[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 175 (Monday, November 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6637-S6640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Midterm Elections

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, last week's midterm elections 
reconfirmed something that has been clear for a number of years: When 
it comes to politics and to policy, we are a closely divided nation.
  For the third straight election, our closely divided nation saw a 
closely fought election go all the way down to the wire. And as the 
dust settles, for the third straight time, the American people have 
chosen a very closely divided government.
  Though several races for the House of Representatives remain 
uncalled, it appears the likeliest outcome would mean the American 
people have put a stop to 2 years of Democrats' disastrous one-party 
government and placed the House in Republican hands.
  Senate Republicans have spent 2 years working to check and balance 
reckless policies; it will be an outstanding thing for the country to 
have a set of new reinforcements arriving on the other side of the 
Capitol.
  Now, while this election underscored some of our country's close 
divisions, it also highlighted areas where the people are speaking 
overwhelmingly with one voice. The American people are not divided over 
what Democrats' reckless policy decisions have done to our economy and 
to their families' budgets. Exit polls show three-quarters of voters 
say the economy they are facing is ``poor'' or ``not good.''
  Americans are not divided over whether the current trends in 
inflation, crime, open borders, and drug addiction are acceptable 
outcomes for the greatest country in the history of the world; everyone 
knows they are not.
  And Americans are not especially closely divided about whether they 
want President Biden to keep governing like he has been or actually 
change course. At this point in their presidencies, every one of the 
last 13 Presidents dating back to Truman had higher approval ratings 
than the Biden administration.
  One State where Democrats' policy failures have hit especially hard 
is the State of Georgia. Georgia families have seen cumulative 
inflation of 14.7 percent since January of 2021. Both of their Senators 
cast the deciding vote to rubberstamp the spending that made that 
happen. Now households in the Peach State are paying a hidden 
Democratic inflation tax that adds up to thousands of extra dollars per 
year.
  The nationwide breakdown in law and order has hit Georgia hard as 
well. The city of Atlanta now has per capita rates of homicide and 
assault that are even actually worse than Chicago.
  And the people of Georgia saw their State attacked, called racist, 
called Jim Crow 2.0 by the sitting President of the United States, and 
boycotted by major corporations over a voting law that just 
facilitated--listen to this--historic ballot access, record turnout, 
and low wait times for Georgia voters.
  So where do Georgia taxpayers and small businesses go to get their 
money back after the liberal smear campaign that led to the boycotts? 
But the day after the election, President Biden took to the podium and 
triumphantly promised that he plans to learn no lessons and change 
nothing at all. Here was the quote:

       I'm not going to change the direction.

  Thirteen-plus percent inflation over 2 years, historic levels of 
dissatisfaction at Americans' kitchen tables, and President Biden says 
he will keep doing precisely what he has been doing: more inflation, 
more crime, more chaos, more open borders.
  If Washington Democrats do not want to pivot to sanity and common 
sense, if they will not help us address the ways their policies are 
hurting families, they will encounter stiff resistance from the sizable 
Senate Republican Conference that half the country has elected to be 
their voice, to be their champions, to fight for them.
  So to sum it up, we are going to fight hard for the American families 
this administration is leaving behind.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Duckworth). The senior Senator from 
Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, before I make any remarks in the Senate, 
I want to make remarks of a specific and personal nature to the 
Presiding Officer. The last time we were together was election night. 
And it was a wonderful night for you, for your family, and for the 
State of Illinois. Your victory was an amazing achievement, but your 
whole life has been an amazing achievement. And I particularly will 
remember when Brian brought the girls up to the stage, and they jumped 
all over their mom in her wheelchair. It was something that made the 
news and should have. It was a wonderful moment for you and your 
family. But it was a wonderful moment in American politics.
  Your re-election in the State of Illinois was my No. 1 priority. And 
I didn't have to work as hard as I thought I would because they love 
you, and it showed in the vote. So congratulations to the Presiding 
Officer.
  Madam President, in the fall of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln sent 
his second annual message to Congress. The Civil War was raging, and 
our Nation was really uncertain as to its future.
  In the midst of what Lincoln called this ``fiery trial,'' he called 
on Congress to do something that was remarkable: to assure the freedom 
of every American, including the nearly 4 million Black Americans 
living in bondage. President Lincoln said this was the only way to 
``save . . . the last best hope of earth,'' American democracy.
  Last Tuesday, 160 years later, Americans across the country stood up, 
went to the polls, and did their part, in their time, to save the last 
best hope of earth. They voted to protect our fundamental freedoms and 
to preserve our democracy.
  One of those voters was a young woman in our State named Lauren. She 
is a student at the University of Illinois in Champaign. The students 
at the university once again had to wait for hours in line. People were 
bringing pizzas to sustain them during their trial of waiting to vote. 
It worked. They voted in big numbers. And Lauren was one of them.
  While she was waiting in line, a reporter with the Illinois Student 
Newsroom asked her, ``Why, why did you come out here and vote?''
  She said:

       I was voting based on women's rights in terms of candidates 
     who were supporting women's choice. . . . It's important--as 
     a student--as a young person to come out and vote for issues 
     that I care about.

  Thankfully, Lauren wasn't alone. In this year's election, young 
voters continued a trend that began in 2018 and 2020: They turned out 
in record numbers. They realized it is the responsibility of their 
generation to do a better job than our generation and to keep democracy 
alive.

[[Page S6638]]

  So let's start off by thanking the young people: the sons and 
daughters who were raised properly when it came to their civic duty, 
who voted for the first time last week--and, for some, it was a repeat 
performance--along with every other American. With their votes, they 
sent a message to us and to the rest of America that was loud and 
clear: It is time for the Big Lie to die.
  Last week, in State after State, voters rejected MAGA Republicans who 
ran on this Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. This outrageous 
assertion, with no proof, no evidence and nothing to back it up other 
than the big liar, has become rampant among some corners of this 
country. But thank the Lord that it did not prevail on election day.
  In fact, every single election denier who ran for Secretary of State 
in a swing State was defeated--every single one of them. So the 
takeaway here isn't all that complicated. I hope it is one that our 
Republican colleagues will finally take to heart: It is time to reject 
that extremist lie.
  The American people are sick and tired of false claims that the 2020 
election was stolen--the same claims that generated the insurrectionist 
mob, which on one of the saddest days in the history of this building 
stormed this Capitol on January 6, 2021, injuring over 149 law 
enforcement officials who were doing their duty to protect this 
building and the people in it and, sadly, leading to six deaths. Now 
the threats of violence continue.
  After the election and the American people have spoken, can we 
finally join together in a bipartisan fashion to condemn all forms of 
violence, regardless of their political origin? It is inconsistent with 
the democracy that we can be proud of. And, yes, the American people 
are also sick and tired of rightwing assaults on our fundamental 
freedoms.
  That young voter in Champaign I mentioned, Lauren, she is just one of 
millions of Americans motivated to vote after the Supreme Court's Dobbs 
decision earlier this year. By erasing the constitutional right to 
abortion--a right that millions of Americans have counted on for half a 
century--the Court's radical rightwing majority lit a fire in the 
hearts of voters across the country. And it wasn't just in the blue 
States. In the minority leader's home State of Kentucky--Kentucky--
voters rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure.
  The lesson here at this moment isn't that a Democratic or Republican 
issue is at stake. This is about a basic constitutional right taken 
away from the women of this country--the right to make their own 
decisions about their own reproductive health choices. People don't 
want politicians--Senators, Congressmen, you name it--sticking their 
nose into the business of doctors in the hospitals and clinics across 
America. We need to respect the will of the people and protect the 
right to choose once and for all.

  Let me also add something that happened over the weekend that bears 
comment. There has been a lot of loose talk as to whether or not this 
U.S. Supreme Court is too political. It has fallen in approval ratings 
to record lows. The American people think it has been dominated by 
political decisions and political choices.
  So what did four of the nine Supreme Court Justices do over the 
weekend? They attended the Federalist Society gala ball here in 
Washington. The Federalist Society is an obvious political force which 
chose many of them under President Trump and others, and they basically 
fed the story line that this Supreme Court is enthralled with the 
Federalist Society.
  You could not become a Federal judge--and I know this from serving on 
the Judiciary Committee--under Presidents of the Republican Party in 
recent times without the stamp of approval from the Federalist Society. 
In fact, their stamp of approval is even more important than being 
judged ``qualified'' by the American Bar Association. Nine Federal 
judges chosen by President Trump failed to be deemed qualified to serve 
on the Federal courts of our land, but they have been stamped 
``approved'' by the Federalist Society.
  This powerful political force had a party, and they invited members 
of the Supreme Court. Four of the nine members of the Court came to 
that party: Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, and 
Justice Barrett. How can they dispel the belief many people have that 
they are too political when they attend such overtly political events?
  That wasn't the only thing we learned. One of the top issues the 
American people were concerned about was the state of the economy--and 
rightly so. My wife does most of the shopping, but I get around to 
grocery stores in Illinois, my hometown, once in a while and take a 
look at the price of things. It is clear they have gone up for almost 
anything. You can't miss the price of gasoline; it is right there in 
front of you every single day. It must create--it does create--a 
hardship for American families.
  It makes sense to understand historically why we are facing this. We 
are still recovering from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Like every 
nation, inflation has hit working families the hardest. But the 
American people also recognize that this Senate majority has made 
steady, meaningful progress in working against inflation. We can't will 
it away. We can't pass a law to ban it. We can't expect even the 
Federal Reserve, by their monetary policy, to dispense with inflation 
in a quick way. We have a large, complicated economy. It is part of the 
global economy. We have to work together--and we have--to help working 
families pay their bills and stay afloat.
  Just a few months ago, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act on the 
floor. I remember that well, and I am sure the Presiding Officer does 
too. We had 41 rollcalls--41 rollcalls. It went all through the night. 
I think it was at least 24 hours or more, maybe 36 hours. We went 
straight through to finish it and get it done, and we did. In the end, 
the bill passed with only Democratic support. Every Republican voted 
against it. I am sorry that was the case because there are things in 
there the Republicans should join us in supporting.
  Telling people on Medicare that they are never going to have to pay 
more than $2,000 out of pocket for prescription drugs is a great 
relief. You and I both know that the cost of prescription drugs in some 
cases ranges into the tens of thousands of dollars, breaking the backs 
of a lot of families finding that they are basically disbursing all of 
their savings for that purpose. Now we guarantee with that bill a 
maximum charge out of pocket of $2,000 a year.
  If you happen to be on Medicare and are diabetic, we capped the cost 
of insulin each month to $35.
  Insulin was discovered by Canadian researchers. When they discovered 
it, the doctors who came up with this wonderful drug said: We are going 
to surrender our patent rights for $1. We are finished. We don't 
believe any life-or-death drug should be bargained away to 
pharmaceutical companies.
  Unfortunately, it has been. This changed for Medicare. Capping the 
cost of insulin means that many people who are diabetic will be able to 
take their medicine and afford it. That is a great thing for our 
future.
  Do you recall, Madam President, when we had this on the floor and we 
tried to extend the same $35 insulin charge to all other diabetics in 
the United States, not just Medicare? We needed 10 of the 50 
Republicans to join us--10 of 50--to cap the cost of insulin for all 
diabetics in America. We failed. Only 7 Republicans would join the 50 
Democrats. We needed 60 votes; we got 57.
  I heard this President say--and I am sure you have too--he is going 
back to this issue, and he should. This is something that should be 
bipartisan and pass very quickly.

  In the Inflation Reduction Act, we started making changes when it 
comes to energy policy in America.
  I think the young people voting were really motivated by several 
things. They were motivated by the threats of losing protections 
against discrimination for sexual orientation. They were motivated by 
the Dobbs decision on choice. But they were motivated as well because 
we made it clear, at least on our side of the aisle, that we were going 
to move forward with an energy policy which is going to address global 
warming and give them an Earth they can live on. I think that is an 
important part of the future.
  I am not bragging, but I will tell you that several months ago, as 
you know, I put solar panels on my home in Springfield. My wife and I 
decided it

[[Page S6639]]

was the right thing to do even if it didn't pencil out economically. 
Guess what. It is working great. The first bill we were able to compare 
with the previous year, we ended up generating more electricity than we 
purchased in the course of a month. I hope that continues. That 
dramatic reduction in my energy costs is also an investment in 
sustainable, renewable energy for the future. Those solar panels 
enhance the value of the home we live in.
  We estimate that 280,000 families in our home State of Illinois are 
going to install solar panels. I am encouraging them to do that as 
quickly as possible. They are going to find great savings, and they are 
going to join us in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that 
threaten our future.
  We also understand that we have to do much more in these fields, 
whether it is the cost of healthcare or whether it is the climate 
crisis in our country.
  We want to make sure as well that the burden of government's costs is 
fairly shared. How can we possibly explain or rationalize that many of 
the wealthiest corporations in America don't pay their fair share of 
taxes? Families across America know they have to face their civic 
responsibility and pay their taxes. Very few of those families are 
applauding, but they are hoping that the basic social contract holds 
and that every corporation as well as an individual will pay their fair 
share. We moved in that direction with that bill.
  These policies in terms of tax fairness are popular, and we saw that 
proof last Tuesday in the vote. The American people reelected a 
Democratic majority to the Senate because I believe they support the 
work we are doing.
  I want to just comment on the statements made earlier by the minority 
leader from Kentucky. He really generalized the midterm election as if 
it was something other than what I saw.
  A midterm election is tough on the President's party. Historically, 
every President has taken a beating. I can recall when my colleague 
from Illinois was President, Barack Obama. His midterm election he 
characterized as a shellacking, and he was right. I believe they lost 
40 or 50 seats in that election. It happens, but it didn't happen last 
Tuesday.
  We have to ask ourselves a basic question: If the Senator from 
Kentucky is right and everybody rejects what this President has done 
and rejects what the Democratic majority did, why didn't he do better? 
Why didn't his party do better? There is much more to the story.
  We have the opportunity to build on the Senate's proud record of 
accomplishments starting again this week, and we should. Listen to what 
the American people told us. They told us: Roll up your sleeves, stop 
bickering, ignore the Big Lie because it is a big lie, and do something 
together. Show us cooperation. Can you do it?
  Well, I will tell you, I reached out already to two of my Republican 
colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking them to think 
about whether we can achieve anything in the next 3 or 4 weeks. I am 
hoping that we can. It was a good-faith effort on my part to say: Yes, 
we might have prevailed and we continue in the majority, but we can't 
get anything done unless we work together. I think that is what the 
American people are begging us to do now.
  I will basically say that this bipartisanship is an easy task when 
you have Members on the other side who are willing to join with you. 
Our most basic duty, though, our most basic thing we can accomplish 
between now and the end of the year is make sure we don't face a 
government shutdown. Who can imagine that is good for the United 
States, our reputation in the world, our economy, or the people who are 
counting on us, to let the government shut down?
  I am hopeful that in the coming weeks, before the first of the year, 
we can negotiate and pass an Omnibus appropriations package with 
bipartisan support. I am also hopeful that we can address that sword of 
Damocles hanging over our heads called the debt ceiling. From where I 
am sitting, the debt ceiling should be eliminated. It basically is a 
promise that we are going to pay the bills we have already incurred. 
Well, we wouldn't have voted for the bills if we didn't think we had to 
pay for them.
  So this debt ceiling has to be renewed on a regular basis and has 
become a bargaining point for some extremists in Congress who argue 
that shutting down the government won't even be noticed by the American 
people. They are wrong. They have done it before, and we noticed. It 
was not good for our country, and we don't need it at this moment in 
history.
  This week, we will also continue rebalancing the Federal judiciary by 
confirming highly qualified, evenhanded judges who will bring diversity 
to the Federal bench and who will defend our basic rights.
  During this legislative session, we can do something Americans have 
been waiting on for decades: reform our broken immigration system. 
Everybody is talking about it. Now let's do something about it on a 
bipartisan basis. We can, and we should.
  For the people--and the exact number, I am not sure--but thousands, 
tens of thousands protected by DACA are waiting to see if one judge in 
Texas is going to force them into deportation. Think about that. 
Thousands and thousands of young people were brought to the United 
States by their parents, grew up here, went to our schools, pledged 
allegiance to that flag every day in their classroom, and want to be 
part of America, and we have been unable and unwilling to come to a 
bipartisan agreement as to how to give them that chance.

  I beg my Republican colleagues--particularly those who are leaving 
and told me privately that they have always wanted to vote for the 
Dream Act and this time they will--give us a chance to work together to 
come up with a good, sensible approach to our border; a good, sensible 
approach to the Dream Act; and to help bring in workers we desperately 
need for agriculture and for some specialties in healthcare where we 
are having severe shortages in this country. We can do this. There is 
no reason we can't do it. We have the basic legislation.
  Let's really do something we can be proud of in the closing days of 
this year. I can think of no better way to show the American people 
that we were listening on November 8. After years of obstruction, we 
need bipartisanship. I know that means compromises by me as well as by 
them, but that is the nature of the Senate.
  Millions of voters turned out across America last week. They 
challenged us in the Senate. They challenged us to continue making real 
progress for working families in this country. Let's show them we can 
get it done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, election day has come and gone, but 
there is still quite a bit of uncertainty about what the next Congress 
will look like, particularly in the House of Representatives.
  As final ballots are being counted in a number of States, there is a 
lot we still don't know. But here is what we do know: We know that 
Democrats will maintain a razor-thin majority in the Senate, and I 
emphasize razor thin. In a few weeks, Georgia voters will head back to 
the polls to determine whether Democrats will hold 50 or 51 seats.
  We won't know the result of that race until December 6 at the 
earliest. Now, suffice it to say, this is not the result I would have 
hoped for. Like all of my colleagues, I have heard firsthand about the 
pain and frustration families have felt due to Democrats' policies. 
Their runaway spending habits have fueled inflation. Their open border 
policies have ushered in the largest migration crisis we have ever 
witnessed. The epidemic of fentanyl deaths is compounded by the Biden 
and Democratic open border policies. Their anti-police, soft-on-crime 
rhetoric has harmed public safety, and their detached-from-reality 
energy policies have sent gas prices soaring and undermined our 
national security.
  Best I can tell, our Democratic colleagues still don't have a plan to 
address any of those issues. It has become an exercise in finger-
pointing, and the latest scapegoat is now the former Customs and Border 
Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus. Even if the Biden White House and 
congressional Democrats--even if they did have a plan, it doesn't look 
like there is much appetite for action.
  If Republicans had won the majority, these issues would have been at 
the top

[[Page S6640]]

of our list, but, unfortunately, we came up short this time. I know 
many of my Republican colleagues are eager to have a frank discussion 
about the path forward for our party, and it is essential that we do 
so.
  We need to ensure that in 2 years our policies and our message will 
resonate with the voters. So I agree with the need to have a frank, 
meaningful conversation--debate even. We shouldn't be afraid of 
spirited debate in the U.S. Senate. After all, debate about what our 
message should be and what our priorities should look like, that is 
essential.
  Those discussions will begin tomorrow, and I hope there will be 
plenty of time to listen to one another and then to work toward 
consensus on a clear, concise, and impactful plan of action.
  In terms of what to expect from our Democratic colleagues, I don't 
expect much to change. Given that Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema--
given their strong support for the 60-vote threshold for the Senate to 
act, I believe that will remain firmly intact. If the majority leader 
tries to go nuclear--as he has threatened to do time and time again--
and blow up the rules of the Senate, he simply doesn't have the votes. 
That is the good news.
  There will be no Green New Deal. There will be no court packing, no 
DC statehood, no mass amnesties. Republicans, maybe with some 
Democratic support, will block the most radical aspects of the agenda 
for progressives in the Democratic Party, and we will continue to fight 
the irresponsible spending and government overreach our colleagues have 
pushed the last 2 years.
  Instead, we will push for commonsense policies to bring down the 
costs and improve the standard of living for working families. We will 
work to increase domestic energy production, rather than go hat in hand 
to autocrats in the Middle East, and we will secure the border. I hope 
we can do this through bipartisan progress. These are the top issues 
facing families across the country and they deserve our attention and, 
more than that, they deserve our action here in the Senate.
  Unfortunately, it is not just the Senate that is in a bit of a 
holding pattern. Several House races have yet to be called, and it is 
not clear which party will hold the majority. Republicans have a lead 
right now, and I am optimistic that that is where things will end up in 
the House. A Republican majority in the House would force our 
Democratic colleagues to abandon partisan governance, which has 
dominated in the last 2 years, as they have held the White House, they 
have held the House, and then had a working majority in the Senate.
  But now Democrats would no longer be able to abuse the budget 
reconciliation process to circumvent the normal legislative process. 
They would be forced to work in earnest to find common ground, which is 
what the American people, I believe, clearly want.
  Again, we are all eager for the ballot counting to conclude. It has 
been nearly a week since election day, and everyone is eager to have a 
final roster for the 118th Congress.
  While there is a lot we still don't know, there are some exciting 
things we do know. The Senate will welcome at least five new 
Republicans at the start of next year. Katie Britt, Ted Budd, Markwayne 
Mullin, Eric Schmitt, and J.D. Vance will join the ranks of the 
Republican conference.
  Each of these individuals is coming to Washington with a fresh 
perspective, right off the campaign trail, and a long list of ideas to 
improve the lives of folks in their State and across America.
  While I am sad to see our retiring colleagues go, I am eager to 
welcome this new blood, this new energy, and these new ideas into the 
Senate.
  There are also some new faces joining the Texas delegation. Given the 
explosive population growth in our State, we have added two new House 
seats this cycle, bringing the total to 38 House Members from the great 
State of Texas.
  Next Congress, we will welcome five new Texas Republicans in the 
House, and I am eager to work with these men and women to solve some of 
the biggest issues families in our State are facing.
  But if the truth be known, I am happy to work with anybody who shares 
my interest in trying to make life a little bit better and to address 
the critical issues facing American families today, which brings me to 
my next topic, the National Defense Authorization Act.