Rick Scott

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, first off, I want to say that I respect my colleague's concern about the environment. Since I have been in the Senate, he has been very consistent about his concern about what we all should be doing for the environment, and I think we ought to take it very seriously--whatever we can do to protect our environment. But, today, I rise to object, to oppose this resolution. I have been to the Palisades. I have walked through the destruction. I saw the homes that were destroyed. I met with the people who lost everything. I talked to victims--including Spencer Pratt--and heard firsthand what they experienced and what they are still going through. We are talking about families who lost their homes, their possessions, their communities--in some cases, their loved ones. Today, those victims are still looking for answers. Mr. President, 12 people lost their lives in the Palisades fire, including vulnerable seniors. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Aging, I felt a duty to make sure those families got some answers. I held a hearing to hear directly from survivors and understand what happened to seniors and other vulnerable Americans who were trying to prepare, evacuate, and recover. I have also been working with Senator Ron Johnson to get to the bottom of what happened through our work on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Senator Johnson and I launched an investigation--a congressional investigation--because the victims deserve answers and accountability. We are looking at what happened before, during, and after the fire. We are looking at wildfire prevention and mitigation. We are looking at water and infrastructure. We are looking at staffing and preparedness. We are looking at evacuation plans and communications. We are looking at the decisions made by State and local officials. One thing is clear to everyone: California had serious leadership failures. Here is what we do know. In the months leading up to the fire, Mayor Karen Bass cut the Los Angeles Fire Department budget by $17.6 million. One month before the fire, the L.A. fire chief wrote in a memo that the budget cuts had ``severely limited the department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.'' Mayor Bass tried to deflect blame by terminating that fire chief. Three days before the fire, Mayor Bass traveled to Ghana, despite warnings of an imminent, life-threatening wind event in Los Angeles. We know that Gavin Newsom has done nothing. He has done everything he can, though, to escape responsibility for the fire. Yet court documents and testimony show that Governor Newsom could and should have closed the Topanga State Park after the Lachman fire in accordance with his own State guidelines. People were still out there hiking while there were underground embers burning. Fire crews were turned away by park officials. None of the State's predeployed fire crews or trucks in southern California were sent to the Pacific Palisades, even despite the fire just days earlier. The bottom line: Karen Bass and Governor Newsom were responsible for leading their governments through this crisis. They were responsible for preparing for it, and they failed. The people in the Palisades deserve to know what went wrong and why their communities were not better protected. Senator Johnson and I are going to keep asking those questions. Our staff has sent request after request for documents and information. We have gotten delay after delay from California and Los Angeles agencies in providing the information we need. Let me be clear, we are not going to give up. We are not going to let bureaucratic delays prevent us from getting the answers for these families. We are going to keep requesting the documents. We are going to keep asking the questions. We are going to keep following the facts, wherever they lead. So here is my problem: I don't think it is appropriate for a resolution that comes to the Senate and basically, essentially, tries to tell those victims that all of those failures--failure after failure--can be covered up with the vague excuse of climate change. And, clearly, we all know that we have got to take our own advice, take care of our environment, and deal with anything that our environment might be doing. The correct response is not to spend more money when we already are $43 trillion in debt. It is an insult to the victims who are still waiting for accountability. It is an insult to the intelligence of every American who can plainly see that Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom failed. They failed these people. Now, in Florida, we know what responsible wildlife management looks like because I led these efforts as Governor of Florida. We know you just can't wait for a wildfire to start and then hope you can put it out. We made prescribed burning an important part of wildfire management strategy. You have to manage forests. You have to use prescribed fire responsibly. You have to make sure firefighters have the resources and infrastructure they need before disaster strikes. And you have to hold leaders accountable when they fail. That is real wilderness prevention. We can't write it off as climate change. That doesn't address any of these issues. It just lets the politicians in California pass the buck and escape responsibility. The victims of the Palisades fire don't need Washington passing another resolution telling them what caused their suffering. They know. They need answers. They need to know what will be done to make sure this never happens again. Senator Johnson and I will continue our investigation because the victims deserve nothing less. We owe it to the 12 people who lost their lives. We owe it to everyone who lost their homes. We owe it to every American who expects their government to be prepared when disaster strikes. So we are going to keep fighting for the truth. We are going to keep demanding records. We are going to keep demanding accountability. We are not going to give up until we get all the answers. We are not going to let the California officials responsible for these wildfires say climate change caused this as an excuse. So, again, I appreciate my colleague's concern about the environment. I agree with him that we have got to be very focused on how we can protect our environment, but, unfortunately, I object to this resolution.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, this is not controversial. It is a national security bill that protects women and children. So if you object to this bill, you are not protecting women and children and you are not protecting the United States. American citizenship cannot be bought. It is precious and sacred, and it comes with duties. Think about it. Countless men and women have given their lives to make it mean something. We owe it to them and to future generations to keep this country safe and protect our citizenship from those who want to destroy us. That is why it can't just be raffled off to our enemies. We can't let our enemies turn our laws into weapons against the American people. We can't let them traffic children right under our noses on our own soil in the process. Every Senator should be enraged that this is happening. Every Senator should support closing this dangerous loophole. That is why I am going to continue working with my colleagues to support the SAFE KIDS Act. If I have to keep coming down here and keep doing unanimous consents after we continue to see story after story, I am going to keep doing it. Mothers, children, and the American people deserve better. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to again ask for unanimous consent to pass the SAFE KIDS Act. When I first came to the floor in July to advocate for this bill, my Democrat colleague called the issue of surrogate birth tourism a conspiracy theory. It was suggested that I was trying to prevent Americans from having families through surrogacy or other means. That was untrue then, and it is clearly untrue now. In July, I came to the floor to warn about Chinese birth tourism based on a story in my home State of Florida. It was a real story hurting one of my constituents, and I wanted to raise the alarm. I warned this body months ago of this national security threat. Here is what has happened since. This story from my State and others like it have made national headlines. CBS: `` `Who do we hand the baby to?' Loopholes and shady practices taint U.S. surrogacy industry.'' The Wall Street Journal: ``The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate.'' Fortune: ``Chinese billionaire who has fathered more than 100 children''--you can't make this stuff up--``hopes to have dozens of U.S.-born boys to one day take over his business.'' The Wall Street Journal: ``A Florida Surrogate, a Father in China, and the Babies Caught in Between.'' New York Magazine: ``Whose babies are these? A Chinese man hired a Florida surrogate, then didn't pick up his kids, sparking a custody battle that could upend the industry.'' So the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, and CBS News have all run major stories about birth tourism since I last brought this to the floor. We cannot ignore it anymore, and we know it is not a conspiracy theory. Anyone overseas, including citizens of enemy countries--these are the types of people that could have surrogates--can get American birthright citizenship for a child by contracting a surrogate in America. They don't even have to set foot in America. You can't make this stuff up. No sane country would ever allow this. The threat is obvious: foreign adversaries having a backdoor to every privilege of being an American while spending no time--no time; they don't even have to show up in this country. And their kids are not being taught to love our country. This threat isn't empty. Our laws are being leveraged by foreigners right now. Chinese billionaire Xu Bo, a member of the CCP, has allegedly fathered between 100 and 300 American children via surrogacy, with birthright citizenship. As of today, no Federal legislation exists to prevent this. Right now, Xu Bo's actions are completely legal. Do we think he is having American children and taking them back to China to make America better? Of course not. This is a critical problem that could undermine American sovereignty, but even worse, we are talking about child trafficking. These children are being treated like commodities instead of human beings. We should all be asking ourselves: What happens to these children? Who raises them? What are they taught? What country are they taught to love? And what happens when they are old enough to return to the United States? Can they attend our universities? Can they serve in our military? Can they receive security clearances? Can they run for President? These are legitimate questions and a real vulnerability if we don't act on this today. One of my constituents Kyla Simpson is dealing with those questions right now. A Chinese citizen contracted her to be a surrogate, and then he never showed up. Her sons are now almost 2. The ``father'' has never set foot on U.S. soil, but she is fighting tooth and nail to keep them in the only home they have ever known. My bill fixes the problem by doing two things. First, it will invalidate commercial surrogacy contracts involving designated foreign adversaries--communist China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. Second, it will create a misdemeanor penalty for any broker who knowingly facilitates one of these prohibited arrangements. This is a very narrow bill. The bill is targeted at solving this exact problem we are seeing today. It would mean people like Xu Bo cannot father American citizens while living in communist China and take them back to be raised by the CCP. It is going to protect women and children like Kyla Simpson and her two sons. American citizenship should not be for sale, and our enemies cannot be allowed to buy it. This country, its sovereignty, and its future are worth protecting. Everyone in this Chamber should believe that and support this bill. I hope that my colleagues have seen the reports and the problem with birth tourism since we last discussed it, and I hope all of my colleagues see the solution here: passing a very narrow bill, the SAFE KIDS Act. Notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3101 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. Further, I ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, if the motion for the Senate to adjourn with pro forma sessions scheduled until September 14 would have been a recorded rollcall vote, I would have voted no.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. First off, I rise to recognize all my colleagues that have spoken about the importance of disaster relief, and I think we all want to make sure we help our States. Right now, I rise in support of the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act. Florida is no stranger to natural disasters. As we speak, we are in the middle of hurricane season, which started June 1. When I was Governor, I wanted Florida to be the national model for disaster relief. We prioritized preparedness, safety, and quick action. But once the storms pass, you know, like anyplace else, Florida is in the same position. Floridians had to rebuild. Families lost homes. Some lost everything they had. When you are in that position, one of the worst moments of your entire life, you shouldn't have to worry about a rising tax bill. That is why I helped lead this bipartisan bill and previous bills to provide not just Floridians but all Americans all across this country tax relief after disaster strikes, including Texans and Oregonians. Our citizens need certainty when they are piecing their lives back together; they don't need the government taking a cut of the money they need. This bill just gives certainty of necessary tax relief to victims of natural disasters so they can focus on getting back on track and not worrying about the IRS. This bill is very critical to my State, but it is also about more than hurricanes. It is not just about hurricanes; this bill helps families affected by all natural disasters, including wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes, and any other scenario that can be declared a Federal disaster. It is good for the entire country. It is a bipartisan bill, and it is a tribute to Doug LaMalfa, who passed away earlier this year. This passed the House unanimously earlier this year, so if we pass this today, it will become law. Americans don't need extra worries when the worst happens, and we shouldn't be an obstacle to their recovery. By passing this bill, we will make it easier to rebuild the American dream when hardships strike. I am not going to give up. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues, including with my friend from Texas, to get this bill across the finish line for every Floridian and every American. I recognize the issue he is dealing with, and I look forward to working with him to try to solve the issues Texans are looking at right now. I yield the floor

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I rise on behalf of all Floridians to recognize the 100th anniversary of the city of Miami Springs, FL, and to celebrate a century of its community. Since its incorporation on August 23, 1926, Miami Springs has grown from one of Florida's first communities, founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss, into a city with deep roots. For 100 years, Miami Springs has helped shape south Florida's aviation industry while preserving the history, landmarks, and strong community that make the city special. As Miami Springs celebrates its centennial, I join my fellow Floridians in congratulating the city on this remarkable milestone and commend its residents for their contributions to the prosperity and history of the State of Florida and the United States.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, so first off, I appreciate the comments from my colleague from Illinois. I look forward to working with him to try to solve this. Let's remember what this is about. This is not about IVF. IVF has been a very positive experience for my family. It doesn't impact a surrogacy for an American citizen. Actually, surrogacy has impacted my family and friends, so those are important opportunities for Americans to have children. What this bill says, though, is if you are a national from people that want to destroy our way of life, you could be Xi in China, you could be Putin in Russia, you could be Kim Jong Un in North Korea, you could be the Ayatollah, you will not have the right to have a child in this country by surrogacy. They don't even have to show up in this country, and they could have a child. Why would they do that when they could do it in their own country? It doesn't make any sense to me. So this is a problem. We need to resolve it. It has been a problem in this country. It has been a problem in my home State, and I look forward to working with my colleague from Illinois to solve it. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to ask unanimous consent to pass the SAFE KIDS Act. I want to thank my colleagues who have joined me in this effort as cosponsors: Senators Lee, Blackburn, Banks, Sullivan, Ricketts, Lummis, Budd, Rounds, Kennedy, Moody, and Sheehy. This bill is real simple. It is about protecting the integrity of American citizenship. It is also about our protecting children from exploitation and trafficking, and it is about closing a dangerous loophole that our foreign adversaries are using to undermine our national security right now. To be an American citizen is one of the greatest privileges in the world. It is a sacred covenant between an individual and our Nation. It comes with rights, privileges, and immunities that people around the world would do anything to have. It also comes with the responsibility to protect and defend those liberties for future generations. Right now, our Nation is vulnerable because foreign adversaries have found a backdoor around our immigration laws. Right now, citizens of foreign adversarial nations can have children born on American soil and as citizens through surrogacy. They actually never have to come into our country. Think about how insane this is. Under the current system, a foreign adversary could arrange a surrogacy contract to have a child born in America and be given all the privileges of being counted as one of us. Then they can take that child back to their home country and raise that child under the influence of a regime that hates America. It is getting all the perks of American citizenship without any responsibility. It is taking a future voter and raising them in a country that wants to destroy our way of life. We can't let that happen. Think about the Ayatollah in Iran. He could arrange a contract with an American surrogate. The child could get American citizenship at birth, be taken back to Iran, and be raised by a regime that chants ``Death to America.'' Then, years later, that child could come back to the United States as an American citizen. That is not some farfetched, science fiction scenario; it is exactly the kind of vulnerability our foreign adversaries look for. The Chinese Communist Party has already demonstrated that it will exploit every weakness in our laws and institutions to advance its interest. Recent reporting has exposed disturbing examples of wealthy Chinese nationals exploiting American surrogacy arrangements to father more than 100 children born in the United States. We should be asking: What happens to these children? Who raises them? What are they taught. What country are they taught to love? And what happens when they are old enough to return to the United States? Could they attend our universities? Could they serve in our military? Could they receive security clearances? Could they run for President? These are real questions and a real vulnerability we face if we don't act today. We should not be creating a pipeline through which foreign adversaries can exploit American citizenship, raise American citizens under hostile, foreign influence, and potentially bring them back into our country as Americans. But this is about more than national security; it is about children. We have already seen the heartbreaking consequences when an international surrogacy arrangement goes wrong. I have seen it right here in my own State. A recent dispute in St. Augustine, FL--it is hard to believe-- involving a surrogate mother fighting for paternal rights demonstrates the devastating legal and emotional consequences when kids are treated like this. Kyla Simpson had triplets almost 2 years ago. Now she is fighting her way through court for custody of them because the Chinese national on the surrogacy contract didn't show up. Let me make sure I tell you how this bill works, what it does and doesn't do. It doesn't ban surrogacy. It doesn't ban IVF. It doesn't take away women's rights. It doesn't interfere with Americans who use surrogacy or IVF to build their families. These are all separate debates. This bill is very narrow. It is focused on commercial surrogacy arrangements involving our country's most dangerous foreign enemies. This is about preventing hostile foreign regimes from exploiting legal loopholes to obtain American-born children. My SAFE KIDS Act would do two simple things: It would invalidate commercial surrogacy contracts involving designated foreign adversaries, including China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Second, it would create a misdemeanor penalty for any broker who knowingly facilitates one of these prohibited arrangements. The way surrogacy works, there are groups that organize surrogacy contracts. I cannot imagine why any Senator would oppose closing this loophole. Every Senator in this Chamber should be alarmed that this is currently possible under our laws. We should not wait for communist China, Iran, Russia, or North Korea to further exploit the vulnerability before we close it. American citizenship cannot be bought. American children are not commodities. You do not need to be born here to be an American, but you do have to love what we have built. And we should never allow our foreign adversaries to turn our laws into weapons against the American people. I urge my colleagues to support the SAFE KIDS Act. Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3101 and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration. Further, I ask that the bill be read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. Mr. President, at a time when we are seeing the Democrat Party embrace the hellish evils of socialism and ideologies that hate the founding ideals of America, Democrats are hoping to pass a resolution to direct this Chamber to sue the President of the United States on a very false premise. The emoluments clause reads: No title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States. I don't think that is happening. And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title of any kind [whatsoever], from any King, Prince, or foreign State. Now, the obvious answer is that these accusations by my colleague do not support the constitutional threshold of an emolument, and my Democrat colleagues are just playing politics. This resolution seeks to authorize litigation rather than legislation. This issue has already been litigated, and, as my colleague said, they lost. The Democrats just like don't like the answer. Now, the President isn't taking a plane or any gifts for personal use, and the United States has long accepted diplomatic gifts pursuant to Federal law, with such gifts generally becoming property of the United States rather than any individual officeholder. Now, what is going on here is the Democrats are putting their hatred for President Trump before the law. But aside from the obvious facts, this is the agenda Democrats want from this Chamber. They don't want to fund government; they want to shut it down. They walked away from government funding negotiations. They don't want to secure elections. They want systematic fraud because it benefits their elected incumbents. Department of Homeland Security just found 278,000 noncitizens on voter rolls for Federal elections. Are Democrats talking about that? Just last week, President Trump exposed foreign adversaries like China and Cuba for interfering in our elections. Did my Democratic colleagues talk about that? Leader Schumer responded to the facts about voter fraud by declaring the SAVE America Act, an election security bill--even though Democrats, Republicans, Independents all across the country believe in it--said it is ``dead on arrival.'' Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues don't want fixes; they want to ignore the fraud because it benefits them. They are trying to distract the American people with platitudes while they defraud them of their vote. Have you looked at what Olive Garden is doing, OK? You can buy a pasta pass--an unlimited pasta pass, but guess what you have to do? You have to show an ID. So Olive Garden has a voter ID, but my Democratic colleagues don't want to do it for Federal elections. This bill proves that the Democrats' goal right now is to attack President Trump instead of fixing problems Americans expect us to deal with. They don't want to reduce the cost of living, lower inflation, balance the budget. They do want to tax working Americans so they can spend more of it on special interests and run bigger deficits--already spending $2 trillion in deficits. They want to use the Senate's time--the precious time we have--to attack President Trump by twisting the words of the Constitution. The resolution is moot. The accusations: Purely political. We all know it is political. It is a waste of time. And this Chamber only works 2-and-a-half days a week. I think we need to spend every time doing something like pass the SAVE America Act, fund our government, lower the debt, lower the deficit. Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues aren't coming to the table. Why don't we spend some time on real issues rather than attacking the President? For those reasons, I object to passage of this resolution and hope my colleagues can reject the anti-American socialists capturing the Democratic Party before it is too late for all of us. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I recognize my colleague. We both are in the same position. We don't want to do anything that absolutely hurts the economy of the CNMI, but at the same time, we have got to figure this out to make sure that we don't have birth tourism. So I look forward to working with my colleague in a constructive manner to make sure that, you know, the Communist Party of China does not abuse this so as to have birth tourism there.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I welcome my colleague from Oklahoma and thank him. I completely agree with his ideas. We have got to get energy production increased in this country and drive down the prices for all consumers. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3857 Mr. President, I rise today to seek the passage of my One Nation, One Visa Policy Act. Imagine if every State in the Union, on a whim, had the power to allow foreign nationals to travel to their States without a visa. In other words, imagine if American States allowed anyone, from anywhere, for any reason, to access American sovereign territory--even those from adversarial countries; that you could do it in any State. Most Americans would say that that would be an insane policy, and they would be absolutely right. Florida can't set its own visa policies, neither can, you know, New Mexico, Texas, California, or New York. That would be chaos, and it would make our immigration system meaningless. Currently, the only place in the United States where visa-free travel from foreign countries is allowed--the only place--is in the Mariana Islands, a territory. It is in this small U.S. Pacific island territory where foreign nationals can legally enter America without having a visa. Since 2009, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or CNMI, has become a hotbed for birth tourism, which is a strategy used by citizens of foreign powers to deliberately undermine our Nation's immigration laws. Over 3,300 communist Chinese nationals have been born on these islands except they are also bona fide American citizens. They have passports, birth certificates, and Social Security cards. Keep in mind this is a territory where only 45,000 Americans live. The CCP and Chinese civilians found this loophole and have exploited it for birthright citizenship. You can be a full-fledged devotee of the CCP-- you can actually hate America and hate our people and hate our way of life--and still abuse birth tourism to get a foothold in the country you seek to undermine and destroy. Now, come on. That is ridiculous. It all needs to end now. All the One Nation, One Visa Policy Act does is stop this visa-free travel from communist China to the United States. It doesn't ban travel from China--you can still come--but it says: If you are a citizen from China, which is our foremost adversary, you have got to get a visa. We have got to know who you are if you want to enter my State, any of our States, or any other sovereign territory of our country. You have got to get a visa if you are from communist China. It is common sense. I am grateful to Secretary Mullin, who, while a U.S. Senator, signed on to my letter to then-Secretary Noem that called for an end to China's participation in any Chinese visa waiver program. As Secretary Mullin continues to work to end China's visa-free privilege, I hope the United States Senate can offer the administration the support it deserves by passing this legislation immediately. I would also like to thank my friends, Senators Lee, McCormick, Budd, and Lankford, for cosponsoring this legislation. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3857 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, first off, there is no fund. So we are talking about a fund that has never been created. And then we are talking about how the Democrats supposedly care about the cost of living when everything they do raises the cost of living--everything. Government is your problem. If you have a cost-of-living problem, government did it to you. If your education costs are high, government did that to you. When I went to school, junior college was 200 bucks a semester. I went there because college was $250; the university was $255. Government did that. Look at what it is now--thousands and thousands of dollars. People end up with debt. When I went to school, people didn't end up with debt. Government has done all this. Government has caused the cost of living to be high. There is no fund. We are talking about a fund that has never been created, and we are talking about the cost of living that is caused by Big Government. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. So it is interesting that, you know, my Democratic colleague cares about law enforcement. In the last, what, year and a half, in this last year and a half--what--the government has been shut down three times, so all the Federal Government wasn't paid. I never heard my Democratic colleagues that that didn't bother them then. Look at what we just finished. Federal law enforcement, ICE, and CBP weren't paid. They shut down the government this whole year. They had no interest in funding Homeland Security. So these bills are nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to slander Republicans because the Democrats want to deflect from their own documented history of Democrat administrations' corruption and weaponization. Let's remember: Democrat administrations have targeted everyday Republicans, congressional opponents, Catholics, Christians, pro-life groups, gun owners, military officers, parents standing up for their kids--I just can't imagine--parents standing up for their kids and challenging school boards, veterans working on their own private property, farmers challenging the power of DC bureaucrats, and any American that fails to pay tribute to the tyrants of the Democrat administrative state. Therefore, I object.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, in my lifetime, the cost of healthcare for a family of four has gone from $700 a year to over $25,000. ObamaCare, which my Democratic colleagues all supported, was supposed to reduce family healthcare costs by $2,500. If that was true, we wouldn't be worried here about healthcare costs, would we? If you look at the cost of a new car in my lifetime it has gone from 16, 1,700 bucks. I think the minimum new car is probably $20,000. If you look at the cost of housing, it just came out that in 242 cities in this country, the starter home is a million dollars. Now, what has caused all this? Government. Bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations. There is a study that just came out that said the Federal regulations I think it costs $3 trillion a year, something like $15,000 per family. So if my Democratic colleagues actually really cared about the cost of living, they would stop passing bills that would have more and more regulation and stop running $2 trillion deficits. Now, as I already said, what we are talking about in these bills are nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to slander Republicans because Democrats want to deflect from their own documented history of corruption and weaponization by Democratic administrations. This is a history of targeting everyday Republicans, congressional opponents, Catholics, Christians, pro-life groups, gun owners, military officers that don't adhere to leftwing politics, parents standing up for their kids and challenging school boards, veterans working on their private property, farmers challenging our DC bureaucrats, and any American that fails to pay tribute to the tyrants of their administrative state. Therefore, I object.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. The only reason we are standing here and having this debate in the first place is because Democrats in administration after administration repeatedly weaponized the Federal Government against their political opponents and the American people. That is the entire reason this fund was proposed. Weaponization of government by the Democratic administration is the entire reason for the lawsuit, and my Democrat colleagues could not distract from that fact by pretending to care about fiscal responsibility or the cost of living. Democrats and Republicans in Congress running massive deficits is why the cost of living has skyrocketed. Look at what the Democrats did when they controlled government under the Biden administration. Inflation hit 9 percent. At the same time, they weaponized the government. I, unfortunately, have seen it firsthand. Democrats weaponized the government over the past three Democratic administrations. Under the Clinton administration, my company was illegally targeted by our government because I dared to stand up against ``Hillary care.'' Under the Obama administration, we saw conservative nonprofits targeted by the IRS to sabotage their mission to oppose the Obama machine. Under the Biden administration, I was surveilled again illegally. My tax returns were stolen and leaked to the public. Did the Biden administration do anything about it? Absolutely not. I was spied on after January 6. Democrats weaponized the government to target me and people like me. Not one person has ever been held accountable, and now they want to object to compensating victims. How about Democrats apologize to people whose doors they beat down, whose information they stole, whose privacy they violated, and whose lives they ruined? What about Scott Smith, a father just miles from this Chamber in Loudoun County who was targeted by the FBI because he demanded accountability from the school board after his daughter was sexually assaulted at school and the school board tried to cover it up. How about Joe Robertson, a 77-year-old Montana Navy veteran--a veteran--who was fined $130,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison for building a pond in his remote property to fight forest fires because the government would not do its job to keep his family safe? What about the specific religious groups that were targeted? Catholics were singled out by the Biden administration as potential domestic terror threats for living their beliefs. Mark Houck, a father of seven kids and pro-life activist was targeted and publicly arrested for his protests. His home was raided, he was dragged through Federal court, and he faced trumped-up charges for the crime of living his Catholic faith. DOJ data shows that they weaponized the FACE Act for decades to throw the book at pro-lifers who expressed their First Amendment rights. I think any government that has the power to villainize one specific religious group or belief is a serious problem that precedes disaster. That is why back in my home State I am fighting against self-proclaimed Nazis like Kanye West for performing in my State using public dollars and facilities. It is clear from DOJ evidence that the Biden administration weaponized the government. Meanwhile, Members of this body gave themselves the power to sue over being surveilled in Arctic Frost, yet Democrats don't want to extend that remedy to the American people they serve. If the Democrats want lower costs for American families, they should look at how Congress spends money. Congress is spending $2 trillion--$2 trillion--more than we take in year after year. If you spend more money than you take in, in government, it causes the cost of living to increase. Has a single Democrat acknowledged a problem with that? No. Democrats walked away from this year's appropriations negotiations because Republicans refused to run the outrageous deficits Democrats want to continue to force onto the backs of the American people. Do my Democrat colleagues know what that deficit spending does? It fuels inflation, which makes your dollar buy less and less and forces prices higher. Still my Democrat colleagues just want to spend and spend and spend. I am a victim of weaponized government. The American people are victims of weaponized government. A lot of them need to be made whole as best as we can. If my Democratic colleagues want to decrease spending to lower the cost of living, great, me too. Let's balance the budget. We all have to do it in our homes. Let's go find some wasteful earmarks and fraudulent programs to cut. We know they are there. Thousands are there. These bills are nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to slander Republicans because the Democrats want to deflect from their own documented history of corruption and weaponization. I absolutely object.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. I ask unanimous consent 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. SCOTT of Florida. I know of no further debate on the resolution.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today and ask the Senate to pass my resolution, S. Res. 444, a resolution condemning the dictator and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping. There is no greater threat to America's way of life and peace and prosperity in the world than Xi Jinping and the CCP. Xi Jinping hates us. Communist China wants to destroy us. He is not a partner. He is not a competitor. He is a brutal dictator leading a criminal organization that lies, cheats, steals, exploits slave labor, and commits genocide and crimes against humanity on an industrial scale. Don't take my word for it. Let's look at what he has done. He and his Communist Party lied about the origins of COVID, and they keep lying about it. They used the World Health Organization to spread lies while over a million Americans died. And their incompetent and malicious response to COVID isn't the only way communist China killed Americans. Their unwillingness for years to completely curb the export of fentanyl precursors is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens. Where communist China hasn't killed, it cheated. For decades, they have cheated on trade, causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs. Communist China's currency manipulation continues to threaten our economy and destabilize the world global order, as well as their hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of intellectual property theft. They don't treat other countries any better. In one egregious case last year, in the African nation of Zambia, communist China dumped toxic waste into Zambia's main river, poisoning the drinking water of 5 million innocent people. It also destroyed the livelihoods of up to 12 million people. It was intentional. They knew what would happen, and they did it anyway because they don't care. I have not seen a peep of outrage from the international community. Rather than help, communist China coerced the Zambians into signing nondisclosure agreements, offering them next to nothing in cash in exchange for never talking about it. That story of how communist China literally destroyed an entire country overnight should tell everyone exactly who we are dealing with. As the Zambian Government hopefully learned, with friends like communist China, who needs enemies. It is clear that Beijing doesn't care about the damage they inflict on others, and, of course, we know that Xi Jinping and his goons couldn't care less about their own people either. In Xinjiang, Xi's communist China is committing a horrific genocide against the Uighur people, putting over a million innocent Uighurs in camps and forcing women to share beds with Han Chinese men sent by the state. They harvest organs from political dissidents, including the Falun Gong. And in one case mentioned in the State Department's 2022 Country Report on Tibet, the CCP literally beat a Tibetan man to death for the crime of delivering food to a home for the elderly. Communist China apparently saw a basic act of charity as an attack on the state's inability to take care of its own people, a task they repeatedly fail at. But Xi isn't above physically attacking and beating his own people. Just look at what happened in Hong Kong in the summer of 2020. Six years later, they continue to unjustly imprison my friend Jimmy Lai. We will never stop fighting for his release. The CCP doesn't care about cooperation or respect. They constantly attack anyone they don't agree with, including our allies in the Philippines and Taiwan. They fly thousands of their military jets in Taiwan's airspace, utilize slave labor in their distant water fleet, and prop up terrorists and dictators from North Korea to Iran, to the Taliban. The CCP, especially under Xi Jinping's tyranny, has a particular brand of evil. They seek to control the world, and in their mind that means destroying anyone who stands in their way, whether it is their own people or not. We cannot be afraid to stand up to our enemies and hold the line for the next generation of Americans. The numerous policy mistakes we made in the last few decades, including the idea that if only every Chinese citizen could get an F-150 and a Coke, they would eventually abandon their communist system and become more like us. Instead, the opposite has happened, where we have literally subsidized the CCP's military modernization, economic development, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Despite everything Communist China has done to our Nation and to the world, we continue to invest over a trillion dollars into Chinese companies listed on our exchanges, to include newly designated Chinese military companies like Alibaba. I hope that no one who cares about human rights and confronting our Nation's foremost enemy would prevent this resolution's passage. We cannot afford to abandon our responsibility to our people and to the world to denounce the evil agenda of the Chinese Communist Party. I hope my colleagues will join me in that effort. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 444.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the previously scheduled rollcall vote start immediately.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Rikhye nomination.

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

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 738, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I rise today to honor an important community in our country that has done so much for our country--Jewish Americans. America as we know it would not exist without the contributions of Jewish Americans. From Jewish service men and women who have served in every conflict since the Revolutionary War to great minds like Albert Einstein, who helped us to understand the world we live in, their contributions helped to build this Nation. This includes Gertrude Elion, who helped to develop groundbreaking drugs for leukemia and other lifesaving treatments, and Sergey Brin, the cofounder of Google. The success of our Nation is intertwined with the achievements of Jewish Americans. We can never walk away from our Jewish fellow citizens. I am more committed to this relationship than ever before. I am glad we finally have a President who shares that commitment. President Trump has been the most pro-Israel President we have ever had. He moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem. He appointed the most pro-Israel Cabinet ever assembled, and he is committed to defending Israel, combating terrorism, and protecting Jewish citizens. But still, unfortunately, we have seen a rise in anti-Semitism and in anti-Israel hate since the October 7, 2023, attacks. What we have seen in that time are some of the darkest parts of humanity on full display. We have seen Hamas sympathizers take over college campuses, destroy property, and do everything they can to instill fear into Jewish students. From being spat at to being verbally harassed, what some of these students have gone through is unconscionable. Countless stories at some of America's best universities, like Columbia, UCLA, and Rutgers, have all the same stories. Anti-Semitism has cut its way into our political discourse. A new report from Axios this week shows how lawmakers right here in the Capitol are facing an ``explosion of antisemitism.'' Jewish lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, in the House and the Senate, are receiving death threats, harassment, and profane insults that should be out of bounds for American politics. None of this is OK. We should all be concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism because it is un-American and because it is fundamentally inhumane. George Washington knew that too. In 1790, Washington made it clear that America ``gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance'' in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI. He understood and could see back then the importance our Jewish citizens would play in preserving the American experiment. Make no mistake, the growth of anti-Semitism will not end with anti- Semitism. The Venn diagram of people who spread anti-Semitism and want to destroy Western civilization is just a circle. They are just starting with our Jewish friends. If it grows, everyone suffers. Just like the jihadist adage in the Middle East goes, ``First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people,'' and then it will come for everyone else. This hatred, this evil--we have to root it out. We have to get it out of our schools, our neighborhoods, and our media. We need to call it out wherever we see it. When we go silent, that is when rot festers, and that is what anti-Semitism is. It is rotten to the core and has no place in American society. The United States must always stand with Israel and the Jewish people. More than ever, we must remain committed to rooting out this evil. That is why I am here today with Senator Rosen to ask for unanimous consent to adopt a resolution recognizing the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month. Taking a stand against anti-Semitism and celebrating Jewish Americans mean we are fighting to protect our Nation and the blessings we enjoy. I am proud to lead this effort. I yield to my good friend from Nevada Senator Rosen.

Mr. SCOTT of Florida

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. I ask for the yeas and nays.