly $1 billion in damage to Offutt Air Force Base, risking our national security and costing taxpayer dollars. In another case, the Natural Resources District was looking to raise a different levee, R616-613. That permit took 7 years to get issued and at a cost of $6 million. The overall project was set for $45 million. That means that the cost of the permit alone was 13 percent of the overall cost of the project. In hearings today with the Army Corps of Engineers, we find out that the Army Corps of Engineers has about 80,000 regulatory reviews and permits they issue, and they claim they turn those permits around in 11 months. However, they have no system of detecting or reviewing outliers like these 6- and 7-year permits, nor do they have any goals for what a permit should cost in the overall percentage of a project. Here is the good news: This is something we can fix. In the State of Nebraska, we undertook permitting reform as well because we wanted to do a better job serving our customers and reduce our costs. For example, with our air construction permits that the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy issues, we looked at the process of doing that. It took almost 200 days to issue those permits. The process to issue those was 110 steps long. Only four of those steps actually offered any value. We were able to cut that number of steps down to 22 steps, and by 2019, it cut the days it takes to issue that permit down to 65--all without sacrificing any quality. Through our department of transportation, we also have green sheets. These are the sheets we give to contractors to make sure they are complying with things like environmental regulations, antiquities, endangered species, erosion control, and also things such as hazardous waste disposal. It was taking us about 16 days to issue those, and the process was 87 steps long. We cut it down to 60 steps and were able to reduce the time it takes to issue those green sheets by 81 percent, down to just 3 days. What that does is it then allows the contractor to get in the field and start building our roads faster, employing people faster. When you have a regulatory environment where people know they can have that certainty, it helps businesses. In fact, Yahoo said they invested about $20 million in Nebraska because they knew they would have that regulatory certainty in our State because we focused on good customer service. We need to have the same sort of permitting reform at the Federal Government. In the State of Nebraska, we use Lean Six Sigma, which is a process of proven methodology to be able to do our permitting reform. Our Federal Agencies can do something similar. I look forward to working with Ranking Member Capito on the Environmental and Public Works Committee on how we can come up with ways to reform our permitting system here at our Federal Agencies. This is something that will impact power generation, power transmission, infrastructure, flood control--a number of different things. This is vitally important for our country to continue to grow, for us to create jobs and ultimately be able to save taxpayers' money. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues who are continuing to sound the alarm about the ongoing drug crisis we have here in our country. I will reiterate what my colleague said with regard to the fact that the leading cause of death of Americans age 18 to 45 today is fentanyl. In 2021, 106,000 Americans died of a drug overdose, 70,000 because of fentanyl. Now, let's think about if a terrorist attacked our country and killed 106,000 Americans. We would be up in arms. We would be mobilizing the country. Yet we do not see that response out of the Biden administration. Fentanyl is a drug that is coming to us from across the border. The precursors of it are manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico, where the cartels then, in illegal labs, create the fentanyl that they ship across the border. When it comes across the border, it does not stay there; it goes all across our country. The last 2 years I was Governor--the first 2 years of the Biden administration--we saw the increase in the drugs the Nebraska State Patrol was confiscating go up dramatically. We saw twice the amount of methamphetamine confiscated, 3 times the amount of fentanyl, and 10 times the amount of cocaine. In 2019, Nebraska law enforcement confiscated 46 pills--46. In the first 6 months of 2021, that number had grown to 151,000 pills confiscated--unbelievable. It is killing people in my State, as it is across the country. I have talked on this floor before about Taryn Lee Griffith, a 24-year-old mom of two. She was out with friends when she took a pill she thought was Percocet, but it was laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. She died that night. Now, her two little girls are going to have to learn about their mom through pictures and stories from family. This is shameful, and it must end. It is impacting people all across this country. As I have said before on this floor, if this is not our job, to fix this, I don't know what is. So what more can we do? Well, first of all, we can address the southern border. I have had the opportunity to go to the southern border several times, and when I talk to Customs and Border Protection officials, they tell us they need three things: They need infrastructure--wall, build a wall; they need more technology, like better drones; and they need more personnel. This Congress needs to provide Customs and Border Protection the resources they need to be able to stop the flow of drugs coming into this country. Another thing we can do--unbelievably, if you distribute fentanyl and it kills somebody, that is not a murder charge. However, I am proud to cosign on Senator Marco Rubio's bill, the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act, which would make it a Federal felony murder charge to distribute fentanyl and then have somebody die from it. This is a very serious crime that is going on. It needs serious consequences. We need to make this a felony murder charge. And let me tell you, the families are asking for this. One of the other things we periodically do here is we put fentanyl on the schedule I drug list, but it is temporary. We need to make that permanent. We know fentanyl and the analogues are dangerous and need to be schedule I drugs that have no medical purpose. So let's do that. And that is why I have cosponsored Senator Johnson's Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues Act, otherwise known as SOFA. This is a drug crisis. It is killing our young people in this Nation. I call on my colleagues to act, to take these steps to combat this crisis. Too many Americans are dying because of what is going on. We need to act. With that, Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I rise today to fight a blatant land grab by the Federal Government. My colleagues and I support the Senator from West Virginia's resolution disapproving of the waters of the United States rule. This rule would change the definition of ``navigable waters'' to include things like roadside ditches, puddles on construction sites, farm ponds. Think about that. President Biden's EPA and Army Corps of Engineers apparently believe that drainage ditches, construction site puddles, and farm ponds are navigable waters. To say this statement defies all common sense is an understatement. Quite frankly, it is embarrassing. I am from Nebraska. I get it. I am from a land-locked State. But, to me, ``navigable'' means you can put a boat on a body of water and go somewhere. But you don't have to take my word for it. We have the Merriam-Webster definition of ``navigable'' right here, and it says: ``deep enough and wide enough to afford passage to ships.'' If you put a boat on a roadside ditch, you are not going anywhere. If you put a boat on a puddle on a construction site, you are not going anywhere. If you put a boat on a pond, you are just going around the pond. You are not going anywhere besides that. To Nebraska farmers and ranchers, this is just dumb. Beyond that, the Biden administration is trying to change the law without coming to Congress. The 1972 Clean Water Act said ``navigable waters'' 50 times. Congress's intent could not have been more clear. As a legislative branch, we must protect our authority. The Biden administration is trying to subvert our laws, and it must be stopped. If allowed to stand, this rule would increase costs and uncertainty for producers, property owners, and small businesses. President Biden and liberal bureaucrats have absolutely no business regulating this, and I think the President knows it. You know why I think the President knows it? Well, because President Biden's EPA and Army Corps of Engineers quietly finalized this rule on the last working day of the year, just before New Year's Eve. It seems like the President and his cronies hoped that no one would notice. Well, guess what. We noticed. Nebraska's farmers and ranchers noticed. My Senate colleagues and I noticed, and we are pushing back hard. And, today, my colleagues and I are defending private property rights from this unconstitutional power grab. Today, we are sending a message to President Biden that our farmers and ranchers need relief, not regulation. Today, we are fulfilling our responsibility to provide oversight and accountability in response to Executive overreach. Today, we are defending the authority of the legislative branch. When I was Governor, I repeatedly opposed President Obama's efforts to expand the waters of the United States rule. As Senator, I strongly oppose President Biden's attempt to do the same. I want to again thank Senator Capito for her leadership on this issue. I am proud to have joined a bipartisan effort today to vote to rescind this unconstitutional rule. I hope President Biden will choose to sign this commonsense resolution as he did the DC crime bill. He agreed with a bipartisan group of Senators then, and he should do the same now. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today humbled and honored to stand in this Chamber to represent the people of the great State of Nebraska. The first time I walked into this Chamber, I got chills. This Chamber represents the hopes and dreams and aspirations of the American people; it represents the shared values we have had for nearly two-and-a-half centuries; it represents just how exceptional our Republic, how exceptional America is. Today, it is all too easy to take for granted just how exceptional our great Nation is. Our Founders threw off the tyranny of a King with an idea. It was a really radical idea that our rights come to us directly from God, not from a King, and that governments were instituted to protect those rights. It was a brandnew idea that our rights are ours; that they are endowments from God, not consent from some government. Even today, after 246 years, our founding principles are just as true. These values--like the rule of law, checks and balances, federalism--they are critical to our Republic. We are strongest when we follow them, and we are never weaker than when we stray from them. We are also strong because of our Constitution. Our Constitution-- forging a government of the people, by the people, for the people--is the greatest governing document ever written. The primary purpose of our government is to secure people's liberty and happiness, their peace and prosperity, and we have done it really, really well for nearly two-and-a-half centuries. This is incredibly rare. We have created a bubble in world history. For most of human history, people have worried that somebody bigger than them would come and take their stuff or a foreign army would rampage across the landscape, burning down everything--not here in America. Another advantage of our system is that it unleashes the power of individuals' unbounded potential. In America, it doesn't matter where you start; with enough grit and hard work, you can go anywhere. That is why the world wants to come here. That is why they send their best and brightest students to study and train here. That is why nearly every major innovation and breakthrough comes from America. That is why so many have sought a better life in our great Nation. Through our strength, we remain the cornerstone of global peace and prosperity. Our greatness is also reflected in our commitment to defend freedom here in this building, in our courts, and even on battlefields. It requires much of us as patriots and citizens, and if we are not vigilant, it could easily slip away. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, freedom is only one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream; it must be fought for each and every day. We must not lose sight of the things that make America so exceptional. That is our commitment to our God-given liberties. Our Founders were concerned that as government got too big, it would tend toward tyranny and rob people of their freedoms. Here in the Senate, if we continue allowing the Federal Government to grow too big and too intrusive, we risk our peace and prosperity; we risk losing the very values that have always made America great. However, if we hold on to those founding principles, we have a path to an even brighter future for this great Nation. The Framers of our Constitution believed that government closest to the people is best able to serve them. This is common sense. What works in Nebraska may not work in New York. That is why we have the 10th Amendment to the Constitution--that the powers not specifically delegated to the Federal Government are reserved for the States and the American people. That is why top-down Federal mandates usually do more harm than good. In my home State of Nebraska, we have shown America what is possible when the Federal Government gets out of the way and allows States to lead. We have proven that limited and responsive government works best. During my time as Governor, we kept the size and scope of government small. We empowered people. We ran government more like a business. The reality is, when government works better, people are served better. We dramatically improved the level of services that we provided to Nebraska families. We got help to people in need faster than ever before. For example, we reduced the on-hold time for people calling our economic assistance phone line by 75 percent. We made it easier for citizens and businesses to work with the State. As an example, we cut the time it takes to issue a permit by nearly in half. We achieved millions of dollars in savings while doing so. And do you know what saving money allows you to do? It allows you to give back to people their tax dollars in the form of tax relief. We provided billions of dollars in tax relief, including to our veterans and our seniors, by phasing out the taxes on their retirement income and Social Security. We attracted new investments and jobs for communities big and small. We employed a record number of Nebraskans, and our unemployment rate fell to a historic low. We made government work better. We proved that we can do a better job of providing services while controlling our costs. We also proved that we can respect people's freedoms and liberties while keeping people safe. During the pandemic, we kept kids in classrooms, people at their jobs, and government open. And we were ranked the No. 1 best pandemic response State. All of this reflects our conservative Nebraska values. In Nebraska, we respect people's freedom. We value strong communities, family, and faith. We honor our law enforcement and our military. We expect a limited, accountable government. We believe in personal accountability and responsibility and the incredible potential of the individual. Nebraska is what America is supposed to be. But, nationally, we have strayed from these values. Too many take our freedom for granted. Too many focus not on what is good but on their grievances. Too often, we hear resentment rather than reverence for the very principles that made this a great Nation. Too many have forgotten the old adage that a government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have. Massive and reckless spending to fund bigger programs has seriously weakened our economy. Families and businesses are struggling under the burden of high taxes, high inflation, and rising interest rates. A wave of job-killing regulations from Washington is harming American agriculture and industry. At the same time, the Federal Government is failing in many of its most basic responsibilities, like keeping us safe. Undeniably, national security is paramount to the Nation's freedom and prosperity. It is the Federal Government's most important responsibility, but the Biden administration has turned a blind eye to the humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. Vulnerable people are dying, victims of the cartels. Fentanyl and other dangerous drugs are flooding into our Nation. So are suspects on our terrorist watch list. And what comes across the border, whether it is the drugs, the criminals, or the human trafficking victims, they don't stay there. They impact every community. It is costing Americans their lives. Taryn Lee Griffin was a 24-year-old mom of two when she died in Lincoln, NB, of a drug overdose. She was out with friends when she took a pill she thought was a prescription drug. It was laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Her mom, Liz, said: Our daughter is everyone's daughter. She is right. Our sons and daughters, our friends and neighbors, they are paying the price for this crisis with their lives every day. It is shameful and unacceptable. This administration's incompetence on the southern border is matched by its foreign policy blunders. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan projected weakness to our friends and adversaries, and American servicemembers lost their lives, including Nebraskan Cpl Daegan Page. Unbelievably, we left Americans behind and abandoned our Afghani security partners. Our allies are seriously questioning our commitment to our friends. And, even worse, the bad guys, our adversaries--like the Chinese Communist Party, regimes in Russia, Iran, and North Korea--they are questioning our resolve. Our freedoms and way of life depend upon peace. How do we maintain peace? We maintain peace through strength. Not for the first time in our history, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment, facing what Ronald Reagan termed ``a time of choosing.'' I believe the choice is clear. We must chart a path to greater freedom and strength. We must remain the world's beacon of peace and prosperity. It requires us to get back to basics, back to our founding values. Those values have guided me as Governor, and they will guide me here. As Governor, we spent 8 years delivering on excellence. I didn't believe the naysayers back then when I started, and I don't believe them now. Government can work better, and it can do so while respecting our liberties. That is the goal I will work toward each and every day. I will strive to make the Federal Government work better for the people of this country. I will reject every effort to restrict our liberties and undermine our values. I will work to restore transparency and faith in the Federal Government, and I will work to control spending, curb unnecessary regulation, and limit the size and scope of government. I will work to secure our borders and provide the resources to defend ourselves against our enemies. I will work to assure that we have a well-trained, well-led, and well-equipped military to defend us. I will hold this administration and future administrations accountable to the people of Nebraska, and I will always fight for the best interests and freedoms of the Nebraskans I serve. In spite of the challenges we face, I believe there has never been a better time to be an American. However, many don't feel this way. We must make the American dream real for them. Throughout history, we have risen to meet every challenge. With our founding values as our guide, we will again rise to meet the challenge of this moment. My experience in the Senate so far has reaffirmed my faith that we have more in common than divides us. With that joy and faith in our Nation, I ask God to continue to bless the great State of Nebraska and the United States of America. I yield the floor.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be up to 4 minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to the votes on the remaining amendments today.

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 30 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. RICKETTS. This amendment is very simple. It is less than 150 words long. So I ask that you take some time to consider it. What it does is ask the administration to check in with our allies in the Middle East--Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE--and let them know what we are doing with this amendment. I agree in principle that we ought not let these things hang out there for 20 years, but I am concerned about the timing because, in my trip to the Middle East last month, what I heard from our allies is that it looks like we are withdrawing from the Middle East. And what that does is it emboldens Iran, it emboldens China, and it encourages our allies in the Middle East to start looking to hedge their bets from America and start, maybe, bringing in the Chinese as part of their security arrangements. And I think that is bad for our country, and, certainly, I think we can all agree we do not want China to be leading a world order here; that the United States is the best for providing peace and prosperity. What this amendment does is just ask the administration to check in with our allies, issue a report back to Congress, and, in 30 days after Congress, then the AUMF would expire. So I just ask that everybody please consider that. With that I yield back.

Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, my colleagues and I are here today to raise the alarm once again about the ongoing crisis at our southern border. This is an issue that is incredibly important to my constituents, and it should be a priority here in the U.S. Senate. As I said when I visited the border as a Governor and then again last month as a Senator, every State is a border State. It is not just me saying that; it is my colleagues, both as Governors and as U.S. Senators, saying that. That is because the States across the country, including my own State of Nebraska, are dealing with the consequences of this administration failing to secure our border. This crisis is a threat to all Americans for many reasons. Americans are being killed today because of what is going on at the border. The leading cause of death of Americans age 18 to 45 in 2020 and 2021 was fentanyl overdose. A majority of those drugs are coming to this country from overseas. Taryn Lee Griffith was a 24-year-old single mom who died in Nebraska. She died of a fentanyl overdose. She was out with friends and took a pill she thought was Percocet. It was laced with fentanyl, and that is what killed her. Taryn's youngest daughter was only 6 months old when this happened. Now her two daughters are going to have to learn about their mom from pictures and from stories from family. I think we can all agree that fentanyl is a scourge on this country. From 2014 to 2019, fentanyl mostly entered this country from overseas, being shipped internationally from the People's Republic of China. Now it is being shipped from the PRC to Mexico. There, it is manufactured in illegal labs and smuggled across our border. The Chinese Communist Party and the Mexican drug cartels are taking advantage of the fact that we have a weak border to surge a flow of illegal drugs--especially fentanyl--across our U.S. border. They have the blood of the Americans who have died on their hands because of this, and we must hold them accountable. With border agents and local law enforcement overwhelmed by the surge of illegal immigration, it is easier than ever for these cartels to be able to bring fentanyl into the United States. Because of this failed administration's policy, State law enforcement has been forced to step up. In my last 2 years as Governor when I was in Nebraska, we saw what happened compared to 2020. The State patrol confiscated 2 times as much methamphetamine, 3 times as much fentanyl, and 10 times as much cocaine. Last year alone, the DEA's Omaha Division seized 4.7 million doses of fentanyl. This administration's abandonment of its responsibility is an outrage. It is endangering American lives each and every day. Yet the President has not shown he is serious about tackling this problem. His budget requested $535 million for border security technology. Yet he wants to spend seven times that much--a whopping $3.9 billion--on the Department of Homeland Security's climate resilience program. These are misplaced priorities. I want to take care of the environment. We all do. I want us to be more resilient. But Americans are dying right now because of fentanyl coming across our border. Now, the President may not be serious about securing our border, but my colleagues and I are. When I was Governor, I worked with my fellow Governors to propose real solutions to this administration, and I am eager to work with my colleagues here in the U.S. Senate to do the same. If addressing this crisis isn't our job in the U.S. Senate, I don't know what is. Americans and Nebraskans are on the line. We need to give the Border Patrol what they need to fully enforce our laws and stop this influx of deadly drugs. Our constituents are counting on us. We need to take action. I urge all my colleagues to work with our conference to pass serious solutions to tackle this problem. With that, I yield the floor. (Mr. WARNOCK assumed the Chair.)

Mr. RICKETTS

Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, we are here today to discuss the resolution disapproving the DC Council's efforts to water down the city's Criminal Code. Now, some might be wondering why the Congress has a say in the DC Criminal Code. The reason goes back to the founding documents of our country. DC's very existence is in our Constitution, which calls for a district not exceeding 10 square miles to be the seat for the Government of the United States so that, while DC is a place where people live and work, it belongs to the entire Nation. Citizens from all across this country come here--students, for example--to learn about American history. In fact, I was meeting with some students just earlier today. Citizens come here to interact with their elected officials. We are here today because the DC City Council is trying to make this District--this constitutionally mandated seat of government--a less safe place to be able to live, work, and conduct business. In the rewriting of DC's Criminal Code, DC is trying to make things such as first-degree murder, carjackings, robberies, burglaries, home invasions--it is trying to reduce the penalties for all of those crimes at a time when the crime rate in DC is rising. For the first time in a couple of decades, DC has seen 2 years of 200 or more homicides. Over the last 5 years, carjackings have increased every single year. In fact, in the first 67 days of this year, reported carjackings have been at 100. Crime, year over year, in DC is up 22 percent, and the DC police chief has said, when they arrest a homicide suspect, that suspect, on average, has been arrested 11 times previously. Now, there are smart ways to think about criminal justice reform, and that is what we did in Nebraska back in 2015, but reducing the penalties and being soft on crime is not that approach. Rather than reduce the penalties for violent crimes, the city of DC should look at what Omaha, NE--my home city--has done and how they have used community engagement with the police force to reduce homicides. In fact, they have reduced homicides in each of the last 2 years. This is common sense. We need to stand with law enforcement and respect their work to put criminals behind bars. We need to stand with the law-abiding victims and give them the justice they deserve, and we need to make sure that government is fulfilling its obligation to keep people safe. That is exactly what we have done in Nebraska. We have rejected the woke politics of these soft-on-crime policies that reduce penalties. In Nebraska, we back the blue. We stand with law enforcement officers as they work to identify, investigate, and arrest criminals. As a seat of government, DC's rising crime is a threat to all Americans and to Nebraskans, which is why the House and the Senate have an obligation to act. I am grateful to my esteemed colleague from the great State of Tennessee for introducing this resolution and for his leadership on this issue. I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this as well. I yield the floor.