[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 208 (Thursday, December 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8876-S8881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022--Continued


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.


                          Government Spending

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, two-thirds of Americans are worried 
about inflation. About half of the middle class and 70 percent of low-
income families just told Gallup that rising prices have been a 
personal hardship for their households. That is why 67 percent of the 
American people say that Washington needs to ``cut back on spending and 
printing money,'' but here in Washington, Democrats are bound and 
determined to do just the opposite. They want to try the crazy strategy 
of inflating their way out of inflation--another massive, reckless 
taxing-and-spending spree.
  Even the most generous estimates, when the CBO has to swallow all--
all--of the Democrats' accounting gimmicks at face value, still say 
their proposal would entail $800 billion in new deficit spending over 
the next 5 years alone--over just 5 years. Outside experts who are 
allowed to reject the Democrats' obvious budget gimmicks find the real 
cost--the real cost--of their bill would actually be close to $5 
trillion. That is with a ``t''--trillion dollars. After a decade, it 
would increase deficits by $2.8 trillion, but the reckless pricetag, 
actually, isn't the only problem.
  What is remarkable is that the Democrats want to spend all these 
trillions but not leave citizens with any impressive, enduring national 
project in return. There is no Hoover Dam, Interstate Highway System, 
or Moon landing on the other side of their mountains of borrowed 
money--nothing like that. It is just a giant catalog of socialist 
mediocrity: new entitlements here, new transfer programs there, new 
ways to let bureaucrats run families' lives, and shameless--shameless--
goodies for specific interest groups that support the political left--a 
giant, muddled mess that would leave families with fewer childcare 
choices and higher costs, with fewer new prescription drugs and cures, 
with higher prices for less reliable energy. It is, literally, a 
reckless taxing-and-spending spree that hurts American families and 
actually--believe it or not--helps China.
  There are a lot of big, sweeping, radical changes in their proposal 
that would change families' lives dramatically and entirely for the 
worse. But in between the sweeping wish-fulfillment for people who call 
themselves ``democratic socialists,'' there is also a remarkable amount 
of just pure waste, absurd--literally absurd--little giveaways, and 
interest group goodies. A billion here, a billion there, and hope the 
American people won't notice if it is buried in enough bureaucratic 
gibberish.
  Here are just a few examples.
  This bill would supply billions of dollars to help colleges and 
universities indoctrinate college students with even more leftwing 
propaganda and billions more to give them made-up Potemkin jobs in a 
make-work program they are calling a Civilian Climate Corps--this at a 
time when industries already cannot find workers.
  Their bill would set aside multiple billions of dollars to put 
Federal Government employees, like IRS agents and postal carriers, into 
brandnew electric vehicles.
  Earlier this year, the Biden administration made sure that luxury 
Teslas, with a sticker price up to $97,000, were on the list for 
government procurement--$97,000 per vehicle.
  So working families might be having to choose between heating costs 
and new shoes for the kids. Oh, but don't worry, Democrats will make 
sure IRS auditors can cruise around in Silicon Valley's finest.
  Their proposal would create a huge $29 billion slush fund that 
activists are applauding as the foundation for something called--now, 
listen to this--a national green bank. Can you say Solyndra on 
steroids? An entire bank to finance pipe dreams that can't earn support 
out in the real economy.
  Separately, they are planning to spend multiple billions of taxpayer 
dollars for something the liberals are calling--listen to this one 
now--tree equity. I will let that one speak for itself.
  Of course, the Green New Deal folks aren't the only constituency 
Democrats want to pay off. This reckless taxing-and-spending spree is 
also designed to knock out all their Christmas shopping for trial 
lawyers, Big Labor bosses, Ivy League administrators, and blue-State 
millionaires, all in one fell swoop.
  There is the State and local tax carve-out, the SALT gimmick, that 
would give an extra tax cut to two-thirds of the households making a 
million dollars or more a year. Perhaps to

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make sure these reckless policies get good press, Democrats have 
included a $1.6 billion bailout for the news media. I am not making 
this up. We are essentially talking about government welfare for 
newsrooms--for newsrooms. All this, and it goes on and on and on.
  There is a new special tax break for rich universities' massive 
endowments--hundreds of millions of dollars to overhaul kids' school 
lunch menus, including making sure they are ``culturally appropriate.'' 
I guess they want to make sure that children's cafeteria trays are 
sufficiently woke.
  And goodness knows they couldn't skip over Big Labor. So the 
Democrats' plan would let working Americans' above-the-line tax 
deduction for charitable contributions expire--that goes away--but they 
would replace it with a brandnew deduction that only applies to union 
dues.
  And then there is pure pork of the old-school kind. The Speaker of 
the House tried to sneak in hundreds of millions of dollars for a 
special park in San Francisco. And the Senate Democratic leader has 
spent much trying to double the bill's funding for public housing so 
the chronically mismanaged authority in his hometown could get $40 
billion to clean up its messes.
  There is even what appears to be a $33 million kickback that is 
largely for one Democratic Congressman whose vote Speaker Pelosi 
literally had to lock down. Out of nowhere, one mostly dormant 
government Commission that is important to this particular Democrat's 
district gets a funding increase of 13,000 percent--13,000 percent. You 
heard that right, a funding increase of 13,000 percent. What a terrific 
coincidence for this particular Democratic House Member.
  So take a step back. Our colleagues' proposal isn't some big national 
leap into the 21st century; it is an endless--endless--hodgepodge of 
this nonsense: partisan back-scratching, interest group giveaways, and 
shameless--shameless--waste. And through tax hikes and inflation, 
working American families will foot the bill.
  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. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Bureau of Prisons

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, it has been a great source of debate 
over the past couple of years over a very basic question: How was 
Jeffrey Epstein able to take his own life in Federal prison on August 
10, 2019?
  Last week, we found some answers in the New York Times. It pointed 
out a series of stunning failures within the Bureau of Prisons.
  According to the Times: ``The newly obtained records offer no support 
to the explosion of conspiracy theories that Mr. Epstein's death was 
not a suicide. . . . But they do paint a picture of incompetence and 
sloppiness by some within the Bureau of Prisons.''
  That incompetence and sloppiness was evident from the moment Jeffrey 
Epstein entered the Metropolitan Correctional Center. On his intake 
screening form, Mr. Epstein was described as ``a Black male,'' with no 
prior record of sex offense convictions. A 5-second Google search would 
tell you that not only was Jeffrey Epstein White, he was one of the 
most notorious sex traffickers in recent history.
  And what about the night he died? He had already attempted suicide in 
the weeks leading up to his death, so you would think that the 
officials in the Bureau of Prisons would keep close watch over this 
potentially suicidal inmate.
  In fact, the opposite happened. Jeffrey Epstein was left alone, 
unmonitored, in his cell. The two officers on duty were allegedly 
dozing off and scrolling on their phones. And the next morning, Epstein 
was found dead with a bed sheet tied around his neck. Because of these 
failures, the survivors of Epstein's despicable crimes will never get 
to see him brought to justice.
  Six months after Epstein died, former Attorney General Bill Barr 
handpicked Michael Carvajal to lead the Bureau of Prisons. It could 
have been a new beginning for the Bureau, a chance to get to the bottom 
of widely publicized neglect and mismanagement--and to hold the 
appropriate parties accountable. But that fresh start never came 
because, since day one, Director Carvajal of the Bureau of Prisons has 
shown no intention of reforming that institution.
  Consider the case of the warden who ran the Metropolitan Correctional 
Center the night Jeffrey Epstein died. How did Director Carvajal 
respond to that warden's failure of leadership? Well, if you can 
imagine it, he actually rewarded him. Director Carvajal appointed the 
same warden to lead a different facility, the largest Federal prison in 
the United States: FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey.
  And it seems that warden hasn't learned any lessons in leadership 
since Mr. Epstein's death. Last month, an inmate in FCI Fort Dix was 
attacked from behind and stabbed in the eye.
  These are not isolated incidents. For years, the Bureau of Prisons 
has been plagued by corruption, chronic understaffing, and misconduct 
by high-ranking officials. And in the nearly 2 years since Director 
Carvajal took control of the Bureau, he has failed to address the 
mounting crises in our Nation's Federal prison system.
  It is far past time for new, reform-minded leadership in the Bureau 
of Prisons.
  A few weeks ago, the Associated Press published a breathtaking 
investigation into the Bureau. They concluded that it is a ``hotbed of 
abuse, graft and corruption, and has turned a blind eye to employees 
accused of misconduct.''
  Since 2019, more than 100 Federal prison workers have been arrested 
for, charged with, or convicted of crimes, including sexual abuse, 
murder, and introducing contraband into the prison. Altogether, these 
crimes account for two-thirds of the criminal cases against all 
Department of Justice personnel, even though BOP employees comprise 
less than a third of the workforce.
  I want to share a few of the stories from the Associated Press 
report. At one Federal prison in Mississippi, an official responsible 
for investigating the misconduct of other staff members was arrested 
for his own misconduct. He was not only accused of stalking and 
harassing his fellow employees, but he was allowed to remain in his 
position. He was even authorized to continue investigating one of his 
accusers.
  In California, a warden of a Federal women's prison was arrested and 
indicted earlier this year for molesting an inmate. He even kept lewd 
photos of the victim on his government-issued cell phone. He allegedly 
told the woman that she shouldn't even try to report the assault 
because he was ``close friends'' with the official who would 
investigate it.
  The list goes on. It is a recurring pattern of misconduct by 
officials within the Bureau of Prisons who believe they can abuse 
inmates and break the law with impunity. In some cases, that is exactly 
what they have done.
  The details in the AP investigation are shocking. And for those of us 
who have been following Director Carvajal's tenure, they are the latest 
disturbing examples of failed leadership.
  Time and again, he has categorically failed to uphold his chief 
responsibility as Director. And what is that responsibility? Protecting 
the health and safety of inmates and correctional officers.
  Today, the Bureau suffers from chronic and significant understaffing. 
Director Carvajal has failed to contain outbreaks of COVID-19, which 
has led to tens of thousands of inmates and staff contracting the 
virus. And when it comes to reforming our Federal prison system, he has 
failed.
  In 2018, congressional Democrats and Republicans came together on an 
overwhelmingly bipartisan basis to enact the FIRST STEP Act. It was a 
historic piece of reform legislation to create new pathways for prison 
inmates to better themselves while they serve their time, so they can 
return to society once released.
  Nearly 3 years later, the Bureau of Prisons still hasn't implemented 
most of these reforms.
  One example, under the FIRST STEP Act, low-risk inmates are eligible 
to earn time credits, reducing their sentences. They do this by 
completing programs designed to prevent them from committing another 
crime.
  Last month, the inspector general at the Department of Justice found 
that

[[Page S8878]]

the Bureau of Prisons has not applied these earned time credits to any 
of the approximately 60,000 eligible inmates.
  Now the Senate Judiciary Committee, which I chair, is charged with 
overseeing the Bureau of Prisons. We have tried to get answers from 
Director Carvajal and his team. We have repeatedly requested 
information.
  We have asked for details about the inmate banking system. Now, there 
is a heck of a story. It purportedly has little oversight by the Bureau 
of Prisons, has allowed inmates to avoid paying child support and 
restitution to crime victims and other obligations.
  The Bureau reportedly allowed Larry Nassar, the so-called doctor who 
abused hundreds of young gymnasts before he was sentence to life in 
prison, to spend thousands of dollars from his Bureau of Prisons 
account on himself but pay only $300 toward the debt he owes his 
victims.
  The Bureau has delayed responding to our questions--or just flatout 
ignored them.
  It is past time to replace Director Carvajal. This can't wait any 
longer. The Associated Press's investigation shows us that lives are 
literally at stake.
  I know Attorney General Garland understands the urgency. I am calling 
on him today to move immediately to dismiss Director Carvajal and to 
bring real reform to the Bureau of Prisons.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Murphy). The Senator from Texas.


                                 China

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, in my lifetime, the People's Republic of 
China has gone from a poor and isolated country to one that now 
accounts for 20 percent of global domestic product. There is no 
question that the driving force behind this dramatic shift is the 
ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist Party led by President Xi. The 
CCP's ruling strategy can best be described as win at all costs, which 
means that China never thinks twice about disregarding basic values and 
international norms. But there is no question that the most immediate 
and grave threats are against countries close to China's borders.
  Last month, I led a congressional delegation to visit the Indo-
Pacific to learn more from the people on the ground doing the hard work 
about the challenges they face and that we face in the Indo-Pacific. In 
my conversations with leaders in the Philippines, Taiwan, and India, I 
noticed they used a different vocabulary to describe China's behavior 
than what we hear in Washington, DC. They didn't just talk about 
China's ambitions; they warned of its threats of aggression. They 
didn't just share concerns about China's unification with Taiwan; they 
spoke of the potential for an invasion. They didn't just bring up human 
rights abuses; they condemned the blatant genocide committed against 
the Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China.
  Words matter, of course, and the soft lexicon that is often used to 
describe the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China 
here in the United States and particularly inside the beltway has the 
potential to create a false impression about China's objectives, and it 
plays right into their hands.
  I think we should not continue to downplay the risks to the global 
world order and to peace itself by what China is doing. This isn't just 
a government interested in competing with the United States and other 
countries by playing by the rules of the international order; the 
Chinese Communist Party is an aggressive, even belligerent and hostile 
power that has made economic gains through stealing intellectual 
property and other activities that belie its stated ambitions to become 
part of the liberal world order.
  For example, it squashes opposition by committing genocide against 
its own people and muzzling--even murdering--dissidents. China has 
literally become a police state, where the volumes of data that they 
have vacuumed up in that country and the ubiquitous technical 
surveillance that is mainly cameras that chronicle every aspect of the 
lives of their citizens and the use of things like artificial 
intelligence have allowed them to essentially control everything that 
does go on in China. And these are the same tools that they intend to 
use on other parts of the world.
  We know China has spent a lot of money developing its military 
resources. It has come a long way, while the United States and other 
countries were focused post-9/11 on the Global War on Terror. While we 
were focused on the Middle East, the PRC and the CCP wasted no time in 
rebuilding their capabilities from a military standpoint.
  And they are now aggressively claiming other parts of the region, not 
just Taiwan, but contested islands in the South China Sea that are 
claimed by Japan, by the Philippines, and other countries as well.
  Well, as I mentioned, one of the greatest looming threats in the 
region is a potential invasion of Taiwan by the People's Republic of 
China.
  Of course, as you can see, Taiwan is just a small island of about 24 
million people, just off the coast of mainland China. It is not much 
larger than the State of Maryland.
  In every possible way you can imagine, Taiwan is a stark contrast 
with China. For one, it is a true democracy. Voters go to the polls 
with the confidence that the election results are not predetermined. 
Successful businesses--and there are many of them--are built on good 
old-fashioned hard work, not government favoritism. And the people in 
Taiwan--the Republic of China--enjoy the same freedoms that we do here 
in the United States: freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of 
religion, and freedom of assembly.
  Taiwan has been a self-governing entity for more than 70 years, but 
the Chinese Communist Party falsely asserts that the island republic is 
part of its territory. Indeed, Taiwan faces China as the last outpost 
of democracy, standing watch against authoritarianism.
  Our congressional delegation met with the commander of the Indo-
Pacific Command who described the current power dynamic rather 
succinctly. He said it is not a question of if China moves on Taiwan, 
but a question of when.
  Indeed, the language we heard from our military leadership and others 
in the region was far more urgent in terms of the threat of the 
People's Republic of China against Taiwan than anything I have heard 
here in Washington, DC.
  According to our top military leaders, we have an idea how long Xi 
might wait. He himself has said that he wants to be ready by 2027. But 
there is absolutely no guarantee that President Xi and the Chinese 
Communist Party of the People's Republic of China--there is no 
guarantee they won't move at another time of their choosing.
  As I said, Taiwan is not the only nation on the CCP's list. China has 
territorial claims against a number of its neighbors. If you closed 
your eyes and just threw a dart at this region, you would likely hit 
one or more of those contested areas. Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, 
Bhutan, India--all of those countries claim sovereign territory that is 
also contested and claimed by the Chinese Communist Party of the 
People's Republic of China.
  Of course, it hasn't even been 25 years since China took control of 
Hong Kong under the ``one country, two systems'' framework. China had 
promised Hong Kong it would retain a high degree of autonomy for at 
least a half a century, but, obviously, Beijing eroded the freedoms and 
independence of Hong Kong to the point of basically hijacking that city 
and that entity.
  The Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Delhi told our delegation 
that Taiwan isn't the problem; it is a China problem. And I think he 
has a point.
  In other words, what is at stake here is much larger than the future 
of just one nation. It is the entire scope of Beijing's power and its 
ambitions in the region. Taiwan is not the final goal. It is the next 
step in a quest to reach regional dominance.
  Taiwan will likely be the first target because it has been identified 
by President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party, but it certainly won't 
be the last. I think it would be the ultimate in naivety, first, to 
think, well, this is just about Taiwan. It is not just about Taiwan. 
China will continue to threaten; intimidate; and, unfortunately, I 
think, ultimately threaten and invade its neighbors. And if that 
aggression goes unchecked, the CCP's power grab will reach further and 
further.
  Plus, I believe in the power of deterrence, what Ronald Reagan called

[[Page S8879]]

peace through strength. Nobody wants a military conflict in this 
region--nobody.
  If the CCP can attain its goals without a shot being fired, they will 
try to do that. They are already trying to do that. But the fact of the 
matter is, if the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist 
Party worked to conduct a military invasion of Taiwan, there are a 
multitude of risks of mistakes, miscalculations, and other dangers that 
could lead to a larger conflict.
  And I believe we have a responsibility in the United States to make 
sure, to the extent humanly possible, that that does not happen. We 
want peace, but we also want to stand up to the kind of aggression that 
we are seeing in practice and being threatened in the Indo-Pacific 
region. I believe that countering and first confronting the threats 
from the PRC is one of the greatest national security imperatives of 
our generation.
  Russia, obviously, is a significant power, mainly because it holds 
nuclear weapons; but it mainly tries to find places where the United 
States is having a hard time and tries to make those situations more 
challenging for us. It doesn't compare to the Chinese Communist Party 
and the PRC in terms of its regional ambitions, its attempt to project 
its power and its control over the region.

  We need to reorient the way that our country views and responds to 
this threat, and I believe that time is of the essence. As I said, some 
people have said that President Xi could wait until as late as 2027 to 
try to take Taiwan, but there is no guarantee that it couldn't happen 
earlier if they deem it an opportunity to exist for them to do so.
  The longer Beijing is treated as a reasonable, goal-oriented country 
by the international community, the more aggressive it will become. One 
seemingly small step we must take is to describe China's actions with 
accurate terms. We can't do the CCP any favor using watered-down 
euphemisms like human rights abuses when what we are really talking 
about is genocide. Here in the Senate, as we know, words are important, 
but those words need to be accompanied with action.
  We will soon vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, which 
will help us raise the issue and visibility of this potential conflict 
and raise the opportunity for deterrence in response to growing threats 
posed by China. We can do good work here on the Defense authorization 
bill to raise the cost to the PRC in the event they decided to invade 
Taiwan.
  The Defense Authorization Act includes a bipartisan bill I introduced 
with Senator Duckworth called the Taiwan Partnership Act. This bill 
would establish a formal partnership between the U.S. National Guard 
and the Taiwanese defense forces to strengthen Taiwan's preparedness.
  Should troops need to deploy quickly in the event of a crisis, they 
would be armed with the same knowledge and skills as our dedicated U.S. 
National Guardsmen. This would also help Taiwan build up much of its 
asymmetric defenses.
  The Defense Authorization Act also includes legislation I introduced 
with Senator King, from Maine, to ensure that the United States and 
Taiwan can improve defense interoperability. There shouldn't be any 
barriers to cooperating on important security measures like integrated 
air and missile defense systems.
  The Defense Authorization Act includes other provisions to increase 
defense cooperation with Taiwan and equip the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command 
with greater resources. It also ensures that the United States will 
take a stronger approach and confront the threats being made by the 
Chinese Communist Party.

  This is not a partisan issue, as you can tell. After the delegation I 
led to Taipei, it was followed on by a bipartisan coalition mainly from 
Members of the House, and I think it is absolutely critical that that 
spirit of bipartisanship and the reality of bipartisanship continues to 
exist when it comes to the threat posed by the People's Republic of 
China and the Chinese Communist Party.
  I appreciate colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have 
championed the provisions I mentioned and those who may have other 
ideas about how we can deter acts of aggression, not only against 
Taiwan but against other countries in the region when it comes to 
disputed islands and other territory.
  I want to thank Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Inhofe, and our 
colleagues on the Armed Services Committee for all the work they have 
put into this bill so far. One of our most solemn responsibilities is 
to provide for the common defense, and this is the best way to ensure 
that our national defense is prepared to meet the challenges on the 
horizon.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.


                      Nomination of Jerome Powell

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, Jerome Powell was a better choice for 
Federal Reserve Chair than Lael Brainard, but that alone is not a good 
enough reason to confirm Chairman Powell for a second term. Chairman 
Powell has presided over a series of failures at the Fed, while the 
Fed's actions during his tenure have harmed working-class Americans and 
worsened inequality. The Senate should not support his renomination.
  The core mission of the Federal Reserve from the very beginning has 
been to foster stable prices and ensure a sound currency. No one--no 
one--can seriously argue that the Fed has accomplished this mission 
under Mr. Powell's leadership. After years of reckless policy and 
months of obfuscation, inflation now exceeds 6 percent, the highest 
rate of inflation in 30 years--the highest rate of inflation in 30 
years.
  An inflationary economy rewards will-be speculators and the holders 
of large assets and debts like, for instance, the Federal Government or 
giant corporations, but it ruins responsible citizens who are just 
trying to save for their retirements or maybe their kids' colleges.
  In the worst-case scenario, the value of money can collapse, 
endangering society itself. In less catastrophic but still serious 
conditions, Americans who have played by the rules for many years, 
responsibly working and saving, see the value of their money slowly 
erode over time.
  Nearly half of all Americans have no exposure whatsoever to the stock 
market, not a single stock or mutual fund or pension--no exposure to 
the stock market. Their money is usually held in low-interest checking 
accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and cash. The 
Fed's extreme low-interest-rate policy means their thrift and prudence 
earns them nothing. In fact, it sets them back every day with this 
inflationary spiral. Money outside the stock market loses value every 
day when inflation is at 30-year highs and interest rates are near 
record lows.
  Likewise, 6 percent inflation has totally wiped out any nominal wage 
gains for workers. In fact, inflation-adjusted weekly earnings are down 
1.6 percent compared with a year ago. Real inflation-adjusted wages are 
down from last year when employers across the country report shortages 
of workers. That is because inflation is eating away at all those wage 
gains. And there is no guarantee that inflation at 6 percent is the 
ceiling.
  Still, the Fed has refused to change course even as prices rose on 
everything from groceries to gasoline. Chairman Powell insisted for 
months that the pain was only ``temporary'' or ``transitory.'' 
According to so-called ``experts,'' inflation would simply vanish once 
Pete Buttigieg sorted out the supply chains and we got the Delta 
variant under control. But after months of skyrocketing prices, 
Chairman's Powell's confidence looks not only misplaced and misinformed 
but reckless.
  This week, Mr. Powell admitted that he would retire--retire--the word 
``transitory,'' the very word he helped popularized. If only American 
families could so easily retire the devastating effects of inflation on 
their monthly budgets.
  Mr. Powell has directly contributed to this inflation. He has 
maintained the Fed's so-called emergency monetary policies a decade 
after the emergency of the financial crisis had ended. That means the 
Fed had already exhausted the normal tools of monetary policy when the 
pandemic hit last spring. It had to prop up the economy through 
unprecedented levels of government intervention. These policies,

[[Page S8880]]

while perhaps justified for a very brief period of uncertainty in the 
spring of 2020--very brief--policies which included huge purchases of 
government bonds, mortgage debt, and corporate debt--but they were not 
justified after that, just as they weren't justified before it, even as 
the Fed was continuing unparalleled levels of quantitative easing.
  As a result, the Fed's balance sheet has ballooned to $9 trillion, 
and it continues to grow by more than $100 billion a month. Nine 
trillion dollars. Let me put that in perspective. The Fed's balance 
sheet after the financial crisis barely surpassed $2 trillion.
  The chief result of these policies during the pandemic has been to 
boost asset prices, especially the stock market valuations of giant 
corporations. But the price of these gains has been inflation, which 
especially harms working-class Americans. After releasing a torrent of 
cash into the economy, it is no surprise that prices are rising in this 
flood of cheap money.
  This week, Chairman Powell testified that he might--he might--unwind 
these policies a little faster than previously planned, but even if the 
Fed follows through--and I will believe it when I see it after the last 
many years of radical emergency monetary policy--it will still be too 
little, too late.
  The simple fact is, the Fed, under Chairman Powell's leadership, has 
forced millions of American families to choose whether to pay the 
mortgage or feed their families or fill up their gas tanks, heat their 
homes, or maybe buy a couple of extra Christmas presents. That is 
failure.
  While inflation is the Fed's worst failure under Chairman Powell, it 
is not their only failure. At a time when they cannot achieve their 
core mission of price stability, they are adopting ancillary missions 
like ``woke'' activism at the Fed. The Fed has joined an international 
effort devoted to ``greening'' the financial system, whatever that 
means. Fed branches around the country are even spreading critical race 
theory, claiming that terms like ``Founding Fathers'' and ``blacklist'' 
are ``biased'' and sharing radical materials that claim that--this is a 
direct quote from some of the materials that Fed branches have shared--
``race-neutral policies uphold racism.'' Think about that. The Fed's 
core mission is to maintain price stability. While they fail on that 
mission, they are teaching their employees that race-neutral policies 
are racist.
  We might chuckle and shake our heads and have a good laugh when this 
kind of nonsense happened at Bard College or some other college campus, 
but now it is happening at the Nation's central bank, which plays a 
role in determining whether we end up rich or poor. This mission creep 
is alarming, especially when the Fed is failing to fulfill its core 
mission.
  I know many people have made excuses for the Fed, and they defended 
Mr. Powell's tenure. They said inflation was not his fault or primarily 
the Fed's fault. But it is true the Democrats have been spending 
trillions of dollars this year we don't have. But, as Bill Parcells 
said about NFL teams, you are what your record says you are. The Fed's 
record is 6 percent inflation, the worst inflation in 30 years.
  Most Americans live in a world of accountability and consequences, 
the lack of which is one of the things they hate most about Washington. 
Failure in Washington is too often rewarded. The Fed has manifestly 
failed during Chairman Powell's tenure, further skewing our economy in 
favor of the wealthy while the working class suffers. There have to be 
consequences for this kind of failure. Jerome Powell is not the right 
choice to continue to lead the Federal Reserve.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                             Senate Agenda

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
the Defense bill that is currently before the Senate and note that the 
majority leader this morning made some mention and some complaints 
about substantive, timely, and important amendments that are being 
offered by my colleagues. He was particularly agitated, it seems, about 
an amendment dealing with communist China.
  Well, the U.S. Senate has a lot of work to do by the end of the year. 
We need to fund the government. We need to prevent a shutdown. We need 
to deal with the debt ceiling. Democrats are going to need to lift 
that. We need to make sure that our troops are funded and that we deal 
with the Defense bill. These are some of the important issues that are 
before the Senate.
  Yet, here we are, near the end of the year, scrambling to get it all 
done in just a couple of weeks--no way to run the U.S. Senate. We 
haven't had an appropriations bill brought to the floor all year, and 
the Defense bill has been sitting in limbo for months.
  The Armed Services Committee actually finished marking up this bill 
in July. It is a bipartisan bill. It passed the vote in the committee 
by 23 to 3. Things don't get a lot more bipartisan than that.
  So, typically, the Senate starts working on the Defense bill and then 
negotiates over the next couple of months. We start in June. But, 
instead, we have gone months and months and months.
  We have seen the disastrous collapse and fall and withdrawal in 
Afghanistan, and yet no Defense bill to the floor of the U.S. Senate.
  So what did the Democrats try to do instead?
  Well, they pushed a very partisan agenda and brought to the floor two 
bills on election takeovers. And the Democrats also seem to be very 
obsessed with their own bill. They want to call it Build Back Better, 
something like that. I will tell you, it is a bill that is going to 
break the backs of American families.
  So now here we are, just at the deadline, and the majority leader is 
finally getting around to dealing with a bill that has to do with 
supporting the troops. It seems to me that is like a kid with a term 
paper that is due tomorrow. It is the night before, and they are going 
to start writing the term paper.
  Well, if you want to get it right, it takes a longer process than 
that. It is a long process, generally, because it is that important for 
the Nation. Every Senator wants to be involved.
  Yet, through the procrastination by the majority leader, the Defense 
bill has been delayed.
  Now, I have made the case that, frankly, national security has been a 
very low priority of this President and this administration and the 
majority party in the House and in the Senate. And the reason I say 
that, exhibit A, is the fact that the budget that President Biden 
proposed when he came into office--and let's be frank. The budget he 
proposed was a massive, supersizing of the size of the Federal 
Government--more money for this, more money for that, more money for 
everything except for two items alone. Only two items in the entire 
Federal budget came in to grow at a rate less than inflation--less than 
inflation.
  Now, what were those two items? Defense and homeland security. That 
tells me how this administration prioritizes the role of our Nation's 
security for our country.
  So, finally, we have gotten to work on this bill, and there are some 
concerns because amendments need to be voted on, debated, brought to 
this floor.
  I have introduced an amendment with the ranking member of the Foreign 
Relations Committee to sanction the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. There is 
bipartisan agreement that that pipeline needed to be sanctioned, and we 
have been fighting for that together in a bipartisan way through 
multiple administrations.
  This is Vladimir Putin's pipeline to which Joe Biden has given the 
stamp of approval. It is a weapon that Putin is going to be using to 
hold half of Europe hostage. And under what this administration has 
been doing on energy--penalizing American energy production and begging 
Putin to produce more and sell it to us--this has been a jackpot for 
Vladimir Putin.
  Our amendment would do the right thing and block this President's 
present to Vladimir Putin--a Christmas present. And this is at a time 
with

[[Page S8881]]

Joe Biden inflation that we have many Americans worrying if they are 
going to even be able to afford to buy Christmas presents. This is no 
time for our Nation to give this present to Vladimir Putin.
  The Republican Senator from Ohio has introduced an important 
amendment to provide lethal aid to Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has 100,000 
troops right now staged on the border with Ukraine. We ought to stand 
by Ukraine and pass that amendment.
  The Senator from Montana has an amendment to block Joe Biden from 
sending $400,000 to the families of illegal immigrants. An open border 
is a threat to our national security, and these payments would cause a 
mad rush if not a stampede to the country and into the country, the way 
the border has been left open.
  There are lots of important amendments, and we ought to be having a 
fair and open debate. This is supposed to be the greatest deliberative 
body in the world, and yet the majority leader has tried to cut off 
debate on some of the most important issues facing our Nation.
  Why? Because we can hear the clock ticking, that is why. He has 
dragged his feet for months, and now, he wants to force us into a mad 
dash to close this.
  Look, it is a disservice to our troops. It is a disservice to our 
allies. It is a disservice to the people of our Nation.
  And yet, this morning, the majority leader is pointing his finger. He 
came to the floor. He attacked Republicans.
  We didn't make him delay this bill for month after month after month. 
This is a choice that the majority leader has made.
  It does seem that the other Democrats have basically higher 
priorities than our Nation's defense: election takeovers, new 
entitlements, amnesty for illegal immigrants.
  It is no way to govern, no way to make important decisions, no way to 
run the U.S. Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.


                    Nomination of Brian Eddie Nelson

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to join me in 
confirming Brian Nelson to serve as Under Secretary for Terrorism and 
Financial Crimes at the Department of Treasury.
  Mr. Nelson is highly qualified. He has had years of dedicated public 
service to our country.
  Early in his career, he clerked for two distinguished Federal judges. 
He served in the National Security Division at the Department of 
Justice, first as special counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for 
National Security, later as the Division's Deputy Chief of Staff.
  In these roles, Mr. Nelson supported the development, the 
implementation, the coordination, and the review of U.S. intelligence, 
counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and national security policies.
  He went to work for the California Department of Justice, where he 
served as special assistant attorney general and then as general 
counsel to then-attorney general, now-Vice President Harris.
  He worked to combat threats like human and drug trafficking by 
prosecuting international criminals, starving them of their financial 
resources.
  As Under Secretary, Mr. Nelson will be responsible for protecting our 
financial system from terrorists, from rogue states, money launderers, 
weapons proliferators, and other criminals who threaten our national 
security.
  His nomination is another example of the Biden administration's 
serious--underline ``serious''--efforts to protect both our economy and 
our national security.
  He would take on this job at a critical time for protecting our 
country's national security, as we work to rebuild alliances abroad, 
while threats of domestic terrorism are on the rise at home.
  Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is one of 
the cornerstones of our country's efforts. That is the importance of 
this nomination of Mr. Nelson, one of our country's efforts to combat 
terrorist financing here and around the world.
  The FBI Director recently testified that racially motivated and anti-
government extremists are likely to be the biggest domestic threat this 
year and in 2022.
  Think about that. The FBI Director testified that racially motivated 
and anti-government extremists--and we remember that day so well just 
10 months ago--11 months ago. They are the likely biggest domestic 
threats to our country this year and next year.
  Mr. Nelson will be the first African American serving in this 
important national security position. When we have people in these 
roles who reflect the country they serve, we get better, more competent 
government.
  That is what always flummoxes me about hiring practices in this body 
and around the country. When you hire people that don't necessarily 
look like you, you get a better office that understands different 
perspectives. It understands better the way this country works and 
helps us to better serve the people whom we serve.
  Unfortunately, we have seen far too many of this administration's 
nominees held up for months in the nominations process. You just heard 
an example of that in the speech right before me; not because of their 
background, experience, and qualifications--those are unquestioned in 
Mr. Nelson--but for reasons completely unrelated to that nomination.
  That is what has happened here. It is the kind of partisan posturing 
the American people hate. Blocking critical national security and other 
policy nominees for months over unrelated policy issues is 
counterproductive; it is misguided; and it is wrong for our country. 
Going after human trafficking, going after drug trafficking, going 
after international criminals of all kinds isn't a partisan issue; it 
is something my Republican colleagues and I work together on all the 
time. So let's come together today and confirm Mr. Nelson, who is 
exceptionally well qualified.
  He is joined today by his wife and his son.
  I urge this body to support Mr. Nelson's nomination, getting in place 
right away an important part of our national security team.


                           Order of Business

  Mr. President, under the agreement reached by the two leaders on 
November 16, the Senate will now vote on confirmation of the Nelson 
nomination.

                          ____________________