[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 103 (Monday, June 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4509-S4511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, Ronald Reagan said:

       We maintain peace through our strength; weakness only 
     invites aggression.


[[Page S4510]]


  The United States of America remains a beacon of strength and 
freedom. Generations of Americans purchased this strength through 
blood, treasure, and self-sacrifice. We do not want to be the first 
generation of Americans to abandon that tradition, but we will unless 
we give our men and women in uniform the tools they need to do the job.
  The President's proposed budget does not deliver for our military. In 
fact, it tells our military to do less every day than what they have in 
the past. President Biden's budget proposal cuts money from the 
Department of Defense when accounting for inflation. I have said before 
that this budget is disappointing, dangerous, and a disservice to our 
men and women in uniform
  The President's advisers surely know the threat our country faces. 
Here is what the Office of National Intelligence said in its annual 
threat assessment: The Chinese Communist Party will continue to 
undercut the United States, drive wedges between Washington and its 
allies and partners, and foster international norms that favor the 
authoritarian Chinese system.
  That is from the President's own Director of Intelligence. But talk 
is cheap, and cheap talk is what we are getting because this budget 
does not rise to meet that threat.
  Question: Does the President not believe the dire warnings of his own 
advisers?
  At the same time, President Biden and congressional Democrats' 
policies are giving us a weak economy when it should be roaring. The 
last two job reports fell way short of expectations. In April, 
economists expected 1 million jobs, but we only got one-fourth of 
that--25 percent.
  Democrats' out-of-control spending is driving inflation to levels we 
haven't seen in over a decade. President Biden's own budget assumes 
policies will only lead to a weak 2-percent GDP growth--2 percent--when 
it should be double that amount.
  Democrats aren't stopping at a weak military and a weak economy. They 
have put forth thinly veiled attempts to strip our country of what 
makes it so great. They want to undo our very system of federalism and 
local control by eliminating States' right-to-work laws through the PRO 
Act. They want a Washington takeover of every State's election laws 
through S. 1 or, as I like to call it, the corrupt politicians act. But 
worst of all, it is teaching our kids to hate our country. The Biden 
administration has embraced the divisive curriculum of critical race 
theory to rewrite history and paint the United States as a villain.
  Question: How can we expect the Biden administration to defend 
America's ideals abroad if the President won't even defend them at 
home? This isn't Building Back Better.
  Teddy Roosevelt, another successful Republican President, always 
said: ``Speak softly and carry a big stick.'' President Biden is 
certainly speaking softly all right, but he is whittling away our big 
stick down to a twig.
  We are already seeing the results. Weakness invites aggression. 
President Biden and his aides seem to believe that a return to the 
appeasement policies of the Obama administration and a rejection of 
President Trump's policy of strength are the best way to ensure peace. 
That is going to be tough for them and for the American people. We are 
already seeing how these policies do not work.
  Take Palestine, for example. Just 2 months ago, the President decided 
to send hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians. And 
I ask, For what reason? Why are we sending millions of dollars to 
Palestine at this time when we are having a tough point in our country 
with this pandemic?
  They just took American dollars and turned around and rained terror 
on our No. 1 ally in the Middle East, with thousands of rockets aimed 
at Israeli civilians. It triggered the worst fighting between Israel 
and Hamas since 2014. The President's policy and millions of taxpayer 
dollars were wasted. They did nothing but arm Hamas. The President's 
policy did not work.
  President Biden made no secret that he wanted to bring back the 
failed Iran nuclear deal that was the pride of President Obama's second 
term. Well, Iran responded by supplying Hamas with those rockets to 
kill Israeli civilians. Iran is also sending warships to help their 
socialist ally, Venezuela. Again, the President's policies did not 
work.
  One of President Biden's first acts in office was to cancel the 
Keystone Pipeline with our northern border neighbor in Canada. Yet the 
President is allowing Russia to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to 
Germany, further isolating Ukraine from its Western friends. Russia has 
responded by amassing troops along the Ukraine border. Once again, the 
President's policies did not work.
  The week after President Biden announced his skinny budget proposal 
with no increase to the Department of Defense, China sent a record 
number of fighter jets into the Taiwanese airspace. That is a clear 
pattern that the President's policies aren't working, and they are 
emboldening our enemies.
  The fallout from the Biden administration's weaknesses isn't just 
limited to far-off countries across the sea, we are seeing the very 
real cost at our southern border. The Biden administration refuses to 
take this crisis seriously. The number of illegal immigrants crossing 
the border this fiscal year is already the most since 2006, and there 
are 4 months left to go.
  In May of this year alone, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 
more than 180,000 illegal immigrants along the southern border. And it 
is not just folks coming from Central America. According to the CBP, 
there have been at least 59,000 illegal immigrants apprehended who were 
not from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, or Honduras.
  They are from as many as 90-plus countries, as far away as 
Bangladesh, Ghana, and Nepal.
  And the problem is that it is not just people seeking a better life. 
Customs and Border Protection reports that they have arrested 95 
convicted sex offenders attempting to enter the United States since the 
beginning of the fiscal year, and those are just the ones that are 
being caught.
  Biden, 2 months ago, said: ``What's wrong with 2 million illegal 
immigrants?''
  So what the Biden administration is doing is they are not stemming 
the tide. President Biden threw his hands up and put Vice President 
Harris in charge.
  Has she visited the border since she has been put in charge? No.
  She thinks her words, ``Don't come,'' are enough to stop the flood of 
illegal immigrants. Well, they are not. Her words are too late and too 
little.
  I remember how then-Candidates Biden and Harris pushed back against 
President Trump for wanting to secure the border, for wanting to 
enforce our immigration laws as written, and folks across the globe 
were listening. They heard the rhetoric. They packed their bags, and 
they made the dangerous journey.
  They took then-Candidates Biden and Harris at their word. It is why 
so many illegal immigrants wear T-shirts saying: ``Biden, let us in.''
  Why would they listen to her saying ``Don't come'' now?
  But here is what really got me. When asked why she hasn't gone to the 
border to see the crisis for herself, Vice President Harris laughed and 
said: ``I haven't been to Europe'' either. I couldn't believe what I 
was hearing. We need leadership, not a tourist.
  Well, Madam Vice President, I have been to the border, and I have 
seen how dangerous it is for these people coming here. I have actually 
listened to our Border Patrol agents, who talk about how the cartels 
really run things and how they have total control of the U.S. southern 
border. I have seen how many drugs are pouring across the border 
because our law enforcement is too busy processing illegal immigrants 
instead of catching the bad guys.
  But I sat beside a teenager leaving McAllen, TX, on the flight to 
Houston. She had her new 3- or 4-month-old baby. She was being sent on 
a plane by the Biden administration to Houston and then on the way to 
Denver, not knowing what she was to expect when she got there.
  It is not easy to see. It certainly wasn't for me. But that is the 
price of being in a position of power, to be able to do something about 
the problems facing the people and our country. The Vice President 
needs to see the human cost of the policies she and the President are 
supporting.

[[Page S4511]]

  Ladies and gentlemen, peace is only possible when the United States 
is strong. That means a strong military, a strong economy, a strong 
educational system, and a strong border.
  Unless we reverse our course soon, it will be too late to stop the 
violence and aggression President Biden's weakness has invited across 
the globe and here at home.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BRAUN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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