[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6723-S6728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the next nomination.
  The bill clerk read the nomination of Mary Catherine Phee, of 
Illinois, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of 
Minister-Counselor, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (African 
Affairs).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.


                             Nord Stream 2

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, over the last several weeks, I have talked 
at length about the damage that President Biden and his administration 
are doing to the national security of the United States and to the 
security of our allies in Europe by giving Vladimir Putin a 
multibillion-dollar gift in the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline.
  Today, I am going to talk about the staggering diplomatic damage that 
the President is doing by allowing and, indeed, facilitating this 
project proceeding. It is well known that Nord Stream 2 is opposed 
across Europe as an enabler of and, indeed, an example of and a weapon 
of Russian expansionism and aggression.
  Europeans have good reasons for their opposition. They know firsthand 
what the costs are. They know that completing Nord Stream 2 will leave 
the entire continent vulnerable to Putin's blackmail and aggression, 
and that NATO's ability to act will be severely constrained while 
billions will flow into the Kremlin's coffers.
  What is sometimes underappreciated, however, even by the people who 
are familiar with this issue, is the all-but-complete unanimity of the 
opposition in Europe.
  In 2018, the European Parliament voted by a vote of 403 to 105 to 
oppose the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. The pipeline proceeded, nonetheless, 
until it was halted by the bipartisan sanctions passed by this Congress 
in December of 2019--sanctions that I authored along with Democrat 
Jeanne Shaheen. The pipeline was halted the very day those sanctions 
were signed into law.
  Then, in January of 2021, after Vladimir Putin tried to murder Alexei 
Navalny, the European Parliament voted again to oppose Nord Stream 2, 
this time by a vote of 581 to 50.
  So I want you to pause for a second and reflect on the fact that Joe 
Biden looked at that vote and said the President of the United States 
is with the 50--never mind the 581--in the European Parliament. The 
Biden administration was going to side with Russia on a 90-percent 
issue, where the Biden White House is on the losing side.
  Throughout all this process, there were plenty of voices in Germany 
who were opposed, especially after this vicious attempt on Navalny's 
life. The Parliamentary leader of the Greens, Katrin Goering-Eckardt, 
said:

       The blatant assassination attempt by the mafia-like 
     structures of the Kremlin can no longer leave us merely 
     concerned, it must have real consequences.

  Stating, ``We need a clear answer'' that will ``make clear, Nord 
Stream 2 is no longer something we can complete with Russia.''
  Mr. President, my request to Senate Democrats, my request to 
President Biden, my request to Kamala Harris is listen to the Greens. 
That is not a sentence I have uttered on the floor of the Senate 
before, nor is it one I anticipate saying frequently in the future. But 
the Greens in Germany are telling you this is a bad idea; yet today's 
Democratic Party that exalts climate change as the greatest issue in 
the cosmos, when it comes to kissing up and surrendering to Putin, 
decided to tell the Greens to go jump in the lake.
  Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen issued a 
statement that:

       Germany is asking for European and NATO solidarity in 
     response to the despicable Navalny poisoning. They will get 
     it, but an honest answer from Putin is unlikely. Time has 
     come for Germany to halt Nord Stream 2 construction, before 
     it's too late.

  If Senate Democrats mean what they have said for years on Nord Stream 
2, then listen to the former Secretary General of NATO; listen to the 
Greens in Germany.
  But now, bizarrely, after Joe Biden has ignored the Greens, after Joe 
Biden has ignored NATO, after Joe Biden has ignored our Central 
European allies, all

[[Page S6724]]

of this was done in the hopes of getting goodwill and support from 
Angela Merkel.
  The Biden White House--the political geniuses that presided over the 
surrender and failure in Afghanistan, the greatest foreign policy 
catastrophe in a generation--their plan was, let's piss the whole rest 
of the world off so that we can make friends with Angela Merkel. By 
making friends with Angela Merkel, let's let Putin complete his 
pipeline.
  Perversely, President Biden and Merkel issued their statement as a 
declaration for support of our Eastern European allies.
  Boy, with support like that, who needs enemies?
  I would like to read a joint statement from our Polish and Ukrainian 
allies in response to the laughable statement that Biden and Merkel put 
out. Here is what our Polish and Ukrainian allies said:

       The decision to build Nord Stream 2 made in 2015 mere 
     months after Russia's invasion and illegal annexation of 
     Ukrainian territory, created security, credibility, and 
     political crisis in Europe.

  This crisis is significantly deepened by the resignation from 
attempts to stop the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
  By the way, as an aside, that resignation would be Joe Biden's 
abandoning of U.S. law sanctioning Russia.
  The letter continued:

       This decision has created political, military, and energy 
     threat for Ukraine and Central Europe, while increasing 
     Russia's potential to destabilize the security situation in 
     Europe, perpetuating divisions among NATO and European Union 
     member states.

  Let me read that again:

       This decision--

  Joe Biden's political genius, surrendering to Russia--

     has created political, military, and energy threat for 
     Ukraine and Central Europe--

  That sounds bad. It is bad--

     while increasing Russia's potential to destabilize the 
     security situation in Europe, perpetuating divisions among 
     NATO and European Union member states.

  The letter continued:

       Ukraine and Poland will work together with their allies and 
     partners to oppose Nord Stream 2 until solutions are 
     developed to address the security crisis created by Nord 
     Stream 2, to provide support to countries aspiring to 
     membership in Western democratic institutions, and to reduce 
     threats to peace and energy security.

  Mr. President, what do our friends in Ukraine and Poland tell us?
  That Joe Biden's decision has created a ``threat to peace and energy 
security.''
  But even then, Biden-Harris officials insisted that they had worked 
out security arrangements; it was all perfectly taken care of. They 
would ensure that Russia would never, ever, ever use Nord Stream 2 for 
blackmail.
  Mr. President, that is their promise. That is Joe Biden's promise. 
Fear not, they have it figured out and they have commitments that 
Russia will never use Nord Stream 2 for energy blackmail.
  How long do you think those commitments lasted?
  If you have a stopwatch, I am not sure the stopwatch could measure 
increments of time that small because Russia didn't even give a decent 
interval, didn't let the ink dry on the Biden White House press release 
before they immediately began doing the thing that Biden promised 
Russia would never do. Biden White House said: We have an agreement to 
make sure Russia never uses it for energy blackmail.
  What did Putin say? Excuse me, we are in the middle of energy 
blackmail.
  So we don't even have to wait a year, 2 years, 5 years. We don't have 
to wait a month. We don't have to wait a week. We don't have to wait a 
day to know if the Biden promise was true or false that Russia would 
never engage in energy blackmail over Nord Stream 2. Why? Because they 
are doing it right now, this instant, as we stand here.
  Just one week ago, the Kremlin and its gas barons, the oligarchs--the 
corrupt mafia oligarchs that run Russia--said that if Europe wants 
reliable gas as we approach winter--and, gosh, did we mention it gets 
cold in Europe, that having gas to heat your homes and prevent your 
grandmother from freezing to death might be a nice thing?
  Well, the Kremlin and the gas oligarchs said it is very simple: If 
they want to have heat, all they need to do is rush through the 
activation of Nord Stream 2.
  They said: ``Undoubtedly, the earliest possible commission of Nord 
Stream 2 will help balance the natural gas crisis in Europe.''
  Undoubtedly.
  Russia is literally reducing the supply right now, today, exercising 
its blackmail in September.
  The Presiding Officer lives in the Northeast United States. September 
is a beautiful time of year. The autumn leaves are turning. The breeze 
is crisp. You are not right yet shivering to turn on the heat at night. 
The same is true in Europe. But fast forward to November, fast forward 
to December, to January, to February, when the bitter cold starts 
setting in, when having gas or not, and having heat or not, is the 
difference between living and dying.
  What are the Russian oligarchs saying?
  They say, very simply: ``Undoubtedly, the earliest possible 
commissioning of Nord Stream 2 will help balance the natural gas crisis 
in Europe.''
  And, of course, the response from Biden and from Germany has been 
crickets. Remember, Biden and Merkel said, if they try that--those 
dastardly Russians--we will stand up boldly to them, we will hold them 
to account.
  Where is Joe Biden? No, I mean that seriously. Where is Joe Biden?
  Nowhere. Maybe in the White House basement. I don't know. But he is 
not doing anything to stand up to the Russian energy blackmail 
happening right now. By the way, neither is Merkel. Their promises just 
weeks ago have already been demonstrated to be completely hollow and 
empty. The protections of their bogus deal were, on their face, a 
bluff; were, on their face, empty.
  But how often is it in politics that such an empty promise gets 
revealed as a lie minutes after it is made?
  In this case, Putin was only too happy to oblige. That is why we call 
the pipeline the Biden-Putin pipeline.
  But, of course, the punch line of all of this--so the Biden 
administration has managed to tick off Europe, to tick off the European 
Union. They managed to tick off Ukraine. They managed to tick off 
Poland. They managed to tick off the Eastern Europeans. They have also 
independently managed to tick off the French so much that they pulled 
their Ambassador home from the United States.
  But they did all of this, they said, in the deep gravelly tones of 
the Foggy Bottom establishment. They did all of this to build lasting 
relationships with Angela Merkel. And that would pay dividends. Never 
mind a generation of billions for Putin and Russia; never mind a 
generation of energy captivity for Europe; never mind thousands of 
high-paying jobs in America--union jobs, good union jobs--destroyed by 
Biden; never mind that. The benefit of making Angela Merkel is worth 
it.
  Mr. President, you know, there is an old saying that God has a sense 
of humor. That was illustrated this weekend because, this weekend, 
there was an election in Germany. The people went to vote.
  And what happened?
  The German voters went to vote, and Merkel's party didn't win the 
election. Now the Social Democrats will be looking to form a coalition 
with the Greens.
  Which Greens?
  Oh, the very same Greens that are passionately opposed to Nord Stream 
2, that cried vociferously to kill the pipeline, and Joe Biden and 
Kamala Harris said: Go jump in a lake.
  The new coalition.
  By the way, just about every electoral scenario that comes out of 
this election will empower the Greens in Germany, and the political 
geniuses in the White House have just alienated and antagonized the 
Greens.
  Biden's supine giveaway. Isn't that a good word--supine? It describes 
the Biden foreign policy for every enemy of America: Be flat on your 
belly, and give our enemies what they want. Biden's supine giveaway to 
Putin was all for nothing. It literally produced nothing for the United 
States. It alienated our friends, and it emboldened our enemies.
  If you are Xi in China and you see Joe Biden rolling over and 
surrendering to Vladimir Putin, giving him everything he wants--giving 
him a pipeline that will enrich him for generations to come--what do 
you think

[[Page S6725]]

Xi is thinking? I can tell you what Xi is thinking. Xi is thinking this 
is a President who is weak who will surrender to me too. We saw that 
demonstrated just in recent days, where the Biden administration 
surrendered on a senior executive from Huawei in allowing her to go 
back to China, giving Communist China exactly what it wanted. And, once 
again, what does Xi take and what do the Chinese Communist leaders take 
from that? That this President will roll over, will surrender.
  And, you know, there is a striking irony. These catastrophic 
decisions and failures are particularly jaw-dropping given that 
President Biden ran on a platform of restoring diplomacy. Do you 
remember the refrain ``the adults are back''? It was said with this 
moral superiority--that the Biden guys were going to come in, and no 
more of this American strength. Huh-uh. The adults know better.
  Here is what Joe Biden said on February 4:

       I want the world to hear today: America is back. America is 
     back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy. 
     . . . We will repair our alliances and engage with the world 
     once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges but today's 
     and tomorrow's.

  Biden spoke specifically about Russia. He said:

       American leadership must meet this new moment of advancing 
     authoritarianism, including . . . the determination of Russia 
     to damage and disrupt our democracy.

  Biden added that ``we must start with diplomacy rooted in America's 
most cherished democratic values: defending freedom [and] championing 
opportunity.''
  You know, if irony had ever been alive, that speech killed irony. If 
irony were dead and buried, that speech made irony roll over in her 
grave. Literally every word of that speech, every syllable of every 
word down to ``and'' and ``the,'' has been proven false.
  ``America is back,'' Biden told us. ``Diplomacy is back.'' ``We will 
repair our alliances.'' Mr. President, how has that gone? Have we, in 
fact, repaired our alliances? With Nord Stream 2, Biden has pissed off 
the French, the Polish, the Ukrainians, the European Union. Has Biden 
repaired our alliances?
  Has Biden engaged with the world once again? Well, if ``engaged with 
the world'' means to surrender to Putin and give him everything he 
wants, then I guess so.
  To meet not yesterday's challenges but today's and tomorrow's--how is 
giving Putin a massive natural gas pipeline meeting tomorrow's 
challenges unless the challenges are how to fund Russia's military? If 
those are the challenges he is talking about, then congratulations, Joe 
Biden; you actually lived up to that.
  He spoke about Russia. ``American leadership must meet this new 
moment of advancing authoritarianism.'' How did Joe Biden and Kamala 
Harris meet this new moment of advancing authoritarianism? By funding 
it. Every year, Putin will cash a check of a couple billion dollars, 
courtesy of Joseph Biden. What should we use this couple of billion 
dollars for? How about for advancing authoritarianism.
  Biden said:
       We must start with diplomacy rooted in America's most 
     cherished democratic values: defending freedom.

  Mr. President, let me ask you something. Whose freedom did Joe Biden 
defend with this pipeline? He certainly didn't defend the freedom of 
the Ukrainians. He didn't defend the freedom of the Poles. He didn't 
defend the freedom of Europe. He didn't defend the freedom of France. 
He didn't defend even the freedom of Germany. Merkel wants this, but 
the voters in Germany have made clear that they don't want it. He 
didn't defend the freedom of the men and women of Georgia, of the 
Baltics--of all the former Soviet Republics whose safety and security 
is now jeopardized because Biden has decided to be a principal funder 
of the Russian military. That is not defending freedom.
  He certainly didn't defend America's freedom. On his first day in 
office, Joe Biden shut down the Keystone Pipeline. He killed 11,000 
jobs, including 8,000 union jobs. John Kerry helpfully told those union 
members: Learn to code. You silly, dirty worker who wants to work on a 
pipeline, no, no, no. Sit down at a MacBook instead.
  How is it that the same President who kills American jobs on an 
American pipeline creates Russian jobs on a Russian pipeline? I don't 
know what you call that, but you don't call it defending freedom. You 
don't call it championing opportunity.
  You know, I have to say, some years ago, I traveled to Europe. I was 
in Ukraine. I was in Poland. I was in Estonia. When I was there, I met 
with the leaders there, and I asked them about Russian aggression. This 
was years ago. I asked them about standing up to Russian aggression. To 
a person, when I asked them that, the blood drained out of their face, 
because, for the Poles, for the Ukrainians, for the Estonians, Russian 
tanks in the streets is not a hypothetical. That is not a scenario they 
are wondering what that would be like. Those of us old enough to 
remember it, as they sat at the table with me, they remembered. They 
remembered those Russian tanks.
  Vladimir Putin has said, in perhaps the most candid moment of his 
life, that he considers the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th 
century to be the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The natural 
corollary of that is that his foreign policy objective is to recreate 
the Soviet Union and to subjugate the former Soviet Republics.
  One of the most dangerous consequences of this pipeline, of the 
Biden-Putin pipeline, is that if this pipeline is allowed to go online, 
I fear we will see Russian tanks again on the ground in Ukraine.
  Mr. President, you and I both serve on the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee. If and when that happens--in 6 months, in a year, in 2 
years--I am going to ask you to remember these remarks, if and when we 
see Russian tanks on the streets in Ukraine, because Putin is no longer 
afraid that Ukraine is needed to transit energy. Putin now has his own 
pipeline--the Biden-Putin pipeline--to circumvent Ukraine.
  If we see that subjugation of our ally, if we see that subjugation of 
liberty, Mr. President, I hope you and I hope every Member of this body 
and I hope the American people remember right now that Joe Biden, in 
February, said: ``We must start with diplomacy rooted in America's most 
cherished democratic values: defending freedom [and] championing 
opportunity.'' He has an opportunity to do so.
  By the way, let me point out something. The Biden administration has 
a fantastic opportunity for a reset. Let's assume somebody in the 
administration realizes they screwed up on this pipeline. When they are 
losing votes in the European Parliament by a vote of 500 to 50, that 
ought to be a signal, particularly for people who pride themselves on 
their foreign policy prowess, on the adults being back. Losing a 10-to-
1 vote in the European Parliament is not indicative of diplomacy being 
back.
  By the way, when they lose the vote in this body--in both the House 
and Senate--when we have addressed Nord Stream 2, every time we have 
done it, it has been virtually unanimous. The margins of the U.S. 
Congress have been bigger than 500 to 50.
  So let's say somebody in the Biden White House is having second 
thoughts. I don't know if they are. Maybe they are so committed to 
their policy that facts be damned; no second thoughts on that. But 
let's say someone is. Then Joe Biden has been given a gift. He has been 
given a gift of the recent German election.
  There has been only one argument that the Biden White House has put 
forward for surrendering to Putin on this pipeline, and that is to make 
the German Government happy. It is a bad argument. It is an argument 
the Presiding Officer has rejected, that I have rejected. Virtually 
every Senator in this body, Democrat and Republican, has rejected it as 
a bad argument that hurts America, that hurts Europe, that helps Putin.
  But, for sake of argument, let's give the Biden White House the 
benefit of the doubt. Let's assume they really believe that. Well, this 
weekend gave him a gift. If the lone benefit they achieved was this 
will make the German Government happy, what do we know now? This makes 
the German Government unhappy.

  As we stand here today, the ledger of cost and benefits is very 
simple: There is one winner on the Biden-Putin pipeline, and that is 
Vladimir Putin; that

[[Page S6726]]

is Russia; that is the Russian Army. Everybody else is a loser. So I 
would say to the Biden White House they have an easy gift: Reverse 
course.
  By the way, the Biden State Department, Secretary Blinken, fought to 
impose these sanctions, and political operatives in the Biden White 
House overruled the Secretary of State.
  Secretary Blinken, you have a fabulous opportunity.
  The Secretary of State is unhappy that I have holds on nominees to 
the Department of State. The Presiding Officer is unhappy as he sends 
repeated tweets, expressing his dismay that I am using the leverage of 
a Senator to try to stop this pipeline.
  Well, I have good news: The German electorate has given you an answer 
to this problem.
  The Biden White House has an easy excuse. The German Government is 
changing. So their only benefit--to make the German Government happy--
has disappeared. If all they care about is making the German Government 
happy--if they don't care about the rest of Europe; if they don't care 
about Ukraine; if they don't care about the European Union; if they 
don't care about American jobs; if they don't care about Putin getting 
richer and stronger--if the only criterion is to make the German 
Government happy, do you know what they should do today? Sanction Nord 
Stream 2 AG. Follow the law. If they do that, I will lift the holds, 
and these nominations can proceed very, very quickly.
  The German voters have given Joe Biden a gift. The only question is 
if anyone in the White House is paying attention, if anyone wants to 
accept the gift, or are they too stubborn? They have picked their 
course, dammit, and they are going to go down with the ship even if it 
hurts America forever.
  There is still time to stop this pipeline. The question is, Does 
anyone in the White House care? I hope and pray that they do because if 
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris persist in their decision to completely and 
totally surrender to Vladimir Putin, that will harm the United States 
not for a year, not for 10 years, but for 30, 40, 50 years going 
forward.
  Mr. President, the German voters have given you a gift. You should 
take it.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2850

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I rise today to express my deep concern with 
President Biden's disregard for American freedom. President Biden's 
strong-arm push to force Americans to choose between their health and 
decisions affecting their health, on the one hand, and providing for 
their families, on the other hand, is wrong.
  I simply do not believe the Federal Government has any business 
mandating the COVID-19 vaccination for all Americans.
  Now, let me be clear. I believe that vaccines, broadly speaking, have 
provided immense benefits to society, nearly eradicating measles, 
polio, smallpox, and more in the United States.
  I have personally received the COVID-19 vaccination, as has my entire 
family, and I view the rapid development of effective COVID-19 vaccines 
as a miracle; one that safeguards the vulnerable from severe illness 
and from hospitalization.
  I believe that the FDA's expedited approval process is effective at 
efficiently reviewing and producing generally safe drugs and devices 
for Americans' use.
  Additionally, I believe the emergency use authorization can make 
drugs available to Americans more quickly, which, in some cases, can 
mean the difference between life and death.
  So even with the speed by which COVID-19 vaccines were developed and 
made available, I very much believe that they are generally safe. 
However, receiving the vaccine is a decision that Americans should make 
with all the facts in front of them, in consultation with their 
doctors, and with full consideration of their own current health 
circumstances.
  However, President Biden made his intentions clear when announcing 
his Federal mandate saying: ``This is not about freedom or personal 
choice.''
  Look, we have got to remember that anytime someone, someone who is 
serving as the President of the United States, while issuing a sweeping 
Federal mandate, insists that this is not about freedom or personal 
choice, it is. It necessarily is. It unavoidably is.
  The fact that he made this statement is troubling. The statement 
highlights the fact that the President does not understand the key 
relationship between citizens and government under our Constitution.
  Every mandate, regulation, tax, or any other government imposition 
comes necessarily at the cost of freedom and personal choice of 
Americans. It is a tradeoff we make with government. Use of 
overwhelming government power, without even considering the 
implications on freedom, is precisely why our Founders thought the 
Declaration of Independence, a revolution, and our Constitution were 
necessary.
  I have heard from many Utahans who are at risk of being unemployed if 
they choose not to get the vaccine. In fact, within the last week 
alone, my office has heard from no fewer than 144 Utahns in distress 
for this very reason.
  Allow me to share just a few of their stories:
  A young woman in Utah has two autoimmune diseases. She was told by 
her doctor that she should not get vaccinated because of her existing 
health conditions. Yet her employer has informed her that, contrary to 
her doctor's recommendations, she must get the vaccine or be fired. Get 
the vaccine or be fired, those are the only two options she is left 
with.
  A soon-to-be-mother, who has been advised not to get the vaccine 
because of her pregnancy, has been told by her employer that she must 
choose between receiving the vaccine and receiving a paycheck. Without 
her job, she will not have the means to care for her child.
  A disabled veteran, who now spends his time working for the VA 
because he loves helping his fellow veterans, has been informed that he 
must be fully vaccinated within the next 75 days or lose his 
employment. This ultimatum imposed by President Biden is making him 
choose between receiving an unwanted medical procedure, on the one 
hand, while, on the other hand, being unable to provide for his 
pregnant wife and their child.
  After businesses have weathered the economic impacts of COVID-19 and 
the corresponding shutdowns that have led to so many closures and 
bankruptcies, President Biden now wants to force employers to act as a 
sort of medical police force. They must impose a vaccine mandate on 
their workforce or be forced to pay a heavy fine.
  This mandate is constitutionally dubious--and that is putting it 
mildly--and it is not reasonable and it neglects the interests of 
business owners, families, and individuals alike.
  Look, threatening the employment of millions of Americans and making 
employers become enforcers is not how our country will return to 
normal. It is not even how you will make more people decide to get the 
vaccine. These steps will only erode meaningful relationships that 
Americans have with one another.
  The utility of such a sweeping mandate is also in question. In fact, 
a recent study from three hospitals in Israel shows that natural 
immunity was ``27 times more effective than vaccinated immunity in 
preventing symptomatic infections.''
  This mandate completely ignores existing evidence-based data lending 
credibility to the reality that millions of Americans may not need to 
be vaccinated because they have acquired natural immunity from previous 
COVID-19 illness. Further, the mandate dismisses the reality that there 
are outstanding questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine's safe 
administration to those who are immunocompromised or have certain other 
health-related concerns or how to accommodate any who may have 
objections rooted in religious or other sincerely held beliefs.
  The decision to engage in a medical procedure, you see, is personal. 
It is

[[Page S6727]]

deeply personal, and even the idea that it can be forced upon citizens 
by the Federal Government is offensive. If particular American citizens 
do not feel that the receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine is the right 
decision for them or their children, then they are entitled to that 
belief.
  A mandate by the Biden administration to be vaccinated against COVID-
19 under threat of unemployment will not quell Americans' concerns; 
instead, it will likely further erode the little trust that may 
currently exist.
  Now, I don't believe that the Federal Government has been as 
transparent as it must. In its effort to get as many people vaccinated 
as possible, it has neglected the responsibility to inform Americans of 
any adverse effects that some may have experienced. These unfortunate 
instances of harm following the administration of COVID-19 vaccines 
must be acknowledged even if they are rare.
  The fact that instances of adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines 
are not being shared with the public or even, in many cases, the 
medical community, causes me grave, grave concern. It has left those 
who have been adversely harmed with almost nowhere to turn. It has 
caused distrust in the unvaccinated that the government may have 
something to hide.
  When openly and transparently informed, I believe that each and every 
American is able to handle the responsibility of weighing the risks of 
getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated. I honestly believe that 
most Americans, after speaking to their doctors, will make the decision 
that is best for themselves, for their families, and for our country.
  Finally, while I have not seen the final regulation for President 
Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, nor do I know definitively even what 
statute he is claiming provides him with this sweeping authority, I 
highly doubt that this unilateral action is constitutional. But, 
frankly, I don't think the President cares. President Biden knows the 
effects his announcement and even a temporary regulation will have, 
even if it is later ruled unconstitutional. Even if the mandate is 
never fully or ever implemented, it still could get him what he wants.
  Businesses across the Nation are yielding before the awesome might of 
the Federal Government in complying with this Executive mandate before 
it has even legally been drafted, let alone enforced.
  According to the vague outline that President Biden's speech 
provided, a business would risk going under if even a small percentage 
of its workforce were unvaccinated at the time enforcement begins. This 
is a scare tactic--a scare tactic of the absolute worst sort--and it is 
working. People are scared, and I am here to defend them.
  Today, in this bill, the Senate has the opportunity to protect those 
in the minority, those Americans who sincerely believe, due to 
religious conviction or otherwise, that they should not receive the 
COVID-19 vaccine.
  This bill would not prevent businesses from imposing their own 
mandates or establishing rules for their own workplaces. All this bill 
would do is to ensure that the Federal vaccine mandate provides an 
exemption for Americans whose sincere beliefs prevent them from 
receiving the vaccine.
  Furthermore, nothing in Federal law provides President Biden the 
authority to institute the vaccine mandate on private-sector employers 
or on the public at large, and today Congress has the opportunity to 
rectify this situation for the American people.
  Now, I want to be clear. This is not the end of my discussion here. I 
have 12 of these bills. I will be back tomorrow and the next day, for 
as long as it takes to win the fight against this sweeping mandate.
  So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be 
discharged from further consideration of S. 2850 and the Senate proceed 
to its immediate consideration; I ask unanimous consent that the bill 
be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). Is there objection?
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this 
unnecessary bill will undermine our efforts to end a pandemic that has 
killed over 685,000 people and counting.
  We are fighting a highly contagious virus. If people don't get 
vaccinated, variants like Delta will continue to spread, undermine our 
economy, and take lives. Getting people vaccinated is one of the most 
important things we can do to stop COVID-19.
  And let's be clear. Immunization requirements are nothing new in this 
country. State and local governments and school districts have required 
vaccination against diseases like polio and measles for over a century. 
Taking similar steps against COVID is just commonsense.
  Tailored exemptions for legitimate religious and medical 
considerations already exist in current law and are included in 
President Biden's policy.
  This bill could undermine existing protections and create a massive 
loophole that would lead to more unnecessary and preventable deaths.
  It is so frustrating to know how scared people are of this virus, to 
know how many people it has killed, to know how hard people are trying 
to do the right thing and how eager they are for this to end, only to 
have Republicans offer ideas that would create political division, 
prolong this crisis, and cost more lives, so I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I want to be very clear about something. 
There are no exemptions built into the mandate because the mandate 
doesn't yet exist.
  As far as I can tell, this may be a feature and not a bug, you see, 
because he gave a speech--he gave a speech--talking about the fact that 
he was going to issue the mandate. He didn't release any legally 
operative documents, didn't even disclose his precise source of 
authority to do this--authority which I highly doubt even exists. So 
there is no document to challenge. No one can sue to challenge the 
document because the document doesn't exist.
  But businesses everywhere fear and, indeed, know that it is coming, 
and so their general counsel's offices, their human resources 
departments for employers with more than 99 employees in this country 
are scrambling to get ahead of it. Many are even adopting and some, I 
am told, are moving forward with enforcing or preparing to enforce 
those same policies. So what will happen is that those employees who 
have these sincerely held objections will be without recourse.
  Now, my friend and colleague from Washington makes the point that 
these exemptions are already there. That is a legal and factual 
impossibility because the mandate does not yet exist. The document 
isn't in there, which begs the question: If it already exists, then 
what would be her objection or anyone's objection to merely adopting a 
measure that says any such mandate, if and when it is issued, must 
contain such an exemption--an objection that my friend and colleague 
from Washington assures us already exists. It is difficult for me to 
understand how this would be objectionable.
  Without these protections, you see, President Biden is telling many 
religious minorities in the country that they need not apply for a job, 
and if they have got a job already, that that job is in jeopardy.
  Freedom to make one's own medical decisions is fundamental to our 
system of liberty. The economic impact of the mandate is going to 
hamper our economic recovery as workers are forced to make hard 
decisions.
  Here we are talking specifically about objections rooted in religious 
or other sincerely held personal beliefs. If, in fact, that exemption 
already exists, that protection is already there, which it isn't 
because it can't be because the document itself doesn't exist, then why 
not embrace it? Why not accept it? Why not acknowledge it in law?
  I struggle to imagine what harm could come from protecting religious 
minorities in this country, and I find it very discouraging and very 
distressing that this body, the U.S. Senate, wouldn't want to do 
everything we possibly could to make that happen.
  Another word about the fact that it doesn't yet exist; the mandate 
isn't there. Because it is not there, employers with more than 99 
employees around the country are being forced to

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guess as to what it might mean, and a whole lot of them are already 
preparing their own policies--in some cases, already adopting them and 
enforcing them based on their own anticipation of what the mandate may 
be. What it means as a practical matter is, you can't sue anyone. You 
can't sue any administrator in the Biden administration or elsewhere in 
the Federal Government who is going to be enforcing this because you 
don't know what they are going to be enforcing. There isn't a dispute 
ripe for adjudication in any court anywhere because we don't know what 
that is.
  For many people, this entire exercise could be rendered moot in the 
meantime, not just moot in the sense that the court would lack article 
III jurisdiction to entertain the dispute in question, but moot in the 
sense that they might lose their job, moot in the sense that they are 
going to have to face this awful Hobson's choice between maintaining 
their ability to provide for their family, on the one hand, and, on the 
other hand, receiving a medical procedure that they would deem harmful 
and objectionable based on their religious or other sincerely held 
beliefs. This is not America; this is not acceptable; and this is not 
and cannot possibly be constitutional.
  We should be able to do this.
  I am going to be back tomorrow, the next day, and as long as it takes 
to keep addressing this issue. Freedom matters, and the Constitution 
matters. President Biden has ignored them both. Thank you.