[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 74 (Thursday, April 29, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2341-S2343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Biden Administration

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I have had the privilege to represent 
the great State of Oklahoma and the people of Oklahoma, to be able to 
sit in multiple Presidential addresses in the House of Representatives 
Chamber.
  At that joint address that happened last night, I didn't have the 
privilege to actually get a chance to sit in on. As, clearly, anyone 
who watched the speech saw that there were 200 people in a room 
designed for 1,600 people, with the spacing and all of the things that 
were happening there. In some ways it seemed normal, and some ways it 
seemed ridiculous with the room of 200 vaccinated people all spaced 
out. But that is a different story for a different moment.
  For that speech last night, as I listened, I thought about the other 
speeches that I have listened to as well. Many of these speeches are 
similar. The President comes and casts a vision. Says these are things 
that they want to be able to do, talk through different programs, talk 
through different tax issues, talk through where we are as a country, 
cast a vision. I get all of those things.
  Last night, and every night, when one of those speeches occurs, there 
is usually something unique or different about the speech. It is a 
little different direction for where they want to go. Not all those 
programs will get implemented. I had people already contacting my 
office, panicked in some ways, saying: Are all those things going to be 
done? And I can smile at them and say: No, all those things won't be 
done, because it never is. It is a vision that is cast by the President 
that they have to convince the American people and Congress to be able 
to engage with as well.
  But last night was epic in the sense of spending. I was even 
surprised at the amount that we are talking about at this point, and it 
seems to be just so flippant and normal at this point.
  When you do the math of what just happened with the American Rescue 
Plan, that was just under $2 trillion of spending. Last night, one of 
the proposals was also about $2 trillion, and another one was about 
$2.5 trillion. So take those together--just over $6 trillion in 
proposed and spent government debt just in those three recommended.
  What people aren't adding to this is that starting in June, in July, 
it is appropriations time. Our best understanding--we haven't received 
the budget from the White House yet--is that proposal will be about 
$4.5 trillion. So adding together what happened in the first 100 days 
and what is about to happen in the next 100 days that we already see 
coming, is a proposal to spend, this year, $11 trillion--$11 trillion. 
That far exceeds what was even spent during the pandemic time period, 
when we all determined that this is a rainy day that we definitely need 
to be able to help stabilize our economy--$11 trillion.
  The size of government, the number of times that I heard, ``If there 
is a problem, government here in Washington, DC, can solve it''--it was 
epic.
  Now, initially, at the beginning of the speech, there was a lot of 
talk about COVID, as well there should be. Our Nation is coming through 
this. But I was surprised how little conversation there was about the 
vaccines and the process, Operation Warp Speed, and the partnership 
between government and private industry that was done last year to be 
able to bring all these vaccines to place.

[[Page S2342]]

  You see, all the vaccines were developed and ordered last year. All 
the needles and the alcohol wipes and the materials--the PPP that would 
be needed--were all ordered last year. This year was just a matter of 
getting shots in arms, which I am incredibly grateful we have had so 
many Americans that have stepped up and driven up, come and put their 
arm out there and said I want to be part of this solution for getting 
rid of COVID in our country.
  Everyone knew that as we got shots in arms, we would see the numbers 
come down--at least we hoped. And we did. The numbers are coming down, 
and the economy is coming back up. That is the other thing that 
everyone predicted, as well--that as soon as some of the shutdowns 
happened, we would begin to see the economy begin to rise again, and, 
thankfully, we are.
  It was interesting to be able to hear the President last night take 
credit for all that, which I assume every President sitting in that 
spot would. But I am grateful to President Trump and the leadership 
that happened in HHS and the work of career folks and the folks who are 
in science and private industry and pharmaceuticals and what they have 
done over the last year because it is remarkable what we actually have 
walked through and what we have seen.
  What was not mentioned last night when talking about the economy is 
unemployment insurance. It is something I brought to this body before. 
When I traveled around my State the week before Easter and the week 
after Easter when we were not voting those 2 weeks--as I traveled 
around, every employer I talked to said the same thing: We are hiring, 
but we don't have people applying, or people who are applying are 
coming in and just applying and filling out a form, and when they offer 
them the job, they are saying: I don't want the job. I just need to be 
able to bring the completed form back to the unemployment office so I 
can continue to get my check.
  I talked to employees who were frustrated because the person who used 
to work next to them is not showing up for work anymore because they 
are home getting unemployment benefits because the unemployment 
benefits in my State right now far exceed what the normal wage is. 
People aren't showing up. That is a problem in our economy.
  My fear is that is a problem that is going to continue all the way 
until September because the unemployment benefits that were extended 
were extended all the way through the first week of September. Even 
though we pushed back and said this is a bad idea, the Democratic 
colleagues and the President said: No, let's keep moving forward.
  There are lots of parts of the Green New Deal that were presented 
last night, but they didn't use the term ``Green New Deal.'' It was 
bits and pieces of elements of the Green New Deal separated in 
different sets of the ideas. The term ``Green New Deal'' has become 
very, very unpopular with folks as they find out what it is. Taking 
pieces of the Green New Deal, separating them in different spots, and 
trying to pass them doesn't change anything either.
  I was surprised how little the President really talked about what is 
going on in the crisis at the border. He did mention it, and I was 
pleased to see that. Many people in my State really see that as a very 
serious issue that needs to be resolved. Our open borders right now and 
the literally hundreds of thousands of people who have crossed our 
border illegally just this calendar year, just in the last 100 days, is 
record levels.
  I talked to the Border Patrol folks, and they talked about how in 
March alone, they had 172,000 encounters. It is a record number. But 
now in April, they are hitting or exceeding that record, just in April, 
again because the numbers continue to skyrocket to numbers we have not 
seen. The number of unaccompanied minors is at a 20-year high. We have 
not seen these numbers in decades.
  It is a significant issue for us as a country. It is one that started 
on January 20 with the change in policy and issues.
  We have more than 5,000 individuals who have been picked up by Border 
Patrol just this year who have a criminal record in the United States.
  We have 15,000 individuals whom Border Patrol has just released into 
the country with no notice to appear at all, just a statement as they 
come through. The line was so long that Border Patrol leadership was 
telling them, from Washington, DC, that if the line gets too long, just 
release people into the country and tell them to check in with 
immigration folks in whatever part of the country they go to. Just 
check in. Literally, if they are coming across the border and the line 
is too long, just let them go and tell them to check themselves in when 
they get to wherever they are going in the country--15,000 people like 
that just this year
  We have 150,000 people whom Border Patrol has reported that they saw 
crossing the border, but they literally didn't have the manpower to 
even get to them, what they call ``got aways''--150,000 this year who 
won't show up in anyone's numbers of people entering the country 
illegally.
  These numbers are truly epic numbers.
  Last night, the President's proposal was to allow us to do more in 
Central America and eventually this will get better. I would tell you 
from being down at the border three times just this year and 
interacting with folks, I would encourage anyone from the 
administration to go to the border and actually see what is going on 
and actually talk to law enforcement there. From being down in that 
area, their concern is that this is a very long-term issue because the 
administration doesn't seem to see it as a crisis or something that has 
to be fixed immediately; it can be fixed eventually, with hundreds of 
thousands of people coming across the border now every month.
  In the last official report from Customs and Border Protection and 
Border Patrol, there were over 100 different countries represented by 
the individuals crossing the border just this year--over 100 countries. 
It is not just folks from Central America. Literally, people from all 
over the world are paying the cartels the money it takes to get through 
Mexico and traveling into our country and checking in or skipping 
across the border, and they disappear into our economy. I see that as 
an issue. I wish the administration would see that as an issue.
  A conversation that came up last night was about voting. It is an 
important conversation for us. We are a representative republic. Voting 
is extremely important to us as a nation; that every vote counts and 
that every vote has the integrity that it needs. But with S. 1 and on 
the House side, what they call H.R. 1, I am stunned at the contents of 
that bill.
  When President Biden said: Just pass that bill and put it on my desk, 
I thought, there is absolutely no way I would pass a bill like that; 
nor would the people at home even want me to pass a bill like that.
  That is a bill that is intentionally designed to make voting easy and 
cheating easy. We want to make voting easy and cheating hard. That is 
the way we have done elections for a very long time. Why would we want 
to shift from that? I am all for making voting as easy as we can. My 
State has early voting. It has mail-in voting and all the 
characteristics you want to have to protect the integrity of the vote 
so when it is over, everyone can look at it and say: My person won or 
lost, but I trust the integrity of the vote. It has all those elements.
  We worked very hard to make sure every community in every area has 
access to voting and doesn't have long lines and make sure we get to 
mail out ballots and all those things to be able to not only give the 
opportunity for people to vote but to protect the integrity of the 
vote.
  S. 1 and H.R. 1 does things like same-day registration but also 
removes voter ID. You partner those two together, and that is a recipe 
for double-voting and fraud. You can't have those two together.
  It mandates a third-party collection of ballots that could be done in 
any State. Individual political groups could literally go door-to-door 
and say: Have you voted yet? If you haven't, come out on the porch 
right now. I will stand with you, and we can vote together, and then I 
will turn your ballot in for you.
  That violates everything we have done in voting about secret ballots 
and about the integrity of the ballot, and

[[Page S2343]]

only the folks in the post office would handle it or the folks in the 
polling place would handle it. Now, this is a third party whom no one 
has any connection to nor accountability to who can randomly grab 
ballots and collect them. How do we not think there won't be fraud in 
that system?
  It also takes away all voter IDs in every State, including my State, 
where there is not even a complaint about voter IDs on either side of 
the aisle because it is an incredibly fair system. It doesn't require a 
driver's license. It can require any piece of paper or any way to be 
able to show you are who you are. We have a straightforward system to 
be able to protect not only the integrity of the ballot but to make 
sure every person is not only allowed to vote but is encouraged to 
vote. Why would we take that away from places where it is already 
working and there hasn't been a complaint just because someone in 
Washington, DC, says we shouldn't do it?
  Centralized control of voting in Washington, DC, seemed to be part of 
the theme of the night last night, where it was, everything would work 
better if it only came to DC. I tell you, I have met a lot of smart 
people in DC, but I can also tell you that I know a lot of smart people 
in Oklahoma who love their neighbors, who want to see the right thing 
done, who care about people in their community and in their State. And 
this sudden belief that if we are going to get things done right, we 
have to bring it to Washington, DC, and allow the folks in Washington, 
DC, to be able to run it, I will tell you, the folks in my State would 
shake their heads and say: We are doing OK. Let us take care of our 
neighbors at home, and don't make us sign a paper every time we want to 
do something and send it off to somebody we never met in Washington, 
DC.

  This growing in size of our Federal Government is not a goal for me. 
Being efficient, protecting the rights of every American, protecting 
our national security--those are goals. They don't require federalizing 
everything.
  I can tell you a couple of areas where last night really had some 
shining moments for me, though. President Biden, twice in his speech, 
literally reached out to Republicans and said: I understand Republicans 
have another idea on this. Let's sit down and talk.
  That was a good moment. Quite frankly, for the last--let's say of a 
100-day Presidency so far, for 90 days of that, we have gotten the 
Heisman from the President and his team, saying: We have got this; we 
don't need you. Then in the last really 10 days or so, the White House 
has started reaching out some. And to be able to hear President Biden 
last night say: We understand Republicans have a different idea; let's 
sit down and visit--that almost sounds like governing. That would be a 
great shift for us, to be able to sit down and talk these things 
through.
  Republicans aren't opposed to infrastructure. How absurd to be able 
to make infrastructure a partisan issue. We have always done 
infrastructure together. It is not like any of us are opposed to 
highways and to waterways and to clean drinking water and to broadband. 
There are key aspects that are core to infrastructure. Let's continue 
to be able to do those. Let's do them efficiently and wisely. That is 
all that we would ask.
  I am pleased the President actually reached out and said: Let's start 
sitting down to be able to talk these things through, because that will 
allow us to be able to work together toward a better solution.
  The second big moment for me last night was listening to my friend 
and colleague Tim Scott speak about his family, speak about a vision 
for the country, to be able to challenge the country and to be able to 
challenge this body to be able to do what he called commonsense finding 
common ground. It is a great idea.
  We have different perspectives across the aisle in this building. 
That doesn't mean we can't sit down as Americans and be able to work 
them out. As Tim Scott reminded us, part of the story of America is a 
story of redemption. We can do that together.
  Tim also challenged this Nation to stop politicizing race, to stop 
saying over and over again that because we disagree, it is because we 
are racist. Tim spoke to the Nation and said there are real issues of 
race out there, and you cheapen it when you politicalize every issue 
and say it is because you are racist.
  Let's actually sit down and disagree on issues as Americans, and 
let's resolve those things together. We have common ground, and we have 
areas of real disagreement. I had lots of areas where I disagree with 
President Biden, but I am willing to sit down and lay out a set of 
ideas that I think are a much better option. Let's talk it out. That is 
what we do. But let's resolve these issues in the days ahead.
  And no, you are right, I am not going to give on the Second 
Amendment. I am not going to give on issues of life and the value of 
every child. I am not going to give on--I think the debt and deficit is 
a very important issue. I am not going to give on encouraging the value 
of work for every single person and every single family. There are 
areas I am not going to give on, but we should at least sit down and 
treat each other with dignity and respect, and let's talk it out.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). The Senator from Alaska.