    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
    [Senate]
    [Pages S1364-S1367]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                              LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                     ______

       TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED WITH RESPECT TO ENERGY

      The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Committee on
    Energy and Natural Resources is discharged from further consideration
    of S.J. Res. 10, and the Senate will proceed to the consideration of
    the joint resolution, which the clerk will report by title.
      The assistant bill clerk read as follows:

           A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 10) terminating the national
         emergency declared with respect to energy.

      The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be six
    hours for debate only, with the time equally divided between the
    leaders or their designees.
      The Senator from Texas.

                              Trump Administration

      Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I know there is a lot going on in
    Washington, DC, these days given the speed and the aggressiveness with
    which President Trump and his administration have attacked his agenda,
    and I use that in a very positive way. It gets a little confusing to
    figure out what is important and what is maybe not quite so important.
      But I would like to talk about one thing that has been very top of
    mind for a lot of us here in the House and the Senate; and that, of
    course, is the process to implement President Trump's ``America First''
    agenda.
      This is what the election was about, just on November 5. And, of
    course, a lot of ink has been spilled on the mechanics of the process,
    talking about budget resolutions, reconciliation instructions, and
    things that are gibberish to most Americans, but this is the process by
    which we do the job of implementing President Trump's ``America-First''
    agenda.
      Last week, my Senate colleagues and I were here late into the night
    and into the early morning voting on amendments to the budget passed
    out of the Senate Budget Committee on which I serve.
      Our colleagues in the House voted to pass their version last night,
    so now we find ourselves at a critical juncture with a different budget
    resolution in the House from that passed by the Senate.
      And, of course, as I said, we have been spending a lot of time and
    energy talking about procedural questions up to this point. Questions
    over whether the Republicans will enact President Trump's agenda in one
    bill or two, whether the bill that eventually reaches the President's
    desk would originate in the House or the Senate. A great deal of
    discussion and debate has been ongoing about all of these details and
    more.
      But what is most important is to keep our eye on the prize, what we
    are actually trying to accomplish. As I mentioned at the beginning,
    last November, millions of Americans went to the polls and elected
    President Trump and to turn the page on the last 4 years of the Biden
    administration's disastrous inflationary policies.
      We finally reached a point where, as Admiral Mullen, the former
    chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about 10 years ago, when asked
    what our biggest threat to our national security was, he said it was
    the debt. And at the time, I think many of us, me included, thought,
    well, that is kind of an interesting take. Well, we have finally come
    to a point where Admiral Mullen's statement and reality have converged,
    where we are now paying more interest on the national debt than we are
    on defense of our Nation, in a dangerous world which seems to be
    getting more dangerous all the time.
      We spend about 2.8 percent of our gross domestic product on national
    defense, and there is no question in my mind that we are going to have
    to up that figure substantially, but we can't do it by continuing to
    borrow against our Nation's credit card and to crowd out other
    investment and to pass that debt on to our children and grandchildren.
    That is just flat immoral.
      So now the task at hand is to enact the policies that the American
    people voted for. And what are those policies? Well, first and
    foremost, we have to secure the southern border. I represent a State of
    about 31 million people with a 1,200-mile common border between the
    United States and Mexico.
      We know in Texas what the price that we have had to pay--not just at
    the border, not just in Texas, but throughout the Nation--for the open
    border policies of the Biden administration. Customs and Border
    Protection encounters with illegal migrants increased more than 40
    percent from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal 2023, totaling more than 10
    billion encounters nationwide.
      And when we say this is an encounter, this is people showing up,
    claiming asylum, only to be released into the interior of the United
    States and given a

    [[Page S1365]]

    court date that may be 10 years off or simply paroled, which means
    released into the United States, given a work permit. In other words,
    in the words of the Border Patrol when I asked them, what do you think
    the best solution is to deal with this flood of humanity coming across
    the border, they used one word. They said ``consequences.'' There have
    to be consequences to coming to the United States outside of legal
    immigration channels.
      And during the Biden administration, there simply were no
    consequences. It was like having a big, green traffic light on the
    border telling people from anywhere around the world: Come on in.
      And, of course, the people who facilitated that are these criminal
    organizations, the cartels that have now been designated as foreign
    terrorist organizations by the Trump administration. And, oh, by the
    way, not only did they traffic in human beings for all sorts of
    purposes--including human trafficking of children, young girls, young
    boys--these were the same people who facilitated the movement of drugs
    across the border in massive quantities that took the life of more than
    100,000 Americans last year alone. About 70,000 of those were from
    fentanyl, a word that has become more common lately because it is
    ubiquitous; it is everywhere. It is in States like Montana, States like
    Texas. And many of my colleagues have said: Well, as a result of the
    disastrous border policies of the Biden administration, every State is
    now a border State.

      Well, on top of all the people who were simply released--basically
    enriching the cartels, who charge by the head, and making it easier for
    them to smuggle drugs into the United States--more than 1.7 million
    ``got-aways'' evaded Border Patrol. What that means, basically, is they
    were seen on a camera or some sort of sensor, but by the time the
    Border Patrol showed up, they were gone.
      And, of course, these are the people who, frankly, are up to no good.
    Whether they have criminal records, whether they were carrying drugs,
    whether they had some other reason to evade law enforcement, these are
    not honest, hard-working people who just simply wanted a better way of
    life--1.7 million ``got-aways.''
      The human and drug trafficking facilitated by the Biden
    administration's open border policies have caused immeasurable
    suffering to the people of Texas and the people of the Nation. The
    fentanyl manufactured with Chinese precursors smuggled through the open
    borders has taken tens of thousands of American lives. It is a shocking
    statistic to me that, out of the 70,000 or so--young people, mainly--
    who died as a result of ingesting fentanyl, unbeknownst to them, they
    thought they were actually consuming something else--a Percocet, some
    other relatively innocuous drug--only to find out the hard way that it
    was contaminated with fentanyl, a deadly drug, which is now the leading
    cause of death for young people between the ages of 18 and 45.
      We know where it comes from. The chemicals come from China. We know
    where it goes to be manufactured and made to look like relatively
    innocuous pills that are then taken by our young people. It comes
    across the border from Mexico. And yet the Biden administration's open
    border policies made it easier, not harder, for that to happen, and the
    results, as I said, have been disastrous.
      Well, now it is up to us to right the ship by enacting President
    Trump's border security agenda, but we also have other work to do. We
    have to extend the expiring tax provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs
    Act, a bill that we passed in 2017. And after 5 years, many provisions
    of that tax bill expire.
      If Congress fails to extend the tax cuts championed by President
    Trump in his first term and passed by Republican majorities in the
    House and Senate, Americans will face the highest tax increase in
    recent history. A family of four making around $80,000 a year will see
    a $1,700 a year tax hike if these provisions expire.
      Let me say that again: A family of four making $80,000 a year will
    see a tax increase of $1,700 next year if these provisions expire.
      Now, the reason why I emphasize that is because to listen to our
    Democratic colleagues, you would think it is all about billionaires and
    millionaires. But, no, 62 percent of American taxpayers would pay more
    taxes if we experience a multitrillion-dollar tax increase as a result
    of the expiration of these provisions in 2025.
      Well, after 4 years of the highest inflation we have had in the last
    40 years, families have struggled to keep up. In fact, many of them
    have been stuck with an effective pay cut and a reduction in their
    standard of living because the same dollars in their pocket have had
    less purchasing power than they used to, as a result of this insidious,
    secret, or invisible tax known as inflation.
      So now is not the time to slap these American families with a tax
    increase. That would be insult to injury. After Washington Democrats
    eroded the purchasing power of American families, it would only add
    insult to injury to go back to those same families in Texas and
    elsewhere and insist that the government needs to take even more of
    their hard-earned paycheck come tax day.
      I was proud to work with President Trump in 2017, along with all of
    my colleagues. I happened to be the chief vote counter back then, as
    majority whip, when we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and made sure
    that it had the necessary support to get across the finish line. It
    wasn't easy, but it was important. And it had a huge impact on the
    quality of life and the standard of living of millions and millions of
    Americans.
      And so I look forward to working with my colleagues here in the
    Senate to extend those expiring provisions, now during President
    Trump's second term.
      Last but not least, we have to begin the process of getting our
    spending and debt under control in order to get a grip on the historic,
    runaway inflation caused by President Biden and Washington Democrats'
    reckless spending spree, and I also mentioned the impact it has on our
    ability to provide for the common defense and our national security.
    Ronald Reagan famously said: Peace--which is something we all aspire
    to--peace comes through strength. Weakness is a provocation and an
    invitation to the world's tyrants and bullies--people like Vladimir
    Putin, people like President Xi in China. If they sense weakness, they
    will take advantage of it. And what we would need to do in America and
    with our allies is to reestablish deterrence. That is what ``peace
    through strength'' means, and we can't do it by continuing to spend
    borrowed money and racking up debt on our Nation's credit card.

      We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address not only
    discretionary spending--which is what we do on an annual basis, which
    is about 28 percent of what the Federal Government spends--but
    mandatory spending. The Federal Government spends an enormous amount of
    money each year. It is in excess of $6.5 trillion.
      Now, I don't have the brain capacity to conceive of what $6.5
    trillion is, and I doubt anybody does. But it is a lot of money, and
    there is no way we are going to be able to get our spending problem and
    our debt problem under control by addressing 28 percent of what the
    Federal Government spends.
      So we need to look not only at the discretionary spending; we need to
    look at the so-called mandatory spending, which is on auto pilot. And,
    yes, Medicare and Social Security are off the table. We are not going
    to be talking about those. We need to address those at some point, but
    we can only do that with bipartisan support.
      And then there are things like the Tax Code, which is more than just
    deductions and credits. Our Democratic colleagues have now turned the
    Tax Code into a welfare benefit scheme. The child tax credit and the
    earned income tax credit are refundable tax credits, which means it is
    not a credit against income. It is not a deduction. It is a check that
    is handed out. And there are $200 billion worth of refundable tax
    credits paid out on an annual basis by the Federal Government--$200
    billion. We need to get ahold of that. We need to get that under
    control.
      We also need to return to commonsense requirements that were
    bipartisan back in the days of Bill Clinton, which is meaningful work
    requirements for means-tested programs. We need to help people who need
    help. But if people are able to help themselves by working and
    providing for their family

    [[Page S1366]]

    and they don't need to be a burden on the taxpayers, then they should
    be contributing like everybody else and not living off of the American
    taxpayer.
      Americans across the country voted to end the reckless policies of
    the Biden administration. So now it is up to us to deliver. We have
    kicked the can down the road so far, we have run out of road, and now
    we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity, with President Trump and
    Republican majorities in both Houses, to do something about it.
      The House and the Senate have the same goal. The American people have
    given this administration a mandate, and the clock is ticking. At the
    end of the day, what matters is not whether the talking heads in the
    media or people across the country see this as a Senate bill or a House
    bill. That is inconsequential. What matters is that it is President
    Trump's agenda that we are implementing, as mandated by the American
    people last November 5.
      We need to get this across the finish line to secure the border, to
    provide for the common defense, to avoid a massive tax increase on
    middle-class families, and to get our national debt under control once
    and for all. That is what Texans voted for on November 5, and I believe
    that is what Americans voted for on November 5. That is our mandate,
    and we have no option but to get this job done.
      I yield the floor.
      I suggest the absence of a quorum.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
      The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
      Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
    the quorum call be rescinded.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          Nomination of Jamieson Greer

      Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the nomination of
    Jamieson Greer to serve as U.S. Trade Representative. If confirmed, he
    would be the top official on one of the President's signature issues:
    trade and tariffs.
      Donald Trump was elected President largely on the promise of lowering
    prices for American families and remaking the global economy to
    America's benefit. Six weeks into his Presidency, what he has shown is
    a willingness to impose staggering costs on our families, workers, and
    businesses in order to settle scores on issues that have nothing to do
    with trade or the economy. He gets headlines; his wealthy friends get
    tax breaks; and American families get stuck with higher prices and
    bigger bills.
      I oppose this nomination. I certainly have nothing against Mr. Greer
    personally. I just believe, in this position, he will be a rubberstamp
    for the Trump tax, the knee-jerk decision to slap tariffs on nearly
    everything Americans buy, and make high prices even higher. Mr. Greer
    has embraced the Trump chaos strategy, which is a slap in the face to
    farmers, manufacturers, and communities across the country. They are
    sounding the alarm about how the Trump program is already costing them
    sales overseas and jobs here at home. Our country needs a U.S. Trade
    Representative who will be the point person on trade for this
    administration, and I just don't have the confidence in Mr. Greer for
    that job.
      Let me start with the first key point. The Trump administration's
    across-the-board tariffs are going to cost Americans big time--up to
    $2,600 a year, according to one estimate. That could devastate American
    jobs. One appraisal is that they could destroy 344,000 American jobs.
      Donald Trump has already ordered tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and
    China. The China tariffs went into effect last month. Now, he is
    promising that 25 percent tariffs on everything Americans buy from
    Mexico and Canada will go into effect next week. Get ready for gas
    prices to go up, power prices to spike, auto supply chains to be thrown
    out of whack, and fresh fruits and vegetables to get more expensive.
      And there is more. Donald Trump has promised new tariffs on steel and
    aluminum, which go into everything from soda cans to cars. Yesterday,
    he proposed tariffs on copper, which is used in everything from housing
    to medical devices and cars. They largely come from Chile and Canada.
    And he is pushing something called reciprocal tariffs on . . . maybe .
    . . everything.
      The only thing we can be sure about with Trump's tariffs is that they
    are going to hit working Americans the hardest. Donald Trump, Elon
    Musk, and their billionaire friends are barely going to notice the
    price hikes.
      If you ask people at a Fred Meyer's store in Gresham, OR, or who are
    buying groceries in Charlotte or in Kalamazoo, they don't need an
    economist to know that Donald Trump isn't helping prices. Less than a
    third of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing on
    inflation, according to a poll released this week. Consumer sentiment--
    a particularly important measure--fell by 10 percent this month. More
    and more Americans are rightly worried that tariffs are going to drive
    more inflation.
      If this trade war continues, there is no doubt many U.S. workers,
    farmers, and ranchers are going to lose their jobs when our trading
    partners retaliate and slap tariffs on ``Made in the USA'' products.
    That is what happened the last time Donald Trump was in office.
    American producers of everything from rice to bourbon to motorcycles
    got hammered. They sold less overseas, made less money, and workers
    ended up paying the price.
      There is a right way to approach tariffs that punishes bad actors
    like China and targets the products that will change other countries'
    behaviors while minimizing the cost to American families. Donald Trump
    is doing the opposite. He is maximizing price spikes for regular
    Americans, with no plan or strategy.
      One other point with respect to trade chaos: Mr. Greer has endorsed
    this, and it is already hurting farmers and small businesses. Now, I
    had four townhall meetings in my State recently and talked with lots of
    small businesses and farmers.
      I am hearing one message over and over again: They are already losing
    sales and losing markets to Donald Trump's bluster. Last year, our
    State exported $34 billion in blueberries, hazelnuts, and other goods
    overseas--almost an alltime high. Now, instead of building on that
    success, our producers and innovators prepare for the worst.
      This story comes up again and again. The Washington Post quoted an
    Iowa farmer who has seen prices of seed, fertilizers, and equipment
    increase while prices for soybeans are flat. ``Our goal is to make Iowa
    and U.S. soybean farms profitable,'' said this Iowa farmer, ``and to do
    that, we need these international markets. We need to keep growing
    demand.''
      The State economist in Georgia said this month that the greatest
    threat to that State's economy--and I will repeat that--the greatest
    threat to the economy is Trump's trade threats. Tariffs mean higher
    prices for consumers while trade wars mean other countries buy less of
    what Georgia makes, including aerospace components, pulp and paper, and
    auto parts.
      Pittsburgh-based aluminum manufacturer Alcoa said Trump's tariffs
    will cost 100,000 jobs in the United States and won't lead to more
    production here. ``This is bad for the aluminum industry in the [United
    States]. It's bad for American workers''--not according to some Member
    of the Senate, but that is what the Alcoa CEO said. There are similar
    reports of communities fearing the worst in Wisconsin, North Carolina,
    and all across America.
      One final reason I oppose the Greer nomination: It is not clear to me
    that he will be the final voice in the room with Donald Trump on trade.
    There are an awful lot of trade cooks in that kitchen. Peter Navarro,
    Treasury Secretary Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Lutnick all have
    claimed responsibility for trade. It reminds me of an old saying that
    gets attributed to John Madden:

           If you've got two quarterbacks, you have none.

      Well, if you have four chief trade officials, you have none.
      Unfortunately, Mr. Greer did little in his confirmation process to
    build confidence that the buck stops with him on trade. He said it is
    not a trade matter when Donald Trump uses tariffs to settle scores
    about the border, immigration, and diplomatic issues. So Mr. Greer said
    these decisions aren't something he would expect to be involved with if
    confirmed. If the U.S. Trade Representative isn't going to be in the
    room when tariff decisions are at

    [[Page S1367]]

    stake, it is not clear to me what influence over critical trade
    decisions Mr. Greer will have in the Trump administration.
      Americans need a trade policy that puts workers and families first
    and a chief trade official who has the authority to deliver actual
    results for our workers and families. Unfortunately, neither of those
    is on offer today. That is why I oppose this nomination.
      I yield the floor.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
      Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote
    in favor of the confirmation of Mr. Jamieson Greer, who is nominated to
    serve as the U.S. Trade Representative.
      I think I ought to just probably set a couple of facts straight about
    President Trump's utilization of the various policies that he used in
    the past term when he was President the first time.
      It was said that wages went down, prices went up, and that people are
    going to face terrible, dire consequences if he is able to follow his
    trade policies again in this term. The reality is that under President
    Trump, wages went up, jobs went up, unemployment went down, benefits
    went up, the economy grew dramatically, and we had the strongest
    economy in our lifetimes because of the policies President Trump
    pursued. So I don't think people should let the politics of fear--
    saying that everything President Trump does is going to hurt people--
    convince them otherwise.
      The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which was created in
    1962 by Congress, develops and coordinates U.S. international trade
    policy and oversees trade negotiations with other countries.
      The U.S. Trade Representative--the role for which Mr. Greer is
    nominated--historically and statutorily serves as the United States'
    principal adviser, negotiator, and spokesperson on trade issues. Mr.
    Greer is well suited for these roles, as demonstrated during his
    previous tenure as USTR Chief of Staff when he worked with both sides
    of the aisle in negotiating and securing congressional approval of the
    United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which passed the Senate 89 to
    10.
      I would note that the previous U.S. Trade Representative, who is now
    being replaced by Mr. Greer, and President Biden himself for the past 4
    years refused to actually negotiate any bilateral trade agreements with
    other nations--none.
      Throughout the nomination process, Mr. Greer demonstrated his strong
    commitment to working with Congress in a bipartisan fashion to advance
    the interests of our farmers, ranchers, fishers, and workers. In
    particular, I applaud Mr. Greer's commitment to change that pattern of
    the last 4 years and to negotiate and work on opening markets for our
    farmers and manufacturers around the globe, negotiating new bilateral
    trade agreements and enforcing existing ones--something we have not
    seen for 4 years.
      I fully welcome a return to the USTR that performs its statutory
    obligation of creating new opportunities for Americans, and I look
    forward to the USTR's forthcoming reviews of foreign trade barriers
    that stymie U.S. investments and imports.
      I urge my colleagues to join me now in advancing Mr. Greer's
    nomination. It is critical that the United States have a USTR at the
    helm of these investigations and to support the administration's return
    to an active and robust trade agenda that prioritizes America's
    farmers, ranchers, workers, and businesses.
      I yield the floor.
      I suggest the absence of a quorum.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). The clerk will call the roll.
      The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
      Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
    the quorum call be rescinded.

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