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Floor Speech

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Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of my joining the U.S. Senate. I wanted to take the opportunity to join this body because I believe America's best days lie ahead of us and that we needn't look any further than in States like mine to find the solutions to our Nation's problems.

I often say that Nebraska is what America is supposed to be. When I was Governor of the State of Nebraska, we spent 8 years delivering on excellence and making government work for the people. We proved that government can work together and put taxpayers first. And we did it while respecting individual freedoms and limiting our spending, running government well, and keeping people safe.

Those are the things I am working on in the U.S. Senate. This year, my team and I got to work for the people of Nebraska by fighting against the Biden administration's overspending and overregulation. It is driving inflation, and it is costing Americans money. Since Joe Biden has been sworn in as President, inflation broadly is up by 17.2 percent. Groceries are up 20 percent. Rent is up 19 percent. Electricity is up 24 percent. Gas is up 34 percent. And your average American home is spending $11,434 more today to have the same standard of living as they did when Joe Biden was sworn in as President. Americans are hurt by Joe Biden's policies.

We made government work better in Nebraska, and I pledge to do the same thing here in DC. My proven solutions for Nebraska work here in DC, and they are small steps to make things better here in Washington and to put taxpayers first.

My SNAP Next Step Act, which I introduced here, will help our families on SNAP get better jobs and get out of welfare.

We have introduced bills to provide tax relief to our veterans and to our seniors, and we are fighting to allow consumers choice. For example, with my Flex Fuel Fairness Act, it would push back against the Biden administration's EV mandate and provide consumers choice with biofuels that we know will save them money at the pump, help clean up our environment, and help make us less energy dependent.

I am also going to keep fighting to help keep Americans safe. Joe Biden's failed border policies have made every State a border State.

Over the weekend, News Channel Nebraska reported on a man from Mexico who was sentenced to prison in Bellevue, NE, after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

This 43-year-old man was in the country illegally. He was arrested in a motel room with nearly $15,000 in cash, and 11\1/2\ pounds of methamphetamine. It turned out he had been previously deported for drug charges. And if drug trafficking doesn't scare you, the national security threat should.

In years past, we would have single-digit numbers of people crossing our southern border on the Terrorist Watchlist. Last year, 169 crossed our southern border on the Terrorist Watchlist. Over 8.8 million encounters along our southern border since Joe Biden has become President.

That number of encounters with individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist that used to be in single digits pales in comparison with the number of people coming here illegally. And that is why I am working with my colleagues to pass legislation that would attack Biden's failed border policies head-on. We are working to fix our broken asylum system, to build a wall, and to go after the drug cartels.

We are fighting to reform the parole system the administration is abusing. If you look back on the average number of people who were paroled in this country during the Obama and Trump administrations, it was about 5,600 people a year. Last year, Joe Biden paroled into this country 1.2 million people trying to come here illegally. Folks, that is about two-thirds of the population of the State of Nebraska.

We have also got to stop the human trafficking that is going on at the southern border. Children are being recycled. They are being brought across the border by adults who know it is easier to get in if they have a child with them. Yet the Biden administration stopped the DNA testing that would prove that these children belong to the parents, and Customs and Border Protection personnel tell me that sometimes 30 to 50 percent of the kids they used to test did not belong to those adults. And inexplicably, the Biden administration has stopped that, putting these kids at risk.

And President Biden's appeasement-first foreign policy has left us weakened and in a dangerous world.

Our disastrous pullout from Afghanistan emboldened dangerous dictators like Putin in Russia, Xi in China, and Khomeini in Iran. Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, and yet this administration has given them over $50 billion in sanctions.

As a result, Houthi rebels sponsored by Iran, funded by Iran, are shooting at our ships in the Red Sea, including our U.S. Navy. Hamas, also backed by Iran, has attacked one of our greatest allies: Israel. Biden's weakness encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine, and the Chinese Communist Party has increased their aggression toward Taiwan. All of this must stop. This world is less safe because of Joe Biden's policy.

I will continue to push back on Washington's overregulation and overspending to introduce measures to make government work well and to keep people safe. I think we have to ask ourselves: Are we better off today versus 3 years ago? And the answer is no.

I will continue to push back on this Biden administration and the way they have driven inflation to bring our proven Nebraska solutions to Washington, DC, and to fight to keep Americans safe both here and abroad.

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