[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5124-S5128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Debt Ceiling

  Ms. ERNST. Madam President, we have all experienced a bit of buyer's 
remorse this past year. The uncertainty caused by the pandemic had 
folks stockpiling too much or just doing a little online retail therapy 
for things they may never use. But when it comes to impulse buying, no 
one can compete with Democrats in Washington. If running up the 
taxpayers' tab was an Olympic sport, Democrats would easily take home 
the gold.
  Over the past 6 months, the Democrats have run up trillions of 
dollars in new spending. And as we are just days away from hitting the 
Nation's debt limit, these same Democrats are preparing to charge 
trillions more to the Nation's credit card, paid for by taxpayers, of 
course, to purchase more of their pricey, partisan pet projects and 
other items on their progressive wish list.
  Their reckless spending spree started in March with their strictly 
partisan $2.1 trillion, a so-called COVID bill. The Democrats assured 
us the $1,400 stimulus checks and $300-a-week enhanced unemployment 
benefits included in the bill would get America back on its feet. Well, 
folks, this July 28, we have 10 million unfilled jobs. Last week, 
jobless claims increased. And hard-working Americans are feeling the 
pinch and paying more for almost everything, from gas to groceries. The 
Democrats' poisonous progressive policies are failing us, and Iowans 
and the rest of Americans know it. Yet

[[Page S5125]]

Democrats--they just keep on spending.
  Right now, the majority leader is plotting to fast-track an 
everything-but-the-kitchen-sink tax-and-spending bill that could cost 
more than $3\1/2\ trillion. So what is in this latest bill? More 
poisonous progressive policies.
  One of the most harmful provisions to families everywhere and 
especially farm families in Iowa is what I like to call the farm-to-
table tax hike. The Democrats want to pay for part of their radical 
agenda by increasing the tax on family farms being passed from one 
generation to the next. But that tax won't only hit farmers and 
ranchers; it will increase the cost of producing and purchasing food 
for all of our families.
  Americans recognize President Biden's budget-busting bills are a key 
factor in the skyrocketing costs; yet the Democrats keep packing their 
bills with progressive pet policies and projects they know won't make 
your life better but that will appease their political base. And their 
answer when things don't get better is always: Wait, we didn't spend 
enough.
  Folks, it is laughable to argue that Washington hasn't spent enough 
when our national debt now exceeds $28 trillion. The shopaholics who 
control the purse strings in Congress are addicted to spending other 
people's money on things we don't need or that we can't afford.
  Let's review the receipt for Bidenomics: $2.1 trillion for Biden's 
so-called American Rescue Plan, which includes $200 billion for 
enhanced unemployment payments, $1.7 billion for Amtrak, $135 million 
for the National Endowment for the Arts, $50 million for environmental 
justice grants, plus $3.5 trillion for the proposed reckless tax-and-
spending spree.
  We still don't even know what goodies are included in this grab bag, 
but it is likely to include parts of the socialist Green New Deal and 
doubling the size of the IRS by hiring an army of new auditors. Add on 
nearly $10 billion for swampy earmarks to pay for pork projects.
  The list goes on and on and on, like the world's longest CVS receipt; 
except you don't expect any savings here, folks.
  And when you add it all up, the grand total: $6.8 trillion.
  As these bills come due, President Biden's reckless spending spree 
will leave us with buyer's remorse for years to come. It is time to cut 
up Washington's credit card and make DC start living within its means, 
just like every hard-working family across Iowa and America do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, when President Biden was campaigning last 
year, he made the pledge over and over again that he wouldn't raise 
taxes on any American making less than $400,000 a year.
  Frankly, I think that is a good pledge, and it is one that he keeps 
making. But right now, it seems that the facts would prove that he and, 
frankly, our Democrat colleagues here in the Congress are pushing for 
this reckless tax spree, this reckless spending spree in a way that 
makes it impossible for him to keep that pledge.
  The Tax Foundation--and people can check this if they want to verify 
these numbers--looked at President Biden's 10-year plan, the plan he 
outlined in his 2022 budget. This is not a plan that the Tax Foundation 
or any other group came up with on their own. They found that his plan 
would mean a higher average tax burden nationwide, including for 
middle-class Americans.
  In some States, the average taxpayer would see increases immediately; 
in others, tax hikes would grow over time as the various provisions 
change in the way that the President's plan says they would change.
  You know, no matter what the President says, the tax burden is 
getting heavier under his plan for middle-class families in every 
State.
  In Missouri, the tax burden on the average filer would be $618 higher 
in 2026 than it is today. In New Hampshire, it would be $1,072 higher 
than it is today. And maybe most importantly, in Nevada, it would be 
$1,293 higher than it is today for the average taxpayer.
  And if that doesn't convince you, there was another analysis 
recently. This one was from the reliably liberal Tax Policy Center. It 
predicted that three out of every four taxpayers earning $75,000 to 
$100,000 a year would be worse off next year under the Biden plan.
  By 2031, that organization estimates that 95 percent of the people 
making between $75,000 and $100,000 would suffer losses on their tax 
bill
  The tax-and-spending spree envisions monster tax hikes on business, 
but we all know when you raise taxes on business, they have to get the 
money from somewhere.
  In fact, there are only a couple places to get the money, and one is 
from workers and one is from customers. And trying to figure out that 
balance where you don't lose customers and you don't lose workers is 
pretty hard to figure out. You really can't isolate middle-class 
workers from these tax impacts. You also can't isolate middle-class 
customers from these impacts. You can't keep those families from paying 
higher prices when a chunk of the business tax that the President and 
Democrats talk about have to get passed on to customers.
  So President Biden's tax increases are likely to boost inflation even 
more than we have seen already, and we have seen a lot of it already. 
Go to the gas pump, go to the grocery store, go to buy clothes, go to 
have the basic necessities you have to have, and you are going to see 
that they are substantially higher than they were a year ago or 2 years 
ago before COVID, a year ago during COVID.
  The President's budget effectively repeals the individual tax cuts 
enacted by Republicans in 2017. The cuts that were enacted in that law 
for Americans, really, across income levels, have rate reductions that 
have to be extended in 4 years. The President's plan doesn't call for 
extending any of those rate reductions.
  Under the President's proposal, someone making $94,000 per year will 
see her marginal tax rate jump from 24 percent to 28 percent in 2026.
  Added to that, you have got higher taxes that Democrats plan to 
impose on family farmers and ranchers who are hoping to pass along 
their family business to the next generation.
  And, frankly, instead of advocating for these middle-class Americans 
I have just talked about, our Democratic friends seem to be fixated on 
restoring the tax break that overwhelmingly benefits wealthy Americans 
in high-tax States. They are pushing to allow people to deduct more 
than $10,000 in State and local taxes on their Federal returns.
  That scheme, by the way, would allow the top 1 percent of earners to 
increase their after-tax income by about 2.5 percent, 2.8 percent, 
while the bottom 60 percent of all filers--if that law is changed back 
to what it used to be, the bottom 60 percent of all filers would gain 
less than one one-hundredth percent on average.
  It is clear that President Biden's tax hikes will hit a lot of 
Americans and a lot of Americans that make less than $400,000.
  The higher tax costs will hurt people who are already struggling with 
higher prices at the pump and everywhere they shop, and it will hurt 
our economic recovery.
  My friends may not want to admit--and I wouldn't either if I was 
them--that they are going to raise taxes on middle-class families, but 
that is exactly what they are doing. And if anybody doesn't know it 
now, they will know it if Democrats in the Senate and the House get 
their way.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, in less than 72 hours, the 
suspension on the Federal Government's debt ceiling will expire. That 
leaves Congress with two options: continue with the reckless, wasteful 
spending it is accustomed to without any accountability to the American 
people; or finally face reality, make some tough choices, and chart a 
path forward that lowers the Federal debt and gets spending under 
control.
  Washington is constantly spending more money and taking on new debt 
without any plan to ever reduce the debt.
  Since 1960, Congress has raised or extended the debt limit more than 
70 times. Washington's choice to keep

[[Page S5126]]

raising or suspending the debt ceiling is like raising the limit on 
your credit card month after month with no plan to pay it off.
  It is reckless, and it is this kind of fiscal irresponsibility that 
is hurting American families and causing the rising inflation we are 
seeing.
  As you can see here, 87 percent of Americans are worried about 
inflation--87 percent. Low- and fixed-income families are having to cut 
on purchases because of rising costs.
  Look at these numbers: Gas up 52 percent in 12 months; milk, 11; 
bacon, 16 percent; eggs, 6 percent; used cars, 45 percent; utilities, 6 
percent.
  I am hearing from families all across Florida who are worried. Read 
you a couple stories.
  A father of three in Jacksonville, who is temporarily helping to take 
care of two other kids because their father is out of work, has started 
working a second job driving Uber just to pay for groceries that are 
rapidly increasing in price. Now, his Uber job is becoming less and 
less profitable because the rising price of gas.
  Mother of four in Wauchula said she used to be able to go to the 
grocery store and spend a certain amount of money for an entire month's 
groceries; now she can't. Two hundred dollars in meat is not--is no 
longer enough to feed her family of five. She is being forced to choose 
between gas to get to work and groceries for her family, and is picking 
up extra jobs just to get by.
  I can relate to all this. I grew up in a family that struggled for 
money. My mom would take in ironing for extra money. She would send me 
or my older brother to the grocery store with exact change, but she 
told us: You have got to check the prices. The prices keep going up. 
And if it does, you have got to figure out how to get the food we need 
with less--with the money we have.
  I have spoken to the owner of a construction company in West Palm 
Beach who says materials are going up. Twenty-four dollars for a sheet 
of plywood is now $80 a sheet. Drywall is going up a dollar a board. 
Prices of hardware, like screws, are going up 10 to 15 percent per 
month. Delivery prices are going up due to gas and the shortage of 
truck drivers. His employees are complaining about gas and are afraid 
what it might mean if the price continues to rise.
  A restaurant owner in Tampa told me the cost of meat has gone up from 
$9 a pound to $18. Gas prices and food prices, coupled with the 
struggle to find workers, has been very hard on his business.
  Another family in Kissimmee told me how hard it is to keep food on 
the table because everything is so expensive. They are having trouble 
keeping the car because of the cost of maintenance and gas, but if he 
doesn't have a car, he wouldn't have a way to get to work to take care 
of his family.
  The price of gas affects nearly everyone, and right now average gas 
prices are up nearly $1 since last year.
  For a family that fills up their tank once a week, if you drive a 
car, that means Joe Biden raised your expenses $600 a year; if you 
drive a truck, that means Joe Biden raised your expenses by more than 
$1,000 a year.
  Biden and the Democrats say they care about people, but they have 
done absolutely nothing to help families struggling to keep up with 
inflation. Their plan is to spend more, more, more money, not less.
  We have nearly $30 trillion in debt, and there are no plans to slow 
down. Now Biden and the Democrats want to spend another $5.5 trillion 
on their liberal priorities, with no consideration as to how this might 
impact families.
  Right now, this message that President Biden and the Democrats in 
Washington are sending to the American people is clear: We don't care 
about inflation. We don't care about reckless spending that is causing 
prices to skyrocket.
  If they say that is the cost of getting our liberal--their liberal 
wish list done, so be it.
  I think it is a disgusting approach and I am not going to stand for 
it. I am here to say that enough is enough. It is time to wake up to 
reality. Eighty-seven percent of Americans are concerned about 
inflation. We have to take action to get government spending under 
control, which is why we have introduced the Federal Debt Emergency 
Control Act.
  My bill prevents Washington from mindlessly spending by requiring 
that two-thirds of the Senate vote to increase the debt before 
approving any bill with deficit spending.
  It would also terminate any unobligated funding from the American 
Rescue Plan and any previous spending bills--sending it back to the 
Treasury general fund for deficit reduction.
  Finally, it would ensure that any bill reducing the debt by at least 
5 percent over 10 years is fast-tracked through the legislative 
process.
  I have also introduced an amendment to the Senate rules to require 
that all committee reports include inflationary impact statements so 
Americans can see the true impacts of government spending.
  Americans deserve to know how their hard-earned dollars are being 
spent and how Washington's spending is affecting inflation. This will 
ensure they do.
  I welcome all my fiscally responsible colleagues to join me to say we 
don't accept status quo. We won't watch in silence as people try to 
spend us into oblivion. We won't stand by while inflation wreaks havoc 
on our families and businesses.

  We can get spending under control. While I was Governor of Florida, 
we paid down one-third of our State debt by living within our means, 
all while cutting taxes and fees about 100 times.
  We can do it here, but we have to start acting responsibly today, and 
the time to do that is now. It is time to stand up for our grandkids, 
whose future is being mortgaged for out-of-control Washington spending. 
This isn't political. It is good government, and it is commonsense.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, America has seen a number of 
horrendous financial crises before, but none that have so quickly 
developed as the fiscal crisis this White House created with trillions 
of dollars' worth of drunken spending and tax proposals in just the 
first 7 months of control.
  The most glaring, almost parody-level, example is the 
administration's $3.5 trillion and growing, newly labeled, human 
infrastructure package, which is nothing more than a rosy-sounding 
title for socialism.
  The results of these radical tax-and-spending policies, what are 
they? A sluggish economy, inflation, and one of the most dramatic 
expansions of the welfare state in recent history. Recently, the 
Department of Labor reported that consumer prices climbed for the third 
straight month, jumping 5 percent in June, the largest increase in 13 
years.
  Every day, we see inflation impacting hard-working Americans. In 
fact, this past weekend, we held five townhall meetings in Kansas, and 
thanks to this administration's economic policies, runaway inflation 
has replaced COVID at the top of the mountain of concerns for people of 
my home State.
  In Kansas, we are paying more than $1 more per gallon at the gas 
pump, 40 cents more per gallon of milk, and almost 20 percent more for 
a home than we were at this time last year. While wages have increased, 
inflation continues to outpace them by more than two-to-one. I have 
heard loudly and clearly the concerns from Kansans, and especially from 
small business owners, the backbone of our economy, about the impact of 
the Democrats' reckless summer tax-and-spending spree.
  One tax proposal, the elimination of stepped-up basis, would be 
devastating to small businesses and family farms, as that provision 
allows them to hand down their family business from one generation to 
the next without paying a costly tax burden.
  Under the administration's plan, the average farmer would have a new 
tax obligation of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, as cropland 
values in Kansas have risen 220 percent since 1997, not to mention the 
economy-killing policy of eliminating 1031 exchanges and taxing capital 
gains at ordinary income levels.
  On the spending front, this administration continues to pursue 
unsustainable and irresponsible spending policies that are actually 
ruining our economic recovery. Further, they want to increase the debt 
limit without implementing any spending reforms. This is going to crush 
our children and grandchildren, leaving their generation to pay for the 
social sins of this generation.

[[Page S5127]]

  Instead of getting our fiscal house in order and curbing back on 
massive government spending, this administration and Democrats in 
Congress are working to pass trillions more in reckless spending under 
the guise of infrastructure.
  Pre-COVID, we had the greatest economy in my lifetime. That came 
about because we lowered people's taxes, we lowered regulations, and we 
lowered energy prices. We need smart, targeted investments, not radical 
spending that leaves this country at a disadvantage and kills jobs.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, for far too long, the Federal Government 
has been borrowing and then spending money that it simply doesn't have. 
This is something we have long understood as a problem for the future, 
for future generations. But now it is not just a problem for the future 
any more. We are already feeling the consequences right now. Americans 
of this generation are paying the price today.
  Why is this the case? Well, politicians in Washington vote for 
enormous, reckless spending packages, and they do so for short-term 
political gain and praise. Now, we all know that does happen, and we 
all know that, whether it is a spending bill that is soon to come 
before this body or another, if it spends a lot of money, it probably 
will bring people a lot of praise.
  But it is the people--the hard-working families in Utah and in every 
other State across the Nation--who are forced to pay the price, the 
price for the praise and the political gain of the politician who votes 
for that sort of thing. They are the ones who bear the brunt of 
inflation's consequences. It is making day-to-day life more expensive. 
More than anyone, it is the poor and middle class of America who are 
hit the hardest.
  Every single day, it is getting more expensive to fill cupboards, 
refrigerators, and bellies. Every day, it is getting more expensive to 
drive to work or drive to the doctor or drive your kids to the school. 
Every day, it is getting harder to buy a house or buy a car or pay for 
the heat and the air conditioning in your home.
  To give a few specific examples, gas prices are up over 50 percent 
from last year. This hurts people not only at the pump but with 
everything they buy, because everything they buy is more costly to 
transport and, therefore, more costly to purchase.
  Chicken prices are soaring. Boneless, skinless chicken breast is 
trading at $2 per pound, compared to the $1.30 per pound it has 
averaged over the last two decades. Some diapers that in recent years 
have cost around $25 per package now cost around $40, and there are 
fewer diapers in each package.
  We, in Utah, are certainly feeling the crunch. According to a recent 
survey, 85 percent of Utahns are worried about inflation, as well they 
should be.
  Now, what does the Democrats' spending package amount to? A 
multitrillion-dollar inflation bomb. So far, we haven't seen text, and 
we haven't seen estimates about how much the bill will cost, exactly. 
We haven't even seen what Democrats in the White House would like in 
the bill. But recent estimates suggest that it will spend about $4 
trillion, maybe more. The last thing we need for our already 
frightening inflation is to spend that amount of money. It is taking an 
already bad situation and making it far, far worse.
  In fact, this is the first time we have seen a spending package of 
this kind--one that spends the amount that it does. I don't just mean 
the first time we have seen something like this in the Senate this 
year. I mean, when we are talking about a spending bill that is likely 
to cost $4 trillion, maybe more, that is more money than we in this 
body have ever spent. In fact, I would dare say it is more money than 
has ever been spent at any one time for one legislative proposal in the 
history not just of the United States of America but in the history of 
the world.
  I mean, look at it this way. There is no entity in the history of the 
planet that has amassed more economic power than the U.S. Government--
the U.S. Government, which in recent years has been spending at a rate 
of about $4 trillion a year. This bill, in one bill, could well spend 
that in one single legislative package. This is an astounding amount of 
money. No one has ever spent money in such a large quantity in the 
history of the world.
  What is more, this type of legislation has great potential--in fact, 
a darn near certainty--to carry out a reverse Robin Hood mission that 
is especially perverse, where we essentially rob the poor to give to 
the rich. Make no mistake. When we pass spending legislation like this, 
a small handful of well-connected people will get rich. They will get 
very rich. Why? Well, because they see it coming. They know how to play 
it. They know how to benefit from it, and they know how to capitalize 
on it. That is a very small group of people, and that is a small 
comfort to those who will be hurt by it. We will get to them in a 
minute. So that is the first category of people.
  You have a second category of people who are well-to-do. Maybe they 
don't capitalize off of it, but they do end up paying a price. They 
find goods more expensive. But this small category of people, 
consisting of well-off people, might not actually feel the pinch 
because, perhaps, they have enough saved up; they have enough assets. 
It doesn't really, meaningfully impact their standard of living or 
their quality of life. But even those first two categories--those who 
will get rich off of a bill like this and those who won't feel much of 
an impact--make up a really small segment of the U.S. population, quite 
possibly, percentagewise, in the low single digits. But poor and 
middle-class Americans, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, will be 
most hurt, as they will be the ones to feel their paychecks--their 
limited paychecks--stretched thinner and thinner each and every week. 
You see, the U.S. economy doesn't suddenly make more goods simply 
because Congress decides to spend more. Quite to the contrary, it 
can't. We don't have the ability to create wealth. All we have the 
ability to do is channel existing wealth. So if we just add more 
dollars to an economy that already has access to a relatively finite 
group of goods and services in any given year, you are just going to 
increase the cost. That is what happens, and that is how poor and 
middle-class Americans get stuck with the bill. That is why poor and 
middle-class Americans end up being harmed in this bad bargain that is 
really good for a small handful of wealthy and well connected. It may 
be good for the moment for a small handful of politicians who will get 
praise and political gain for voting for it. It is really bad for poor 
and middle-class people, and that is wrong.
  Look, at the end of the day, government is not the one hurt by 
massive, reckless spending packages like this one. People are. Real, 
breathing human beings are. The government doesn't go hungry at the end 
of the month. The government doesn't worry about paying rent when the 
kids need braces. The government isn't forced to choose between buying 
groceries and paying medical bills. The government doesn't forgo family 
reunions when it is time to tighten the belt. Taxpayers do. Families 
do, especially poor and middle-class families. The reckless spending 
must stop. This inflation bomb is exploding.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, my colleague said it so very well. 
The inflation bomb is exploding, and people in Tennessee are incredibly 
concerned about that. I hear about this every single day from 
Tennesseans.
  They are also concerned about the fact that it seems that the 
Democratic majority has been unable to push forward a budget that would 
be bipartisan, that would have appropriate spending, and that would 
prioritize the needs and the concerns of the American people.
  Until just a few hours ago, we didn't have any insight into an 
infrastructure bill that would be bipartisan, and I applaud those who 
have worked so diligently to reach a bipartisan agreement. But the 
American people have started to lose a lot of their trust and a lot of 
their patience with Washington, DC, and I think we can say ``rightfully 
so'' because they are watching the cost of government go up. They are 
watching the hesitancy to move forward on their concerns, and they are 
speaking out to us. I had a Tennessean this week ask me why Washington 
was wasting so much time, because time is money, and they want to see 
things done.

[[Page S5128]]

  We know we need to see what these bills are going to look like. We 
are hearing that the majority wants to bring forward this tax-and-spend 
spree of legislation that would be trillions of dollars, and we know 
that what would end up happening is this would be something that--I 
call it lie, cheat, steal. You don't say exactly what you are going to 
use the money for. You don't say exactly where the money is going to 
come from within the budget. Eventually, all of it comes out of the 
taxpayers' pocket. And you are stealing hopes and dreams from future 
generations who are going to--they are going to have to pay the bill 
for this. It is our children and our grandchildren and future 
generations that are going to have to find a way to pay for all of 
this.
  That is why I brought this chart back to the floor. I have used it 
recently here on this floor to remind us of Ronald Reagan's words:

       Freedom is never more than one generation away from 
     extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each 
     generation.

  Very true words. And what a good reminder to us because as we give 
government more control over our lives, as we give them more control in 
the Federal budget, as the government takes more money out of the 
pocket of hard-working taxpayers, what do we see? We see less freedom.
  There is such concern that the Democratic majority has refused to 
come forward and say how they want to spend these trillions of dollars. 
I think part of that is because there is not a way to pay for it, and 
they don't plan to pay for it. Instead, they are going to send that 
bill to future generations.
  This is dangerous. We are upside down on this national debt when you 
look at how that debt clock is ticking. But we have to choose to spend 
taxpayer money where it matters, and it still matters. It matters to 
Tennesseans what their tax dollars are spent for, and it matters how 
they are spent. Another thing that matters to them is what we are 
spending it for and the driving of inflation across this country.
  If my Democratic colleagues continue to dig this hole, future 
generations will be in so deep that it will be very difficult for them 
to compete on the global stage. They will be vulnerable to the 
deathtraps our adversaries in Beijing set for nations that have made 
the same mistakes that the Democratic majority wants us to make: 
spending more money than you have to spend for programs that you cannot 
afford.
  I would argue that existing in a state of dependence and 
vulnerability created by our own government is the opposite of freedom. 
It is the opposite of freedom. Is that really what we want for our 
children and grandchildren, to leave them with so much Federal debt 
that they are covered in debt; that most of their paycheck is going to 
go to the Federal Government to pay for programs that have long 
outlived their usefulness? I think not.
  That is why it is so important that we look at what is happening 
right now, as there are these conversations about budgets and as there 
are these conversations about the tax-and-spend spree that my 
colleagues across the aisle would seek to propose.
  I would also offer that that type of spending is not governing. What 
it is, is a power grab. What it is, is taking care of your friends and 
not those who elected you to serve. The American people can see what is 
coming at them from a mile away, and they are expressing their concerns 
about DC's out-of-control tax-and-spending spree.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.