[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 183 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7042-S7043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Border Crisis

  Mr. President, the Biden border crisis continues unabated. In August, 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 208,887 people 
attempting to illegally cross our southern border, a 318-percent 
increase from August of 2020. Now, for context, that number is bigger 
than the population of Sioux Falls, SD, the largest city in my home 
State.
  At this point, ``crisis'' is too mild of a description. Things at the 
border are out of control, and there is little to suggest that things 
will improve anytime soon as the Biden administration continues to 
permit an influx of migrant entries and has sought to install 
appointees who have lax views about enforcing our immigration laws.
  In yet another sign of how bad things are, dozens of National Guard 
members from South Dakota recently deployed

[[Page S7043]]

to our southern border. I know these South Dakotans are always ready to 
serve wherever and whenever they are needed, and I am grateful for 
their service.
  You would think that the border crisis would be at the top of the 
Democrats' priority list here in Washington, DC, particularly when they 
have to call in the National Guard from States around this country, but 
you would be wrong. In fact, the border crisis seems like barely a blip 
on the Democrats' radar, and it is not the only crisis they are 
ignoring.
  Our national security situation is taking a giant step backward with 
the President's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and the Taliban 
takeover of Afghanistan. Here at home, inflation is becoming a serious 
and a long-term, not a temporary, problem. Americans' purchasing power 
is shrinking as they have to stretch their paychecks to cover increases 
in everything from the price of groceries to the high price of 
gasoline.
  But none of that really seems to matter to Democrats. Their main 
priority seems to be forcing through a $3.5 trillion partisan tax-and-
spending spree that would permanently expand the reach of government 
into Americans' lives.
  Where to start when it comes to Democrats' tax-and-spending spree? 
Well, there are tax hikes that would put American businesses at a 
disadvantage on the global stage and shrink jobs and opportunities for 
American workers. There is a death tax expansion that could put a lot 
of family farms and businesses in jeopardy. There are the major new 
entitlements--free college, free preschool, subsidized daycare, paid 
leave. Yes, one of the major existing entitlement programs, Medicare, 
is rapidly heading toward insolvency. Yet, instead of shoring up that 
program, Democrats are expanding entitlements and putting the 
government on the hook for an unsustainable level of spending.
  Then there are items that get less attention, but they are just as 
troubling. Traditionally in the United States, individuals have picked 
the winners and losers through the free market, but the more you insert 
government into economic and family life, the more government ends up 
being the one making the decisions. Government ends up picking the 
winners and the losers.
  Take the Democrats' childcare benefit. A 2020 Bipartisan Policy 
Center survey found that among working families who used center-based 
childcare, 53 percent used a faith-based center--53 percent. But now 
Democrats are coming in with their childcare subsidies and in the 
process changing decades-old childcare funding programs to favor 
secular childcare providers who provide care at daycare centers. So if 
you are one of the 53 percent who chooses a faith-based provider for 
your child, you could be out of luck, not because you changed your 
childcare preferences but simply because Democrats have set up their 
benefit to favor secular center-based childcare providers.
  Democrats are repeating this pattern of picking winners and losers 
throughout their bill. Labor unions win under this bill. Democrats have 
included a special benefit that would expressly allow union members to 
deduct their union dues on their taxes. Meanwhile, nonunion workers can 
expect to pay their usual tax bills. You only get special privileges if 
you are a union member. If you are one of the 90 percent of American 
workers who don't belong to a union, then you are not going to see say 
help as they subsidize the dues of those who do belong to a union. I 
guess Democrats want to make sure that they get those union votes to 
come out at election time.
  Of course, that is not the bill's only benefit for unions. There is 
funding for electronic voting systems for union elections and 
incentives to purchase an electric car from a union factory.
  Unions, of course, are not the only winner. Electric vehicle 
manufacturers, for one, also win. The bill clearly endorses electric 
vehicles as the--the--climate change solution for the transportation 
sector. Other clean energy technologies--notably, biofuels--take a back 
seat in this bill.
  I could go on all day when it comes to the spending priorities in 
this bill, like the fact that the bill dedicates more than $200 
million--$200 million--to urban agriculture. That is right--urban 
agriculture. I am not saying that you can't have a garden if you live 
in a city, but urban gardens are never going to produce the volume of 
food needed to feed our country, and anyone who thinks they will 
doesn't know much about agriculture, which may be the problem here.
  Democrats' tax-and-spending spree reads like the product of too much 
socialist daydreaming and not enough time spent learning about how 
things like agriculture, energy, and economies actually work. Speaking 
of which, I haven't mentioned the Democrats' tree equity measure--yes, 
tree equity. Democrats have allowed $3 billion prioritized for what 
they recently referred to and have been referring to as tree equity. 
Now, I support and encourage planting trees, but I don't think the 
Federal Government can afford to spend $3 billion on tree equity, 
especially when Democrats are planning to spend $200 million--yes, $200 
million--for a park in House Speaker Pelosi's district that features 
luxury housing and a golf course and provide tax benefits for Ivy 
League universities and other well-funded colleges, including a new tax 
credit for higher education institutions for teaching ``environmental 
justice'' programs.
  Then there are the tax credits for electric bicycles--bicycles that 
can cost up to $8,000. It may be just me, but if you can afford an 
$8,000 bicycle, I am not sure you need a tax credit for it from the 
Federal Government.
  Then, of course, Democrats are planning to provide billions of 
dollars to fund a Civilian Climate Corps to provide government jobs for 
climate activists and $20 billion for the creation of a National 
Climate Bank to fund Democrats' pet environmental projects.
  Now, as you can see, this list goes on and on and on. The more you 
read the Democrats' bill with its massive expansion of government and 
historic tax hikes and its payoffs to liberal constituencies, the more 
you realize that there is pretty much no area of life the Democrats 
think wouldn't be better run by the Federal Government.
  But my fellow Republicans and I still believe in a vibrant, private 
economy, and in the right of individuals and families to run their 
lives as they see fit. So we will continue to oppose Democrats' social 
spending spree, and continue to fight to secure a future of prosperity, 
opportunity, and freedom--freedom--for each and every American.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I and Senator 
Cornyn be able to complete our remarks prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.