[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 40 (Thursday, March 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S615-S616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Democratic Caucus Lunch

  Mr. President, now on the President's visit to our caucus lunch this 
afternoon, later today, Senate Democrats will welcome President Biden 
to the Capitol for a special caucus lunch to talk about our agenda for 
the 118th Congress.
  I predict that today's conversation will reemphasize a couple of 
important points. Unlike the other party, Democrats are united. We have 
a great story to tell about our work over the last 2 years, and we are 
ready to keep working in a bipartisan way to make life better for the 
American people.
  If the last 2 years focused on getting our agenda passed into law, 
one of the focuses of our lunch will be on how the next 2 years will be 
about implementing that agenda. Legislation must and will continue, but 
implementation will also be a top priority.
  Democrats are making sure that Americans see our agenda--see our 
agenda in their own backyards, on their way to work, and when they 
balance their checkbooks. Americans will see our agenda as the roads 
and bridges and highways they use every day finally get the fixes that 
are so needed, and Americans will see our agenda in

[[Page S616]]

action as manufacturing--good-paying manufacturing jobs, high-end 
jobs--returns to our shore, as new innovations get developed here at 
home.
  We will also talk with President Biden about one of the most 
important priorities that defines our party: building ladders to help 
people get into the middle class and helping people who are already in 
the middle class stay there.
  We will continue protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid 
from the hard right. We will keep investing in infrastructure jobs and 
good-paying union jobs, and we will hold abusive corporations 
accountable for putting profits over people's safety.
  We are also going to make sure that, once people make it into the 
middle class, they have the tools to stay in the middle class. That was 
precisely the reasoning behind our work on IRA, on CHIPS and Science, 
on pushing for student debt relief and increasing Pell grants, and so 
much more.
  I expect we will also discuss how we will keep Americans safe and 
keep democracy alive in the 21st century. One year into Putin's violent 
assault on Ukraine, the support for Ukraine will hold firm, and that, 
praise God, has been very bipartisan. Leader McConnell and I are united 
in that regard.
  So we will focus on taking an all-of-above approach to outcompete 
President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party. CHIPS was an important 
step in that direction, but we cannot relent. The administration has 
already taken a few Executive actions that will increase our ability to 
bring jobs back here and prevent the Chinese from purloining our 
intellectual property. But we certainly cannot rest on our laurels.
  Finally, and very importantly, we are going to talk about how 
Democrats will preserve our unity in the months ahead. The story here 
in Congress over the first few months of 2023 has been one of 
contrasts. Democrats are united on helping average Americans, while 
Republicans are divided, paralyzed by chaos, and so many of them doing 
the bidding of the ultrarich and the very well connected and powerful.
  Republicans like to talk about standing up for average folks and 
fighting ``wokeism''--whatever that means--but look at what they have 
actually done this year. They have given cover to wealthy tax cheats, 
escalated their war on women, even tried to push a national sales tax 
that would raise taxes significantly--up to 30 percent--for average 
families.
  How the heck is an average family going to pay 30 percent more for 
everything they buy? What planet are these folks on?
  Nowhere else is the contrast between Democrats and Republicans more 
glaring than when it comes to raising the debt ceiling. President Biden 
and Senate and House Democrats have been clear from the very beginning 
that we are united on what our plan is: Both sides must come together 
and raise the debt ceiling without engaging in hostage-taking, 
brinksmanship, or political blackmail.

  Speaker McCarthy, however, is unable to unite his conference or 
explain what exactly the Republican plan is. The hard right is 
demanding that we agree to spending cuts in exchange for their votes. 
But to this day, there is no consensus and no clarity about what cuts 
Republicans want.
  Speaker McCarthy, it is March 2. Where is your plan? It is March 2, 
Speaker McCarthy. You have been talking about a plan for a while. Where 
is it? Where is your plan?
  You say Social Security and Medicare is off the table. But until the 
American people see a plan, they cannot just take the Speaker at his 
word that Social Security and Medicare will be safe, because so many on 
his right flank--so many mainstream Republican Members even--have long 
pushed to have these programs changed.
  And there is more that Americans have to worry about. What is the 
Republican plan on Medicaid or funding the police, on Pell grants, on 
defense, on food for kids? Will all of these things get cut from their 
plan?
  Again, this goes back to the central problem with the Republican 
House majority. It will be exceedingly difficult and, in all 
likelihood, impossible for them to unite around a plan that they can 
pass with their 220-some-odd votes and that the American people will 
accept and like.
  This contrast is going to keep growing and growing in the months 
ahead. During today's lunch, we will talk with the President about how 
we can make sure Americans see and understand the contrast. I thank 
President Biden for his time, and I very much look forward to having 
him here at our Capitol.