[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S43-S44]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Senate Accomplishments

  Madam President, 4 years ago today, as another new Congress was 
starting its work, America was nearing the end of the longest Federal 
Government shutdown in history. It was day 33 of a 35-day shutdown, a 
shutdown that was precipitated by President Donald Trump when he 
refused to sign any budget that did not include billions of dollars for 
what he wanted to build and call his ``big, beautiful'' wall on the 
southern border. That dysfunction and that government shutdown cost our 
economy billions of dollars, and it shook the confidence of many--in 
this country and its future--in America's ability to do the basics.
  Fast-forward to the start of the last Congress 2 years ago when three 
of the newest Members of the Senate had just been sworn in, giving 
America only the second 50-50 Senate split in its history. It was a 
time of crises and division: the deadliest public health emergency in a

[[Page S44]]

century; the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression; and 
then--and then--a violent attack on the Capitol by an insurrectionist 
mob, one of the darkest days in the history of this building and our 
Nation. The doubters said a 50-50 Senate coming into being with that 
circumstance was destined to be gridlocked. We proved them wrong.
  Today, we begin the legislative work of a new Congress, the 118th 
Congress. Will these 2 years--the next 2 years--be remembered for 
dysfunction or democracy? chaos or consensus? That really is the 
challenge we face. The choice is not entirely in our hands here in the 
Senate with a 51-to-49 slim majority.
  The new MAGA majority in the House of Representatives has promised 
endless investigations, confrontations, impeachments, and chaos, but it 
doesn't have to be that way. The Senate can be a steadying force. We 
can pass a budget. We can give a helping hand to families and 
businesses. We can invest in a better future. We can defend democracy 
against the rise of autocracy. We can pay our Nation's bills if we are 
willing to work together for the common good.
  If you want to see our choices, look at what we faced on January 4, 
just a few weeks ago. On that day, the House of Representatives was in 
chaos. A small band of MAGA hard-liners held the House hostage to their 
extreme demands. In the end, it took 15 rollcall votes, over 4 days, to 
elect a new Speaker, who will be, after all of his concessions to the 
extreme wing of his party, on paper, perhaps, the weakest Speaker in 
recent memory.
  However, on that same day, January 4, President Biden and the 
Republican leader, Senator McConnell, were together at a major bridge 
that connects Covington, KY, with Cincinnati, OH. It is a bridge that 
has needed repair for years, and now those repairs will happen because 
of the historic infrastructure bill passed by the last Congress--the 
largest infrastructure plan since the Eisenhower administration in the 
1950s and the creation of the Interstate Highway System.
  That bipartisan infrastructure plan will rebuild bridges and roads 
all across America and our State of Illinois. We have already seen 
evidence of that. It will expand affordable high-speed broadband 
services, and it will build the 21st century infrastructure America 
needs to remain the strongest in the world. It is already creating good 
jobs in Illinois and around the Nation, and it will continue to do so. 
That is just one of the achievements of this Congress that had a 50-50 
Senate.
  We also passed the CHIPS and Science Act to supercharge America's 
microchip industry and bring high-tech manufacturing back to America. 
We passed the boldest economic recovery and investment plan since 
President Franklin Roosevelt, the most sweeping legislation enacted by 
any government on Earth to confront the climate crisis, and the 
bipartisan PACT Act to help millions of veterans who were exposed to 
burn pits and other toxic chemicals during their military service. We 
kept the price of insulin for seniors at $35 a month. Now, for the 
first time ever, Medicare can negotiate on prescription drug prices, 
and Medicare recipients' out-of-pocket expenses for drugs will be 
capped at $2,000 a year.

  In the last Congress, we confirmed 97 outstanding new Article III 
judges, including the first Black woman ever to serve on the Supreme 
Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. These new judges will bring 
unprecedented diversity to our Federal courts both in terms of 
demographics as well as in their backgrounds and professional 
experience.
  In the last Congress, with President Biden's leadership and the 
support of Congress, the United States rallied the free world to 
confront Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
  Yesterday, I was at a meeting in an area known as the Ukrainian 
Village in the city of Chicago. It was a gathering not only of proud 
Lithuanians, who were determined to do everything they could to help 
their friends and relatives back in Ukraine fight off Putin's invasion, 
but also a lot of others. There were many Polish people there, 
Lithuanians as well, and many other consulate generals were present to 
express their support for the common cause.
  I am proud that the United States is leading this effort, and we must 
continue to. When I hear suspicions and rumors and suggestions that 
maybe the MAGA Republicans in the House have grown weary of this war 
and impatient for it to end, I have to remind them that freedom is 
worth fighting for. The Ukrainians are dying for it. We need to stand 
by them with the NATO alliance and see this through and put an end to 
Putin's terrible war crimes.
  We ensure, as well, that the United States will not be a safe haven 
for the perpetrators of heinous war crimes in Ukraine. We will continue 
to stand with the Ukrainians until Putin's illegal war is over and 
Ukraine is once again free and at peace.
  We authorized and strengthened the Violence Against Women Act; passed 
new laws to strengthen protections for survivors of domestic violence, 
sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment.
  Over the last 2 years, the Federal Government delivered 700 million 
COVID shots for free--in 2 years, 700 million vaccinations--and 
according to the White House, COVID deaths in America are down by 80 
percent.
  America's economy created 11 million jobs--the strongest job creation 
in the history of our Nation. The Nation's unemployment rate is near a 
50-year low. Gas prices are headed down, and inflation is finally 
easing a little bit.
  All of that happened with a 50-50 Senate. That is not gridlock. That 
is government working for the common good.
  The priorities for this Congress are pretty obvious. We need to 
continue our efforts to protect the basic rights of Americans. As well 
as voting rights, we need to include on that list reproductive health 
rights for the women of America.
  We are determined to end the crisis on our southern border by 
securing the border, finally fixing our broken immigration system, and 
passing the DREAM Act--my ambition for almost two decades. Well, it has 
been longer than that to be honest with you.
  Over the last week, I visited with some of the migrants who were 
bused to Chicago, and I talked to them about their families and what 
they face. If there is anyone who thinks that they are trying to game 
the system in America, they ought to talk to them. They are ready to go 
to work, and we need to make sure that that is done in a proper 
fashion.
  Last year, we passed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 
years, but the horrific shooting that killed 11--now the latest number 
is 11--and wounded 9 more this past weekend at the Lunar New Year 
celebration in Monterey Park, CA, is another terrible reminder that 
more work needs to be done for gun safety. The Lunar New Year shooting 
was the 33rd mass shooting in America so far this month--33 so far this 
month.
  Last year, there were 600 mass shootings. I remember one of them 
well, and I am sure the Acting President pro tempore does too. The 
gunman opened fire on the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, IL. 
He discharged 83 rounds in less than a minute, and he killed 7 people 
and injured dozens more. There were 19 little children and 2 of their 
teachers who were murdered in their classroom in Uvalde, TX, just days 
before. There were 10 people who were killed in a grocery store in 
Buffalo, NY, in a racist attack. The list goes on and on and on.
  It is madness. It is sickening. It is a uniquely American problem. 
Try to explain it away. You can't. There are just too darned many guns 
in the hands of the wrong people, and they continue to produce them and 
sell them with abandon and without any sense of responsibility for the 
results.