[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 171 (Thursday, September 30, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6810-S6815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Emily Spain

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have already telegraphed my pitch here, 
but I rise today to thank from the bottom of my heart the woman who has 
spent nearly two decades serving in this institution, and luckily for 
me, nearly 13

[[Page S6811]]

of those years have been spent as a member of my team.
  Emily Spain has written many speeches like the one I am about to 
give, Mr. President, but today I have the privilege of giving a very 
special speech thanking Emily for her great service.
  Emily may have been born and raised in California, but she has become 
an honorary Delawarean, and we are so proud to have had the blessing of 
her service and her friendship.
  Anybody would be hard-pressed to find others who have been able to do 
all the things that Emily has done. She has helped to win campaigns, 
including a number of mine.
  She has worked in the House of Representatives for her hometown 
Congresswoman, Lois Capps, whom the Presiding Officer served with, I 
believe, in the House.
  She has helped to pass historic legislation that improved the lives 
of millions of Americans, like the Affordable Care Act. When people ask 
me what I am proudest of that I have worked on in the U.S. Senate, I 
always say the extension of healthcare to millions of people who 
otherwise wouldn't have it, through the Affordable Care Act. Without 
Emily's support, I am not sure that it would have become law.
  She has served not only as our communications director but also as 
our legislative director and as our chief of staff. For folks who are 
not familiar with Washington, DC, that may not sound like maybe a lot, 
but in this game, in this business, it is a hat trick. It is a hat 
trick. You don't often find someone as talented or, frankly, as 
tireless as Emily Spain.
  Many of my colleagues know this about me, but I like to start my days 
off by going for a run or going to the YMCA in Wilmington for a 
workout, and then I head to the train station, the Biden Station, and 
jump on a train and come down here and come to work with all our 
colleagues. I am used to having a pretty full day of meetings and 
committee hearings and votes and events. And then almost every night, I 
go back to Union Station and climb on a train and take the train in the 
opposite way, back to Biden Station in Wilmington. It is a full day 
every day. I enjoy it because I like to be busy, and I like to get 
things done.
  Well, let me just say, in terms of getting things done, I have met my 
match--fortunately, I met her about 15 years ago--because the person 
who always, without fail, demonstrates more energy in her small finger 
than I do in my whole body is Emily Spain. It is incredible. It is 
incredible. Her tenacity, her strength, her conviction--this woman is 
literally tireless and somehow manages to get it all done and more.
  She has an incredibly demanding job managing a staff of nearly 50 
people between our DC offices and my three offices back in the State of 
Delaware.
  Dealing with the latest in Congress often requires, as the Presiding 
Officer knows, one's attention 24/7 and especially of late. On top of 
all that, she is raising a young family and managing to give back to 
her community in ways big and small. Ask anyone who knows Emily--her 
energy is boundless, and you will never hear her complain--never hear 
her complain. She dives in headfirst to whatever task is before her, 
and she just gets things done.
  I know the Presiding Officer feels this way, but I love to be 
surrounded by people who are good at getting things done. I always like 
to be surrounded by people who are smarter than me. That is not a high 
bar for me, but for others, it probably is. But she is smart as a 
whip--smart as a whip.
  I also consider myself a glass-half-full kind of person. My wife 
likes to say I am an eternal optimist, and Emily and I share that trait 
too. I think it is easy for people to come to Washington and, maybe 
after a couple years here, become cynical, maybe even jaded. That has 
never happened with her, even after all these years--not Emily. She 
always sees the best in other people. She always sees the potential for 
what could be in a person or in a piece of legislation, and if a bill 
can be made better, Emily will give it all that she has to make it 
happen.
  If an intern in our office wants advice on how to succeed on Capitol 
Hill, Emily will take an hour out of her incredibly busy day to help 
that intern. If partisan politics are getting in the way of getting 
things done, Emily is not afraid to cross the aisle, make a connection, 
and get something over the finish line.
  There is a reason that, when I walk around the Capitol with Emily, 
she is the one people recognize and say hello to, and that is because, 
from staff to Senators alike, Emily has an incredible ability to 
connect with people from all walks of life. No matter how busy she may 
be, she always takes the time to really listen to others. She is a 
really good listener. My father used to say: God gives us one mouth and 
two ears; we should use them in that relation. And she is a great 
listener.
  Many people in this town will offer to help, but far fewer actually 
mean it. People say: If I can ever be of help, let me know. When Emily 
says that, you know she means it. She always follows through. No matter 
how much success she had throughout her career, no task was ever too 
small for her to take on. She is a team player in the best sense of the 
word, through and through. She is always willing to jump in and lend a 
hand to whoever might need it, whether that means negotiating an 
infrastructure deal or helping to put binders together.
  The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said:

       You can disagree without being disagreeable.

  Emily is proof of that, living proof of that.
  She believes fiercely that climate change is the greatest challenge 
of our lifetime; that every American deserves quality, affordable 
healthcare; and that every child, no matter what their ZIP Code may be, 
should have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. She has 
spent her time in Congress fighting--fighting to advance those policies 
without fighting with others.
  She has a great deal of reverence for this institution and for her 
colleagues, no matter their political affiliation. She is respected and 
beloved by people on both sides of the aisle. That is why I say--
sitting here for a number of minutes before we were brought back into 
session, I had the opportunity to get recognized and give these 
remarks. It is interesting how many people came up to her, Senators and 
staff alike, to say hello and to thank her and to wish her well. She 
treats people with respect, and she earns their respect in return.
  Our country could use a lot more Emily Spains these days, and I 
believe she is an example to anyone--to anyone--who may have hopes of 
having a career in public service and a career in political life as 
well.
  There is no doubt that Emily has had enormous professional success, 
but I know that her most important job has always been and I think 
probably always will be being a wonderful mom to Jack and Emma Spain. 
And the days they come to our office are some of the happiest days of 
the week.
  Over the last decade, Emily has spent a great deal of time in 
Delaware. She has gotten to know my family. My wife Martha and I have a 
couple sons of our own, Ben and Christopher. I have been lucky to get 
to know Emily's husband Ken and have gotten a chance to know their 
children. They are wonderful children, young children, just kids whom 
any mom or dad would be delighted to be able to call their own. Family 
is important to both Emily and to me. She has always gone out of her 
way to make sure that what we call Carpertown--that is the extended 
Carper team family--is a family-friendly place. It is always a good day 
when Jack Spain comes in and tells us about his latest baseball game, 
and we find Emma coloring in Emily's office.
  At our annual Carper holiday Christmas party, there is now a table 
filled with gingerbread houses to decorate and all kinds of arts and 
crafts, and that is because of Emily. She knows it is not enough to 
just say that we value family; she walks the walk. She makes sure that 
our policies reflect our priorities, and for that and many other 
things, I am very, very appreciative.
  For folks who may not be all that familiar with the work or the role 
of chief of staff, Senate chief of staff, and a full-time mom, let me 
just tell you, neither one is easy. Put them together, and they are 
really hard. But no matter what the circumstances, she has risen to the 
challenge in both roles--in both roles--without fail.
  I just want to note that Emily has led our office under particularly 
difficult conditions and has done so with

[[Page S6812]]

grace and compassion. Her tenure included, among other things, two 
impeachments; an attack on this very building on January 6 of this 
year; an unprecedented global pandemic, the worst in 100 years; and the 
worst economy since the Great Depression.
  There was no handbook for how to handle any of these things, let 
alone all of them at once. There was no guide to show her how to keep 
our office firing on all cylinders in remote settings so that we could 
keep our staff safe while also helping the people of Delaware when they 
needed that help the most. There was certainly no instruction manual to 
help her console our staff during an insurrection at this place of 
work. I know these were challenges that Emily never anticipated when 
she took on this role--none of us could have anticipated these 
challenges--but I am immensely grateful that she was the leader on our 
team during such turbulent and trying times.
  You know, one of the glories of knowing someone like her is, she has 
had the compassion, as we have gone through this pandemic this year, to 
literally call just about everybody on our team in Delaware and our 
offices here, our three offices in Delaware and the folks who work 
here, including the members of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that I 
have been privileged to help lead, and to make sure that they are doing 
OK, that they and their families were doing OK as we go through this 
pandemic. That is the mark of a great and wonderful human being and a 
great leader.

  There was, again, no guide to show her how to keep our office firing 
on all cylinders in a remote setting so that we could keep our staff 
safe while also helping the people of Delaware with what they needed 
the most. And there was certainly no instruction manual to help her 
console the staff during the insurrection of this place of work, right 
here in this building. I know these were challenges Emily never 
anticipated when she took on this role, but I am immensely grateful 
that she is, again, the lead and one on our team during such critical, 
turbulent, and trying times.
  I will close with this. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank 
Jack and Emma--son and daughter of Ken and Emily Spain--for sharing 
your mom; and Ken for sharing your wife with all of us for these years. 
I know it has been a lot of early mornings and probably more late 
nights than you want to think about, and some unexpected things over 
too many weekends. But what we love to call Carpertown is better for 
your mom's dedication, your wife's dedication to this job and the 
people of Delaware, and I think the country is better off because of 
her dedication.
  I want to sincerely thank Emily for her service to the Senate, to the 
country, and to the people of Delaware. Sometimes it is hard to really 
know that we have made a difference, but I can assure Emily and her 
family that she has. She has left her mark on 513 Hart. That is where 
we have been for 20 years--all 20 years since I have come here--and 
made her mark on 515 Hart and on the First State, and she will be 
sorely missed.
  In the Navy, when people do an especially good job--I have had the 
privilege of serving for, I guess, 23 years all in, plus midshipman 
before that. And we have a saying that we like to--when people do an 
extraordinary job, do a terrific job, we say: Bravo Zulu. Bravo Zulu.
  And I will say to Emily over and over again: Bravo Zulu. I probably 
say it just about every day of her service. But thank you for a 
remarkable, remarkable congressional career that has been an 
inspiration to me and, I know, all of Delaware that you served.
  When people are ready--in the Navy, when they are ready to weigh 
anchor and sail off to their next chapter or their next adventure, we 
say these words: Fair winds and following seas.
  So I will say those today to Emily and her family, and I say those 
words with reluctance but also with joy that comes from having been 
able to know her, to work with her, and to get to know her and her 
family.
  We are lucky in life when we get the chance to work with people who 
push us to be the best versions of ourselves, who make our loads 
lighter, and who bring us people from all walks of life. Joy. Joy every 
day.
  And I am very lucky--we are very lucky in our team that Emily Spain 
has, in my case, let me work for her for all these years, and she has 
kept me on the payroll and, in no small way, helped make sure that I 
stay on the payroll here to be able to do all these things together.
  But Em, we will miss you, but we wish you and the Spain family 
nothing but the best.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). The Senator from Iowa.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 535

  Ms. ERNST. Madam President, the time is now. We need a memorial to 
the fallen heroes of the Global War on Terror, and the memorial should 
be in its rightful place on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
  On Tuesday, I spoke with a group of nearly 30 Gold Star families who 
lost their loved ones during our Nation's longest war. Their stories of 
heartache and sacrifice inspire me to continue fighting for this 
important memorial.
  The overwhelming theme on that call was this: the time is now to get 
the Global War on Terrorism Memorial built on our National Mall.
  And it is with that in mind that I come to the floor again to ask the 
Senate to join me in honoring our veterans, our Gold Star families, and 
fallen heroes by supporting my bipartisan legislation, the Global War 
on Terrorism Memorial Location Act.
  I believe our Nation has a responsibility to properly honor and pay 
tribute to our veterans, including those who have served in the longest 
conflict in the history of the United States. The Global War on 
Terrorism Memorial belongs on our National Mall, in the same place as 
the memorials that honor the heroes of earlier conflicts, like Korea 
and Vietnam.
  This memorial, which has bipartisan support, will serve as a 
permanent reminder of the eternal gratitude of all of America.
  As a fellow veteran of the Global War on Terrorism and a friend and 
advocate for our Gold Star families, I firmly believe that placing this 
memorial anywhere but the National Mall is absolutely unacceptable.
  We have an opportunity for bipartisanship right here with this bill. 
So let's join together and show the country that the U.S. Senate will 
honor the sacrifice and properly memorialize the service of the brave 
men and women who fought and died to protect and defend the Nation 
since the beginning of the Global War on Terror. It is the least we can 
do for those who have given so much.
  I ask you today to support my mission, to build a memorial to empower 
those who answered the call to serve in the Global War on Terror, who, 
for so long, protected us and allowed us to enjoy the freedoms that we 
have to this very day.
  This memorial is ready to go, so let's get it built on our National 
Mall in Washington, DC, where it belongs.
  Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be 
discharged from further consideration of S. 535 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. Is there objection?
  The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, reserving the right to object, last 
week, Senator Ernst asked unanimous consent to bypass the committee 
process and pass her bill. At the time, I committed to work with her 
and that we would schedule this bill for a vote at the next Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee legislative markup.
  That commitment remains. In fact, we are fulfilling it. In fact, just 
this morning, both of our staffs were on the National Mall walking 
through potential sites with the National Park Service and 
representatives from the Foundation to get a better understanding of 
the issues associated with the locations proposed in Senator Ernst's 
bill.
  My goal is to get this memorial built as quickly as possible. I was 
the proud lead Democratic sponsor of this legislation to authorize 
construction of the National Global War on Terrorism Memorial 4 years 
ago and remain just as

[[Page S6813]]

supportive and committed to seeing the memorial built today as I was 
then.
  It is important that we commemorate and honor the members of the 
Armed Forces who served on Active Duty and supported the Global War on 
Terrorism. The original legislation authorizing construction of the 
Global War on Terrorism Memorial required that the memorial be located 
and designed in accordance with the Commemorative Works Act.
  The Senator's bill is now proposing to waive a key provision in that 
law. I am concerned that trying to legislatively force a memorial into 
the Reserve area of the National Mall will result in a more contentious 
approval process that will take longer to get the memorial built than 
staying with the process that applies to all of our memorials.
  I restate my commitment to keep working with Senator Ernst and to 
schedule a vote on this bill at the Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee's next legislative business meeting so that committee members 
can weigh in, which is the process, on with what the appropriate policy 
should be.
  Again, I remain a very strong supporter of the Global War on 
Terrorism Memorial, and I believe that all of our colleagues on the 
Republican and Democratic side feel the same. The National Park Service 
should give it the highest priority, and they will, in finding an 
appropriate site.
  But the memorial should be built following the same process--the same 
process--that applies to all of our memorials and commemorative works. 
I will continue to work with my friend and colleague from Iowa, but I 
must respectfully object to the unanimous consent request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. Madam President, I just want to come forward and thank the 
Senator for the progress that is being made on the location for the 
Global War on Terrorism Memorial, and I will continue to pursue this. I 
think it is important to do that. I remain committed to the families of 
those who have fallen, as well as the many servicemembers who have 
served across the spectrum in the Global War on Terror.
  I understand that many decades ago an act was put in place by 
Congress which limited activity on the National Mall, but 
understanding, since that time, we have seen many memorials and many 
monuments that have been placed on the Reserve on the National Mall.
  And so I am asking that, as Congress, we move forward quickly on this 
act. We have been working on this for a number of years. We need to 
move quickly and provide a time of healing for our Nation after we are 
closing the Global War on Terror.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. First of all, I want to thank the total commitment and 
dedication that my friend from my Iowa has; the same as, I think, all 
of us have. But on that, since 2003, when Congress acted about 
basically putting a moratorium on the Mall so the Mall would be 
preserved for all of us to enjoy, there were some that were still 
pending but were allowed to complete. There has not been any new 
approved since 2003.
  But we have a process, and I respect that, and I am going to work as 
hard as I can to make sure that that process is going to be honored and 
we go through it in our markup and everyone have input on it. And I 
think that is the proper way for us to proceed.
  And I appreciate the Senator working and understanding and working 
with us. Right now, we just have to continue to do what we are doing 
and let this process basically go forth as quickly as possible. That is 
my commitment, and I will honor that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2843

  Mr. LEE. Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Committee on HELP be discharged from further 
consideration of S. 2843 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. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, reserving the right to object, this is 
outrageous. On September 27, there were over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases 
and over 1,000 COVID-19 deaths in our country; and yet, the next day, I 
had to come to the Senate floor to explain why undermining our efforts 
to end this pandemic would be reckless. And now, 2 days, with thousands 
more cases and deaths later, I have to do it again. And this is the 
second time today Republicans have tried to do something like this.
  This virus has killed over 685,000 people in our country. And if 
people do not get vaccinated, variants like Delta will continue to 
spread, undermine our economy, and take lives.
  So why in the world, for the second time in a week, do I have to come 
down here and explain to some of my Republican colleagues that 
weakening one of our strongest tools to fight this virus is a dangerous 
and deadly idea?
  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. So I hope we can stop with this political 
theater and focus on ending this pandemic, rebuilding our economy, and 
keeping people alive.
  I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, immunizations are nothing new. To a degree, 
immunization requirements might not be new, but sweeping immunization 
mandates issued by a single individual within the Federal Government--
that is, the President of the United States--are entirely new, entirely 
unprecedented, entirely unfounded, and dangerous to our constitutional 
order, to say nothing of its tendency to discourage those who have been 
reluctant to get the vaccine from getting one.
  So I have returned to the Senate floor today, for the third time this 
week, to express my profound objections to that sweeping mandate--to 
President Biden's sweeping, promised, and still inchoate vaccine 
mandate--and to offer legislation that this body could have passed 
right now; that it could have passed in order to protect countless 
Americans from this Federal intrusion.
  Now, look, the Federal Government has no legitimate role mandating 
COVID-19 vaccination for all Americans. In fact, the President of the 
United States has acknowledged that. It doesn't have that role. It 
doesn't belong to this government. Yes, there have been vaccine 
mandates in the past. They have never been from the Federal Government, 
directed at the entire country.
  During a really difficult time, economically and otherwise, in which 
inflation and the jobs market are causing a whole lot of businesses 
around the country to have to close their doors, President Biden has 
announced that he is going to enforce this mandate with a really hefty 
fine. Each incidence of a business not fulfilling the mandate could 
cost a business $14,000. President Biden, under the threat of massive 
punishment, is co-opting businesses to enforce his mandate. They will 
have to police their workforce's personal medical decisions and order 
the receipt of a vaccination or, alternatively, be forced into 
bankruptcy.
  Now, some on the other side of the aisle think that the President's 
punishment doesn't go far enough. In fact, in the reconciliation bill 
draft currently being circulated on the other end of the Capitol in the 
House of Representatives, Democrats are pushing to increase the fine to 
$70,000 per violation.
  Look, unvaccinated Americans are not the enemy; they are not the 
virus; and they are certainly not the enemy. Some are frontline doctors 
and nurses and other healthcare professionals who worked overtime 
throughout the pandemic, throughout the darkest of the dark hours of 
the pandemic, treating patients and saving lives.
  Others are workers whose industries were deemed essential and who 
showed up to work to ensure Americans kept having access to food and 
electricity and other essential items and services. Others still are 
simply neighbors, family members, and other loved ones who

[[Page S6814]]

have supported friends, families, and entire communities as Americans 
as a whole struggled through quarantines, shutdowns, financial 
difficulties, and social isolation.
  Let me reiterate, as I have said many times before and I will 
continue to repeat: I believe the vaccine's development is nothing 
short of a miracle. It is an answered prayer. I have been fully 
vaccinated, as has every member of my family, with my encouragement. 
But we certainly should not be forcing employers, through the Federal 
Government, without congressional authorization or constitutional 
authority, putting employers in a position where they have to fire some 
of their most valuable and now increasingly hard-to-find workers.
  We shouldn't be threatening business owners with closure simply 
because they don't have any desire to police their workforce's personal 
medical decisions. That is not who we are as a country. I don't care 
whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent or a 
Libertarian; Americans, as a whole, don't believe that that is who we 
are. We are not into that kind of draconian micromanagement associated 
with a nanny state, nor are we into the excessive accumulation of power 
in the hands of a few or, even worse, in the hands of one person. Many 
simply cannot incur the cost of this enforcement--certainly not in this 
economy.
  Additionally, this fine really amounts to a tax. It is government 
revenue collected from the American people, and the Constitution has a 
thing or two to say about how revenue bills must be enacted. The 
Constitution does not vest any taxing or, for that matter, any other 
revenue raising or fining authorities in the President alone--no. This 
is a power that is reserved to the people's representatives in Congress 
who are charged with precisely that responsibility. We have exclusively 
that authority, and that authority is not to be exercised by the 
President of the United States.
  It is no accident that the Founding Fathers, through the 
Constitution, put this power in the hands of those people occupying 
positions in the branch of government most accountable to the people at 
the most regular intervals and in no one else within our government.
  President Biden's mandate would impose really significant costs on 
Americans and on American businesses and on our Nation's economy that 
is already in some really rough times.
  Look, it is unconstitutional. It hasn't been passed by Congress. It 
is wrong for America. And that is why, today, as I did yesterday and 
the day before, I came here to offer a proposal that, if enacted, as we 
could have enacted it today, it would protect Americans from some of 
the most disastrous effects of the mandate.
  While I believe the mandate will, I am quite certain, eventually be 
invalidated in court, it is going to take some time for us to get there 
because right now we don't even have the mandate itself; we just have 
the threat of the mandate. And it is the imminent apprehension of the 
mandate's eventual issuance that is causing HR departments and general 
counsel's offices in corporate America throughout this country today to 
scurry to try to get ahead of the curve, develop their own policy, so 
that they are in compliance as of day one when the mandate hits.
  But, in the meantime, there is nothing to sue. There is no one to sue 
because there is no final Agency action. There is no order in place. 
There is just the threat of it.
  This, I fear, is a feature, not a bug, because by the time we 
actually have something on which to sue and by the time lawsuits are 
brought, by the time that litigation works its way to its natural 
conclusion--which, I believe, inevitably, culminates in a finding that 
it is invalid; it is unconstitutional; it is not warranted by law--
months, if not years, will have elapsed, and a lot of the damage will 
be done.
  So, until that day--until that day I consider inevitable when a court 
rules that this is unlawful--these bills like the one that I have 
offered today can provide businesses and the American people with the 
certainty that they need to make their own decisions.

  My bill that I have offered up today, the No Taxation Without 
Congressional Consent Act, would prohibit OSHA and other executive 
branch Agencies in the Federal Government from imposing fines, fees, or 
taxes with respect to these mandates. It would protect our 
constitutional order by requiring that revenue measures be voted on by 
Congress, the branch of government most accountable to the people and 
the only branch of government empowered to enact such policies. The 
other two branches cannot.
  As I mentioned yesterday, the people concerned about this mandate are 
everyday Americans. I have now heard from 158 Utahns who are at risk of 
losing their jobs due to the mandate, and that number continues to grow 
every day. They are not our enemies; they are our neighbors. Many of 
them have been advised by board-certified doctors that they ought to 
not receive the vaccine. We shouldn't be punishing them or forcing them 
into second-class status.
  So today we have a choice. I hope that, at some point, my colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle will allow us to provide this certainty 
and peace of mind to those individuals and businesses at risk of 
suffering under the mandate.
  We can defend Congress's role as the branch of government that 
determines how and from whom revenue is to be raised. Not only can we 
do that, but we have an obligation to do that. We have all sworn an 
oath to uphold and protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
States, and that document doesn't give the President this power. In 
fact, that document precludes, it prohibits the President from 
exercising this power in the absence of congressional authorization, 
which we have not provided.
  So this bill, one of a dozen that I have submitted, could have passed 
this body today. I wish, for the sake of millions of concerned 
Americans, that it had, but regardless of this result today and of the 
objection that precluded it from passing the Senate today, I am going 
to continue to fight. I will keep coming back for as long as it takes 
in order to end this egregious and legally baseless and 
unconstitutional mandate.
  I find it interesting that my friend and colleague, the distinguished 
Senator from the State of Washington, referred to this as 
``outrageous,'' as outrageous that we would be attempting to put in 
place protections for those Americans who are going to be victimized by 
the vaccine, who are going to have to choose between, on the one hand, 
receiving a medical procedure that they don't want and, on the other 
hand, being fired. Nobody should have to choose between submission and 
financial ruin. They especially shouldn't have to do that under the 
direction of an invalid, unconstitutional directive by the Federal 
Government.
  She also referred to what she described as ``our efforts,'' ``our 
efforts to end this pandemic.'' This isn't about whether we want to end 
the pandemic. There is not a single person--Democrat, Republican, 
Independent--in this Chamber or in the other Chamber--I am not sure I 
know a single American anywhere who wouldn't want to end this pandemic. 
This is not the pandemic. This is not going to end the pandemic. If 
anything, this will cause more people to be more reluctant to get the 
very vaccine that they are wanting to encourage others to provide.
  This is not about that. The minute we lose control of the government 
that is supposed to work for us, the minute we start to erode, 
willfully, even for those who might be convinced that it is good 
policy--and I would disagree with them on that. The minute we decide to 
give this power to the President of the United States and stand 
silently as he usurps authority that under article I, section 7, and 
article I, section 8, plainly belongs only to Congress, to the extent 
we have any business operating in this area to begin with as a Federal 
Government, which we do not--then we have simultaneously undermined 
both the vertical protection that we call federalism and the horizontal 
protection we call separation of powers.
  Now, lest anyone might be left with the impression that this would be 
an esoteric or academic exercise or that that is not something that 
affects their freedom--there are those who would make that suggestion--
they are sorely mistaken. You see, because anyone, anywhere can have a 
Bill of Rights.
  In fact, as the late Justice Antonin Scalia used to point out, any 
``tin horn

[[Page S6815]]

dictator'' around the world can have a Bill of Rights. And most of them 
do. Many of those Bills of Rights are scintillating documents; they are 
glowing in terms of their expression of individuality and the right of 
each human to exist and flourish. They will articulate a list of rights 
that is, in some cases, comparable to, if not even more protective of, 
individual liberty than our own Bill of Rights.
  Yet, as Justice Scalia continued, whether or not that Bill of Rights 
or any Bill of Rights is worth more than the paper that it is printed 
on ultimately rests on whether there are protections in place that 
guard against the dangerous accumulation of power in the hands of the 
few. That is what makes that difference.
  So if we allow a President today to adopt whether you want to call it 
a tax or a fine or whatever revenue-raising tool that you choose to 
identify this as being, the President doesn't have the power to impose 
that. That is a legislative function.
  Article 1, section 7 is very clear: You cannot enact legislation, 
including any legislation collecting revenue from the citizenry without 
passage in the House, passage in the Senate, and presentment to the 
President of the United States. He can't do it alone.
  That is what this is about. This is about so much more than just this 
vaccine mandate. But this vaccine mandate in and of itself is wrong. It 
is unconstitutional. It is harmful, and it has a tendency to undermine 
the very interest the President purports to be advancing.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.