John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, for the information of the Senate, we will have three votes starting at 11 a.m. tomorrow: confirmation of the Cole, Divine, and Stevens nominations.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the Democrat hysteria over Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill is in full swing, and Democrats seem to have fixated on the bill's Medicaid provisions as a useful tool, they hope, to attack Republicans. And they decided that a good talking point is to blame rural hospital closures, including current rural hospital closures, on our bill's Medicaid provisions. Well, there is only one little problem. The provisions of our bill the Democrats would like you to believe threaten rural hospitals, those provisions don't even go into effect until 2028, 2\1/2\ years from now. Suggesting that those provisions are responsible for rural hospitals closing this month is the height of absurdity. I said there was one little problem with Democrats' argument, but, in fact, there are a whole lot of problems with Democrats' arguments, starting with the fact that rural hospital closures are a longstanding problem, not something that is suddenly being triggered by our bill. Under President Biden, Medicaid spending soared, and yet rural hospitals still closed. Why? Because rural hospitals have to deal with a lot of challenges that hospitals in major metropolitan areas don't have to deal with. Despite those challenges, many rural hospitals are finding ways to adjust to keep their doors open and to serve their communities, and we have taken steps with our bill to ensure that they can continue to do so with a $50 billion fund for vulnerable providers like rural hospitals--a fund that goes into effect this year. Our goal with this fund is to give rural hospitals and other vulnerable providers the time and resources to find solutions to some of the challenges they are facing and to give State governments the time to look at their budgets and develop ways of assisting rural hospitals that don't involve pushing State responsibilities onto Federal taxpayers. Now, hopefully, what I have said so far brings some much needed clarity and accuracy to this discussion. But I want to step back for a minute and discuss the overall scope of what we are doing with the Medicaid provisions in our bill. We are restoring Medicaid to what it was originally intended to be--a Federal-State partnership to support the most vulnerable Americans. Let me just repeat that. We are restoring Medicaid to what it was originally intended to be--a Federal-State partnership to support the most vulnerable Americans. There has been drift on both of those in the past few years. We have drifted from a Federal-State partnership to a situation where the Federal Government picks up more and more--sometimes close to all--of the tab. And we have drifted from a focus on the most vulnerable Americans. Medicaid was created to serve the most vulnerable populations: the elderly poor, the disabled, pregnant women, and children in need. But in 2010, President Obama and Democrats allowed States to expand Medicaid to include able-bodied adults earning up to 138 percent of the Federal poverty level. They gave States an incentive to do so by promising that the Federal Government would pick up almost all of the tab. Now combine that with the Biden administration's Medicaid rules and waivers, and both the Medicaid population and Federal spending on Medicaid have exploded. Medicaid spending has grown by more than 50 percent since 2019--50 percent since 2019. That is utterly unsustainable, and it threatens the stability of the program for the most vulnerable populations. So Republicans implemented several commonsense measures to slow the rate of Medicaid growth and refocus the program on Americans most in need. Know what I said--slow the rate of Medicaid growth. We are not cutting Medicaid. We are simply slowing the rate of growth. As Senate Finance Committee Chairman Crapo noted, only in Washington--only in Washington--is a smaller increase in spending considered a cut. So what did we do in our bill? We implemented measures to remove noncitizens from the Medicaid rolls. We implemented an extremely mild work requirement, just 20 hours per week for able-bodied, working-age adults without young children. We overturned Biden-era regulations that made it difficult to remove individuals who don't qualify for Medicaid, and we took aim at rampant abuse of the provider tax loophole. Now, use of this loophole, which sees States inflate Medicaid service prices in order to garner a larger reimbursement from the Federal Government, has been a problem for quite a while now. In fact, President Obama proposed multiple budgets featuring measures to rein in abuse of the provider tax. But States continued to take advantage of the gimmick; and thanks to waivers that the Biden administration issued to California and other blue States last year allowing them to further exploit a similar loophole, taxpayers were on the hook for tens of billions of dollars in new spending. So we took action to rein things in. We are not eliminating States' ability to use the provider tax loophole, but we are instituting limits--the identical limits, in fact, that President Obama proposed imposing. We are making States take responsibility for their Medicaid decisions--States like California, which chooses to spend State funds to have its Medicaid program cover illegal immigrants. They should not be able to, in effect, have the Federal Government bail them out for their reckless spending decisions. Resources are not unlimited, and States need to shoulder their share of the Federal-State Medicaid partnership rather than pushing off their costs onto Federal taxpayers. The net effect of all of these measures--like removing ineligible individuals and individuals who refuse to work from the Medicaid rolls and restraining State abuse of the provider tax loophole--will be able to put Medicaid on a more sustainable fiscal footing going forward and put a renewed emphasis on the vulnerable individuals this program was actually created to serve. Vulnerable individuals will also be helped by the major investment our bill makes in expanding home and community-based services for individuals with developmental disabilities. This will reduce multiyear waiting lists for services and allow individuals with disabilities to access the care that they need at home or in their communities. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was developed to make hard-working Americans safer, stronger, and more secure. And the Medicaid provisions of the bill fit right in with that mandate. By refocusing available Medicaid dollars on those this program was originally intended to serve, we will make vulnerable Americans more secure and ensure that this program will continue to be available to Americans in need long into the future. Mr. President, that sounds like a good day's work. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, at 2:15 p.m. today, the Senate vote on the motions to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar Nos. 263, 96, 108, 91, and 114, and that the mandatory quorum calls be waived; further, that if cloture is invoked on the nominations individually, all postcloture time be expired, including Executive Calendar No. 260, and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nominations at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, no earlier than Monday, July 21; finally, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 171.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 121, H.R. 3944.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk for the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 121, H.R. 3944.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will begin consideration of the Trump administration's rescissions package. Reining in waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government is a priority shared by President Trump and by Senate Republicans. I appreciate all the work the administration has done in identifying wasteful spending, and now it is time for the Senate to do its part to cut some of that waste out of the budget. It is a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue. Two weeks ago, Republicans passed a historic bill, and the centerpiece of that bill is permanent tax relief for the American people. In 2017, Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes across the board and had our economy firing on all cylinders. Now, we have made those tax cuts permanent, and we are setting up our country for a more prosperous future. And that starts with the American people being able to keep more of their hard-earned money--to spend, save, and invest as they see fit and to pursue their American dream. I know my Democrat colleagues are pushing their usual lines about this bill: That it is about billionaires and big corporations, not everyday Americans. But nothing could be further from the truth. This bill delivers big for working families in every corner of this country. It is middle-income Americans who get the biggest benefits from the tax cuts. In fact, people making less than $50,000 a year get the biggest--the biggest--proportional benefit from this bill; not billionaires, not the 1 percent, not Fortune 500 CEOs--everyday Americans, people like waitresses and police officers, nurses and Uber drivers, farmers and ranchers, senior citizens, parents trying to provide for their families. Those are the people who are going to get the biggest benefits from this bill. Before this bill passed, these Americans were facing a massive tax hike next year, some $2,500 for people in my home State of South Dakota. Now, they can be confident that their taxes won't go up, not next year and not in the future, because Republicans have made the 2017 tax relief we passed permanent. And that includes lower tax rates for every income level; a $16,000 standard deduction, something that is used by 90 percent of taxpayers in this country; and 46 million families who can claim a higher child tax credit--$2,200 per child--that is now linked to inflation so it doesn't lose its value. And we went further than just making the 2017 tax relief permanent. Seniors can now claim a new $6,000 bonus deduction. Americans can deduct the interest cost of a new car that is made in America. Parents can save for their children's futures with new investment accounts. Workers who earn overtime can deduct that overtime pay. That includes police officers, firefighters, nurses, and EMTs--people who put in extra hours away from their families to keep us safe and to save lives. Workers who earn tips can now deduct those tips, and that means bigger paychecks for a lot of hard-working people. One analysis suggests that Uber drivers alone will see their collective income rise by $1 billion because of the no tax on tips that we included in this bill. And other tipped Americans are looking forward to bigger paychecks. A waitress in Michigan said: I have four children. So that extra money would be pretty handy . . . it would either go toward them or to my house bills. America's farmers and ranchers are also breathing a sigh of relief with this bill. Amid some of the most challenging years for our agriculture, in recent memory, this bill bolsters the programs that farmers and ranchers depend on--things like crop insurance and commodity programs, conservation programs and disaster assistance, research and disease prevention. This bill addresses farmers and ranchers' challenges head-on. Then there is the tax component. Farmers and ranchers will benefit from the same lower tax rates that benefit working families and small businesses. They will be able to take advantage of permanent expensing for new equipment. That means that they can deduct the full cost of a new tractor or a combine or anything else, the year they start using it. And they will be able to take advantage of that provision whether they buy that new tractor next year, the year after that, or 10 years from now. Full expensing is now a permanent fixture of our Tax Code because of this bill. Our legislation also protects more family farms and ranches from the death tax. We raised the death tax threshold to $15 million, and it is linked to inflation. That means a lot more farmers and ranchers won't have to worry about the death tax eating up what they have spent their lifetime building. It means they won't have to worry about a flawed tax forcing their kids to sell all or part of the family farm. And it means farmers and ranchers won't have to spend their time and money on complicated estate planning to keep their operation intact after they die. One Iowa farmer summed it up when he said it this way: One of my goals when I started farming was to be able to pass this farm on to the next generation. I'm doing that, and I feel very good about that. We can all feel good about that. I know the last few years have been years of near-constant financial stress for working families, for farmers and ranchers, and for small business owners. So Republicans set out to deliver relief with this bill. And, more than that, we set out to permanently transform our Tax Code so it supports these hard-working Americans: a Tax Code that supports bigger paychecks and lower tax bills, that enables the American people to save and invest and spend more of their hard-earned money how they see fit, rather than sending it to Uncle Sam. Mr. President, that is the Tax Code that we are delivering. I yield the floor. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the following Senators to be recognized to offer amendments, motions, or points of order; that the amendments be reported by number with no amendments in order prior to a vote in relation to the amendments or motions: Kelly, No. 2893; and Murkowski, No. 2865.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I don't know if it is without precedence, but it is certainly unusual when the author of the amendment decides not to offer the amendment and somebody else will take that amendment and offer it. So I would move to table this amendment. Vote on Motion

Mr. THUNE. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Schmitt for doing an exceptional job of managing this. (Applause.)

Mr. THUNE. And also simply point out that our country is $36 trillion in debt. We can't keep doing the things the way--$36 trillion in debt. We can't keep doing things the way we have been doing them. Ladies and gentlemen, what we are talking about here is one-tenth of 1 percent of all Federal spending--one-tenth of 1 percent of all Federal spending. But it is a step in the right direction, and it is the first time we have done anything like this in 35 years. So I hope our colleagues will vote yes and support this legislation that is going to start moving us in a different direction, that gets us on a more fiscally sustainable path for the future of our country. (Applause.)

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, since day one, the Trump administration has been focused on identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government--something on which, I believe, the American people agree with him on. And last month, the administration submitted a rescissions package to Congress that would cut somewhere around $9 billion in wasteful spending, with a focus on woke and wasteful foreign aid dollars. We are going to consider that commonsense legislation this week. I would love to report that I expect strong support from Senators from both parties, but, incredibly, Democrats are melting down at the prospect of even the most minor cuts to Federal spending. You would think we were proposing to defund the entire government, from the way they are talking, instead of proposing cuts amounting to approximately one-tenth of 1 percent of the Federal budget. That is right--one-tenth of 1 percent of the Federal budget. This bill that is inspiring such hysteria in Democrats would cut just one-tenth of 1 percent, or one one-thousandth of the Federal budget. Now, back in the day, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed into law a rescissions package that was 10 times larger as a percentage of total government spending. Yet today's Democrats can't bring themselves to even contemplate cutting just one one-thousandth of the Federal budget. And let's remember what kind of cuts that we are talking about here. We are not talking about making difficult decisions about essential Federal programs or gutting foreign aid. We are talking about modest cuts to funding that has been used for things like promoting vegan food in Zambia, funding a pride parade in Lesotho, teaching children how to make environmentally friendly ``reproductive health'' decisions, making aid more considerate of ``sexual orientation and gender identity,'' and funding a ``One Health Workforce,'' curriculum, which includes material on ``environmental racism'' and the importance of DEI. The list goes on and on. Thankfully, the Trump administration has stopped these ridiculous wastes of taxpayer money. Now, it is time for those of us in Congress to do our part and make sure that the budget reflects these commonsense moves, something that every Member of this body should be able to agree on. The United States is facing serious budget issues. We saw an incredible growth in spending under the Biden administration, which took what should have been a temporary elevation in spending under COVID and essentially made that the government's new baseline-- permanent spending. In 2024, Federal spending was a staggering 54 percent higher than 2019. My Democratic colleagues may not want to acknowledge it, but we have a serious spending problem in this country. And the very least we can do, in response, is to target some of the egregious misuses of taxpayer dollars that we are addressing today in this bill. In his recent ``Dear Colleague'' letter, the Democrat leader claimed--in defiance of abundant evidence to the contrary--that Democrats ``support ridding our federal [government] of waste, fraud, and abuse.'' Well, here is a chance for the Democrat leader and his caucus to put their money where their mouth is. If they really support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, they can join Republicans and pass this legislation. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 108.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 260.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.