[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 13 (Thursday, January 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S358-S359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Today marks exactly 1 year since President Biden 
became our fourty-sixth President. This all-Democratic government has 
had 365 days to start delivering on some of their core promises.
  So what were those promises, in their own words? ``Crushing the 
virus,'' ``strengthen[ing] our alliances,'' and, above all else, 
``lower[ing] the temperature'' and reuniting a divided country.
  Remember, upon taking office, this administration had historic 
tailwinds at its back. President Biden inherited lifesaving vaccines 
and a distribution system that was already up and running. He inherited 
a string of bipartisan rescue packages, including one that was only 
just a few days old. He inherited an economy that was prime for a 
roaring comeback. Those were the promises. That was the inheritance.
  So let's take a look at the progress report. Last spring, against 
expert advice, the Biden administration dumped another mountain of 
borrowed cash on an already white-hot economy. As a result, we are now 
being hammered by the worst inflation in 40 years. Practically 
everything families need and want have gotten much, much more 
expensive. Constant shortages disrupt family shopping. Households are 
being hit with soaring heating costs if they stay home and soaring gas 
prices if they go out. Our economic trajectory looks shakier today than 
it did when Democrats were sworn in.
  Of course, we have continued adding back jobs from COVID lockdowns. 
That was certainly going to happen. But job creation has massively 
underperformed Democrats' own projections for job creation with their 
super costly springtime stimulus package.
  When 2021 was said and done, the country had added roughly the same 
number of jobs that we were on track to create before Democrats 
implemented one policy or spent one dime. They managed to literally 
blow $1.9 trillion but only barely beat the starting trajectory they 
inherited.
  They call that spending a COVID package, but less than 10 percent of 
the money went to the actual medical fight, and that certainly shows.
  Americans are entering their third year of this pandemic with too few 
tests, too few treatments, too many new cases, and too many school 
closures; muddled guidance on boosters that caused FDA experts to 
resign in protest, and needless divisive vaccine mandates that were not 
even constitutional.
  One year in, the coronavirus is decidedly uncrushed.
  And COVID wasn't the only epidemic sweeping American streets. Take 
violent crime. Far-left rhetoric and anti-law-enforcement local 
policies have led major cities to set all-time records for homicide in 
2021.
  Or take fentanyl. This deadly imported poison was the leading cause 
of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, last year. The No. 1 killer of 
Americans in their prime--fentanyl.
  So why aren't Democrats treating this like an emergency? When was the 
last time President Biden even talked about this?
  And drug deaths are not the only consequence of our weak borders.
  Candidate Biden's rhetoric incentivized a historic flood of illegal 
immigration, and then President Biden's weak policies lit the fuse. The 
result? The biggest surge in illegal border crossings in 60 years--60 
years.
  All these issues are priorities for American families, but the Biden 
administration spent most of 2021 focused on none of those. Washington 
Democrats spent months chasing a reckless taxing-and-spending spree 
packed with far-left policies that citizens never wanted. We spent half 
of 2021 trying and failing to blow $5 trillion on windmills and 
welfare.
  When that effort faded, Democrats abruptly pivoted and started 
shouting that American democracy was on death's door. They 
propagandized that some evil anti-voting conspiracy was sweeping 
America, and the only solution to this grand crisis was a gigantic 
partisan election takeover bill that Democrats had conveniently written 
years before the events which they say now prompted it.
  The American people didn't buy the fake hysteria. One-half of one 
percent of the country thinks election laws are our top issue. In fact, 
more Americans believe voting laws are too loose than too tight.
  Oh, but Democrats went all in on this obsession. A few days ago, the 
sitting President of the United States called millions of Americans his 
domestic enemies and analogized--analogized--U.S. Senators to Jefferson 
Davis.
  Well, last night, the fake panic drove 48 Senate Democrats to walk 
the plank on a failed effort to shatter the Senate itself for short-
term power. And now Washington Democrats appear to be launching an 
absurd and reckless campaign to delegitimize the next election in 
advance, in case they lose it. Sound familiar?
  Yesterday, the President told reporters that he might not accept the 
2022 election results as legitimate if his election takeover bills do 
not pass Congress first. It all sounds eerily familiar.
  This morning, the House majority whip followed suit. He was asked if 
the legitimacy of our elections is contingent on Washington Democrats 
passing these bills, and he replied: ``I am absolutely concerned about 
that.''
  The Democrats who preached countless sermons about accepting voter 
decisions are now saying the midterms may be illegitimate, unless they 
win.
  So America, after all of this, do you feel unified? Do you feel 
healed? Do you feel like our core institutions are being protected?
  Now, Senate Republicans have met this administration more than 
halfway. In 2021, the Senate built and passed a major infrastructure 
bill. We passed bipartisan legislation on competing with China.
  But beyond that, this administration deliberately chose to build 
their whole

[[Page S359]]

governing strategy around the party-line reconciliation process.
  So the President cannot deflect blame for his disappointing first 
year. The American people know where the buck stops, and if our 
Democratic friends do not change course, before long, the buck will 
stop somewhere else.
  Now, on a related matter, President Biden also campaigned on 
strengthening America's partnerships and renewing our global 
leadership. Well, how has the administration done?
  The administration that campaigned on restoring alliances abandoned a 
coalition of loyal partners with its disastrous and fatal retreat from 
Afghanistan.
  The Biden administration green-lit Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 
pipeline, and the Democrats blocked us from sanctioning it. This 
pipeline will help Putin gain even more leverage over Western Europe 
and, of course, further isolate Ukraine.
  As we speak--right now--Putin has amassed more than 100,000 Russian 
troops along the border of Ukraine. If these forces cross into Ukraine, 
it will not be a new invasion or a ``re-invasion.'' It will represent a 
major escalation of an ongoing occupation.
  Ukraine has been fighting a Russian-backed war on its own now for 
8 years. Eight years ago, I tried to warn President Obama that Putin is 
only deterred when the world imposes real costs--real costs--on his 
misbehavior.

  But the Biden Administration sent Ukraine nonlethal support, and the 
sanctions it imposed and coordinated proved not to be as tough as 
advertised. The Obama-Biden administration failed to end Putin's 
invasion or compel compliance with the Minsk accords. Now the Biden-
Harris team must not repeat the Obama-Biden grave mistakes.
  But yesterday, on live television, President Biden telegraphed 
passivity--telegraphed passivity--and weakness, exactly when our allies 
can least afford it. Our President seemed to state--and, I pray, 
unintentionally--that he expects Putin to escalate in Ukraine, and, in 
any case, Putin can do what he wants.
  Here is what the President said: ``That decision is totally, solely, 
completely a Putin decision. . . . I suspect it matters which side of 
the bed he gets up on.''
  What on Earth does that mean?
  Further, the President said: ``My guess is he will move in.''
  The President said: ``My guess is he will move in. He has to do 
something.''
  So President Biden thinks Putin has to do something. What does that 
even mean? Why is our President speculating like a passive observer on 
the sidelines?
  He isn't a pundit. He isn't Putin's psychoanalyst. He is the 
President of the United States.
  So will America hold Russia accountable if it escalates? Here was the 
message from our Commander in Chief: ``It depends on what Russia does. 
It's one thing if it's a minor incursion''--a minor incursion--``and 
then we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et 
cetera.''
  ``It is one thing if it is a minor incursion''? Does this mean 
President Biden will not actually authorize the tough response that his 
own administration officials have spent weeks--weeks--promising?
  This was a moment to deliver a powerful warning to the Kremlin that 
Ukraine's sovereignty is inviolable; that we would stand with her 
people; that the cost of escalation would be devastating.
  It was a moment to reassure our partners in Kiev and our allies along 
NATO's eastern flank that America had their back.
  It was a moment to call for NATO's unity, not to expose and appear 
hamstrung by NATO's divisions. It was a bizarre and devastating 
performance--especially, I would add--for our friends on the 
frontlines.
  President Zelensky's Defense Minister has already shot back. This is 
from Ukraine's Defense Minister:

       We should not give Putin the slightest chance to play with 
     quasi-aggression or small incursion operations. This 
     aggression was [already] there since 2014. This is the fact.

  I suspect our own Secretary of State, who is in Europe to meet with 
our allies and the Russian Foreign Minister--was also shocked by what 
the President had said. Minutes later, White House staff put out a 
frantic statement laying out a completely different position than what 
President Biden had just expressed. By then, of course, significant 
damage had been done.
  But, alas, the damage can be undone. The President of the United 
States is never powerless. President Biden needs to clean up his 
remarks. He needs to clearly state American resolve and clearly 
demonstrate American leadership. He should call President Zelensky and 
NATO's allies most threatened by Russian aggression. He should rally 
allies and partners around the world to defend Ukraine and the 
international system that is being threatened by Putin.
  His administration should be using every waking moment right now--
right now--to expedite our delivery of real defensive capabilities to 
Ukraine.
  The President must cut the indecision and redtape that has slowed us 
and our partners down. President Biden should finally, at long last, 
get around to nominating an Ambassador to Ukraine, a position he has 
left empty for 12 crucial months.
  He should send U.S. forces to shore up NATO's eastern flank--not if--
not if and when Putin escalates, but right now, before it is too late.
  He should encourage our treaty allies to do likewise. But while 
alliance unity is important, the lowest common denominator of NATO's 
most nervous members cannot be allowed to restrict American action.
  Whatever course other nations choose to chart, we cannot afford to 
let Moscow underestimate our resolve to impose serious--serious--
crushing costs in response to any further incursion against Ukraine.
  Our friends and America's reputation deserve nothing less.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Reed). The Republican whip.

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