[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 41 (Thursday, March 7, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2251-S2252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Biden Administration

  Mr. President, 3 years ago, illegal immigrants arrived at our 
southern border in shirts wearing his campaign logo insisting, as one 
put it, that ``Biden promised us that everything is going to change''--
that everything is going to change.
  Well, they were absolutely right. Since President Biden took office, 
nearly 10 million people crossed our southern border illegally. His 
administration has abandoned CBP and ICE to contend with the highest 
daily, monthly, and yearly totals of illegal arrivals on record.
  As soon as he took office, the President tore up commonsense 
authorities he could have used to maintain the secure border. Instead, 
he spent years pretending that functionally open borders didn't amount 
to a crisis.
  The only campaign promise President Biden appears to have kept is the 
one he made on the campaign trail to people hoping to cross our borders 
illegally: ``We immediately surge to the border, all those people who 
are seeking asylum.''
  By contrast, it is difficult to think of a pledge the President 
abandoned more completely than his campaign promise to restore respect 
for America on the world stage. Today, the credibility of our 
commitments is in serious doubt. The West is confronting the most 
dangerous moment since the fall of the Berlin wall, and our Commander 
in Chief's first instincts appear to be hesitation and self-deterrence. 
President Biden's failures pose embarrassing questions for America and 
our allies and partners.
  Are we safer after his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan? Do 
allies still take our word? Did the President's self-proclaimed fear of 
escalation force Putin to back down from his own brutal escalation in 
Ukraine, or did it give the Ukrainians the critical weapons they needed 
when they needed it most? Does America's closest ally in the Middle 
East feel like they can count on America's total support in its 
existential fight against genocidal terrorists? Did the world's most 
active state-sponsor of terror think twice before targeting Americans 
like the Georgia guardsmen killed, the Kentucky soldiers injured in the 
Tower 22 attack in Jordan? Does Iran hesitate to sic its proxies on 
Israel or threaten commercial shipping? Did the Biden administration's 
climate diplomacy with Beijing close any meaningful gaps in strategic 
competition with our top adversary? Did it reassure our allies and 
partners in the region that we understood the importance of hard power?
  The answer to all these questions is a resounding ``no.''
  President Biden's 3 years in office have left American leadership a 
weaker brand and our resolve a less fearsome asset, and we will be 
dealing with the consequences of his failures for years to come.
  Around the Biden administration's 100-day mark, I warned the 
President that it wasn't too late to change course and start governing 
as the moderate he promised he would be. Needless to say, he certainly 
didn't take my advice.
  And he didn't take the American people's sterner counsel either when 
they demanded change at the ballot box the following year. Well, this 
fall, the voters have a chance to issue a further course correction, 
one with a bit more finality.
  Tonight, we will hear from a President who has failed in the most 
basic responsibility of government. He will come to the Capitol with 
record historic inflation, surging crime, open

[[Page S2252]]

borders, and weakness on the world stage.
  Then, of course, the American people will witness historic contrast. 
They will hear our colleague Senator Britt tell her story and offer a 
very different assessment of this moment in American history, one that 
embraces what makes our Nation great. I am glad for the Nation to hear 
directly from the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate 
and one of our conferences brightest stars.
  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 PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lujan). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Republican whip.