[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1970-S1971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Business Before the Senate

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, every day, Texans reach out to my office 
to talk about challenges that they and their families are facing, or 
maybe they see something on the news or read something in the local 
paper that causes them concern about what the Federal Government is up 
to; but most often, they call and tell me that inflation continues to 
strain their household budgets, and they are fearful that a recession 
is approaching. They are raising concerns about the security breakdown 
at the southern border and fears about rising crime rates in their 
communities. They share stories about teenage students who died from 
fentanyl poisoning, maybe friends of their family, and they tell me 
they are terrified for their own children's safety.
  Of course, these concerns aren't unique to Texas. People across the 
country--everyone--wants affordable gas and groceries. We all, 
presumably, want dangerous drugs off the streets and dangerous people 
behind bars. We all want to live in safe communities so we can pursue 
our dreams. In short, the American people aren't asking for a lot. All 
they want is to be able to live happy, healthy lives. And they are 
asking Congress to remove some of the burdens that are making that more 
difficult.
  That is what we need to be doing here in the Senate. In recent 
months, the Republican-led House has been a flurry of activity. They 
passed legislation to unleash the power of American energy and reduce 
costs to consumers. They passed legislation to classify fentanyl as a 
schedule 1 substance--the most dangerous of drugs--and to give parents 
a say in their children's education. They have also passed legislation 
to improve veterans' healthcare, to stand behind law enforcement 
officials, and to address fraud and abuse in the unemployment insurance 
system.
  Speaker McCarthy and the Republican majority in the House have 
responded to the concerns of the American people not with rhetoric but 
with action.
  That is a sharp contrast with what we have witnessed here in the 
Senate. The first major piece of legislation that passed this Chamber 
was just last week after months of President Biden saying he wouldn't 
even negotiate with the House on raising the debt limit; but he finally 
did, up against the back of a potential default.
  Before that, the Senate has passed legislation repealing the Iraq war 
authorization. We reauthorized grants for firefighters and we confirmed 
some Federal judges and other nominees. Then we passed a handful of 
Republican-led resolutions to overturn Biden administration executive 
orders, and that is about it.
  Now to be clear, there were some wins in there. Less than a week ago, 
the Senate passed a resolution I introduced with Senator Cassidy, the 
Senator from Louisiana, to overturn President Biden's student loan 
scheme claiming to cancel student loans for people who agreed to borrow 
the money. But, somehow, by ``canceling,'' what he really meant was 
transferring that burden to the taxpayers. We were able to get a 
bipartisan vote overturning that decision here in the Senate.
  But given the fact we are 5 months into the year, this is an 
embarrassingly short list of accomplishments. Clearly, the Republican-
led House is doing its job, but the Democrat-led Senate is not doing a 
whole lot. The American people are clamoring for action--again, not 
just lip service. They want action on inflation, on crime, on the 
border, energy prices, and so much more.
  But for some reason, the majority leader, the Senator from New York, 
Senator Schumer, seems content to just put us in neutral and coast. We 
haven't even had votes on Mondays. We come in on Tuesday and leave on 
Thursday, 3 days out of the 7-day week. The American people understand 
that we are coasting here. We are not giving it our best or our all. So 
there is no doubt we have a major productivity problem here in this 
Chamber. And that needs to change soon.
  We have a lot of work we need to do before the end of the year. First 
on the docket is the National Defense Authorization Act. Each year this 
legislation provides our military leaders and our servicemembers with 
the certainty they need to prepare for the threats of today and 
tomorrow. And those threats are doing nothing but growing on a daily 
basis. Whether it is China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, an on-time 
National Defense Authorization Act is absolutely critical.
  Senator Wicker, the Senator from Mississippi, is leading those 
efforts on our side of the aisle, and I am confident that he and our 
colleagues on the Armed Services Committee will deliver another strong 
NDAA. But Senator Schumer, the majority leader who is the floor leader, 
is the one who sets the agenda. He needs to carve out the floor time to 
make this a priority so we can move on to the Senate's next big task 
which is funding the government.
  Now, as part of the debt limit agreement last week, Senator Schumer 
agreed to bring up all 12 appropriation bills to the Senate floor by 
September 30. The reason that is so important is that last year in 
December, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer decided, 
basically, that the rest of us were going to be potted plants and given 
the opportunity to vote up or down on an Omnibus appropriation bill 
rather than doing the work of passing each appropriation bill out of 
committee, across the floor, giving every Senator an opportunity to 
participate in shaping that legislation. So thank goodness Speaker 
McCarthy was able to negotiate an agreement to get us back to that 
regular order, a more transparent, more rational process. You would 
think that with $31.4 trillion in debt, that the majority leader, 
Senator Schumer, would recognize this as a priority.
  But these appropriation bills do some essential things like funding 
our military, veteran services, border security, and so much more. 
Again, this is a departure--or what I hope will be a departure--from 
what we saw in 2021 and 2022, when the Congress and the Democratic-led 
Senate did not pass a single appropriation bill until that omnibus bill 
came up in December.

  Individual funding bills are the starting point for sound financial 
decision making here in Washington. They allow us to cut wasteful 
spending and invest in our priorities. That is what a budget is all 
about. It is about priorities, and our No. 1 priority needs to be our 
national security.
  Senator Collins, the Republican ranking member on the Appropriations 
Committee, and Senator Murray, the

[[Page S1971]]

chairman of the Appropriations Committee, are determined to restore 
common sense to the appropriation process, especially when it comes to 
defense spending. So I am glad the majority leader agreed to return to 
the regular appropriations process, and I hope he will stick by his 
word. The end of September is the deadline, and it is also the deadline 
for two other major tasks.
  One is reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. It is time 
to modernize the Agency and implement long overdue reforms, and I am 
glad Senator Cruz, the junior Senator from Texas, is leading those 
efforts on our side of the aisle.
  Then there is the farm bill, which affects agriculture and food 
programs across the country. For everything from crop insurance to 
nutrition programs to rural broadband, passing the farm bill is 
absolutely vital. The ranking member, Senator Boozman, is no stranger 
to that process, and he is committed to passing a strong farm bill 
before the current one expires.
  But Congress must pass each one of those bills--both houses of 
Congress--by September 30. If you include this week, the Senate is in 
session only 10 weeks before then. So we have no time to waste. As I 
said, in those 10 weeks, we need to pass the defense authorization 
bill, 12 appropriations bills, an FAA reauthorization, and a farm 
bill--and those are just some of the big ticket and most urgent items 
on the to-do list.
  We also need to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act before it expires at the end of this year. This is an 
absolutely essential tool used by our intelligence community in order 
to detect threats to our Nation and our national security, and it is an 
absolutely must-pass, must-do piece of legislation.
  Then, of course, there is the never-ending humanitarian and security 
crisis at the border. We need to continue our work to crack down on 
fentanyl trafficking. Again, unleash the power of American energy; 
ensure that Ukraine, together with our allies, has the tools they need 
to win its fight against the Russian invasion and so much more.
  So I simply don't understand how the Senate can continue to coast at 
a glacial pace. We have a lot to do for the American people; and the 
majority leader who sets the floor agenda needs to make sure that we 
buckle down and get this work done.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.