[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 27, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4689-S4695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

SECURING GROWTH AND ROBUST LEADERSHIP IN AMERICAN AVIATION ACT--MOTION 
                         TO PROCEED--Continued

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3935, 
which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 211, H.R. 3935, a bill to 
     amend title 49, United States Code, to reauthorize and 
     improve the Federal Aviation Administration and other civil 
     aviation programs, and for other purposes.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Indiana.


                    Welcoming Chaplain Kent A. Lundy

  Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, ``Let us all strive to make selfless 
service great again.'' Lt. Col. Kent Lundy opened this Chamber in 
prayer today.
  When the Constitutional Convention reached an impasse in the summer 
of 1787, the oldest delegate offered a suggestion to the assembled. 
Rather than searching in the dark for truth, Benjamin Franklin reasoned 
they should instead begin each day's work with an appeal through prayer 
to the ``Father of Lights'' to illuminate their path. Without his 
assistance, Franklin argued, ``[w]e shall be divided by our little 
partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we 
ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to the future 
age.''
  With that divine assistance, none of these ever came to pass, 
blessedly; that we stand in this institution that they built, guided by 
the Constitution that they wrote, is surely proof of it and proof of 
his blessings. We still need them. We need those blessings over our 
work here, over our Nation.

[[Page S4690]]

  I am honored that, today, that appeal was made by one of Indiana's 
own. An airman pastor, Lt. Col. Kent Lundy has long served his Nation 
and the communities he has called home. He wears the uniform of the Air 
Force as a member of the Indiana National Guard. He is an ordained 
elder in the United Methodist Church. Chaplain Lundy has been a member 
of the Indiana Air National Guard for 16 years, 12 of which were with 
the 122nd Fighter Wing in Fort Wayne as a chaplain.
  He has been deployed overseas twice, and for the last 4 years he has 
been on Active Duty with the 181st Intelligence Wing in Terre Haute, 
IN.
  As wing chaplain, he supports the physical, social, mental, and 
spiritual needs--the four pillars of airman fitness--of his fellow 
guardsmen as they do their work, as they seek to make America great 
again through service from the ground up, as they provide our military 
critical assistance for missions and rescue efforts during natural 
disasters.
  A testament to the passion he brings to his work, Chaplain Lundy has 
said being an Air Force chaplain is ``the greatest job in the Air 
Force.'' And when you meet him, you get a sense of his enthusiasm for 
his work, for his service. You come to understand that.
  But his work goes beyond that. He is an advocate for Hoosier 
veterans, and he has worked to destigmatize and increase access to 
mental health care for those who have served.
  Chaplain Lundy originally joined the Air Force in 2006. His calling 
goes back much further than that, though. He first heard it during a 
visit to the Holy Land as a seventh grader shortly after joining the 
church. Over the years, it has led him to pastor churches in Fort Wayne 
and other parts of northeast Indiana.
  His wife, Rev. Dr. Marti Gates Lundy, who is with us today as well, 
is also a United Methodist pastor.
  Chaplain Lundy has devoted his life to God and to meeting the 
spiritual needs of his fellow Hoosiers and the men and women who serve 
our country.
  I don't know if he found the U.S. Senate as big of a thrill as he has 
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway--we are not going to ask him that 
question; he has offered prayers there, too--but we are privileged to 
have had Chaplain Lundy deliver today's invocation.
  After all, to borrow Franklin's words, we still need the assistance 
of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberations.
  Thank you, Chaplain Lundy, for making those appeals on our behalf.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, I would like to thank you, Chaplain Lundy, 
for coming all the way from Terre Haute. That is on kind of the west 
central side of our State, a pretty good trek out here.
  You heard what the senior Senator from Indiana said. You have had a 
storied career in the military, but I think having a life led based 
upon strong faith, there is no substitute for it, serving there with 
the National Guard.
  Indiana has the notoriety for having a lot of veterans in our own 
State, always coming to the call when there is a need, whether it is 
through the National Guard or through Active Duty.
  You play such an important role because so often the troops who give 
the most, who serve, need the help of probably the Almighty more than 
any of us in that task. Thank you for doing that. Caring for that 
spiritual well-being, it is hard to imagine how that works in some 
instances. Again, doing it, you ought to feel good about the career you 
have made and spent, especially back home in Indiana.
  We are a State where, I think, faith is the cornerstone of so much of 
what we do. Our families and our communities all intertwine. Every 
town, I think, needs that. Every State needs that.
  Thank you, again, for doing this today, opened the Senate session in 
prayer, and for what you have done throughout your storied career.
  Chaplain LUNDY. Thank you.
  Mr. BRAUN. You are welcome.
  I yield the floor.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.


                         Continuing Resolution

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, yesterday afternoon, Democrats and 
Republicans reached an agreement on a CR that will keep the government 
open until November 17, and, with a strong bipartisan vote of 77 to 19, 
the Senate agreed to move forward last night on this legislation. It 
shows that, in the Senate, both parties can work through our 
differences for the betterment of the country.
  But in the House, Republicans have tried everything but 
bipartisanship. Last night, the Speaker twisted himself into pretzels 
yet again, trying to avoid his responsibility of governing. But this is 
the truth: Every bill House Republicans have pushed has been partisan, 
every CR has been aimed at the hard right, and every path they have 
pursued to date will inevitably lead to a shutdown.
  Speaker McCarthy, the only way--the only way--out of a shutdown is 
bipartisanship, and by constantly adhering to what the hard right 
wants, you are aiming for a shutdown. They want it. You know it. You 
can stop it. Work in a bipartisan way like we are in the Senate, and we 
can avoid harm to tens of millions of Americans.
  Bipartisanship is precisely what we have been pursuing here in the 
Senate. We haven't agreed on everything, and there is still a lot more 
work to be done. But we haven't let our differences paralyze us, and 
the result has been a commonsense, bipartisan, sensible approach for a 
CR.
  It will keep the government funded at current levels until November 
17. It will extend the Federal Aviation Administration until December 
31. It will replenish the Disaster Response Emergency Fund to help 
communities battered by natural disasters. It will continue paying 
Federal firefighters. It will extend funding for community health 
centers, the National Health Service Corps, and other healthcare 
programs. And it will send more help to our friends in Ukraine.
  Thank you to my colleagues who negotiated this bill in good faith. 
Thank you to Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins and all the staff on 
the Approps committees, who worked all day and night through the 
weekend. And thanks to Leader McConnell and the many, many Republicans 
who worked with us and joined us in passing this, for moving forward on 
this bipartisan CR.
  Now, there is still much more work to do. Now that we are on the 
bill, it will require consent and cooperation to move it swiftly 
through the Chamber. We cannot have Members trying last-minute delay 
tactics and risk a shutdown. The CR agreement the Senate has released 
is a good, sensible, and bipartisan--let me emphasize ``bipartisan''--
bill. It is a bridge toward greater cooperation between the Chambers 
and away from the paralyzing extremism we have seen in the House.
  And a reckless shutdown will serve no purpose except for hard-right 
partisans, whose only goal is to grind the gears of government down and 
promote extremism. It will cause grave harm for communities across the 
country. A reckless shutdown will cause grave harm to our border. It 
will affect our military by withholding their pay. It will disrupt 
everything from food safety inspection to TSA operations, to small 
business loans.
  This is the problem with MAGA extremism. It is not serious about 
governing. Chaos is the only word in their playbook. Conflict seems to 
be their natural state of being. And some of them seem to exult in 
shutting down the government.
  And if MAGA Republicans get their way, the danger for this country 
will be great. Extremism will be dominant. The ultrarich will be 
empowered. Working families will suffer. Women's healthcare will be 
even more curtailed.
  We don't want to go down that troubling road. The Speaker should 
resist the 30 or so Republicans who want to drag us in that direction, 
and he can do it by giving bipartisanship a chance, just as we are 
doing here in the Senate.


                           SAFER Banking Act

  Mr. President, now on SAFER Banking, this morning, as we speak, the 
Banking Committee is holding a markup on our bipartisan SAFER Banking 
Act. Today's markup of SAFER Banking represents a huge step forward in 
the Senate's effort to help cannabis businesses operate more 
efficiently, more safely, and more transparently.
  I worked long and hard to get to this point with Chairman Brown and 
Ranking Member Scott; and special thanks

[[Page S4691]]

to Senators Merkley, Daines, Lummis, Sinema, and Reed, because I thank 
them for their cooperation as well. It has been a goal of mine since we 
started this session of the Senate to move forward on this legislation.
  And the good news: The SAFER Banking bill is about to be reported out 
of committee with strong bipartisan support this morning. Once it is 
reported out of committee, I will bring SAFER Banking to the floor for 
a vote as quickly as possible.

  For too long, cannabis businesses have been forced to rely primarily 
on cash transactions--no credit or debit cards. Dealing only in cash 
stifles these businesses' growth, opens them up to so many risks, and 
makes them easy targets for theft, robbery, and other crimes. No 
industry has the ability to thrive if they can't access banking 
infrastructure, especially not an industry that is growing as quickly 
and is as new as the cannabis industry.
  Congress has always been in the business of promoting entrepreneurs, 
promoting small business, and promoting job growth. We should continue 
doing so with the cannabis industry. Our SAFER Banking Act will connect 
cannabis businesses, especially ones in minority and underserved 
communities, to traditional financial resources like bank accounts and 
small business loans, creating a safer and more transparent environment 
for the industry to grow.
  I am also committed to including criminal justice provisions like 
HOPE and GRAM in SAFER Banking. I have long advocated for expungement 
of records for cannabis offenses, and with SAFER Banking moving through 
the committee in a strong bipartisan way, now is the time to get it 
done.
  So, again, I thank my colleagues on both sides for their work on this 
legislation, which has been an effort years--years--in the making. And 
once it is reported out of committee, I will put SAFER Banking on the 
floor for a vote very soon.
  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.
  Mr. McCONNELL. 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.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The Republican leader is recognized.


                         Continuing Resolution

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, the Senate took the first 
step toward avoiding a harmful and unnecessary government shutdown. The 
business before us now is to pass standard, short-term funding 
legislation to keep basic and essential government functions operating 
while work continues on full-year appropriations.
  We are talking about making sure that the servicemembers who will 
continue to stand watch around the world and the Border Patrol and ICE 
agents who will continue to contend with the Biden administration's 
border crisis here at home and the VA medical providers who will 
continue to care for America's heroes don't have to go without their 
paychecks.
  The choice facing Congress is pretty straightforward. We can take the 
standard approach and fund the government for 6 weeks at the current 
rate of operations, or we can shut the government down in exchange for 
zero meaningful progress on policy.
  So let's be clear. There are a number of important discussions on 
additional funding priorities that are still unresolved. Many 
colleagues are eager to make real progress in bringing the Democrats' 
reckless spending to heel; to force the administration to start taking 
its southern border crisis seriously; to provide greater relief for 
victims of wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters; and to 
deliver continued assistance to Ukraine's defense against Russia. And 
on all of those counts, I am one of them.
  We would like to address all of those issues, but these important 
discussions cannot progress if Congress simply fails to complete our 
work on standard, short-term funding and the basic functions of 
government end up being taken hostage. So a vote against a standard, 
short-term funding measure is a vote against paying over a billion 
dollars in salary for Border Patrol and ICE agents working to track 
down lethal fentanyl and tame our open borders. Letting FEMA's Disaster 
Relief Fund dry up is not a productive way to advocate for victims of 
disasters. Letting small businesses' loan applications collect dust is 
not a productive way to help working Americans contend with Washington 
Democrats' historic inflation.
  Shutting down the government isn't an effective way to make a point. 
Keeping it open is the only way to make a difference on the most 
important issues we are facing.


                           Economic Recovery

  Mr. President, on another matter, the American people are absolutely 
sick--sick and tired--of living under Bidenomics. According to one 
recent survey, nearly 70 percent of Americans think the economy is 
actually getting worse. And support for President Biden's handling of 
the economy is at the lowest level of his Presidency.
  It might have something to do with the fact that since President 
Biden took office, soaring inflation has turned rising wages into net 
pay cuts for American workers. Real wages are down 2.3 percent since 
2021. Household incomes fell in 17 States last year. And for all but 
the wealthiest 20 percent of households, American families' savings 
have actually shrunk.
  A food truck owner in Atlanta told reporters recently that he is 
paying--listen to this--25 percent more for ingredients, while the 
lines for his sandwiches are dwindling as customers cut back on their 
spending. Here is what he said:

       I've had to raise some of my prices just to kind of keep up 
     to make it. . . . And gas prices, when you drive a food 
     truck, you only get eight miles a gallon. So the cost of [my] 
     fuel really hurts.

  Here is what the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week:

       People hate inflation, hate it.

  The Chairman of the Fed is absolutely right. Working families are 
tired of wondering how to make ends meet every month. They are tired of 
being told that Bidenomics is working for them.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. 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.


                             STOP CSAM Act

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, regulations enacted in 
the European Union went into effect that cover more than a dozen of the 
world's biggest tech platforms. This includes online marketplaces, app 
stores, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
  The European Union regulations address a host of harmful practices, 
including preventing targeted advertising, minimizing illegal content 
and hate speech, and, most importantly, protecting kids from horrible 
content.
  If companies fail to comply in the European Union, they could be 
fined up to 6 percent of their annual global revenue. They can also be 
banned from operating in the European Union countries.
  This shows that Big Tech can be regulated. It is possible to craft 
rules to protect our families without breaking the miracle of the 
internet.
  In contrast to what has happened in Europe, here in the United 
States, Congress has failed to regulate high tech. And while we sit on 
our hands, other nations are moving ahead and shaping the rules of the 
digital world.
  Worse than that, while we fail to act, children are left in harm's 
way. We can, and we must, regulate Big Tech to protect our kids.
  Let me tell you about one young man named Cornell Johnson. He is from 
Illinois. He is a man who preyed on 17 victims, ranging in age from 4 
to 17 years old and located across 8 States. His tool of choice: 
Facebook.
  Johnson would set up profiles claiming to be a woman and then use 
these Facebook profiles to contact girls all over the country. First, 
he would entice these girls to send him sexually suggestive images of 
themselves in various stages of undress. Then he would

[[Page S4692]]

use these images to coerce the victims into sending him sexually 
explicit content. He would threaten to post the nude pictures online 
unless the young victims submitted to his demands for still more 
explicit images.
  Horrifically, Johnson also directed his teenaged victims to sexually 
abuse younger children in their household and send him the images. He 
was prosecuted and sentenced to 45 years in Federal prison.
  Johnson was held accountable for his conduct, but what about 
Facebook? Johnson could not have committed his crimes without the 
social media platform. He could not have sexually exploited those 17 
children in 8 different States. Yet our current law, as written, 
shields Facebook from any accountability for the role they played in 
making Cornell Johnson's crimes possible.
  Sadly, there are many examples where Big Tech is failing children in 
America.
  Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal exposed how Instagram's 
algorithms are connecting pedophiles and guiding them to locations 
where they can purchase child sexual abuse material. The platform 
permitted searches with terms associated with child abuse so vile that 
I won't repeat them in this Chamber. Senator Lindsey Graham and I wrote 
to Meta, Instagram's parent company, in June asking for answers to 
explain these algorithms. We are still waiting.
  On X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk reinstated the account of 
a user who was banned for tweeting an image of a toddler being 
tortured. As of late July, that image had drawn more than 3 million 
views and 8,000 retweets. A study released in June found that Twitter 
failed to stop the uploading of copies of known child sexual abuse 
material, CSAM. The study also found that Twitter would sometimes allow 
accounts to remain active until they had uploaded CSAM multiple times. 
Elon Musk's claims of a zero-tolerance policy for child exploitation on 
his platform doesn't reflect the disturbing reality.
  Another company failing our children is Apple. In 2021, the company 
paused its plan to detect CSAM uploaded to its cloud service. Then last 
month, Wired published a letter from Apple in which the company 
confirmed it will make no effort to address child sexual abuse material 
stored on its platform. Apparently, Apple views permitting this ongoing 
child sexual exploitation as an acceptable and necessary cost of 
protecting their right to privacy.
  But I believe we can live in a world where user privacy and child 
safety can coexist, and I believe I have written a bill that does just 
that. My STOP CSAM Act will end Big Tech's free ride and give victims a 
way to hold these companies accountable for their failure to stop 
online child sexual exploitation and, in some cases, for their actions 
that make it worse.
  Importantly, the bill achieves this goal in a manner that will avoid 
any unintended impact on technology that protects privacy.
  The STOP CSAM Act is the product of extensive consultations with 
stakeholders. It passed out of the Judiciary Committee, which I chair, 
unanimously--every Democrat, every Republican supported it--and I am 
working to bring it to the floor.
  The Senate must act. Our failure to do so will preserve the status 
quo where our children are being sexually exploited online every single 
day. What a nightmare. As a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, 
you think all the time: What are they looking at on those phones all 
day long? What is on those screens? What message is being sent to them? 
What is changing them from that experience? And what can I possibly do 
as a parent or grandparent to police what is going on there?
  We need to have the law on our side. Sure, I want to be certain to 
recognize the basic fundamental constitutional rights in our country, 
but I have to acknowledge as well that we aren't doing anything at this 
point. The current law says that these platforms are not responsible 
for whatever they do or fail to do. It is a get-out-of-jail-free card 
completely, and it has been that way for decades.
  We have to wake up to the reality of the year we live in and the 
reality of life in families across America. Even the most conscientious 
parents cannot know what is going on every hour of every day with 
children and these screens.
  The sexploitation which I outlined here in detail is happening, and 
what are we doing about it? If we are going to help Americans raise 
good kids--and we want them all to raise good kids--we have to give 
them the tools and we have to back them up with laws that say we are 
going to take it seriously. The European Union has done it, so why not 
the United States of America? It is time for us to make progress in 
this area for the good of our children.
  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.
  Mr. THUNE. 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.


                            Border Security

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, ``No end in sight''--that is how one Border 
Patrol chief described the influx of migrants in the Rio Grande Valley 
sector of the southern border in March 2021. ``No end in sight.'' That 
was 2\1/2\ years ago, and there is still no end in sight to this 
crisis.
  On Friday, we learned that 232,972 individuals were caught trying to 
illegally cross our southern border in the month of August--232,972. 
That is the highest August number yet for the Biden administration. All 
signs suggest that we are on track for a third recordbreaking year of 
apprehensions at the southern border. In fact, roughly 11,000 
individuals were apprehended attempting to cross our southern border in 
just 24 hours this past weekend--11,000 in 24 hours.
  If the White House really thinks it is ``stopping the flow at the 
border,'' as the White House Press Secretary said last month, it should 
think again.
  It is important to note that the numbers I have mentioned only 
reflect individuals who were actually apprehended. They don't include 
individuals who have made their way into the country illegally 
without--without--being caught. Since the beginning of the Biden 
administration, there have been at least 1.5 million known ``got-
aways,'' individuals the Border Patrol detected but was unable to 
apprehend.
  The Biden administration's so-called border plan is clearly not 
working, and State and local governments are stretched thin. And I am 
not just talking about border towns and border States; I am talking 
about places like New York City, Chicago, Massachusetts. As migrants 
flood into these locations, blue States and blue cities are learning 
what border States have been experiencing for years, and they are 
struggling with the costs this crisis is imposing.
  Denver, CO, has spent almost $25 million sheltering migrants.
  Chicago is projected to spend more than $250 million this year on 
migrant care.
  New York City could spend $12 billion--billion with a ``b''--by 2025 
on the migrant crisis, possibly precipitating cuts to city services. 
Just to give you one example of the current crisis, the city has begun 
housing 3,000 illegal immigrants at a makeshift shelter on local soccer 
fields, eliminating a popular source of activity and recreation for 
local children.
  Here is what New York City Mayor Eric Adams had to say about this 
crisis the other day, and I quote:

       Let me tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life 
     have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to--I don't 
     see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City.

  That from the mayor of New York.
  The border crisis we are experiencing is a predictable outcome of the 
decisions made early in the Biden administration. The President's team 
was warned of the possibility of a migrant surge. Yet the moment the 
President took office, he set about dismantling the immigration 
policies of his predecessor and weakening our Nation's border security. 
And it wasn't long before the border was overwhelmed.
  And while after 2 years the Biden administration finally started to, 
at least halfheartedly, acknowledge the border crisis, what few 
proactive measures the

[[Page S4693]]

administration has taken have been ineffective, to say the least. As 
one columnist put it recently in the Washington Post:

       The Biden administration's various efforts have amounted to 
     Band-Aids on a massive, open wound.

  I am also deeply concerned about some of the new policies the 
administration seems to be considering. The Department of Homeland 
Security is reported to be considering requiring some illegal migrants 
to remain in Texas or, perhaps, other border States while they await 
asylum screening. Now, I am not sure if this an attempt to spare blue 
States from having to deal with the border crisis or a recognition that 
releasing tens of thousands of illegal immigrants into the interior of 
the country isn't a good idea; but, regardless, forcing border 
communities to shoulder even more of the border crisis is a terrible 
and profoundly unjust idea.
  How about actually turning illegal immigrants back at the borders of 
this country instead of keeping them within the borders and border 
States?
  And then there is the supplemental funding request the White House 
sent to Congress. As our colleague Senator Hagerty has pointed out, the 
request includes a provision that would allow Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement funding to be used for shelters and migrant services. In 
the words of the Senator from Tennessee, this could:

       [E]ffectively convert ICE from a law enforcement agency 
     into a U.S. travel agency for illegal aliens and into a 
     grant-making bureaucracy for sanctuary cities.

  I am pleased that the administration and Mexico have reached an 
agreement in which Mexico will attempt to reduce pressure on its border 
cities by sending migrants back to their home countries, among other 
reforms. But after letting this crisis deepen for 2\1/2\ years, the 
administration has a lot more work to do.
  Currently, immigration is high on Americans' list of concerns, and it 
is no wonder. Americans can tell that our borders are open and that 
things are not getting better. They know that our current situation is 
not sustainable. It would be nice if the President could figure that 
out as well.
  Ultimately, it is really quite simple. President Biden created this 
crisis--no ifs, ands, or buts about it--and he has the power to end it. 
He just needs to decide he is going to enforce the law. Pure and 
simple.
  Unfortunately, until he does so, I am afraid that it will continue to 
be no end in sight at our southern border.
  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.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, more than 4\1/2\ months ago, title 42 
expired. That was on May 11 of this year. Title 42, just to refresh 
everybody's memory, was a public health order that was designed to 
prevent the spread of COVID-19, particularly from people entering the 
country from other countries around the world.
  In the lead-up to title 42's expiration, the Biden administration 
rolled out its plan to address the expected surge in migration. This 
plan was called the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule, and it was 
sold as a way to discourage illegal immigration and restore some sense 
of order along the border.
  As I and countless others have pointed out, this wasn't a real 
solution. This was a shell game. It was an attempt to conceal the scope 
and scale of the border crisis and to process migrants into the United 
States at an unprecedented rate. Let me just paraphrase that. This was 
not designed to deter people from illegally immigrating to the United 
States. It was a way to greet them and welcome them and then invite 
them to enter into the United States without following the legal rules 
and laws that Congress had passed.
  Well, despite the people who pointed out that this was really a 
ruse--a Trojan horse, if you will--the administration moved forward 
with the plan. Just days before title 42 was lifted, Homeland Security 
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tried to assure the American people that 
the Biden administration was in control.
  He said:

       The border is not open; it has not been open; and it will 
     not be open subsequent to May 11.

  Well, at the time, it was clear that at least two parts of his 
statement were false. The border was open. That is why more than 10,000 
migrants a day were crossing the southern border in the final week of 
title 42. How do you say the border is not open when 10,000 people are 
traversing the border each day without going through our legal 
immigration system? And the border had been open, and that is why the 
United States broke nearly every record in the book for border 
crossings on President Biden's watch. So it was open, and it had been 
open, and it is clear today that the border is still open even with the 
administration's new plan in place.
  Despite the initial drop in border crossings after title 42 was 
lifted, illegal border crossings have surged once again. In August, 
Customs and Border Protection apprehended just under 233,000 migrants, 
setting the record for the busiest month this calendar year. As you 
might have predicted, the cartels simply sat back to assess the lay of 
the land and this new state of affairs and adapted their operations to 
exploit the rule's numerous loopholes.
  Unfortunately, the challenges at the border have only grown since 
August. Over the last few weeks, areas along the entire U.S.-Mexico 
border have experienced a new surge in immigration. One area that is 
under tremendous strain is the west Texas town of El Paso. Last week, 
more than 8,000 migrants crossed into Eagle Pass. Excuse me--Eagle 
Pass. This isn't a major city. In fact, I mentioned El Paso by mistake. 
Eagle Pass is actually a much smaller town. This isn't a major city 
with extensive resources. Eagle Pass is a small border town with a 
population of roughly 28,000. It doesn't have the resources to house, 
feed, or transport thousands of migrants each week. Eagle Pass is 
bearing the brunt of this surge, but it is not alone. El Paso, that I 
mentioned earlier, is also experiencing a massive influx.

  Several weeks ago, El Paso, in far west Texas, was seeing roughly 350 
to 400 border crossings per day. In recent days, that number has 
skyrocketed to more than 2,000 a day.
  Customs and Border Protection is releasing more than a thousand 
migrants a day into the community. And these aren't people, 
necessarily, who are claiming asylum. They are simply just trying to 
keep the line from stacking up and overloading the processing 
facilities of Customs and Border Protection.
  So what are they doing? They are simply releasing them into the 
community, and they are on their own but for the help of some of the 
nongovernmental organizations that are trying to provide humanitarian 
assistance.
  The city of El Paso has limited resources to care for migrants, and 
those resources are quickly being depleted. Over the weekend, El Paso 
Mayor Oscar Leeser said the city had reached a ``breaking point'' due 
to the growing number of migrants. That may sound familiar. That sounds 
like another mayor, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, who said the 
influx of migrants into New York City is creating extreme danger and 
reaching the breaking point.
  I am, generally speaking, a pretty optimistic person. But I don't see 
any indication that anything is going to change in the Biden 
administration's abdication of its responsibility to secure the border 
and have orderly, safe, and legal immigration.
  People around the world see that America's southern border is wide 
open, and they are making their way to the United States.
  I have mentioned this story before, but when four of our colleagues 
on the Democratic side of the aisle and four on the Republican side 
went to Yuma, AZ, with Senator Sinema and Senator Kelly, who represent 
that State, we found a sleepy little agricultural community where the 
chief of the Border Patrol sector there welcomed us saying: Last year 
we encountered people from 174 different countries speaking more than 
200 languages. Senator Kelly, one of the Arizona Senators, pointed out 
that there was an airport in a northern Mexican city called Mexicali 
and that, evidently, people

[[Page S4694]]

were just flying into that city and then literally Ubering over to the 
Yuma sector and claiming asylum.
  The New York Times reports that in August, nearly 82,000 migrants 
have passed through what is known as the Darien Gap, which is the sole 
land route to the United States from South America, describing it as 
``by far the largest single-month total on record.''
  The border crisis has had--and continues to have--a major impact on 
border communities in my State, but the scale of the Biden border 
crisis means the burden is now being shared more broadly with 
communities across the country.
  Liberal enclaves, self-styled sanctuary cities like New York and 
Chicago have been longtime supporters of open-border policies, I 
suspect, primarily because it hasn't affected them in a negative way 
like it has always done in my State and my communities.
  These cities proudly identify themselves as sanctuary cities and have 
even criticized commonsense measures to enforce our immigration laws. 
But as more and more migrants have poured into these liberal cities, 
the narrative has changed, as I pointed out a moment ago.
  Mayor Adams of New York City, for example, issued a stark warning, 
saying it will ``destroy New York City.''
  The Democratic Governor of New Jersey, who once vowed to turn New 
Jersey into a sanctuary State, now says the State is at capacity. We 
have seen the same story play out in Boston, Chicago, and even right 
here in Washington, DC.
  Even major sanctuary cities that are more than a thousand miles from 
the southern border can't keep up with the volume of migrants from the 
Biden border crisis. As our colleagues know, this is more than a 
humanitarian crisis. This is a public safety crisis as well.
  When border agents are pulled off the frontlines to process, 
transport, and care for migrants, it creates a vulnerability for 
cartels and criminal organizations to then move illicit drugs across 
the border. They are given a clear pathway--literally, a multilane 
highway--to smuggle fentanyl, heroin, and other dangerous drugs across 
the border and into cities and communities all across this country.
  This isn't news to the cartel. This is their business model: Flood 
the zone with people, divert law enforcement, and then move the drugs 
into the United States. Last year alone, 108,000 Americans died as a 
result of those drugs.
  The cartels know that this game that they are playing--or this 
business model--inures to their benefit. We saw this 2 years ago, when 
15,000 migrants crossed into Del Rio in a matter of days. Del Rio is 
this little city of 35,000 people. They had an influx of 15,000 
migrants--mostly Haitians--in just a matter of days.
  It looks like we are seeing this history repeat itself. Border Patrol 
Chief Jason Owens said he believes the surge last week was by design. 
As I said, cartels and these criminal organizations know they can flood 
the zone with migrants and distract law enforcement. It creates open 
corridors for drug traffickers, human smugglers, maybe even terrorists, 
and criminals of all stripes to sneak across the border.
  When talking about the threats posed by fentanyl and criminal 
organizations, Chief Owens said:

       It's about as bad as I've ever seen it.

  This is somebody who has given his professional lifetime to serving 
the country as a member of the Border Patrol.
  Communities across our country are being ravaged by the overdose 
epidemic, which is killing more than 110,000 Americans a year, and 
President Biden seems content to let the carnage continue. He has shown 
no interest in securing the border and cutting off the cartels' illicit 
trade corridors.
  I can't reach any other conclusion but to think that President Biden 
doesn't care. If he did care, he would do something about it. But he, 
obviously, hasn't done anything about it, and the only obvious 
conclusion is that he doesn't care.
  We are seeing clear and convincing evidence, both at the southern 
border and major cities, that President Biden's border plan--if you 
could call it that--isn't working. Apprehensions are on the rise, 
detention facilities are over capacity, and cities and nonprofit 
organizations are stretched beyond their limits to deal with the 
migrants with weak or nonexistent claims for asylum who never should 
have been released in the first place. The so-called Circumvention of 
Lawful Pathways rule has made the border crisis worse, not better.
  In many ways, that seems to be the theme repeated over and over 
again: taking a bad situation and making it worse. And nowhere is that 
more evident than at the border.
  What we have seen is the Biden administration is using this rule to 
funnel migrants into unlawful parole programs, essentially creating 
another class of immigrants with flimsy immigration status.
  Rather than deliver consequences for illegal immigration, the 
administration is simply creating a new set of magic words migrants 
have to say in order to avoid immediate removal.
  This rule is riddled with loopholes. And when too many migrants claim 
to fit within these loopholes, they will once again overwhelm DHS 
capacity. It is not fair to the migrants who have been led to believe 
that they can depend on these parole programs long term, and it is not 
fair to those with legitimate claims for asylum--which are maybe 10 to 
15 percent of the people claiming asylum--to have to wait in line for 
years upon years with people who have no legitimate claim to asylum. 
And the reason they have to do that is because of the backlog in the 
immigration courts.
  As we have seen with DACA, which is Deferred Action on Childhood 
Arrivals--these are the Dreamers, people who came as children with 
their parents into the country and for whom I have complete sympathy. 
We don't hold children responsible for what their parents do. Yet these 
migrants will face years of uncertainty and heartache as a result of 
the procedures employed by President Obama at the time, which have now 
been litigated in court for 10 years. Right now, the current status is 
the courts have said that what President Obama tried to do was illegal. 
He didn't have that authority.
  It is time for Congress to intervene. We, obviously, can't depend on 
leadership--or even participation at this point--from the Biden 
administration.
  This summer, I introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution that 
puts an end to President Biden's shell game. We know from the press 
that immigration groups, both on the right and the left, oppose the 
Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule. Earlier this year, some of our 
Democratic colleagues said that they were deeply disappointed with the 
administration's decision to move forward with the rule.
  I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have raised 
concerns over this policy will support the effort to overturn it.
  Our colleagues know the impact of the border crisis, and they know 
that it is being felt far beyond the U.S.-Mexico border. Cities across 
the country, from El Paso to New York City, are overwhelmed by the 
burden of caring for these migrants who have no plausible claim to be 
in the country legally. Yet by sheer volume, they have overwhelmed the 
system.
  Mayors and Governors are sounding the alarm over the unbearable 
weight of this crisis. They can't look for help at the White House; so 
they ought to be looking to us to do our job and provide that help.
  At the same time, communities across the country are being terrified 
by the destruction and the death caused by the fentanyl crisis. On 
Monday, I sat down with parents, students, and first responders in 
Dallas, TX, who really drove home this point.
  Each of our colleagues should have a vested interest in ending 
policies that are fueling the humanitarian and public safety crisis 
that begins at the border and yet reaches into every community across 
America. I didn't think it was possible for the Biden border crisis to 
get worse, but it clearly has.
  Congress needs to act before the situation gets even more dangerous 
and worse and to force the Biden administration to put forth a serious 
plan that actually discourages illegal immigration and doesn't just 
invite migrants without any plausible or legitimate claims to being in 
the country and in the great American heartland.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.

[[Page S4695]]

  



                               Inflation

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I grew up in a wonderful small town in 
Louisiana called Zachary.
  Now, today, Zachary is a city. It is five times larger than in the 
days I spent there growing up because Zachary, a number of years ago, 
got very serious about improving elementary and secondary education. 
The Presiding Officer knows something about that. So Zachary is much 
larger today, and if anyone ever doubts that growth and economic 
development is centered around quality public education, all you have 
to do is look at Zachary.
  But when I grew up in Zachary, it was very small--one stoplight. We 
were so small, we didn't have a town drunk; several people had to take 
turns. But I loved it. I loved Zachary High School. You know, some 
people did not like high school. I am not one of them. I cared about 
two things: basketball and cheerleaders. And I wasn't very good at 
either one, but I had fun trying.
  I also loved baseball, in part because my dad, my late father, was a 
baseball fan. And I was an OK fielder in baseball, but I had to quit 
the sport because I couldn't hit a curve. I was OK with the fastball, 
but I couldn't hit a curve. And I remember my coach telling me: 
Kennedy, keep your eye on the ball, OK? Keep your eye on the ball.
  And I tried, but I just couldn't do it.
  My purpose in rising today is to suggest that we should keep our eye 
on the ball. We are faced with many difficult issues in the Senate 
today. We always are, but I think that is especially true today. My 
colleague Senator Cornyn just talked about one: immigration. Of course, 
the war in Ukraine is on everyone's mind. And I could go on and on and 
on.
  But I don't want my colleagues to forget about one of the most 
important issues of all facing the American people today, and that is 
the cost of living in our extraordinary country--inflation. In my 
State, the median household income for a family of four is about 
$55,000. That means half of our families make more and half of our 
families make less. But the mean is $55,000 for a family of four.
  As a result of President Biden's inflation--and, as an aside, I would 
note, I say this with no joy whatsoever--inflation in America today is 
manmade, and that man's name is President Joe Biden. In my State, where 
the mean household income is $55,000, the average American family is 
paying $800 a month more--a month; not a year, a month more--to live in 
this wonderful country as a result of Bidenomics. That is $9,600 a year 
that a family of four making $55,000 a year has to find.
  And my people, they have maxed out their credit cards, and they have 
spent their savings. And they borrowed money, and they have had to take 
money out of their children's 529 college savings program. It is 
strangling my people. It is not any better in other States.
  I looked at the numbers this morning. What we call overall inflation 
right now is about 3.7 percent. Core inflation, if you take out food 
and energy prices, as many of the economists like to do, is 4.3 
percent. So 3.7 percent overall, 4.3 percent if you take out food and 
energy. Now, we are doing better. A year ago, those numbers were 
double. And I am so pleased that inflation has fallen just a bit, but I 
want you to understand what that means.
  Falling inflation just means that prices--they are still rising, but 
they are not rising as fast as they were. Let me say that again. 
Falling inflation just means prices are still going up every month, 
every day, but they are not going up as fast as they were. We call that 
disinflation. Falling inflation also means that prices overall are not 
going down. That is deflation. My point is, even though inflation is 
falling--and I am so glad it is--all that means is that prices are not 
going up as fast as they were.
  And we are going to be stuck with these high prices. They are going 
to be permanent, even if inflation goes to zero. What does that mean? 
Well, let's look at basic goods. Even if inflation goes to zero 
tomorrow, since February of 2021, electricity is up 24 percent. We are 
stuck with that. When inflation falls, electricity is not going to go 
back down to where it was. We are going to continue to pay 24 percent 
more. And gas--in Louisiana, gas is up 71 percent. We are stuck with 
that, even if inflation falls to zero. Eggs are up 28 percent; potato 
chips are up 28 percent; bread, 28 percent--permanent--coffee, 30 
percent; rice, 28 percent; flour, 29 percent; milk, 17 percent; ice 
cream, 20 percent; chicken, per pound, 24 percent. And that is why the 
American people, in large part, are struggling so economically.
  You should not have to sell blood plasma in America, the wealthiest 
country in all of human history, in order to go to the grocery store. 
It is not any worse, our inflation--which I am afraid these high 
prices, as I said, are going to be permanent. It is not any better if 
you look at necessities by category. All goods--as a result of 
President Biden's inflation, starting in February of 2021 and running 
through today, all goods are up an average of 17 percent.
  How many American families have seen their income go up 17 percent? 
Not many. Food--all food, average--an average--is 19 percent. Housing 
is up 16 percent. Clothing is up 10 percent. Used cars and trucks are 
up 32 percent. And even if we can get inflation down to zero, we are 
going to be stuck with those prices. New cars are up 20 percent. 
Mortgage rates are up 161 percent.
  Let me end as I began. We have a lot of issues that we are struggling 
with right now, but among the five things that moms and dads in America 
worry about when they lie down to sleep at night and can't is the cost 
of living in our wonderful country.
  And these are the people who made this extraordinary country. America 
is not great because of the Federal Government. America is great 
because of ordinary people doing extraordinary things--people who just 
get up every day, go to work, obey the law, pay their taxes, and try to 
do the right thing by their kids.
  President Biden's inflation is strangling a free people. The American 
people deserve better. And I don't want us to lose sight of that fact 
as we grapple with other important issues.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________