John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, President Trump has made it clear that his foreign policy is centered on advancing America's interests and keeping Americans safe. And in the first 3 months of the Trump administration, we have seen the President take action on these priorities. President Trump has gone after terrorists who target Americans. He secured the release of Americans held hostage abroad. And he has put America on a stronger footing with respect to adversaries like China and Iran. This is a welcome change in direction in our foreign policy. Over the last 4 years, the Biden administration too often demonstrated weakness on the world stage. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, for example, attempts to accommodate Iran, and I could go on. At times, it seemed the administration was more interested in exporting its progressive ideology than in advancing America's interests. On President Biden's watch, the world grew more unstable. So a foreign policy focused on American strength and security is much needed at a time like this. This week, the Senate is continuing our work to get the President's team in place by confirming a slate of nominees for Ambassador postings. Yesterday, we confirmed our new Ambassador to Japan. Japan is host to more U.S. troops than any other country, and it is one of our strongest allies when it comes to security in the Indo-Pacific. As China's military takes more aggressive actions in this part of the world, our relationship with Japan will only grow in importance. So I am glad we wasted no time in confirming an ambassador to Tokyo. Countering China also needs to be a focus in our own hemisphere. I am grateful President Trump has gone after China for its role in the fentanyl supply chain. The administration is also working to strengthen our partnerships in the Western Hemisphere and ensure the Chinese Communist Party does not secure a foothold in our own backyard. Having a Senate-confirmed ambassador to Panama, which we will later today, will help advance this goal and the administration's effort to ensure the Panama Canal, a critical artery for American trade, is not under undue Chinese influence. Later today, we will also be voting to confirm the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. The Trump administration has restored a much needed moral clarity when it comes to our ally Israel. More than 18 months after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas terrorists, Israel is still at war. Hamas continues to hold hostages in Gaza, including multiple Americans. Israel depends on U.S. support as it fights to eliminate the terrorist threats on its borders. President Trump has made it clear the United States stands squarely in Israel's corner. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our friends across the aisle. Democrats filibustered the ICC sanctions bill earlier this year after Leader Schumer refused to bring it up on the floor last year. A number of Democrat Senators continue to vote to disarm Israel in the middle of a war by blocking U.S. weapons shipments to Israel, as several Democrats did just last week. While the Democratic Party struggles to muster support for Israel, Republicans will continue to stand with our ally in the Middle East, especially in this time of war. I know that once he is confirmed, Ambassador Huckabee will be a strong and supportive voice for Israel and for America's interests from his post in Jerusalem. The Trump administration is working hard to advance America's interests and Senate Republicans are working to ensure the Trump administration's foreign policy team is put in place as swiftly as possible and we will continue to support the President and his administration as they work to advance America's interests and secure peace through strength. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 75.

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. 74.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Scott). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Florida (Mr. Scott) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso) and the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I, too, just want to welcome, officially-- now that he has delivered his maiden speech--Senator Banks from the great State of Indiana. Like his colleague Senator Young, I, too, have had the opportunity to observe, and one thing I really appreciate about Senator Banks is he obviously served his country as a Member of the House of Representatives; he served his country in the military; he was deployed abroad. He is a veteran, and he is passionate about serving causes that are greater than himself. And that is a family passion, a partnership he and Amanda have and his girls. And I am just grateful that they are willing to roll up their sleeves and go to work again on behalf of our great country. I am not a Hoosier, but my favorite movie, at least top five, is ``Hoosiers,'' and I also had the opportunity to travel a couple of times with Senator Banks in his great State and had the opportunity to welcome him to ours for something he enjoys as passionately as I do, and that is pheasant hunting. But you have been a great addition already to the U.S. Senate. You are a great leader for Indiana, and we look forward to working with you. So welcome, and thanks so much for serving.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I have 10 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to Rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

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, over the last 4 years, the Biden administration put our energy security on a dangerous trajectory. The administration sharply restricted oil and gas development. It threatened the closure of existing powerplants with burdensome new regulations, even as our electric grid struggled to keep up with demand. President Biden attempted to force the widespread adoption of electric cars, despite the incredible strain that would place on our already shaky power grid. And that is just to start with. The administration unleashed a veritable blizzard of Green New Deal regulations as it attempted to push through its far-left agenda. The American people called for a new direction this past November, and the Trump administration and the Republican majorities in Congress have wasted no time in getting to work to provide relief from burdensome regulations, especially when it comes to energy. Last month, the EPA announced 31 significant deregulatory actions. Among these are actions addressing the Biden administration's good neighbor rule and Clean Power Plan 2.0. Both of these regulations were designed to effectively force fossil fuel-powered powerplants to close--a dangerous goal at a time when we are already running low on the electricity we need to meet demand. And preventing these Biden-era rules from going into effect removes a significant threat to our energy supply. Farmers, ranchers, and other landowners can also breathe more easily knowing that the Obama-era waters of the United States rule, which the Biden administration attempted to resurrect, is being revised. The so- called WOTUS rule would have given the Federal Government sweeping jurisdiction over most water features on private property, including things like irrigation ditches, ephemeral streams, and even prairie potholes. I know farmers and ranchers in my State of South Dakota would have appreciated a seat at the table before the Biden administration resurrected this harmful policy, and I am pleased that the Trump administration is committed to consulting with stakeholders for their input on an alternative clean water rule. The EPA is also now working to terminate the Biden electric vehicle mandate. The switch to electric vehicles that the Biden administration envisioned was unwelcome, unworkable, and unaffordable for a lot of Americans and, as I said, threatened to put an incredible new strain on our already creaky electric grid. I know South Dakotans were concerned about the loss of choice and about being forced into electric vehicles that aren't suitable for the long distances and bitter cold of life on the Great Plains. So the elimination of this mandate is welcome news in South Dakota, as I am sure it is for a lot of Americans around the country. Here in Congress, we are joining the President in his deregulatory efforts, and Republican majorities in the House and Senate have spent the last several weeks working to rescind burdensome energy regulations using the Congressional Review Act. President Trump has already signed two CRA resolutions into law--one eliminating the marine archeology rule that targeted offshore energy development and the other stopping the implementation of the Biden tax on natural gas. Last week, the Senate passed another CRA resolution to block a Biden- era regulation on walk-in freezers and coolers. This rule, part of the Biden administration's climate agenda, would have heaped additional costs on small businesses like restaurants, butchers, convenience stores, and others. And, later this week, I expect the Senate to vote on another energy- related CRA resolution--this one to block a Biden administration rule that would take certain gas water heaters off the market by 2029. This rule would not only increase the cost of water heaters for American homeowners, it would also imperil U.S. manufacturing jobs. One manufacturer has said the rule could force a shutdown of its $70 million plant in Georgia. The resolution to repeal this burdensome rule received bipartisan support in the House, and I hope our Democrat colleagues will join Republicans in opposing this regulation. The impact of these regulations is felt across industries by American workers and American businesses. They are felt by Americans who work in the energy sector, by manufacturers, by small business owners, by farmers, by ranchers--and the list goes on. Regulatory burdens can be especially tough on smaller businesses, sometimes leading them to sell or shutter their operations. Those who stay in business often have to raise prices to stay afloat. And whether it is through higher utility bills or higher costs at the grocery store or for other goods, it is the American people who ultimately bear the cost of these rules. That is why this is such an important issue for Republicans. It is why we are working hard to eliminate these and many other regulatory burdens, and we will continue working to deliver regulatory relief for the American people. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Kaine and Collins be allowed to complete their remarks prior to the scheduled rollcall votes.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 37.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the previous order with respect to the scheduled recess be modified so that the Senate reconvene at 2 p.m.; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, all postcloture time on the Glass nomination expire at 2 p.m. today and the Senate vote on confirmation of the Glass nomination.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Huckabee nomination.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, on Saturday morning, we took a major step forward on the Republican agenda by passing a budget resolution to lay the groundwork for a permanent extension of tax relief for American families and a transformational investment in our border, energy, and national security. And while I think Republicans' goals are obvious, for the sake of my Democratic colleagues who still seem to be operating under the delusion that we are here to hand out tax cuts to billionaires, let me review what we are doing and why we are here. First, we are here to ensure that hard-working Americans don't see their tax bills rise next year. In 2017, Republicans delivered tax relief to the American people, but that relief is expiring this year. If we don't act, American families making less than $400,000 a year will see a $2.6 trillion tax hike next year. Tax rates will rise. The standard deduction will shrink. And the child tax credit will--will--be cut in half. That is not acceptable, so we are here to prevent tax hikes on American families and permanently extend the 2017 tax relief. Second, we are here to address the remains of the Biden border crisis, bolster our military readiness, and unleash American energy production. After 4 years of chaos at our southern border under President Biden, President Trump has taken action to secure the border and take criminal illegal immigrants off America's streets. But the administration needs additional resources from Congress if this progress is going to continue, and we need a serious investment in our military to restore readiness and ensure that our men and women in uniform are equipped to deter and to defeat threats. We also need to take action to unleash American energy production. The Biden administration put us on a dangerous trajectory by seeking to stifle domestic conventional energy production, and we need to recommit to domestic production to protect our Nation and ensure that the American people have a reliable and affordable energy supply both now and in the future. And finally, we are here to take a hard look at how taxpayer dollars are being spent. We saw an incredible growth in government spending under the Biden administration. Federal spending in 2024 was 54 percent higher than in 2019--54 percent. So Republicans are going to take a good, hard look at how taxpayer dollars are being spent and work to return us to a more sustainable spending and fiscal trajectory. As I said, the resolution we passed this weekend--I might say, over the objections of my Democratic colleagues, who are apparently perfectly OK with allowing taxes to rise for working families--was a major step forward on delivering on our agenda, and I am looking forward to arriving at a final bill. Discussions on that will continue off the floor. Meanwhile, on the floor, we will continue to deliver on other priorities, including building out the President's administration and lifting burdensome Biden regulations through Congressional Review Act resolutions. We have kept up a very brisk pace on confirming nominees, and that will continue. By the end of this week, I expect to have added several more to our total, and I also expect to consider a resolution this week to roll back a heavyhanded Department of Energy rule. Democrats will continue to distract. Republicans will continue to act. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, very soon the Senate is going to be voting on a budget resolution that essentially accomplishes five objectives, but at least four. And one is to prevent a $4 trillion tax increase on the American people at the end of the year, No. 1. No. 2, it rebuilds our military by investing in our military readiness in a way that will enable us to deal with and deter the threats that America deals with in a very dangerous world. It will restore energy dominance for our country, making energy more affordable to the American people-- something that we saw a huge runup on during the Biden inflation days. Part of that, in a big way, was the cost of energy. Obviously, securing the border, and there are resources in there to make sure, over the course of the next 4 years of this administration, that they have what they need to ensure that our border is secure and that the American people are safe. And, finally, reducing spending. Now, I know that is a sort of a novel concept around here. We have heard a lot about, you know, massive tax cuts for billionaires. That has been a recurring theme that we have heard from the Democrats. But the one thing you don't hear a lot about is the runup in Federal spending. So tax revenues, as a general rule, have stayed very static as a percentage of our entire economy, around 17.1 percent, thereabouts. Government spending, as a percentage of our economy, has gone up and gone up dramatically. So just take a look at this chart. Basically, in the last 5 years, the runup that we have seen in spending has been about 54 percent from 2019 to 2024--a 54-percent increase in spending. Now, what is ironic about that is government revenue has also been going up, right? Everybody said: Well, you are going to cut taxes. You are going to run these big deficits. Well, what happened? In 2017, we cut taxes on the American people. We unleashed the American economy. We reduced rates and accelerated cost recovery so people could recover their capital investments more quickly. And what did they do? They invested, and it created more--not less--revenue, a trillion and a half dollars more than was projected at the time by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the CBO--a trillion and a half dollars more of revenue than what was projected. I think you can say they missed it by a long shot. Well, this time around, we have seen estimates--and Senator Graham, Senator Crapo, who were down here earlier today--suggesting that the Council of Economic Advisers' prediction is that you will see revenue increase by about $4 trillion by making the 2017 tax law permanent. So what we have, the reason we are running these big deficits, isn't because we tax too little. It is because we spend too much; that is the delta. Tax revenues have gone up and gone up consistently over time, particularly since 2017. What has gone up a lot faster, as I said, is government spending. And so we have this deficit, and, you know, the way we are going to have to deal with that is to get more growth in the economy, generate more revenue, because when the economy is growing and expanding, people are creating jobs; people are working. They are taking realizations, and they are paying more taxes. And that is what happens when you reduce taxes, and that is why it is so important that we extend and make permanent the 2017 tax law. This is what we are talking about here today. This is what this conversation, frankly, is all about. Now, one of the things that has been interesting in this debate, because I heard lots of conversation from my colleagues on the other side about massive new tax cuts for billionaires--but let me tell you what, if you vote against this budget resolution, you will be voting for. You will be voting for a $4 trillion tax increase on our economy and on the American people. Of that $4 trillion tax increase, $2.6 trillion will fall on people who make less than $400,000 a year--something that Joe Biden and, I think, pretty much every Senate Democrat pledged not to do. Well, how does that happen? you ask. Well, here is what happens. In 2017, when we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of the things of the features of that bill was a doubling of the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000. It also had a near doubling of the standard deduction, and it had a lowering of rates. It had multiple ways in which working families in this country would benefit. If we don't extend the tax relief before the end of the year, $2.6 trillion of that tax increase falls on people making less than $400,000 a year. Now, I have heard some--the Democrats' own Presidential candidate said last year: We cannot, and I will not, raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. That was Vice President Harris, who was running for President. President Biden made the same promise, as did the current Democrat leader. And when the Democrats were considering their so-called Inflation Reduction Act--which, perhaps, more aptly could have been entitled the ``Do Nothing About Inflation Act''--the Democrat leader repeatedly emphasized the Democrats would not be raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. Well, that is it. That is what you are doing, because this tax increase is going to hit American families; $2.6 trillion of it is going to hit families making less than $400,000 a year. So when you cut the child tax credit--let's say you have four kids in this country. Now, the child tax credit is a direct credit against tax liability, meaning it is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in tax liability if you have a tax liability that exceeds the amount of the credit. So let's say you have four kids, and today it is $2,000. Well, if we don't move to extend this tax relief by the end of the year, that $1,000 is going to go from $8,000 down to $4,000; $2,000 per child down to $1,000 per child, and that family's taxes are going to go up by about $4,000. Now, if they don't have that big of a tax liability, there is a refundability component, and we can have a conversation about the merits of that. But that means they are going to be getting a payment or not, and probably not, because cutting that child tax credit back to $1,000 is going to fall largely on people who have families in this country. It is the same thing with the standard deduction. It will be cut nearly in half. Here is the thing about that. When we made that change back in 2017, fewer people started itemizing, and more people started taking the standard deduction because the standard deduction was about $30,000 a year. Well, what happens if we don't extend this tax relief, that $30,000 goes back down to $15,000 a year--again, hitting working families, coupled, again, with what I said is higher rates. The rates will go back up. So forget about the idea that you are not going to raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year because you clearly are. That is just a fact. It is just simply a fact. So what about small businesses? Well, businesses--small businesses-- would pay, if we don't extend the current tax policy, $600 billion more if these tax cuts expire, because pass-through businesses--and that is your LLCs, your subchapter S corporations, your sole proprietorships-- pay at the individual rate. The rates would go back up and--and--we put a future in that bill called 199A. It was a 20-percent deduction for pass-through businesses. That also goes away. So small businesses are going to pay $600 billion more throughout the course of this tax policy, if we don't do something to extend it. So you lose 199A. You lose the lower rates that come with it if you are a small business, and you will see a lot less investment in our economy. Now, as I mentioned, in 2017, two of the objectives in that, particularly on the business side, were to lower rates and to allow for faster cost recovery, and to grow the economy. And it did. It worked. The economy, over the past 7 years, grew--if you can believe this-- 5.4 percent more than what CBO had projected in 2017, prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Job Act. Well, what did that mean? It meant a 50-year low for unemployment, record-low poverty, high median household income, and a narrowing of the income disparity gap in this country. (Ms. Murkowski assumed the Chair.) So what about deficits? As I said before, by any objective metric, revenues dramatically exceeded what was predicted in 2017 about what the effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would be. Revenues, as I mentioned--if you look at this chart again--on average are about 17 percent as a percentage of our economy. Unfortunately, spending as a percentage of our economy, which as recently as a decade ago was about 20 percent, is now 23 percent and growing to 24 to 25 percent. Part of that is all the new spending that was associated with things like, for example, the IRA, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. There were some provisions in there, some energy provisions, for example, that at the time were thought to cost about a little over $200 billion. Today, they are actually over a trillion dollars. So CBO missed that one by about 400 percent. As I said earlier, the Council of Economic Advisers projects a $4.1 trillion increase in revenue from extending the 2017 law. So could it be that the runup in deficits happened because of the last two Democrat reconciliation bills or perhaps some other things they have done along the way, like the $250 billion in SNAP increase, almost, as I said, without any approval from Congress--something that my colleagues on the other side have talked about, how this executive branch has ignored the will of Congress. Well, that was a $250 billion increase without approval from Congress. Then you have the student loan forgiveness program. As you recall, student loans--that program was used as a pay-for back in a reconciliation bill the Democrats did back in 2010. When they did that, many of us predicted that they would go ahead and use it to forgive student loans. So now student loan forgiveness, which is subject to court action, resulted in several hundred billion dollars of additional spending not approved by the Congress. But that particular move got no pushback from anybody on this side of the aisle, not a peep--hundreds of billions of dollars of spending by use of Executive power. What I concluded from all of this is that my colleagues on the other side talk a lot about misuse or abuse, if you will, of Executive power, but that is not the issue. It is how the Executive power is used. If it is used in a way that you agree with, which it was in both of those examples I just mentioned, then you are fine with use of Executive power. As I said, I didn't hear a peep from people over here when that was done. My colleagues--both Senator Graham and Senator Crapo--talked about the use of a current policy baseline. In 2012, the Obama White House came up with something called the alternative fiscal scenario when it came time to extend the Bush tax cuts. That was about a $4 trillion use of the alternative fiscal scenario--translation: current policy baseline. There are 18 Democrats still here in the Senate today who voted for that, for use of that baseline. I would simply say that when it comes to extending tax relief, there is always a reluctance by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. When it comes to new spending, they embrace that idea. We have a different view. We have different views of government. The use of reconciliation--which is what this is about; the budget resolution opens the door to reconciliation--is in many respects a great example of the contrast in how we view this. The Democrats view reconciliation as a way to grow government, increase spending, new programs. The ARPA bill was about $2 trillion in spending. The IRA was about a trillion dollars in spending. Both were used by the Democrats through a budget resolution and reconciliation to increase spending. Republicans, a lot of times--and we did in 2017--used it to reduce taxes and to reform the Tax Code, which was desperately needed, but as a consequence of that, as I said, we got not less revenue but more-- $1.5 trillion more than was predicted at the time. On the other side of the equation, when it comes to spending, the estimators--the so-called referees--tend to underestimate how much things are going to cost; for example, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. But the bottom line in all this is that we need to address a lot of concerns in this country, many of which are dealt with in this budget resolution and ultimately the budget reconciliation bill. But one of the most important ones is this number right here. The deficit will continue to grow over time as a result not of too little revenue, which continues to increase over time, but of dramatically increased spending. That is the issue. My colleagues here on this side of the aisle believe that you get at that by bending the curve down on the spending side, and on the tax, regulatory, energy side, pro-growth policies--particularly making permanent the tax policy that was passed in 2017--will unleash investment in America, which will lead ultimately not only to better paying jobs, lower unemployment, hopefully a narrowing of the income disparity that we have in this country, but also, interestingly enough, to higher government revenues. That is what this is all about--whether you want to vote for extending the tax policy and avoiding a $4 trillion tax increase or whether you want to vote in favor of this resolution and make sure that the 2017 tax policy that was passed is extended permanently and that it unleashes the American economy in a way that will continue not only to create those better paying jobs but also make this deficit picture look a lot smaller by comparison, coupled with significant reductions in spending. That is what we have to do. That is what this is about. I hope that all of our colleagues on this side of the aisle will vote yes tonight. We are going to have a number of amendment votes, which always happens during a budget resolution--vote- arama--and we look forward to getting that process underway. So let's let the voting begin. Order of Procedure Madam President, I would now ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be in order; that the amendments be reported by number, with no amendments in order prior to a vote in relation to the amendments: No. 1, Sullivan No. 2035; No. 2, Merkley No. 1758; No. 3, Reed No. 1645; No. 4, Lujan No. 1726; No. 5, Warner No. 1310; No. 6, Alsobrooks No. 1466; No. 7, Kelly No. 1737; No. 8, Murphy No. 1977; No. 9, King No. 1773; No. 10, Warren No. 1647; No. 11, Schumer No. 1884; No. 12, Padilla No. 1774; No. 13, Bennet No. 1646; and No. 14, Paul No. 1760.

Mr. THUNE. I yield back all time on the budget resolution.