[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 153 (Thursday, September 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4950-S4954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, new data from the U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection shows that the crisis at the border isn't going away even if 
that may be the wish of the Biden administration. In the last year, 
Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than 2.3 million 
migrants at the southern border, which is an all-time high.
  I know some people think, well, these are economic migrants or people 
fleeing violence and persecution. Some of them are asylum seekers who 
might potentially qualify, although the data indicates that, if in fact 
they end up showing up for their immigration court hearing years after 
they claim asylum, because of the backlogs, only about 10 percent 
qualify for asylum. Then you have the economic migrants. You have 
criminals. You have drug smugglers. It is a hodgepodge. And while many 
people turn themselves in in order to invoke our asylum system, which 
is broken and results in many people being given a notice to appear for 
a future court hearing that they never show up for, the situation at 
the border remains a public safety threat and a humanitarian crisis.
  Customs and Border Protection is the first line of defense against 
dangerous threats to the country. Over the last 11 months, the hard-
working men and women of CBP have arrested nearly 700 criminal gang 
members and have stopped more than 140 people on the terrorist watch 
list from crossing the southern border. They have interdicted more than 
645 pounds of illegal drugs, including 13,600 pounds of the deadly 
synthetic opioid fentanyl. I think it takes roughly the point of a 
pencil lead, a couple of milliliters, of fentanyl to kill a person. So 
you can imagine what 13,600 pounds would do, and these are only the 
drugs that we have caught. Nobody believes that we catch even the 
majority of the drugs coming across.
  CBP seized illegal currency, weapons, ammunition, counterfeit goods, 
and other products that could hurt the American people or our economy.
  I want to just take a moment to thank the Border Patrol agents and 
Customs officers who take on this challenging and important work every 
day. Sometimes they are met with nothing more than derision or ridicule 
or a lack of support for their important work. These men and women put 
their own health and safety at risk to keep our borders and keep the 
American people safe, and they don't receive nearly the level of thanks 
that they deserve.
  Coming from a border State, as you might imagine, I have visited the 
border many, many times. I always enjoy talking to these men and women 
because they are, frankly, the experts about what we need to do in 
order to fix what is wrong about the borders. They are true 
professionals, and they know more than just about anybody else I have 
talked to about what the problem is and what the solutions are.
  Many of these officers and agents have worked for Customs and Border 
Protection for years, some even since its founding in 2003. They have 
seen migration surges over the years, but as they have told me many 
times, they have never seen anything quite like we are seeing today.
  An average of 6,600 migrants are coming across the southern border 
every

[[Page S4951]]

day. They will tell you: We simply don't have the capacity to manage 
that sort of tsunami of humanity. We don't have the facilities or the 
resources, and we certainly don't have the personnel. The only way we 
are able to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs is to divert law 
enforcement officers from their other important mission.
  Frankly, that is part of these transnational criminal organizations' 
plans: They overwhelm the Border Patrol, divert their attention, and 
then, in the hole that is created in border security, here come the 
drugs.
  Agents who would normally be on the frontlines, stopping cartels from 
smuggling drugs, are now serving meals and changing diapers.
  When you consider all of those stats that I mentioned--hundreds of 
thousands of pounds of illegal drugs, 700 criminal gang members, 141 
people on the terrorist watch list--there is an important qualifier to 
remember: Those are just the ones we know about. With law enforcement 
being shifted from patrol to caretaking duties, we are leaving major 
security gaps that are being exploited by the cartels and criminal 
organizations.
  There is a whole category of migrant that comes across the border 
known as the got-aways. The asylum seekers will typically show up and 
turn themselves in, but, frankly, I think it is the got-aways--hundreds 
of thousands of people--that you have to worry about because they don't 
want to encounter law enforcement because they either don't have any 
legal basis to enter the United States or they happen to be 
transporting illegal drugs or have a criminal record on their own 
right.
  There is no question that our security mission is taking a hit. Every 
day, cartel and gang members are trafficking and moving guns, drugs, 
illegal currency, and just about any other commodity that you can think 
about. And when they succeed, border communities aren't the only ones 
that see the impact.
  As you can see, cartels and transnational criminal organizations have 
a presence in cities across the United States. Once cartels make it 
across the border, they head to places as diverse as Chicago, Detroit, 
Atlanta, New York, San Diego, or just about any other city where they 
can do business, including Bangor, ME, and other places in Maine.
  These aren't the only people who are coming to the United States. 
These are not people coming to build a better life. They are coming 
here to prey on innocent Americans for their own gain.
  Last year, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's Chicago Field 
Division spoke about what happens once these drugs and criminals reach 
his backyard.
  He said:

       Cartels use every possible means to get drugs from Mexico 
     into the United States and then into the local markets. And 
     in Chicago--

  For example--

     that means predominantly to the gangs that control the drug 
     markets in Chicago.

  If you are concerned, as most Americans are, about the spike in crime 
that we have seen recently, well, a whole lot of that crime is caused 
by criminal street gangs committing various crimes, including selling 
illegal drugs and using guns to kill one another as part of their way 
to protect their market share and their territory. Those are the same 
gangs that fuel the overdose epidemic, the same gangs that perpetuate 
crime and gun violence, the same gangs that engage in deadly conflicts 
over territory. That is the cruel reality here.
  It is a self-perpetuating cycle, and it starts at the border. So even 
though you may not be a border State, at least a southern border State, 
you are affected because, as you can see, the network of distribution 
of illicit drugs coming across the border affects almost every major 
American city. And it is not just cities. A lot of our rural areas in 
Texas and elsewhere are affected as well.
  And we are reading increasingly about young people, unknown to them, 
consuming fentanyl in a fatal dose and dying, and it is happening every 
day, in every community around the United States. And 71,000 Americans 
died of fentanyl overdoses last year alone. This is where it comes 
from; this is how it is distributed; and those are the consequences. So 
no community in America has been spared the pain and suffering from 
this pandemic of drugs. In 2021, as I mentioned, 108,000 Americans died 
from drug overdoses; 71,000 of those 108,000 died from fentanyl.
  You know, I remember on September 11, 2001, when terrorists diverted 
aircraft and killed about 3,000 Americans. We declared a war against 
terrorism when 3,000 Americans were killed here in the homeland. Yet 
108,000 Americans died last year as a result of these open borders and 
our broken policy, and it doesn't seem to get the attention it 
deserves.
  Of course, being a border State, communities in Texas are dealing 
with the consequences of this humanitarian crisis and these drugs on a 
daily basis. Last weekend, three people in Wichita Falls died from 
suspected fentanyl overdoses. The oldest victim was 21; the youngest 
was 13. In the last couple of months, four students from the Hays 
County Consolidated Independent School District, right outside of 
Austin, died from a fentanyl overdose. All four were between the ages 
of 15 and 17.
  Across the State--indeed, across the Nation--families are mourning 
the loss of loved ones who have died from an overdose of these drugs, 
many of whom had no idea what they were consuming; they thought they 
were taking something else and ended up finding that it was laced with 
fentanyl--because the amount of fentanyl it takes to kill you is 
microscopic. The alarming increase in supply across our borders 
foreshadows even more devastation in the months and years to come.
  Here is my point. The Biden administration needs to start taking this 
problem seriously. Cartels and criminal organizations are exploiting 
the security gaps at the border and sending these drugs and the 
criminals along with them to communities not just in Texas, not just in 
Arizona, not just in California or New Mexico, but all across the 
United States.
  Addressing this security breakdown at our border has got to be a 
priority. We can't ignore it because it is not going to get any better. 
This is not just about migrants and immigration. It is about that, but 
it is not just about that. It is about security. It is about public 
safety. It is about knowing who is crossing our border and reaching 
into our local communities.
  Cartels are sociopaths. They don't really care about people, 
including the migrants that they smuggle into the United States. If you 
go to Falfurrias, TX, which is in South Texas at a border checkpoint 
about 70 miles from the border--which is where, once migrants are 
stuffed into a car or a van or some other vehicle, they are then driven 
up the highway to these Border Patrol checkpoints; then they are told 
by the coyotes, which is the colloquial name for these human smugglers: 
Get out of the car and walk around the checkpoint because we can't risk 
going through the checkpoint with you there where we might be 
discovered. And so they do.
  And so you go to Brooks County, TX, which is where the Falfurrias 
checkpoint is located, and they have asked the Federal Government for 
help to bury the bodies of migrants who die from exposure walking 
around that checkpoint in Falfurrias, TX, because it gets hot in Texas, 
particularly during the summer, and many of these migrants have come 
from far, far away and are suffering already from dehydration and other 
exposure.
  But my point is the cartels don't care anything about them. They will 
leave them to die. They are just another way to make a buck. But the 
cartels terrorize more than just the migrants themselves; they 
terrorize communities across our country. And they seized on the Biden 
administration's weak policies to grow their foothold in the United 
States.
  These transnational criminal organizations are getting rich smuggling 
migrants and smuggling drugs into the United States and killing 
Americans in the process. It is past time to do something. The Biden 
administration is being outmaneuvered by the cartels, and until we see 
leadership from the President, communities all across this country will 
continue to pay the price.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 4924

  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, the No. 1 job of our Commander in Chief is 
to

[[Page S4952]]

protect the homeland. The constitutional oath we all take as Members of 
Congress, similar to the one I swore when I joined the military, is to 
protect our citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
  I want everyone in this Chamber, the American people, our allies, and 
our adversaries to all hear me today. Iran, the world's most deadly 
state sponsor of terrorism, announced its intentions to track, target, 
and kill American citizens here on our shores. The radical Islamists of 
Iran and their terrorist proxies across the Middle East are seeking to 
destroy America, and they are coming here to our soil.
  As you can see, the Iranian regime promises to ``bring the 
orchestrators and perpetrators to justice.'' This is an undeniable 
death threat, one that they have already attempted to follow through 
on.
  Iran isn't making this threat from Tehran, over 6,000 miles away. 
They made it here, for example, in New York City. Yesterday, at U.N. 
headquarters, the Butcher of Tehran, Ebrahim Raisi, was flanked by his 
personal security force, IRGC terrorists, tagged by our Justice 
Department as the entity responsible for attempting to kill Mike 
Pompeo, John Bolton, Brian Hook, and others who ordered and executed 
the strike on Qassem Suleimani.
  This President's obligation is to safeguard and protect the life, 
liberty, and prosperity of our people and to deter, defeat, and, when 
necessary, destroy our enemies.
  The Biden administration's desire to bring the 2015 Iran nuclear 
agreement back to life is delusional. Continued renegotiation with 
Russia as our proxy--no joke--ignores our men and women in uniform, the 
Iranian dissident community, our allies and partners in the Persian 
Gulf, and American citizens on the homeland who have bounties on their 
heads today.
  Our Middle Eastern partners, in particular, are begging the Biden 
administration not to reenter this so-called nuclear agreement. They 
plead with us not to give Iran access to $1 trillion in capital by 
2030. Don't fund their military support of Russia's aggression against 
Ukraine, and don't fund their acts of terrorism against our own people, 
they ask.
  I am demanding that America does not fund or support a regime trying 
to kill our own people. The President's ongoing negotiations pacify 
rather than hold Iran accountable for targeting American citizens. The 
Biden administration's foolish pursuit of peace through appeasement 
must be stopped, and we can start today. Yesterday, with 26 of my 
colleagues, I introduced the PUNISH Act, or the Preventing Underhanded 
and Nefarious Iranian Supported Homicides Act. My bill would enforce 
U.S. sanctions on Iran until the Secretary of State certifies to 
Congress that Iran has not supported any attempt or activity to kill a 
U.S. citizen, former or current U.S. official, or Iranian living within 
the United States. Specifically, it would codify the Trump 
administration's ``maximum pressure'' sanctions as well as preserve 
sanctions put in place by the Obama and Carter administrations.
  It is hard to believe that, after countless attacks on Americans and 
multiple confirmed--confirmed--plots against U.S. officials, the Biden 
administration continues with these negotiations. President Biden 
should not provide a dime of sanctions relief to the largest state 
sponsor of terrorism which is actively trying to kill U.S. officials 
and citizens at home and abroad. I will remain committed to protecting 
the homeland, our troops, and officials abroad from the violent Islamic 
regime in Iran.
  Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4924, 
which is at the desk. I further ask 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 Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. First, this 
is a pretty long piece of legislation and impactful in the policy it 
makes. It was introduced yesterday.
  It is probably not a great idea for the Senate to short circuit any 
process of reviewing this legislation and speed to its passage today, 
but Senator Ernst is a serious thinker on matters of national security, 
and so I do want to engage for 2 minutes on the merits because I think 
it is important to have this conversation.
  Senator Ernst is right. At the heart, at the center of U.S. foreign 
policy has to be the protection of our citizens. We have to be 
coldblooded about making sure that our policy keeps our people safe, 
both here in the United States and abroad.
  The good news, when it comes to Iran policy, is that we have tried 
both a policy of engagement and diplomacy and a policy of escalating 
sanction, and we can judge from those two periods of time which one 
better protected American security and the specific security of 
Americans here and in the region.
  During the period of time that the United States and Iran were in an 
agreement regarding nuclear weapons together, there were not credible 
plots being hatched against U.S. persons inside the United States. 
There were not Iranian proxies firing at U.S. forces inside the Middle 
East. But as soon as the United States removed itself from that 
agreement and started this process of escalating sanction, all of a 
sudden, Americans and American assets were at risk all over the world. 
The plots started against U.S. persons here. The Iranians and their 
proxies started regularly shooting at Americans in the region.
  And so the facts are the facts--less threat to the United States when 
we were in a diplomatic agreement and more threats to the United States 
when we weren't in a diplomatic agreement. I think that speaks to the 
question of whether engagement or maximum pressure actually--actually--
in the end protects Americans best.
  But, second, I want to make this point, and I think it is an 
important one. This is called the PUNISH Act. And I understand why. It 
speaks to a view of sanctions as simply a mechanism of punishment. And 
there is an element of sanctions that is sending a moral message, a 
moral signal, about our values and how they differ from the values of 
those that we are sanctioning. But sanctions are also used to 
influence. In fact, most of the sanctions that we are passing are not 
just merely punitive. They are actually designed to try to change the 
behavior of a regime.
  So that is why, if we entered into a nuclear agreement, the only 
sanctions that I think we should remove are the sanctions that were 
specifically put in place to influence the Iranians to give up their 
nuclear weapons program.
  In fact, I would argue--and I think President Biden would argue; I am 
sure President Biden would argue--that we should keep in place the 
sanctions that have been levied against Iran to try to influence their 
ballistic missile program or their support for terrorists.
  And so I think it is just important for us all to come to the 
conclusion that, although there is a punishment element of sanctions, 
if we don't use sanctions to influence behavior, then I am not sure 
that the policy of sanctions matters as effectively as it should.
  And, lastly, this: Iran, they are malevolent actors. They are not 
good people. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't enter into 
negotiations when we can take steps to protect our interests, the 
security of our people.
  The nuclear bombs that we dropped on Japan were 15-kiloton weapons. 
Modern nuclear weapons range from 100 to 800 kilotons. So, yes, 
unapologetically, we should have a policy as a component of our 
national security to do whatever is possible to make sure that more 
countries--especially, more wildly irresponsible regimes--don't get 
their hands on nuclear weapons. And, yes, that should be more important 
than many of our other priorities.
  Yes, in fact, we should elevate the conversation about stopping a 
regime like Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. They are bad actors. 
They are targeting U.S. forces. They are targeting U.S. persons. They 
are supporting terrorism. That, to me, is the reason, is the rationale 
why we should make sure that that regime--so dangerous, so destructive, 
so malevolent--doesn't get its hands on a nuclear weapon.
  Their bad action in the region is a reason to engage in diplomacy to 
stop

[[Page S4953]]

them from getting a nuclear weapon, not a reason not to engage in that 
diplomacy. And so I understand that it is sometimes incredibly hard and 
distasteful to get your arms wrapped around engagement with an enemy.
  But I will leave you with this. The Soviet Union, through their 
proxies, killed tens of thousands of Americans during the Cold War. 
There was no doubt that they possessed on a daily basis the existential 
ability to wipe out the United States. But we did, at the very least, 
four bilateral nuclear deals with the Soviet Union, seven multilateral 
nuclear deals with the Soviet Union, not because we misunderstood their 
aims and desires but because we thought it was so important to limit 
the scope of their nuclear program given their intentions to wipe out 
democracy all around the world.
  I agree that it is apples to oranges comparing the Soviet Union to 
Iran, but the same principle applies. We need to elevate our work when 
it comes to nonproliferation. That just needs to matter more, and 
we shouldn't be afraid to engage with enemies and adversaries, 
especially on this question of making sure that their bad behavior 
doesn't end up having, amongst its tools, a nuclear weapon that could 
kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.

  For that reason, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, blocking the passage of the bill today, it 
is not just disappointing, but it is endangering. We do have to act 
now. I mean, you can read the tweet. It is right here. They are seeking 
justice. They are looking for retribution and revenge.
  Again, it was sent from U.S. soil--this tweet was. If that doesn't 
constitute a clear and present danger demanding immediate attention, 
then I honestly don't know what does.
  If a nuclear agreement is reached, folks, it is not going to change. 
Iran's aggression was not curbed by the Obama-Biden administration's 
failures. In fact, it invigorated Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. 
Their mythical deal effectively financed the world's best organized, 
most capable terror group to rain down attacks on the United States, 
Israel, and even the Arab Gulf States.
  After the deal was signed, Iran went on the offensive, and I can give 
you some statistics to actually show that activities increased. Attacks 
against the United States and our partners increased from roughly 8 
incidents per every 100 days in 2015 to 28 incidents in 100 days during 
the 3.5 years that the JCPOA was in effect.
  So arguing that the nuclear deal is a credible deterrent against 
Iranian terror doesn't actually hold water. Thousands of folks have 
died fighting the global war on terrorism, including 600 U.S. 
servicemembers. They have been killed at the hands of Iranian proxies 
in Iraq and in Syria.
  I was there on the ground in 2003, in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 
leader of that initial surge was a name whom we all know well, Gen. Jim 
Mattis. The men and women in uniform, then and today, know that Iran is 
an enemy. We have no common cause with the ayatollahs or anyone who 
chants ``Death to America.'' Jim Mattis told our enemies, and I will 
quote the good general:

       I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I am 
     pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you [screw] with 
     me--

  And he used a different word--

       I'll kill you all.

  Folks, Iran is killing our people overseas, and they are trying to 
kill our people right here, right here in the United States of America. 
We cannot appease, and we cannot back down.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.


                    Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, we are now several weeks on from the 
passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
  The IRA is transformational legislation that will improve the lives 
of millions and millions of Americans: more affordable prescription 
drugs, cheaper energy bills, the largest investment in the climate in 
history, a serious commitment to cracking down on tax cheats who rip 
off the American people for billions of dollars every year, and 
ensuring that corporations pay a fair share.
  I am proud to say that the vast majority of the Inflation Reduction 
Act came from the Finance Committee majority.
  It is no exaggeration to say that the team on the committee and in my 
personal office collectively spent thousands and thousands of hours 
developing these proposals, building support for them under zero margin 
for error, and guaranteeing that they would pass under challenging 
Senate rules.
  Senate Democrats spent more than a year debating what would go into 
this bill before it finally came together, but the staff of the Finance 
Committee began its work long before that. Some of the components of 
the IRA go back more than a decade.
  So before the Senate goes out in the coming days, I wanted to come 
down to the floor to thank my committee and personal office staff, as 
well as the brilliant teams at the Joint Committee on Tax, 
Congressional Budget Office, and legislative counsel who made this 
achievement possible.
  I will shout out a few specifics as I thank the staff, but understand 
that legislation this significant is always a collaborative effort. And 
furthermore, there are major priorities that did not make it into the 
final version of the IRA, and the staff who worked on those issues 
deserve credit, too.
  I will start out with Tiffany Smith, who leads the best and hardest 
working tax policy team there is.
  Bobby Andres has honcho'd the Clean Energy for America Act for 7-plus 
years. He tweaked and edited and improved that bill so many times, he 
can probably recite the text in his sleep.
  Chris Arneson, Jon Goldman, and Sarah Schaefer have been instrumental 
in going after the tax loopholes that allow massive, profitable 
corporations to get away with paying little to nothing. Their work on 
those issues is going to continue to find its way into law.
  Adam Carasso and Eric LoPresti helped to make sure the IRS has the 
resources it needs to go after wealthy tax cheats who skip out on 
paying what they owe.
  And proof positive that Finance Teams support one another: Drew 
Crouch contributed tax policy help to the prescription drug reforms.
  Rachael Kauss has put a ton of work into developing the billionaire's 
income tax, and although that proposal didn't make it in the final 
bill, there is more support than ever for making sure that those at the 
very top pay a fair share like everybody else.
  Grace Enda assisted on the clean energy tax policies and more. Ursula 
Clausing supported the tax team and also made sure that our team and 
Senate Democrats were ready and organized for a tough floor debate. 
Arthur Shemitz and Melanie Jonas also supported the tax team's hard 
work.
  One other point about the Finance Committee majority's tax team--and 
this applies across the board, not just to the Inflation Reduction Act. 
If anybody out there mistakenly believes it is easy to offset the 
legislation passed here in the Senate, it is only because our tax team, 
time and time again, makes it look effortless. The truth is, it takes a 
ton of hard work, but they get it done.
  Patricio Gonzalez, a member of the committee's investigations team, 
has been digging into the tax practices of some of the biggest drug 
companies out there. His work went a long way to convincing key 
Senators that our corporate tax laws needed reform. Ryder Tobin, 
another member of the investigations team, contributed to that work and 
also helped us survive the grueling floor debate, as did Madison 
Moskowitz, Claire Kaliban, and Bonnie Million.
  Next up: healthcare. When it comes to drug prices, Big Pharma has had 
a stranglehold on the U.S. Senate for a long, long time. A lot of 
people have gone up against Big Pharma and lost. Shawn Bishop and the 
Finance Committee health team took on Big Pharma and won.
  Anna Kaltenboeck played a key role in our efforts on finally allowing 
Medicare to negotiate on behalf of seniors for a better deal on 
prescription drugs. She also worked with Raghav Aggarwal on crafting 
the Senate version of drug price negotiation, as well as key 
protections for seniors in Medicare Part D. That includes a $2,000 
annual out-of-pocket cap on their medications and a

[[Page S4954]]

price-gouging penalty for drug companies that hike prices faster than 
inflation.
  At a time when families in Oregon and across the country are getting 
hit by rising prices, Eva DuGoff worked on extending subsidies for ACA 
health insurance coverage. It will save people hundreds of dollars a 
year and a family of four up to $2,400 a year.
  Peter Fise worked on capping the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for 
seniors at $35 per month--another huge savings for many Americans. Liz 
Dervan expanded Medicaid's coverage of vaccines for adults.
  There is a long list of people who pitched in on the vital process of 
making sure the bill was compliant with the rules of the Senate known 
as the Byrd Rules. It includes Liz Dervan, whose legal acumen was 
invaluable to supporting the committee's efforts to navigate the Byrd 
rule, as well as major efforts by Peter Fise, Kristen Lunde, Kimberly 
Lattimore, Mary Ellis and Daniel Whittam from the health team. It also 
includes Sally Laing and Virginia Lenahan from our trade team, who 
contributed to the clean energy provisions.
  When it comes to Byrd rules, the point man on the Finance Committee 
is our chief counsel, Mike Evans. For all the months of work that goes 
into writing legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, the whole 
thing can come crashing down if it doesn't comply with the Byrd rules. 
Nobody is more skilled or experienced than Mike at making sure 
legislation is Byrd-compliant from the start and protecting it in Byrd 
rule arguments before the Senate Parliamentarian. Opposing counsels 
weep when they see Mike Evans and his stacks of papers enter the room. 
Reconciliation under the Byrd rule is arduous work, yet Mike approaches 
it with humor and grace along with great skill.
  Mike is a valued member of my senior leadership team, who have 
directed years of effort that made the IRA possible. I want to thank 
him, Jeff Michels, Joshua Sheinkman, Sarah Bittleman, John Dickas, and 
Isaiah Akin for guiding the team through setbacks and struggles to get 
this bill done.
  The Finance Committee's communications leads on the IRA were Ashley 
Schapitl on tax and investigations; Taylor Harvey on healthcare; Ryan 
Carey, speechwriter; and Emily Zahnle-Hostetler, digital director. The 
IRA dealt with some incredibly complicated policy issues, and it 
challenged a lot of powerful special interests. But our team got the 
word out and stood up to withering attacks in the press and here in the 
Senate.

  The Finance Committee works with many, many skilled and dedicated 
staff at the Joint Committee on Taxation on a daily basis. Suffice it 
to say, we would be out in the cold without Tom Barthold and the team 
of all-stars at JCT:

       Rob Harvey
       Chris Giosa
       Tim Dowd
       Cecily Rock
       Natalie Tucker
       Ross Margelefsky
       Jeff Arbeit
       Jared Hermann
       Carol Wang
       Kristine Roth
       Harold Hirsch
       Sanjay Misra
       Clare Diefenbach
       Rhonda Migdail
       Andrew Lai
       David Lenter
       Vivek Chandrasekhar
       Chia Chang
       Lin Xu
       James Elwell
       Kelly Scanlon
       Sally Kwak
       Chris Overend
       Kashi Way
       Bert Lue
       Deirdre James
       Connor Dowd
       Nick Bull
       Melani Houser
       Tanya Butler

  The same goes for the highly skilled and dedicated team at the 
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office under Director Phil Swagel. 
They do a difficult job to keep Congress informed of what proposed 
changes to our Federal programs will cost and always come through under 
extremely tight deadlines:

       Terri Gullo
       Leo Lex
       Paul Masi
       Chad Chirico
       Lara Robillard
       Asha Saavoss
       Stuart Hammond
       Carrie Colla
       Tamara Hayford
       Christopher Adams
       Evan Herrnstadt
       Colin Baker
       Scott Laughery
       and other CBO staff who analyzed drug pricing in the U.S. 
     over the last decade.

  And finally I want to thank the talented legal team at the Senate 
legislative counsel's office who help committee staff write the law--on 
tax policies, Mark McGunagle, Jim Fransen, Allison Otto, and Vince 
Gaiani; on health policies, John Goetcheus, Kelly Thornburg, Ruth Ernst 
and Phil Lynch.
  Whether you are talking about JCT, CBO or legislative counsel, the 
Congress grinds to a halt without their work.
  Finally, I would like to commend the work of the Senate 
Parliamentarian and her assistants. A reconciliation bill turns up a 
lot of highly complex procedural questions, and the Parliamentarian has 
to make the calls. I was not happy with all of the decisions, but the 
Parliamentarians worked tirelessly, skillfully, and with an even hand. 
Also, I would like to thank the clerks and floor staff for their work 
and endurance during the vote-a-rama.
  The debate the American people read about and watched on TV is just a 
small portion of all the work that went into the Inflation Reduction 
Act. It can be awfully frustrating to spend years developing 
legislation when Congress is this polarized. We dealt with a lot of 
setbacks. At certain points, we thought it was over. And there is still 
a lot more to get done.
  But the IRA truly is an accomplishment that will improve life for the 
American people: more affordable medications, more affordable health 
insurance, cheaper energy, the biggest ever investment in the fight 
against climate change, major progress cracking down on tax cheats and 
improving tax fairness--that is progress to be proud of. I thank the 
Finance Committee majority staff, my personal office staff, and all the 
other teams who contributed to this effort.
  I yield the floor.