well we've had a number of classified briefings related to the Chinese spy balloon and other balloons and each time the administration tends to want to Pat itself on the back for the job that they've done the president had said what has happened with the Chinese spy balloon he said was not a major security breach said not a major security breach well I was a I was a surgeon for 25 years and when people ask me what's the difference between major and minor surgery Majors anything they do for me or me or my family this was a major security breach of the United States and a violation of our air space it was deliberate it was intentional it was consequential this Chinese spy balloon hovered over locations including my home state of Wyoming we have there the ICBM the intercontinental ballistic missile base as they do have in Montana as well these missiles the MX missiles were ones that helped secure the pce for 60 years to prevent nuclear war President John Kennedy 60 years ago called these our Ace in Theo well it seems like Joe Biden doesn't care if he turns over and shows the Chinese our whole card he said he did the right thing I say he did the weak thing he only shot down the Chinese spy balloon after public pressure demanded it this is a complete violation of our integrity as a nation and the president's indifference and inaction showed weakness not just to China but to the world this president has been wrong on China from the beginning even when he declared for president he said China is our friend he said that China isn't our competition and I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that he said that after Chinese donors put $61 million into a university setting to set up a Biden Center China is going to continue to test us test our national security our energy security our supply chain and Joe Biden is playing right into their hands is's playing right into their hands with his green agenda which is making us more dependent on China for minerals and materials for solar panels and electric V electric vehicle batteries Republicans have a number of bills to deal with this Banning Tick Tock making us more energy secure relative to China But Chuck Schumer's not taken any of them up some of you have written on the fact that we are heading in the Senate at a glacial pace so why aren't we going to these these issues well because Joe Biden is unwilling to project strength against China the American people know that China cannot be trusted China is not our friend China is out to get us we need a president who is willing to stand up and demand accountability from China for their spying and their stealing Mr President sen for boming uh thank you Mr President Mr President I come to the floor today to talk about the need for more American Energy we're approaching the end of January winter storms have been covering the country Colorado to Connecticut we're seeing it everywhere temperatures drop Energy prices go up in a typical year cold actually kills more American Americans than extreme heat this winter millions of families are in danger of being left out in the cold because of the cost of energy we know that more than 20 million households in America right now have fallen behind on their ability to pay their energy Bills record high inflation has robbed the American people of more than $10,000 for each and every family since Joe Biden's become president just look at what they people were paying for things before he came to office and what they're paying today as a result people are able to save less they're having to pay more we know that about two out of three American households are living paycheck to paycheck personal savings in this country is now at a record low household debt at a record high and people are having to borrow more money put things on the credit card at higher and higher interest r rates at the same time Energy prices are dramatically higher than they were the day Joe Biden took office cost of heating oil is up by 2/3 natural gas is higher now than for a long time electricity is up by 20 cents on the dollar as a result there's actually the risk of people having their energy and their electricity shut off this winter some are doing it voluntarily because they don't want the big Bill that's going to come hard to believe that it is happening here in the wealthiest country in the world we have enough energy to keep every American warm this winter some of it they won't let us get out of the ground but we have it so it's an absolute disgrace with the energy resources we have in this country that Americans are facing brown outs and blackouts from an energy standpoint because of the Biden administration's radical climate policies millions and millions of Americans are living with financial fear and with massive frustration at this Administration and ignoring the needs of the people so what are the Democrats doing about it nothing Joe Biden actually sold some of our emergency petroleum reserve the Strategic petroleum sold some of it to China you wouldn't believe that but yet it happened our petroleum Reserve is for America it's for emergencies it's for natural disasters it's for war it's not for China this week I'm introducing legislation to make sure this never happens again the house has already passed this legislation the vote was completely bipartisan more than a 100 Democrats voted for it in the house no reason it shouldn't be bipartisan here in the Senate as well Mr Mr President so I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in this effort the Strategic petroleum Reserve is for us it's not for our enemies Joe Biden has promised to use our tax dollar I mean it's astonishing he went to the United Nations he said he was going to send $1 billion a year to give to the United Nations for climate reparations for energy we've used giving away American dollars when Americans can't afford to pay for energy costs here at home why is he doing it you listen to a speech because he wants to say he's sorry that's what we have a president who wants to apologize once again for America he wants us to feel guilty about the fact that we built this the strongest economy of the world using oil gas coal all of the energy sources that we have in this country American people have nothing to apologize for Joe Biden's wrong shouldn't apologize for being an energy superpower we shouldn't apologize for using our energy resources if he wants to apologize he ought to be apologizing to the people of the United States for the policies he's put in place that have driven up costs and cause pain for families all across America he would apologize for raising taxes on American Energy should apologize for wasting tax dollars the Secretary of Energy his secretary of energy has given more than $200 million in loans to companies in China Secretary of Treasury going to China soon um she she met with China's Vice Premier recently in Switzerland according to the Treasury Department she agreed to quote enhanced cooperation with China on climate Finance as well as support for developing countries in their clean energy transitions in other words more American taxpayer dollars for other people in other countries again the excuse for all of this the climate de Democrats in Washington utterly obsessed with the green dreams of the coastal Elites who run the Democrat Party who call the tune again and again the Democrats side with the climate Elites over the common folks I hear it in Wyoming I hear it no matter where I travel in the country Democrats are offering Working Families nothing more than higher taxes and higher prices and they continue to raise taxes Democrats just threatened to ban natural gas stoves nearly half of the homes in America use natural gas the administration nominee by the president that's what he said he didn't say it once he said it repeatedly Democrats also just raised taxes on coal by more than a billion dollars so what happens with all these new taxes they get handed on to Working Families in Wyoming and across America what happens with higher taxes it means higher prices and higher energy costs yet Janet yellen's flying around the world offering more of our tax dollars to these other countries last week there was a large Democrat political rally held in Switzerland place called Davos and the Masters of the Universe flew to Switzerland for the world economic Forum from the television reports in the news reports much of the conversation was about climate the president's energy clim climate Zar John KY was there he gave a speech you talk about somebody with smug superiority he just thinks he knows better than anybody else this what he said he said quote this is John KY it's extraordinary that we a select group of human beings are able to talk about saving the planet thank you John Cary you're going to save us all can hardly wait he added if you say that to most people they'd think you're just a crazy tree hugging Lefty liberal do gter but that's where we are well John Cary you're right most people certainly anybody in Wyoming would listen to you would say you are just a crazy tree hugging Lefty liberal do gooder that's what we got from the president of the United States doing his climate bidding in Switzerland this is exactly what people think about John krey in the climate crisis and the positions of this Administration and as if one failed Presidential nominee and candidate wasn't embarrassing enough then we had a real vice president who came to speak a former vice president named Al Gore anyone watching Al Gore speak would say that basically he descended into an unhinged rant about what well climate of course it's all he ever rants about the former Democrat Senator and vice president said we are he said we're boiling the oceans so what we're doing apparently he said if we don't obey his energy policies well I'm sure he and John KY have great times together oiling the oceans he even said we're creating what you called rain bombs he wants to save the planet as well and I'd say what planet is he on that's what we're seeing coming out of this Administration as their voice in the on the world stage when it comes to energy what are the what are the Democrats offering a fairy tale a fantasy and a fraud that's what we hear from the Democrats Democrats green dreams are causing nightmares for working family who have to pay for all of this and the only green thing about Democrats energy agenda is how much green it costs American families John KY said it himself he said how do we get there and he said money money money that's his answer American money American dollars and he's going to save the planet Europe already has tried its own green new deal it's been a disaster for working people of those countries can't let that happen here just cannot the International Energy agency projects record high demand for oil later this year is it a time when Joe Biden's making us keep it in the ground Wyoming is the energy bread basket of the nation we have it it's affordable it's available it's reliable not good enough for Joe Biden no he wants to go to go to Iran go to Afghan go to Iran go to Venezuela go to Saudi Arabia hat and hand begging them to produce more and sending it here and it's interesting listening to The Climate Elites as they are fixated on renewable energy regardless of the costs and regardless of the consequences Democrats need to stop this science fiction it's long past time for America to unleash our energy and stop stop this foolishness coming from the administration that has us buying energy from our enemies instead of selling it to our friends we have an abundance of American Energy Democrats want to keep it buried in the ground for every American Family who is struggling to make ends meet and falling further behind because of the inflation caused by the Democrat spending it's time to unleash American Energy right now thank you Mr President I yield the floor thanks so much senator braa for your leadership on this we're all up here because we want to protect the retirement Savings of American families that's why we're here and just uh Monday Joe Biden president of the United States threatened to veto our efforts we're trying to protect retirement funds for people he's threatening to veto our efforts in a sense he is basically thumbing his nose at hardworking American families who want to invest to maximize their returns for the retirement he is so committed the president is to his climate change approach to things and his pipe dream that he's willing to crush the American Dreams of families who want to invest for the future say how does this happen well we have these woke and weaponized bureaucrats at the Department of Labor and they've come out with uh regulations at the end of last year that have to do with retirement accounts and they want you to invest your retirement money in far-left Liberal causes it's called ESG environmental social and uh governance that means you can't invest in American Energy like oil and gas and coal and you're going to suffer a result in returns you take a look at what the Bloomberg analysts did and they come up they looked at these ESG Investments and they said hey they significantly underperform the market because the regular Market as as a whole underperform which means over many many years you're going to underperform more and more and more as a result of the compounding benefits that one gets if one does well oh and the Bloomberg analyst also said the expense of running one of these programs is actually higher than just the regular investments in the market so you're going a less return higher investment costs it is a bad deal but the government wants to force people to do it the only people that are actually trying to protect America's retirement are the Republicans in spite of Joe Biden telling lies about what's going to happen with people's retirement funds so here we are in the middle of this the house voted they voted to pass this we're going to pass it today in the Senate likely along bipartisan lines to show how far out of line This Administration is we're going to stop Joe Biden from strangling America's retirement money people deserve better that and more freedom than this command and control that we're seeing coming from this Administration thank you Republicans are committed to protecting American families retirement savings yesterday Joe Biden said he is going to veto our efforts Joe Biden is giving the middle finger to middle class Americans who are concerned about the Returns on the on their retirement funds he is more committed to his climate change agenda and his pipe dream than he is to the American Dreams of hundreds of millions of American families what's happened here is the uh woke and weaponized bureaucracy of the Department of Labor has come out with new regulations on retirement funds and they want retirement funds to be invested in things that are consistent with their very liberal left-wing agenda they want to make sure that you invest only in those leftwing type things it's called ESG environmental social governance which means you can invest in things that you might want to invest in including oil and gas and coal and American Energy well the reality is the Investments that the Democrats are now mandating are things that don't actually turn out to be good Investments Bloomberg analyst looked at this and said the return on those ESG Investments falls behind the market so people that invest in those fall further and further behind and not only are the investment returns worse but the cost of making those investment the expenses are much higher so people end up losing twice well the Republicans in the house today are voting and the Senate will soon soon be voting to overturn these mandates regulations from the Department of Labor we need to stop Joe Biden from strangling American families investments in their retirement funds the American people deserve more freedom and choice than we're getting from this control and command Biden Administration Senator baraso uh thank you Mr chairman um congratulations thanks for coming to visit with me and having a chance to talk about a number of the things including the things that Senator Langford was just talking about so um this is a critically important position in the government very few a agencies in Washington are as present in the lives of Working Families as the IRS For Better or For Worse uh many people feel like it's for worse and that's what I hear in Wyoming they're afraid of the IRS they people that are honest people want to pay their taxes want to pay what is owe don't want to have someone come after them if they think they've done right if they think they've called and they have called and couldn't get an answer finally get an answer may have been told something after waiting hours and hours try to comply we talked about this U but restoring The credibility of the agency I think is going to be a steep mountain to climb and it's something that when we visited about I said this is this is critical as part of your job the um the policies that have been enacted by President Biden's Reckless tax and spending Bill really were not going to be helpful in trying to regain the credibility of the American people for the agency the American people have seen examples of political targeting at the IRS a weaponization of of the tax code people feel we have an Administration that is woke and weaponized against them uh we know about the poor customer service less than 10% of the taxpayer calls getting answered in the private sector the level of performance would put someone out of business but in the federal government you get more money the answer is pay more money uh increase uh the spending uh massive backlogs have left desperate families and small businesses waiting on much needed returns uh as they fight skyrocketing inflation some of these returns that I hear get we get calls in around the state of Wyoming uh people waiting for over a year for returns their of their money uh the IRS has been plagued by leaks highly confidential taxpayer information to news outlets like the one that Senator Langford just referred to these are these are just a number of examples I think from our discussion you know that there is plenty of cleaning up to do and the focus needs to be on improving customer service for hardworking taxpayers regrettably that wasn't the Mandate of this ill-conceived tax spending package $80 billion in additional funds for the IRS and as I read it only 3 billion went to improve taxpayer Services more than 45 billion went to support an army of IRS agents we saw the ads of what people are looking for in terms of ability to carry weapons this is a Shakedown small business operators and middle class families to pay for expensive partisan policies and I it gets it just gets very very bothersome we read this new report that out the IRS has proposed a revenue producing procedure this week to crack down on the service industry's reporting of tips they're people are going to have until May to provide feedback so we're looking at 87,000 new IRS agents the promise was that not going to come after anybody that makes less than $400,000 but what's just come out with the uh is a new project a new program aimed at how to better report tips so we're not doing what the chairman had said something about well this is going after Millionaires and billionaires this is going after waiters and waitresses that's how I read this so I mean this is the big the big difference in terms of what I hear from the chairman of the committee and what I see happening and hearing from people in Wyoming so let's see uh ranking member crepo has introduced legislation to protect taxpayers making less than $400,000 from increased audits the the department has said it um you are on record today saying you would not increase audits on Americans making less than $400,000 so would you be supportive of legislation codifying your promise just adding additional guard rails for taxpayers Senator I I appreciate the question um I I will share with you that that I believe the role of the IRS commissioner is not to opine on whether to support a piece of legislation only to tell you whether we think at the IRS it's administrable or not and so my partnership with this committee will not be uh oriented around what the tax code looks like uh more like how do we get the tools we need to whatever you and your wisdom in this committee and their wisdom enact how do we uh implement it effectively well when we when we visited and I mentioned the difference of how much money is spent for others and you said well in the wisdom of Congress I said well it wasn't really the wisdom of all of Congress it was a bill that was passed on party line vote with not a single Republican in the house or Senate voting for it to do the sort of service type things that you and I agree need to be done for the American people and American taxpayers is the three billion enough is this a misre Mis appropriation in terms of how the money is divided in terms of what you might need if you came to us and said to really hit the taxpayers need so people can answer the phones and give people correct information has the money been out at it in a way that you would have done it if you could say let me divide the money differently yeah I want to be able to come back to you Senator um as I said earlier uh we've been given a mandate by congress with rough with several billions of dollars to improve taxpayer service my commitment is to make sure that that money is spent wisely that we get the most out of that money so that it benefits taxpayers all taxpayers um and I will uh commit my time to making sure that that that there's transparency as I've mentioned into what we can and can't do with the funds that are provided thank you Mr chairman my time senator from Wyoming thank you madam president Madam president I come to the floor today to talk about the priorities misguided priorities of the Democrat majority in the Senate so far this year Senate Democrats have ignored the most important issues that are facing our country Democrats have focused on cramming through Joe Biden's radical left-wing nominees looking at the Senate Flo you would think that everything is going well in the world and well across the United States well I have news for Joe Biden and for Chuck Schumer people all across this country are not happy countes is heading in the wrong direction in meeting after meeting in Wyoming last week as I traveled the state people talked about Skyhigh prices the Skyhigh debt that we have as a nation and China's spy balloon now under Joe Biden America is is in crisis inflation crisis energy crisis crime crisis and a spending crisis inflation went up again in January the numbers came out Friday the headlines don't lie they said inflation remains entrenched entrenched and that's what people are feeling all across the country in addition to inflation drugs are pouring across the southern border killing record numbers of people even in my home state of Wyoming when the numbers are like they are in Wyoming that tells you every state is a border state crime is out of control in Democrats um strongholds in cities like Washington DC we see it here we see yesterday in Chicago the mayor didn't even make it through the primary process didn't finish first didn't finish second not even in the runoff and according to people I've talked to from that state and watching news reports the number one issue wasme crime the number two issue was crime and the number one and the number three issue was crime internationally Chinese president XI jingping is reportedly going to Moscow well why well to strengthen his ties with Vladimir Putin so the list goes on and on of failures and crises that this Administration is facing and for the most part has caused and created Democrats are doing nothing to deal with him there's a we should be doing in the United States Senate we should be unleashing American Energy we should stop The Reckless tax and spending that the Democrats continue to promote we should secure the Border stop this flow of illegal drugs we need to Croc down on the criminals that are terrorizing communities we need to put China on notice yet the Democrats are disinterested and ignoring it all Senate Republicans are going to force a vote today that will actually help people we're going to vote to protect America's retirement savings accounts the American people know that Joe Biden continues to spread lies about social security and Medicare Joe Biden is so concerned about people's retirements he needs to look in the mirror the only politician meddling with people's retirements is Joe Biden that's right the only politician actually meddling with people's retirements is President Biden the Biden Administration wants retirement plan managers to invest people's retirement funds based not on the best return for the money nope based on woke ideology Democrats want this so they can funnel trillions of dollars to their climate Elites it's called ESG environmental social and governance a more accurate name would might be extreme socialist greed now this is going to rob American people of a lot of money ESG is legalized uh theft from American workers numerous Studies have shown that these woke Investments are bad Investments people wanting to maximize their savings and their investment and the investment income to benefit their families long term are being held hostage by these new regulations coming out of the Joe B Administration so the Bloomberg analyst looked at these numbers of people that invest in this ESG and what did they find well they found that the return for the ESG Investments fell way behind the General market way behind year after year that means less money growing in your retirement account this is a slap in the face to the working men and women of the country who are trying to to save for their future now I'm proud of the state of Wyoming because that we've actually sued the Biden Administration to stop this retirement accounts are not for promoting a political agenda they're for helping people retire with money in the bank they're about giving people some safety some security and peace of mind if woke investors want to promote political agenda then they should do it with their own money not force investors to do so the only people who benefit from ESG are the climate Elites and the professional activists everyone else loses money and let me point out that the analyst from Bloomberg not only said that the return is much less that the expenses of investing in those programs with the management fees is much higher so you get hammered at both ends slower lower returns and higher expenses so ESG means you can't invest in things like oil gas coal American Energy it means less American Energy for people in our country means higher energy costs means fewer energy jobs less money in people's retirement accounts this is an allaround disaster for the American people but it's what the Biden Administration and most so many Democrats want Democrats know the American people would never vote for this would never become law that's why the American that's why the Democrats attack American energy through the bureaucracy and through the courts through their wealthy friends on Wall Street now Democrats have friends on Wall Street who have been doing their bidding for years couple of examples Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Chase Wells Fargo City Bank they refused to finance oil and gas projects near the Arctic City Bank refuses to fund coal mining HSBC refuses to fund any oil gas or coal projects the American people need to remember this next time Democrats say they oppose the big Banks Democrats and the big banks are practically joined in the hip City Group won't give a loan to a coal company yet City group is happy that City Bank is happy to do business with China some Chinese companies have hire ESG scores in American companies these include Chinese companies using slave labor this tells you ESG is a scam by the radical left now Joe Biden wants the ESG scam at every Bank in America every Bank every savings account every investment that mean trillions of dollars funneled to politically driven woke Investments people who have saved their entire lives under this Democrat scheme would actually retire with less money in their accounts so I'm going to join all of my Republican colleagues today to vote to stop this Republicans are ready to stand up and say no to Joe Biden and the administration in this Reckless policy no more command and control from bden from Biden's bureaucratic bullies no to defending American to defunding American Energy no to woke corporations and no to Democrats meddling in people's retirements thank you madam president [Music] Madame President that's C from nebr Joe Biden has surrendered to climate hysteria and in surrendering he has hurt the American people in terms of their finances as well as their freedom this is a betrayal of the American people the president irresponsibly has attacked American Energy and that's driven up cost for families he irresponsibly attacked American Energy and that has undermined our own National Security Now the president talks about a commitment to Green the grid he does this while blindly ignoring the cost as well as the consequences of making energy more expensive and us more dependent upon others this is a major mistake by the president in the administration a president who cared about the American people would be looking for ways to produce more affordable reliable American Energy but Joe Biden doesn't care about that that's why Energy prices are up close to 40% since the day he took office people are hurting and people are angry so the House of Representatives this week the Republicans in the house are bringing energy legislation to lower the cost of energy a big part of that is focused on permitting and that's something Democrats have claimed in the past to before to do permitting reform Senator Capo and I as ranking members of the epw committee and the energy committee are focused on getting that done what we're looking at ways to put time limits on bureaucratic foot dragging that slows down projects and dangerous and damaging and dilatory lawsuits that make it harder to get projects built that's our Focus we need more American Energy more reliable energy more affordable energy let's face it our country has incredible energy resources we have the best workers in the world and we have American innovention intervent American innovation look there is no reason that we should not be the leaders of the world when it comes to clean affordable and reliable energy well Joe Biden is trying to force feed American drivers expensive electrical vehicles vehicles that they don't need they don't want they can't afford Joe Biden is trying to put the federal government in the driver's seat as people make decisions on something that is a very personal decision and an expensive decision in terms of what they purchase and the bad news about these regulations these come on top of the crushing inflation that so many people in this country are currently living under so Joe Biden first came after our gas St and now he's decided that by 2023 2third of all the vehicles sold in the United States need to be electric vehicles I would say to the president in spite of the mandates in spite of the very Hefty subsidies people still don't want and cannot afford these expensive electric vehicles and additional subsidies isn't the answer on average electric vehicles last month in this country cost $62,000 that's 16,000 more than the the cost of traditional Vehicles well expensive electric vehicles may work well for people in big cities who don't drive very far but if you live in Rural America you're in Wyoming you're a farmer you're a Rancher for families all across the country they want vehicles that are affordable and reliable and electric vehicles are neither the batteries themselves are extremely expensive they're unreliable they don't have much range and they take a long time to charge so who's the big winner in Joe Biden's policy here the big winner is China because they're the ones that sell us the batteries I would expect in the future the batteries to come with a made in China label because that's where the batteries are made and the reason is that is that China has cornered the World Market on the minerals that are needed to create those batteries they've done so and so once again Joe bid is selling out America to China and the reason I say this is even his own White House has said China will be big players in the president's energy agenda big players well these big players of China right now are getting richer off of us getting stronger off of us as we through our energy policies are getting weaker and poorer so we know why we have this energy policy because Joe Biden has surrendered America's energy policy to the climate extremist and with it goes our wealth and and our national security when these regulations come out I am going to make sure that every senator in this chamber is put on record having to vote on where they stand for this Reckless policy on Thursday the Secretary of Energy will be with us in front of the energy committee and I'm going to have her answer questions regarding why they continue down this treacherous path while all the warning signs are flat flashing so this weekend I was in Wyoming at the Bridger Valley Rural Electric Association their annual meeting and their mission since 1938 has been to provide safe affordable reliable energy and electricity for their customers well that mission is becoming Mission Impossible because Joe Biden's energy policies is so terrible energy is now unavailable unreliable unaffordable Joe Biden has taken an ax to American Energy attacked American Energy and as a result had massive inflation and an increase in energy costs that have affected the country the president has rejected the idea of American Energy being affordable available and reliable and as a result of that people all across the country have been suffering the pain of High inflation in the Joe Biden economy Energy prices since Joe Biden took office are up 36% gasoline prices since Joe Biden's been in the White House are up 46% gas prices have gone up every month for the last five months and with Summer coming there is no end in sight you remember last year before the election A desperate President Biden tapped into the Strategic petroleum Reserve in an effort to lower gasoline prices can't do that again this summer because the Strategic petroleum Reserve are emergency reserves are at a 40-year low what we ought to be doing is tapping into American energy that is in the ground and Republicans have a plan to lower energy cost for the American people it's the permitting reform it's the cutting red tape it's the sort of things that that uh Senator Capo and I are working on we're having hearings on that it's necessary for our economy to move forward there for more affordable energy and more American Energy right now over half Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and over the last 24 months in Joe Biden's presidencies American families due to Biden inflation have actually had a pay cut each of those 24 months which is why it is no surprised that Joe Biden's approval number are also in the tank well Joe Biden is playing Russian roulette with the American economy it's it's dangerous it's Reckless he's fear-mongering and threatening uh to default on the debt and he thinks you can just continue to spend money and borrow money that we don't have the American people deserve better than what we're getting from the Democrats and from this Administration this Reckless spending this spending binge that the Democrats have been on for the last two years has brought us 40-year High inflation people are suffering our national debt is now $31 trillion that's why two-thirds of Americans believe that if we raise the debt ceiling it has to be tied to reforms in spending that's what happens with American families if you max out your credit card you have to have reforms in spending and that's exactly what the Republicans in the House of Representatives have done they've come out with a reasonable responsible proposal things that people agree with clawing back unused covid money making sure that for welfare people who are able-bodied adults without children will work for that it's time for Joe Biden to take his head out of the sand and sit down and negotiate with Kevin McCarthy perhaps the president doesn't think there's anything that's out of line but there is waste and Fraud and Abuse we have to get the spending under control and it's interesting because in the eight times that we've raised the debt ceiling and have tied it to spending reforms Joe Biden either as a senator or as vice president president has supported six of those eight so it is time for Joe Biden to end his debt sealing Madness now Senator go ahead senator from Wyoming well thank first Madam president I'd like to thank my colleagues who are on the floor today and senator tuberville for his leadership Senator Bud Senator Ernst for their efforts on the protection of women and girls in sports I me as a doctor I share their concern share their their passion in terms of fairness in terms of safety and I congratulate them on their efforts and continue to join them in those efforts to provide the protection for women and girls in sports Madam president I come to the floor today to talk about the high price of Democrats misguided energy agenda it is a highprice crisis entirely of President Biden in the Democrats party's own making last year when Energy prices were already at historic highs what did Democrats do well they voted 10 times Time After Time After Time against increasing American energy production instead Democrats jamm through the Senate and the house the largest climate bill in American history the climate extremists applauded this well let me just say hold the Applause because the American public is suffering families all across this great land are hurting Democrats Reckless spending of the past two years has driven up the cost of energy and of course as everyone knows this has fueled inflation inflation reached a 40-year high because of democrat spending prices today are over 15% higher than they were the day Joe Biden took office Energy prices have gone up even more than that Americans are paying 36% more more for energy today than they were in just January of 2021 gas prices to fill the tank they're up 46% that's a femon high they're can continue to grow up during the summer driving system the lower gas prices that the administration desperately and irresponsibly depleted our nation strategic petroleum Reserve to achieve last year has hurt our economy and has hurt our country and has hurt our national security Democrats were wrong to raid our emergency supplies of petroleum products in a desperate attempt to lower gas prices leading up to the November 2022 elections the Strategic petroleum Reserve is our nation's emergency Reserve now it's out of gas it's down to the lowest level it's been at in 40 years not refilling it oh no Joe Biden know he needed more energy than that so he went on bended knee to foreign dictators begging them to produce more oil to help lower gas prices here in America but not letting us produce it here at home and we have plenty the president did everything he could to try to lower gas prices except the thing that the American people know would work and that's to produce more American Energy so American families are once again facing that double whammy of an energy crisis coupled with an inflation crisis Democrats are doing absolutely nothing to help solve the problem remember the Biden Administration began working on day number one to choke off America's energy resources K the Keystone EXL pipeline canel gas and oil and gas leases America's energy Revolution turned us into the world's energy superpower our economy had a wonderful competitive Advantage it's good for families good for workers we challenged dictators without having to worry about our energy Supply we had affordable reliable and available American Energy this Administration and the Democrats in this body squandered the gains that we had achieved they attacked American Oil Natural Gas coal at every turn along the way then they raised taxes to make it even more expensive they instituted burd some regulations to make it more to make it more difficult to produce the American Energy they put up roadblock after roadblock on every type of American Energy and yet Joe Biden and the Democrats openmouth look with surprise why had the prices skyrocketed anybody body could have predicted that choking off our energy Supply would lead to record high energy prices and to increased dependence on our adversaries Russia China Iran Venezuela last week Secretary of Energy Jennifer granholm testified before the energy committee I specifically asked her about the administration's plan to lower gas prices and energy prices across the board because they're up across the board they're up for heating energy they're up for driving energy her solution government mandates phase out anything powered by oil natural gas or coal take away our gas stoves take away our gas powered water heaters Force feetus expensive electric cars that don't work for many people across the country they may be okay for rich people in the big cities who don't have to drive very much who can afford to pay $16,000 more for a vehicle than for a traditional car but for Wyoming families and Wyoming farmers and Wyoming ranchers they just don't work people want affordable reliable vehicles and for people all around Rural America electric cars are neither Americans don't support the Democrats climate extremism look at the polls nearly two-thirds of Americans say they don't want to buy an electric car they don't want to be force-fed by Joe Biden don't want to have government in the driver's seat they say the price is too high $64,000 on average the batteries are unreliable charging them is inconvenient it's timec consuming takes a long time to get a battery charged and it can't go all that far and then who benefits from all of this China that's because most of the critical minerals that are needed to build these batteries come right out of China just look for the made in China sticker on the batteries of the electric vehicles this country should be focusing on strengthening our energy Independence not finding ways to become more dependent to China or Russia so the reality of secretary grolm so-called solution to lowering prices is that Americans will just pay more not really concerned about afford AB ility I didn't hear that word at all the way to lower prices is to unleash American Energy now the house recently passed legislation to do just that and I support their efforts Senator Capo and I are going to soon introduce our own legislation in the Senate the energy and natural resources committee is going to hold a hearing on the critical issues in the coming weeks we can only unleash American Energy if we fix our broken permitting system and process right now new energy projects are bogged down by a maze of red tape and lawsuits our legislation is going to include enforcable timelines on environmental reviews and filing legal challenges we're going to move forward faster with an all of the above American Energy agenda we need it all my Democrat colleagues have stated before that they do want permitting reform well we'll see they're going to have an opportunity to speak up to vote because if they're serious real reform is possible if they're serious we can tell the American people that real relief is on the way we do need a long-term commitment in this country to American Energy making life more affordable for every American should be a bipartisan priority it hasn't been for the first two years of the Biden Administration and now going into the third we need to get back to a point where we can make energy affordable available and reliable instead of focusing as the Democrats do on only renewable energy regardless of the cost and regardless of the consequences thank you madam president and I give the floor we have a dangerous and deadly National Security crisis unfolding at our Southern border and the crisis is soon to become a catastrophe and this has Joe Biden written all over it because on his first day in office he started rolling out executive orders they rolled out to red carpet for illegal immigrants to come to the United States to the point that now 5 million illegal immigrants have come and yesterday over 10,000 which is the highest number ever now so much of this is orchestrated by criminal cartels in addition to the very big num we're talking about very bad people who are coming across including criminals murderers gang members and if you're a drug dealer with Joe Biden in the White House it has become a dream come true at the same time it's become a national nightmare for families who have lost family members to fenal even in Wyoming a thousand miles from our Southern border we've had triple the number of fentanyl deaths since Joe Biden has become president look I've been to the Border many times it is now worse than ever before and with with rolling back title 42 the president is essentially SE sending engraved invitations saying come to America it's a catastrophe the Caravans are lining up at the border and it is going to be an invasion like we have never seen in the history of this country the same time the president and his malicious Secretary of home land security look straight in the camera lie to the American people and do nothing to secure the border of our nation astonishingly on Friday night the president did a television interview where he told the people and you know he looked Dazed and Confused a bit during the interview but he told people that he knew more than the vast majority of people well Mr knit all if you know more you ought to start listening to the Border Patrol because they know what works they have been telling us it is follow the law finish the wall and finally bring back the remain in Mexico policy you know why because it worked the uh the bill negotiated by speaker mcarthy is a first step on the road to Common Sense conservative governing it is clearly an important change in direction from The Reckless tax and spending that the Democrats have been engaged in the last two years President Biden and the Democrats really went on a major spending binge and that ignited a flame and Inferno of inflation 40-year High inflation that is still burning members of the people of and citizens all around this country so anyone with an ounce of Common Sense knows that this dangerous path must be changed we can't continue in this Direction people across the country have been saying clearly any raising of the debt ceiling must be coupled to riging in dangerous High spending 60% of Americans say now is the time to reign in spending and this bill does that so many of us wished it could have gone a lot further specifically with cutting spending when there's a bipartisan Bill like this they're missed opportunities in terms of getting government growth under control and putting us on a sustainable path this is a first step we need many more steps if we're going to be able to tackle the debt and beat back inflation and an important thing to do is reignite American energy production the the reforms that we see in permitting we need more real regulatory relief for affordable American Energy if you really want to grow the economy get people back to work and lower prices affordable American energy is the solution well thanks Mr chairman I just like to follow up on uh some of the things that Dr Holly has been talk Senator Holly has been talking about to Mr tutor and you know because you're the only witness here today who runs an organization that actually produces electricity the uh couple of weeks ago I was uh in you went to County Wyoming rural our Rural Electric Association where their mission assigned Mission since 1938 is to provide safe affordable reliable electricity to their users is almost becoming Mission Impossible with some of the threats that they're facing so you've stated that investors and insurers around the country both in the United States and abroad are putting pressure on electric electricity producers uh and doing it to retire coal and natural gas fired plants prematurely uh these institutions pressure cooperatives investor owned utilities and others to replace the plants with weather dependent wind and solar units so to what extent have either government policies added to the pressure that you're facing from financial institutions it's created a significant Fear Factor first of all these um and it is really kind of this Contin battle to try and maintain and and and protect our our assets the banks basically have told us over the last several years that they will stop providing us lending on coal repairs coal assets if we have 25% of our Revenue coming from in our portfolio from coal the Insurance Underwriters both in the US and and Europe are also telling us the same thing that they're not going to ensure our assets not all of them but many of them again if we if we have 25% of our Revenue coming from a coal asset so that's that's narrowed the number of people we can borrow money from and the number of people that will ensure our assets which makes it more expensive anything more expensive is bad for our our consumer owners who are largely uh rural um lowincome customers well that was it in terms of how this affects the the families that Senator Holly was talking about the families the businesses who need the electricity Additionally the department of energy is currently revising the efficiency standard for distribution Transformers the proposed standard as I understand it would increase the efficiency by only on/ tenth of one percentage point I mean that's negligible Improvement but yet to meet the standards it's going to require fundamental changes in manufacturing process for these Transformers so you're going to be hit with all of this this could jeopardize the availability of components needed to supply the electricity to homes to businesses across the country so worse yet this proposal comes in the middle of an ongoing shortage of these Transformers in your testimony you said that the proposed standard quote is already hindering efforts to increase the number of Transformers available so if the Biden Administration proposal becomes a final rule what impact do you expect that to have I mean I this is significant it's a horrible idea let me just state that um and and it doesn't move the needle and there are so many other things that we've talked about today that are so much more important and and today we can't get large Transformers it's a 3 to foure time frame to get a Transformer and everything we've talked about today in terms of infrastructure transmission operations Generation all this stuff requires electricity wire conduit poles Transformers so all this is going to do is slow down that whole process and then the real question is we got stuff to fix now we have a a business to run and we have to repair and keep this this uh basically this equipment up to date so we have hundreds of millions of dollars that need to be spent just to keep our existing system up to speed and then when we start talking about adding all these new projects Renewables that's even more infrastructure needs and when you run through this whole list of the things that you would need to relate to any of it come from China yes sir thanks no further questions thank you Mr chairman well many many Americans view the Biden Administration as working against them rather than working for them and with the Biden Administration teaming up with the climate extremist it's making it even worse on American Energy and the minor changes that were adopted in terms of Permitting during this uh debt sealing vote they're not going to do what the Americans need in terms of energy people know what they want they want energy that is available affordable and reliable and yet Joe Biden has now commanded the EPA commanded the EPA to prioritize climate change over energy that is available reliable or affordable the EPA is now the evil empire as it attacks American Energy Prosperity American energy production the EPA is aggressively attempting to shut down coalfire power plants natural G gas fired power plants while there is no other source of energy to replace it trying to shut down something that has worked for a long long time when there is nothing available to replace it is foolish it's harmful even the members the bipartisan members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have all testified in the Senate that this is undermining the grid of power in the United States and it is their job to look after the grid all across the country we're seeing areas and this is a chart of Summer grid reliability risk elevated risk large sast to the country elevated risk to our grid as a result of the administration and what the president is doing is making it worse the EPA with their incredibly painful regulations is undermining our ability sabotaging American Energy and the American public are going to be paying the price and suffering the pain if you want to keep the lights on you want to keep the country secure you need affordable reliable Baseline power and that's why every Republican on the Senate energy committee has joined me as co-sponsors of a permitting Reform Bill called the spur act and it unleashes all American Energy which is exactly what we need for affordable available and reliable energy for our nation Joe Biden and the Democrats continue to weaken America and undermine our nation's security I saw it this past weekend in Wyoming at the Wyoming stock growers association and the Wyoming mining Association these are the men and women who go to work day in and day out to put food on our tables and also make make sure that the lights come on when you turn on the switch they work very hard and yet their paychecks continue to get eaten away and as we saw new inflation numbers today costs continue to go up $880 per month more the cost of living compared to the day that Joe Biden came into the White House and it's not surprising given the Democrats attacks on American Energy you saw the headlines last week that said energy costs would go up this Summer that headline was tied to the fact that Saudi Arabia is cutting production of oil by a million barrels a day and yet Joe Biden continues to cow toow to the climate extremists and blocking the production of American Energy if you talk to any of the R any of the ranchers at the Wyoming stock growers association they will tell you when energy costs go up the cost of producing food goes up and the cost at the grocery store doors go up as well at the Wyoming mining Association it was very clear that it still takes 10 years to get a permit to mine for the minerals that are critical to our economy Joe Biden doesn't care to the point that just this past week he genuflected again to the climate extremists and permanently shut down a mine that produces nickel and copper minerals critical to our American Energy economy look this is the same president that wants every American Driving an expensive electric car and the minerals for those Vehicles continues to come from China so what you've seen here is one week in Joe Biden's America Saudi Arabia pushing Joe Biden aside because they know that he can't do anything and won't do anything in terms of energy production you see China smiling because Joe Biden is going to make their minerals much more valuable and you see the American public suffering from higher and higher cost Republicans have Solutions including a bill of my own to unleash American energy to produce more minerals critical minerals for our economy that is the way to make our economy as well as our national security stronger from Wyoming thank you madam president I come to the floor to join my colleague from from Kansas Senator Marshall in talking about the economy President Biden has spent the last two weeks trying to Define and then redefine what has been to known as bomic the president now wants to talk about his economic record well I would say let us have that conversation here's what biomics means to Working Families in my home state of Wyoming it means record inflation it means hollowed out savings and it means crushing interest rates biomics is a radical recipe causing more and more Americans to fall further and further behind means families are faced with tough decisions every single day decisions about how they're going to make ends meet decisions about what they can afford at the grocery store how much gas they can put in the vehicle decisions as they're trying to pay their bills sitting at the kitchen table lomics is spelling a summer of suffering for every single American now before the president took office inflation was practically non-existent 1.4% but under the Biden Harris Administration prices have risen 16.6% American households are spending $900 more per per month just to keep up the average household has spent over $2,300 more on energy alone since Joe Biden came to the White House now that's to fill a tank of gas that's to keep the lights on it's to heat the house in the winter and cool it in the summer like Wyoming families are worried about our nation and our nation's future and they believe this country is on the wrong track it's what I've heard all over the Fourth of July recess families from Cody to Gillette Casper to pineale that's what they've shared with me and they are so much in agreement with families all across this country because the high cost of everything is the top issue that people are talking about and thinking about nationally that's the impact of Biden nomics that's what Joe Biden has done to this country the pain and suffering that the American families are feeling is nothing to celebrate over the 4th of July but that's what the White House is trying to do so you wonder how we got here well let me tell you this agenda by the Democrats and Joe Biden and his colleagues in the house and in the Senate the Democrats have a agenda of runaway spending of government overreach and of Reckless tax hikes look we warned our Democrat colleagues that the Biden Harris spending would send prices soaring that's exactly what happened the spending also drove interest rates higher Skyhigh interest rates are sapping savings they're putting an additional burden on Working Families people are actually dipping into their savings account or taking on additional credit card debt just to pay current day bills credit card debt recently hit a record of nearly $1 trillion it's roughly $10,000 per household in this country these are drastic measures that people are being forc forced to take because inflation is outpaced wages for 26 months in a row adding to the pain of high record record high prices and more debt is the administration's excessive and continued government overreach the Biden Harris administration's regulatory agenda is the most expensive of any Administration in modern history the administration is surrendering America's energy and economic dominance they're doing it to adversaries like China and they're doing it right now as John krey prepares to go to China and continue this American surrender the president wants all Americans driving electric cars no matter what it costs here's the catch the electric cars are going to be slapped with made in China stickers and what happened last week China choked off supply of critical minerals that are used for solar panels that Joe Biden wants us to make Here China controls the supply chain for the minerals needed to build the electric cars and the batteries but we're not allowed to mine for it here no his Department of interior shut down mining in northern Minnesota for critical minerals he's making China richer and America poorer Joe Biden is turning to China not American workers for the critical minerals needed to build these cars bomic is selling out America's economic interests to communist China America isn't blind to the blunders of Biden economics here's a quote from a recent CNN story says most Americans are convinced the economy is in bad shape and they blame the president a new poll from the Associated Press in the National opinion Research Center found 64% of Americans almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling the economy a Harvard Harris poll said 74% of Americans say their financial situation is not improving under this Administration and yet you see Joe Biden tour in the country and Democrats giving Victory speeches bomic is ravaging our wallets wrecking our savings ruining our economy and the Democrats are saying great Senate Republicans have solutions to get America back on track irq and it starts with spending less and reducing red tape and unleashing American Energy as a top Republican on the Senate energy and natural resource committee I will tell you that unleashing American energy is my top priority to accomplish that we need to pass true permitting reform our plan's going to make life more affordable by making it easier to produce every type of American Energy we will need traditional reli viable forms of energy like oil coal natural gas for years and years to come in spite of what the president May foolishly believe we also need to produce more energy from resources like nuclear wind solar we need it All unleashing American Energy with permitting reform is the key that unlocks America dominance again this is what we need to do to reverse the damage the destruction and the Devastation of Joe Biden and bomic bomic is a grim reality for too many people in Wyoming and across the country Joe Biden kamla Harris and Washington Democrats cannot keep ignoring the pain that they are causing nobody can afford another bad day of bad biomics thank you madam president and I yield the floor madam well Joe Biden is making life worse for American families when you ask people is your life better or worse under the Biden policies only one in five people say that it's actually made life better more than two and a half times as many people said the Biden policies have made their life worse so the Democrats are completely out of touch with the American people clearly every weekend at home I continue to hear about the high prices and Joe Biden is the president of high prices and you think with such a bad report card the president would let up a little but he didn't this past week he accelerated his attacks on affordable American Energy look prices are up 16% since he's taken over people need some relief but Joe Biden is so desperate to win the support of the environmental extremists that will do whatever they want and that's why he's come out with new attacks on oil and gas which are going to raise the cost at the pump raise the cost in the grocery store and to heat or cool your home and these attacks are so bad that they're going to force a number of oil and gas workers to lose their job and that could be tens of thousands and from my home state of Wyoming we are America's energy Bread Basket it's going to be especially devastating now I often wonder if these elitists from the coast have any clue and an understanding of where their energy comes from and where their food comes from my former colleague Mike enzy used to always talk about a book called The Hidden America was from coal miners to Cowboys the Unseen Americans who really make this country work and Joe Biden could learn a lot from reading the book and from talking to the coal miners and the Cowboys all across this country because it is these Heroes these hardworking Heroes who are the ones that are most being hurt by Joe Biden and the Democrats who are out of touch with America thanks John thanks Mr chairman Mr over so the BLM has held just two oil and gas lease sales in Wyoming since Joe Biden took office the mineral leasing act requires quarterly lease sales meaning there should be should have been 10 sales under President Biden so far so I have a chart up here that shows the average amount of Acres leased and it's in millions of acres by previous presidents well you can see Joe Biden right there at the bottom is defying the law and has wrecked the leasing process can you talk about the impact that this BLM refusal to follow the law has had on the state of Wyoming thank you Senator braso thanks for the question happy to do so I want to answer it in two ways number one just the the the fiscal impact to the state of Wyoming I mentioned how important oil and gas is to our economy and to Wyoming's revenues uh the two lease sales that the Administration has offered uh the first uh brought in 14 million the second brought in 13 million at that rate you've mentioned that they've missed 10 uh Wyoming should have been uh receiving somewhere or Wyoming and the federal government should have been receiving around $130 million so there's there's a quantifiable dollar amount impact for sure the second part that I want to EMP iiz Senator is uh the issue of leasing for Wyoming has everything to do with the exploration not necessarily the production I was so encouraged to hear Senator mantion differentiate between Leasing and permitting in that way Wyoming is an exploratory field still it's different from other fields in that sense we need leasing in order to explore for new Fields that's what attracts companies to Wyoming is that exploratory nature and as we cut off Leasing and cut that down we choke off the ability to explore for new resources and that hurts us in the long term so the failure to lease Federal lands result in less oil and gas production or simply caus companies to move elsewhere right in terms of the expense and in terms of leasing if there if if if companies have production in other basins of course Colorado or New Mexico or other places they fight internally for Capital and the barriers that BLM puts in front of Wyoming puts us out a competitive disadvantage so Mr Moo do you see the same reaction from companies in offshore oil and gas sectors yeah the sh sector is highly competitive it makes up about 30% of total Global oil production which is you know 100 million barrels a day and these are projects that are they're competing on a on a global level you're looking at um places like Guyana southeast Asia the North Sea it's very um difficult and challenging to continue to make investments in in a region like the Gulf of Mexico that is highly perspective when you have uncertainty uncertainty and you don't have the predictability that you might have in another part of the world so the money could definitely leave and you know you put those jobs at risk yeah so Mr over you talked about activists having challenged essentially every oil and gas lease sale that BLM has held in Wyoming they include lease sales uh held by the even held by the Obama Administration the lawsuits are often filed years after the leases have been issued uh these groups ask judges to cancel leases that are valid existing contracts between BLM and private companies how do these lawsuits affect your member's ability to produce on Federal Land in some cases uh Senator Brasso in some cases completely stops the ability to produce uh currently there are 2573 leases under litigation in Wyoming uh in some cases in many cases it it uh has prompted the BLM to as I mentioned before self- enjoy but perhaps one of the most greous examples of that is is legally uh leases offered in in the fourth quarter of 2020 the legal process was completed the leases were available but for fear of litigation the BLM has yet to to actually issue those leases from Q4 2020 as a result of of litigation threats so to make that point since Joe Biden has taken office BLM has decided to stop issuing permits on oil and gas leases that are under litigation is what you just said the uh so often BLM has made this decision even though environmental activists have not actually won a ruling in court so as a result companies have not been able to develop hundreds of thousands of Acres in Wyoming based on this decision as a matter of basic fairness should environmental activists get what they want without actually winning in court Mr chairman it does defy a little bit of explanation uh you know obviously access to courts is very very important but the process should play out and there there should not be an incentive to continually to file lawsuits and then have have an agency self enjoin uh during that process the process should play out and it should play out fairly so Mr molo the Biden Administration set a go to deploy 30 gaw of offshore Wind by 2035 I'll note that offshore wind requires over 33,000 pounds of minerals per megawatt of capacity it's about 12 times the amount of minerals that natural gas needs per megawatt does the United States have policies in place to support the development of mineral resources that offshore wind energy needs well we we lack a comprehensive strategy for securing the critical mineral needed for our en Energy Future we need to work together to make sure that China does not Remain the dominant player in this space uh we we have companies that can do offshore mineral Mining and they would would be helped by the administration if they stepped up and and played a role in getting them access to some of these areas around the world where they're trying to deploy their Technologies to to have a US company in that space and you're very well aware you know state of Wyoming has various critical minerals and BLM of course has a lot lot of jurisdiction over that that prevents that kind of development but spur act has Provisions in there to address a lot of this and we need to work together to develop this comprehensive strategy so that the US becomes a leader in critical mineral mining thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you Joe Biden's recent statements on the economy reveal a president completely out of touch with the pain and the suffering that he's causing the American people if you wanted to describe bomic in one word it would be failure the economy is the number one issue facing our country all of us have been traveling our states I've been all around Wyoming over the break talking with folks people are fed up they're fed up with record high prices record high interest rates if you want to borrow money and a record high debt and they're tired they're tired of having to work so very hard just to try to keep up with the prices that continue to go up they seem to be hit right between the eyes every time they go to the store fill up with gas try to buy gross groceries all of those things and they're mad people are mad because they see the country heading in the wrong direction and they don't see us getting back on track people also do not believe that Joe Biden is up to the task only one in three Americans think that President Biden and the Democrats are actually doing a good job on the economy and the case in point is this past Labor Day weekend gasoline prices hovering at about $4 a gallon well that's up over $2 a gallon from where we were about two years years ago and back to school shopping it has become very very expensive and very stressful for American families whether it's putting food in The Lunchbox supplies in the backpack we're all seeing increased costs as a result of biomics well Republicans have solutions to make things more affordable and it's to cut the wasteful Washington spending is to release this death grip that The Regulators have the bureaucrats here in Washington making everything more expensive back home and it is unleashing American Energy we have it in abundance that's the way to get America back on track Joe Biden the Democrats are intensifying their outrageous attacks on American Energy and the American public are paying the price the with inflation as it is inflation lives and dies with the cost of energy and what's happening with this Biden policy on energy driving up the costs it's crushing people's hopes it's stealing their dreams it doesn't have to be this way gasoline prices across the country are now approaching $4 do a gallon again we have abundant energy in the United States but Joe Biden is strangling energy attacking it he's on a war path against American Energy did it in Alaska in the Gulf of Mexico Meo and now in Wyoming like Wyoming is American Energy bread basket and he is trying to lock up over a million acres of land energy rich land in Wyoming this is a direct attack on American workers and on anybody who ever you know flips a light switch or fills up a gas tank they continue to go after American Energy and why is he continuing this strangle hold well it's because he continues to cave in to the far-left climate elitists that run that party we need to do better we can do better their agenda to me is the most self-destructive economic agenda that I've ever seen for this country and that's why Americans are so mad they're mad because they're paying over $900 a month more this year than when Biden came into office just to keep up with Rising prices Americans make energy cleaner than anywhere else in the world and we have such an abundance of it it's reliable here in the United States that's what Republicans are committed to releasing all that American Energy that's the way we make life more affordable for the American people bro uh thanks Mr chairman um Mr pazy just a couple things I mean you are an expert on Chinese Science and Technology policy you very well outlined us in your opening statement the threats that China opposes to to government funded research as well as private sector development so we have more than 4,000 Chinese Nationals working in the department of energy Labs um are these employees vulnerable to the Chinese Communist Party their talent recruitment programs how does that work great thank you um the talent recruitment programs really do pose quite a challenge um based on the principles um that a lot of these individuals when they sign these contracts um uh often Aus skate their uh participation um but I think as I mentioned in my opening statement it's really important as we go forward that we acknowledge the policies and programs that China has put in place and really uh focus on how those system our system and their system is different and that's why it's important to talk about the human rights issues and the kinds of pressure that uh the Chinese government can bring to bear on individuals especially as you had mentioned in your opening statement whose families are still in China now I think it's a really delicate balance um and so some of these reporting programs um and also just following up on different affiliations and thinking through I think the risk Matrix is one of those uh tools that can be very useful because all research doesn't have the same amount of risk right and so uh it's important to not have a one- siiz fits-all approach to this um but it also highlights the importance of really investing in homegrown Talent as well thank you so so Mr Turk more than a year ago I wrote to the department uh and uh regarding the persistent threat of the Chinese foreign Nationals when doing research on sensitive technology our Labs a copy of the letter um I brought to the attention that 162 Chinese Nationals who actually stole sensitive research material from Los Alamos in the lab uh your department you answered the letter but really didn't answer my question so let me let me ask the question to you does the benefit of the work of the Chinese foreign Nationals within our Labs outweigh the documented risks to both our research and our national security let me first thank you for all your focus on this issue thanks to miss py and others who've uh focused their careers here and I thought the Miss B's testimony as uh I said in my opening was incredibly useful just to Eyes Wide Open right here's the threat here's what we face and how do we deal with it and get the balance right um so three things um maybe just to point out and happy to get into this in any detail one we do have specific restrictions so you can't work uh at a doe lab uh if you've done a talent recruitment program and to make sure that we've got that uh prohibition and those restrictions in place uh and trying to really think about not just what's called a talent recruitment program but other ways that the Chinese government or others can get around that as well so that we've got that Eyes Wide Open on those specific prohibitions secondly as was mentioned we've got this science and technology risk Matrix uh this is going Beyond what's uh under export control or what's under classification and making sure we're looking at Technologies and just as Missi said uh doing a ranking of where are the most sensitive Technologies AI is one of the six sensitive technology areas that we have a particular focus on in this risk uh Matrix uh and make sure that for those very sensitive applications we have extra protections so it's a risk uh based model along those lines third we do have a Counter Intelligence unit at the department of energy and all of our field offices cover all of our Labs so we are actively investigating and making sure that we're following up on any leads so that we can be as uh thoughtful and proactive as we possibly uh can there is a balance here just as you said just as Miss blei said uh it's uh uh a a great part of our science uh scientific apparatus that uh we have folks from all over the world who want to come work here right leading scientific Minds who uh you think of Albert Einstein you think of a number of others who benefited our country immensely and we want to take advantage of that especially where appropriate with open science with areas that uh are fruitful for that kind of uh kind of focus as well it's also useful to note I've got one statistic here many of the folks who come here to work in the US including in our Labs end up staying and becoming incredibly important parts of our uh ecosystem so over 90% of top AI PhD students from around the world uh stay here in the US five years after graduating and that is a huge benefit but looking forward to working with you further I appreciate because the good news is 90% come and stay and then the concern is that there potentially the 10% that do return to China and how do we or have families there as you've mentioned and uh Miss B has mentioned and again Eyes Wide Open to take those threats to head on yes Dr Stevens I don't know if there's something you want to add on this but I'm interested in how foreign Nationals from countries of concern how they're vetted before they're hired in your lab there's a a process that's actually quite similar across all the Laboratories where there's a background check there as there's the filters that uh secretary uh Turk mentioned in terms of recruitment programs and their history um there's a famous form I think 493 we call it that uh foreign Nationals have to fill out there's um it's it's a long process to get hired and get cleared and and not just to be hired but even to come as a visitor and to participate in in user facilities so I think Labs do a quite good job of of screening this um and they make very valuable contributions um one statistic that may be I think was may be mentioned that over 60% of the computer science graduate students in the US are foreign born and the workforce component that we need to build Advanced AI systems will not function if we prohibit uh those students from participating in this ecosystem so we're going to need to really accelerate our Workforce Development and foreign bour uh participants are important component of that so it follow up to then to to Mr Wheeler so given the global nature of the technology development how does your organization navigate the challenges of international collaboration while ensuring the security and the Integrity of the research there we go sorry um so uh much like the National Labs uh we we have a very um you know process for how we on board Talent as well uh we also have you know ongoing training and uh that's that's mandatory uh it's around global trade and so it's very specific everyone gets trained around uh you know what are the regulations around how do you interact If U you know whether it's a collaboration opportunity with u with with anyone abroad honestly and so we have very strict control uh that that manages what kind of Technology can be transferred who we work with so very uh tight guidelines there and then above and beyond that for the projects we're involved in specifically uh you know this is obviously closer to uh Department of Defense but you know if it's a project project uh that requires you know only cleared Personnel we have that that ability we have the ability to do you know secure manufacturing so um so we've got a lot of steps in terms of security and who we work with and then how the work ultimately gets done thank you Mr chairman sen Joe Biden has surrendered our Southern border he surrendered it to drug dealers criminal cartels gang members we're still waiting the numbers from last month but it looks like it's going to be an all-time high a record-breaking month of over a quarter of a million illegal immigrants coming into the United States they get here and then they vanish that's what we're dealing with in the United States today this is a billion criminal cartel who is flooding our border our Southern border with illegal immigrants and deadly drugs criminals are coming from all around the world Africa the Middle East and China it used to be that border states and border cities were some in places in Texas or some places in Arizona no not anymore the city council of Chicago and the mayor of New York have actually said that their own cities are being destroyed destroyed by the illegal immigrants who continue to come and remember these are Sanctuary cities every state in the country has been impacted by this my home state of Wyoming the fentel deaths a major death there's a killer fentel is a major killer all across the United States and what is our incompetent president and the Democrats and the Senate who they keep their heads buried in the sand and as we've just heard from Senator Hagerty now they want to defund Ice immigration Customs Enforcement what do they want to do with the money they want to set up a Welcome Wagon to set up housing and services for those folks look the Republicans have a much better idea secure the Border Act of 2023 that legislation includes the technology the Manpower and the physical barrier that we need that's what we need to do to protect our communities provide saf in America and actually secure our border and now see it says Senator Johnson johnon not okay well Joe Biden's border policy has been one train wreck after another and the reason I say train wreck is that the number of Americans who have died from fentanyl since Joe Biden has been president equals the number of people if you take an AM track train fill it with people crash a train everyone dies every other day that's the number of people in America being killed by Fentanyl and I also use the train analogy because Joe Biden should be familiar with the number on that train because he took the train back and forth to Delaware when he was a Senator for 36 years the last week he went to Arizona so Joe Biden goes to Arizona which is a border state where the number of illegal immigrants and lethal drugs that come across every day continue to kill Americans he didn't go to stem the flow of lethal drugs no no no he went to increase the flow of campaign dollars into his campaign accounts but he didn't go to the Border he was so close to the Border he was closer than his regular daily train ride home to Delaware but he didn't go he has so little respect for the border patrol or the citizens of this country or the communities in which they live by the border ignored them completely it is disgusting Republicans have Solutions it's to secure the Border act 30 of us have co-sponsored it it secures the border from illegal immigrants and deadly drugs now you know when the train crashes they often say that the engineer was asleep at the switch well sleepy Joe Biden he's been asleep at the switch and people all across America are dying by the train loads well National Security starts with border security and under Joe Biden our country is a lot less safe because our Southern border is wide open if you talk to border patrol they will tell you that bad people are coming in record numbers from around the world terrorists criminals exploiting the significant increase in the flow of illegal immigrants to the country hundreds when the FBI terrorist watch list have already been apprehended but they can't tell us how many got through how many are here already because under Joe Biden close to 2 million illegal immigrant Goda aways have gotten here by escaping detection at all it's gotten so bad that the Department of Homeland Security issued additional Terror warnings last month about increased terrorism and criminal actors the world watched the horror of Hamas in Israel a week and a half ago women children tortured raped beheaded 30 Americans killed others held captive terrorists would love to see the exact same thing happen to us right here and Joe Biden's open border policy makes that our greatest threat of terrorism Republicans have solutions that will actually work or secure the Border Act of 20 23 has passed the house already it provides the Manpower the technology and actual physical barrier to work against illegal immigration and protect our communities protect our citizens under Joe Biden he has undermined our nation's Safety and Security say that I think I'm very supportive of that that legislation let me say this to you all clarify of 535 members of Congress I think that the majority if not all of us have spoken at conferences to where people had to pay a registration fee to be there they didn't have I understand appearance-wise but you know you have to have your uh get your point across I think the thing that we were concerned about Sir U Mr Shaw is the one that you had definite ties to and if they had come back in but still yet we all were going to conference I give you SAR s week SAR sah week that's that's a big one $1,500 Democrats Republicans we all go and speak there because we think it's an access to that and uh so with that being said I know you might feel you're unfairly targeted here but well Mr chairman I think you AB there is a difference between going to a meeting and speaking where people pay a registration fee but the group that this is that we're talking about is a group that he founded that he founded and you have to be a member of the group to get special access to 10 different opportunities to go with him special access F you're a member and they brag about it they brag about it online hundreds of billions of dollars they love him he's the co-founder of the group sign up join the group and you get special access is this wrong Mr chairman gotcha anybody else want to say anything about that I I don't think it's any different than going to Sarah week and we've all gone to conferences where people have paid to be there I think what we've seen here is after years and years of people complaining that government is unresponsive to Private Industry we finally have an Administration who will meet anyone with any technology whether it's fossil or renewable or nuclear and actually work with them in a way that is friendly to the private sector and that is not something that I think we should be discouraging we should expect more of it Mr chairman I want to submit for the record an article entitled Biden's energy loans are found founded a trade Association now it's selling access to him Shaw's clean tech leaders Round Table regularly hosts events for companies looking for Federal loans it says exclusive and Invitation Only included discussion panels with doe official topics show me the money Mr chairman this is absolutely wrong and it needs to stop and submit that for General donalson welcome back to the committee I appreciate you being here and your testimony I it was excellent you talked about their 12 categories of increased risk to to taxpayer money and being used properly now you're in a position confirmed by the United States Senate to be responsible and looking at um protecting taxpayer money and what I heard you say is that proportion to the amount of money going out from the Department of energy the ability that you have to look into that from your size of your staff is the the worst in government and you've asked the secretary for more and the secretary has stonewalled or blocked the opportunity to get that to get that money so there's a concern as we're looking at taxpayer dollars so let me let me talk about this because you said there are 12 categories of increased risk I want to ask about this one so there is a private trade Association was founded by Mr Shaw sitting next to you he uh and it's in Char and he's in charge of the Department of energy Loan program it's called clean tech leaders Round Table he he founded the organization uh from what I see it appears to be a gatekeeper for companies seeking doe funding from him and he founded the organization not not anymore but one is called Sova which recently received a $3 billion loan from the Department of energy $3 billion uh one of the board members of the group that he founded is also on the board of sonova they got the $3 billion same guy getting the money on his board that he founded my concern is this could be the next cylindra the cylindra was 500 million this could be $3 billion do of taxpayer money now Mr Shaw has reportedly been a guest speaker at at least 10 clean tech sponsored events group he founded and at these events if you're a member of his group that he founded they get special access to him and he's the guy that's directing the Loan program so Department of energy even recently co-hosted an event with clean Tech this group that he founded do you believe that department of energy safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest in its loaning practices are satisfactory or do they need to be improved thank you um Senator braso I do have a project underway it is still very new looking at conflicts of interest particularly in the Loan program office um I will say and there was quite a few facts that you were chatting about there uh Mr Shaw does have access to outstanding ethics council at the department of energy I'm sure he's already working with her on some of those uh issues my job and how I've structured this project that which we'll look at conflicts is not to see whether or not the minimum existing conflicts laws and rules are being met it's to provide a broader Universe of tools that they may want to strap on and enact and follow because of some of the very special circumstances surrounding this program so the whole idea of uh ethical protections is something that you can you start at the floor right the federal requirements you can certainly do more so my staff is looking at both are they meeting the floor and and making recommendations on what other things they may want to consider to to protect These funds no I appreciate that because this we're talking about a$3 billion dollar six times larger than uh than cylindra but actually there are hundreds of billions of dollars uh in place so Mr Shaw you you appear to be Allin on the clean tech leaders Round Table going to their meetings special access to members that's the former associate trade Association that you founded you spoke into at least 10 or more private events hosted by them you've even given a loan to a company that shairs a board member and that was for three billion but that but what this OR grun tech is now saying it's hundreds of billions hundreds dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign we love jger Shaw love you they love you hundreds of billions of dollars I mean I think conflict of interest potential conflict of interest jiggers saww just became one of the most important players in energy this is the new CEO of the company that you founded that you get a they get access to you it is astonishing this is a social media post from your former trade association's current executive director sounds like she thinks she hit the lottery and apparently she did she is openly touting cleanex access specifically to you hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollarss that you're the one that's handing it out I think it's a very bad look for you personally and a very bad look for the Department of energy will you commit to refrain from associating with your previous trade Association for the rest of your tenure at the department of energy Senator baraso thank you for that very important question um I think it's important to take a step back and understand the role that I have at the loan programs office uh the secretary when she was in her confirmation hearing uh suggested uh truthfully that the loan program's office was dormant uh so my job has been to gain private sector trust and so I'm Allin for sure on American innovators and entrepreneurs and I have uh spared no uh you know event or time or conference to figure out how to promote the loan programs office but because of your excellent oversight and the oversight of the Inspector General the loan programs office has been substantially improved uh since 2011 and 2012 we now have a risk management group a portfolio Management Group and so I have no role to play whatsoever in choosing who gets alone in fact those decisions are made by federal staff my job is to get people to take the extraordinary step of spending a lot of time and effort to participate in the loan programs office and ask us for a loan so that we can evaluate it so Mr chairman let me just reflect that the witness just refused to commit to refrain from associating with this previous Trade Organization hold that back up again he has refused in front of this committee to commit to refrain from associating with his previous organization that talks about hundreds of billions of dollars from him I asked him a straightforward question will you commit to refraining he refused to answer so whether or not you found some nice little loophole this is ethics 101 it's a bad look for you it's a bad look for the program it's a bad look for the Secretary of Energy and it's a bad look for the Biden Administration thank you Mr chairman I come to the floor today to talk about the need for more American Energy look Joe Biden's policies they're destructive to our nation and that's because he continues to put liberal priorities first and America last so last week the Biden Administration agreed to ease oil sanctions on Nicholas maduro's brutal socialist regime in Venezuela let's be clear I want to be clear about what's going on here Venezuela gets to produce more oil President Biden's putting Venezuelan in oil production ahead of American oil production it's prioritizing Venezuelan energy workers over Wyoming and American Energy workers our energy workers at home are rightly asking when is Joe Biden going to ease the sanctions that he has put on American energy production because since day one American Oil American Natural Gas American coal producers have been in the president's crosshairs he refuses to change course even when gas prices skyrocketed well well Biden certainly has never encouraged more American production like he has around the world in Saudi Arabia Venezuela even Russia at one point instead Joe Biden has raided the Strategic petroleum reserve and he did it to deflect blame for high energy costs at the gas pump that was in the run up to the midterm elections so he used our energy stockpile Emer Mercy supply for his own political gain and it is disgraceful America's energy Reserve is now 45% lower than it was when Joe Biden entered office much lower than it was when he was vice president our emergency supply is actually at a 40-year low in terms of the energy Supply we need for emergencies so the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel there's more uncertainty in global oil production and our own stockpiles here at home are dangerously low and this could be the time when we need it the most so last week the administration came to the conclusion well maybe we ought to try to fill it up again so he's announced a purchase of 6 million barrels of oil to help replenish our emergency supply $6 million is a drop in the Six Million barrels is a drop in the bucket compared to the 290 million barrels that the president has already drained president Administration the plan is too little too late and it comes at too high of a price President Biden's offering 79 cents a barrel for these six million barrels of oil to help start to replenish the the the emergency reserve price of oil now is $90 a barrel so Joe Biden's going once again Again On Bended Knees to dictators begging them to produce more oil and sell it to the United States maybe he believes this begging will lower oil prices and increase his abysmal approval ratings but turning to dictators is not a way to govern and it's not a way to focus on America's national interests Joe Biden continues to turn his back on America's workers on American families and once again he's putting liberal politic itics first and American Energy workers and the American public last Maduro isn't Joe Biden's first date with a dictator oh no he's been coddling dictators and he's making it a habit tried to Plate V Vladimir Putin by choosing not to impose sanctions on Russia's nordstream 2 pipeline to Germany but the president got in return for his appeasement was more Russian aggression and Russia attacking Ukraine while the president was draining our strategic emergency oil reserves he was looking for ways that the ollah in Iran could sell more oil it's astonishing he foolishly refused to enforce maximum pressure sanctions against Iranian oil and this refusal allowed Iran to line its Pockets with 80 billion from selling oil exports wonder what they could have used that money for well let's look the president continues to kiss up to Iran he cut a deal to send $6 billion in sanctioned funds to Iran in return Iran was able to expand its support and financing of terrorist groups like Hamas today the world is witnessing the devastation and the violence inflicted by Iranian backed and funded terrorism hamas's unprovoked attack the against Israel killed thousands of civilians including children with at least 33 Americans dead more missing President Biden has not learned from his mistakes because he continues to repeat the mistakes over and over again this appeasement by Joe Biden will not work didn't work with Russia didn't work with Iran not going to work with Venezuela but President Biden refused to do what we knew will we know will work we'll work here at home and that's unleash American Energy the president's Administration has used every trick in the book to smother American production of oil gas and coal it's had an extreme negative impact on families all across America and on our nation's economy look before the covid pandemic the Energy Information Administration they forecasted that here in America we would produce about 14 million barrels every day this year 14 million barrels of oil a day through June of this year due to Joe Biden's attacks on American production production is running way way behind what was anticipated and what we need as a nation as a result we are turning to countries for the 1.4 million barrels a day that we need additionally we're way behind and it's not just energy this president continues to Outsource not just our supply of oil and gas but our mineral Supply critical minerals that we need here in the United States the Democrats Reckless tax and spending bill just accelerates that look last week I issued a report proving how the Democrats Reckless tax and spending Bill moves the United States away from energy Independence to energy and mineral dependence an energy transition to dependent on China Russia Iran Venezuela the tyrants and the terrorists there is not what our nation needs but what is Joe it's what Joe Biden has brought Upon Us yep it's what he caused America should never have to beg for energy for minerals from anybody let alone from dictators our energy policy should enrich American people the American economy should be strengthened by it instead Joe Biden's policies dictated by the liberal left are enriching our enemies America's energy policy must always put affordable reliable American Energy first we must put America first we must unleash American energy that is the solution to help build our economy build our country thank you madam president I yield the floor I've just just returned from the southern border and it's painfully clear that with Joe Biden's open border strategy we're at increased risk of terrorism just three days before I got there alert border agents seized a migrant with four explosive devices the size of cannonballs these are clearly tailor made for terrorism the night we were on midnight Patrol we encountered a couple of dozen of migrants from as far away as Maldova one man middle-aged said he was traveling as a family that's because families receive special treatment he was holding tightly onto a 10-year-old girl there was no mother there was no sign of affection and you know we used to do things like DNA testing to make sure that children weren't being exploited well Joe Biden canceled all the DNA testing so now you don't know who is coming into this country pretending to be families 8 million Elite legal immigrants have come into this country during Joe Biden's presidency last month another all-time high it's gotten so bad the Department of Homeland Security has issued an increased risk of terrorism in this country of those 8 million 2 million are goway people that run and hide so they're not captured even if only one of a thousand of them are terrorists that's still 2,000 terrorists in our midst remember 9/11 it only took a dozen terrorists to take down the World Trade Center and hit the Pentagon the border patrol knows what we need to do it's enforced the law it's bring back the remain in Mexico policy it's this ending of catching release and re and finish building the wall Joe Biden won't allow any of it any additional border funding has to be used to stop the flow not to make them come faster Republicans in the Senate and the house are committed to fighting for our homeland security even if our president is not well first I want to thank uh Senator Cruz and Senator Corin for always being so forward in welcoming us to their home state of Texas and for organizing opportunities for us to go and visit the southern border of the United States with Mexico we have just returned from our Southern border and it is painfully clear that with Joe Biden's open border policy our country is really at an increased threat for a terrorist attack a couple days before we got there alert border agents were able to sees immigrants carrying with them IEDs explosive devices really tailor made for terrorism they were the size of cannonballs we went on a midnight Patrol on Thursday night and encountered a group of migrants from as far away as Maldova the uh one man in his middle-aged man was there said he was traveling as a family that's because families receive special treatment uh he had a young girl with him maybe about the age of 10 said it was his daughter she um she looked scared there was no sign of affection and there was no mother you know we used to do DNA testing to make sure this really was a family now Joe Biden stopped that testing so now it's much easier to exploit children you've seen the statistics over 8 million border crossings illegal border crossings under Joe Biden last month another all-time high it's gotten so bad that the uh homeland security has raised the terror threat because so many people are coming in illegally and there are so many goway people that run and hide in an effort to not be detected two million of those look if only one out of every thousand of those was a terrorist you're still talking about thousands of people in this country illegally anywhere they could be and remember in terms of 911 it only took a dozen terrorists to take down the World Trade Center as well as hit the Pentagon the thing that's so interesting is the border patrol knows what they need to do to solve the problem it's to enforce the law it's to bring back the remain in me Meo policy and it's to finish the wall but Joe Biden won't let him do any of this in effort in the president's request for additional money I will say no money or any money that needs to be spent has to be spent to stop the flow of illegal immigrants not to allow them to come through even faster Republicans in the house and the Senate are committed to protecting the Homeland whether or not the president of the United States is willing to do it and what what we saw is the president is not now I'd like to turn to Senator Corin with with that I'm going to turn it over to my friend ranking member Senator bro for thanks so much Mr chairman thank you for holding today's very important hearing you know the abandoned mindand program plays a vital role in supporting the Reclamation of former coal minine sites in my home state of Wyoming and then of course across the country the program targets the most environmentally hazardous Coal Mine sites in our nation and communities depend on this program working efficiently to address threats to Public Safety coal producers in Wyoming are among the largest set of contributors to the abandoned mind Reclamation fund fiscal year 2022 Wyoming contributed $ 54.9 million to the fund this is nearly 60% of all the money received last year so Wyoming's oversized contributions have existed for decades this wasn't a one-time thing and since the beginning of the program only half of the funds that collected on coal production in Wyoming have actually made their way back to Reclamation activities in my home state most of the fees collected on coal production in Wyoming go to other states with Reclamation needs in other words Wyoming's coal production is essential to Reclamation activities all across America despite this fact the Biden Administration has worked tirelessly to kill coal production in Wyoming the Biden Administration has blocked new coal leases it has consistently moved the goalpost for lease modification requests it is slow walked permits this strategy will only make it more difficult to reclaim the sites that we all agree need to be cleaned up so instead of killing co-production chairman Manion and I have worked to put the abandoned mind land program on a sustainable path in 2021 Congress modernized the program by reducing the fees on coal producers and authorizing the reduced fee for 13 years we provided relief to Coal producers so that they can continue mining coal and funding the program because again without coal production there is no resource secure enough for funding for this program so thanks Mr chairman for working with me on this important legislation last Congress in recent years Congress has made additional changes to the abandoned mindand program we provide additional resources to address unfunded Reclamation needs that total more than 9 billion and we provided flexibility to states to determine how best to spend Reclamation dollars we recognize that State's Reclamation needs are not identical and that one size fits-all approach will not work since Congress took action the Biden Administration has imposed new hurdles on States implementing the abandoned M land program this is despite the fact that states have over 40 years of experience carrying out the program ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent properly is a principal responsibility of Congress and federal agencies this oversite however should not get in the way of achieving the objectives of the program the new requirements that the department of interior is placing on States is going to take their attention away from the important work of mine Reclamation for example the department is now requiring states to assess the economic impacts of a Reclamation project also requiring states to assess potential greenhouse gas emission reductions of a Reclamation project while these may be interesting data points they have nothing to do with the mission of the program the mission of the program is to reclaim abandoned Minds instead the department is going to force states to hire out experts and consultants and spend more time on unnecessary paperwork this is a complete waste of time and taxpayer dollars the abandoned mindand program is critical to the public safety and Environmental Quality of communities all across America the Biden Administration shouldn't twist it into another bureaucratic boondoggle in the name of climate change or so-called environmental justice the department needs to get out of the way and let States get busy reclaiming abandoned sites thank you Mr chairman Joe Biden has requested a hundred billion dollars in the name of National Security Joe Biden has failed the first test of National Security that's because National Security starts with border security and for Republicans our Line in the Sand is the real grand Republicans in the Senate have outlined Solutions effective border policy solutions that will actually stop the flow and the flow is a flood of illegal immigrants coming into this country I fully support this proposal and something like this needs to be included if there's actually going to be a deal without it there is no deal now Joe Biden has a different approach he wants to throw a lot of money at the problem completely ineffective what do the Democrats want to do the Democrats want to shovel money into Sanctuary cities New York and Chicago they want to do direct payments to illegal immigrants once they get into the country that does nothing to stop the flood of illegal immigrants and it does nothing to stop the terrorism threats that continue to increase in our country Republicans have continually gone to the southern border to talk to the border patrol I was there again last week they tell us Democrats never go to actually see what's happening at the border and never go to talk to the border patrol Democrat Senators so rarely go for any purpose but when they do go it's to make sure that there is comfort and quick release for illegal immigrants nothing to actually stop the flow criminals terrorists are flocking to our border from all around the world Smugglers bringing fentanyl into this country are responsible for a record number of American deaths Republican core proposals core measurement to stop the illegal immigrants coming across the country into this country have to be part of any national security Bill otherwise there will not be a national security Bill well this past weekend I attended a number of Veterans Day activities all across the state of Wyoming you know these are the Warriors Who provided for our freedoms and keep our nation safe and secure and in event after event after event I heard the same message from Wyoming veterans National Security starts with border security and and Joe Biden the Democrats seem to have missed this fundamental Truth by the time Joe Biden's four-year term is over at the White House over 10 million illegal immigrants from all across the world will have come to the United States how many of them are criminals how many are terrorists how many of them are trafficking young children how many of them are bringing opioids into the country that are killing Americans in record numbers Democrats no don't know the answer to that and they don't seem to care about the number as well Joe Biden and the Democrats refus to admit that we have an urgent crisis at the southern border they refuse to admit that the crisis and the weakness is brought upon by the fact that they have ignored or reversed rules and activities that have worked in the past to secure the Border Republicans have solutions to keep our nation safe it's finish the wall it's DNA testing to prevent terrorists and other from using children and exploiting them and it's returning to a wonderful program that has worked called remain in Mexico it's a program that has helped stem the flow of illegal immigrants Joe Biden the Democrats seem to welcome this flood this incredible wave after wave of illegal immigrants coming to this country and I will tell you that the brave veterans those who fought for our country deserve better than to having our president surrender our Southern border
