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Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in the aftermath of Western Kentucky's devastating tornado outbreak, I have maintained close contact with State and local officials. My staff has been on the ground since the outset of the crisis, helping residents access Federal resources and keeping me up-to-date with any developments. Toward the end of the week, I will travel back to Kentucky to meet with my constituents and visit the areas affected.

The stories coming out of Kentucky are harrowing. But in recent days, we also heard about the generosity, the hard work, and the hope that are helping our State recover.

Kentuckians desperately need help to rebuild, so our universities, normally bitter rivals on the court, are rallying together to raise money and gather supplies for relief efforts.

This Christmas is shaping up to be exceptionally difficult for children all across Western Kentucky, so churches are organizing toy drives to help make the holidays a little bit brighter. Western Kentucky community organizations are stretched to the limit, so businesses based in the Commonwealth, from distilleries to car manufacturers, to insurance companies, have stepped up and donated literally millions. Remarkable stories of survival and resiliency have trickled out of the disaster zone.

Last weekend's storm destroyed much of the First Christian Church in Mayfield, but the congregation discovered their communion table and altar cross fully intact while picking through the rubble. A symbol of hope and rebirth survived amid so much pain.

Across town, the Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation nursing home was physically devastated when it took a direct hit from the tornado on Friday night, but all 74 of the facility's elderly residents survived with only minor injuries. As one staff member said, this was ``truly a miracle.''

And in Bremen, KY, when a man visited the wreckage of his home on Saturday, he discovered his grand piano mostly undamaged--undamaged-- despite the storm. Amid the surrounding devastation, he sat down to play and to sing hymns. His songs, shared on social media, warmed the hearts of thousands.

These stories of hope have ricocheted across the Commonwealth, bringing smiles and strength to communities that need them most. And they give me faith that Kentucky will recover from this crisis stronger than ever. S. 1605

Now, Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, today, the Senate will pass this year's National Defense Authorization Act by a big bipartisan margin.

I have talked for weeks about the importance of this legislation, given the global threats and international challenges that face our country from China to Russia, to the fight against terrorists in the Middle East.

I will also be proud to vote for this bill because of the enormous impact it will have on my home State. The proud servicemembers based in Kentucky play an outsized role in our national defense. From deploying across the world to fighting COVID-19 here at home, they do amazing work to keep America safe.

In the past week, they have stepped up to provide critical support as Kentucky deals with the aftermath of our devastating tornadoes. Our Commonwealth's heroes and their families deserve our full support, and I am proud that this year's National Defense Authorization Act delivers for them.

Nearly $1 billion for the Assembled Chemical Weapon's Alternative Program that supports the chemical munitions destruction mission at the Blue Grass Army Depot; robust funding to deter Russia in Europe; the emission of Fort Knox's Fifth Corps Headquarters; continued investments in research and modernization that will guarantee our soldiers, including those at Fort Campbell, are prepared to counter emerging threats like China.

We have also built on our previous efforts to lift up Kentucky's military families. The bill provides additional funding for modern, high-quality childcare facilities, including $27 million for a new childcare development center at Fort Knox. It authorizes an across-the- board 2.7-percent pay raise for our troops.

This bill is critically important to the servicemembers who make immense sacrifices to keep our Nation safe. I am proud to support it and help cement the Commonwealth's role as America's most military- friendly State. Inflation

Mr. President, now one final matter, I described yesterday how inflation is hurting families all across our country. Since then, yet another key economic indicator has set an unfortunate record.

In the last year, wholesale prices grew at their fastest pace on record. Anyone with a shred of sense knows this is the absolute wrong time--wrong time--to unleash a multitrillion-dollar taxing-and-spending spree.

Every single day brings new evidence our Democratic colleagues should give the country a break. But the cost of Washington Democrats' latest obsession isn't the only problem. The context of what they want to pass is actually just as bad.

We have known since the start of the COVID pandemic that Democrats saw it as an opportunity to transform American society. They have actually been quite candid about that. And their reckless taxing-and- spending spree they are writing behind closed doors is a Trojan horse to let the radical left dictate intimate details to American families.

There is a long list of policies inspired by the authors of the Green New Deal. A whole slew of new programs and mandates are aimed at fitting the entire country's systems for producing and consuming energy into sort of a California-shaped box: special subsidies for expensive lifestyle choices like electric vehicles and electric bicycles; new redtape to strangle the most reliable and affordable sources of American energy; subsidies for supply chains that China dominates so that America borrows in order to ``Build Back Beijing''; and don't forget the so-called Civilian Climate Corps, just what we need at a time of inflation and labor shortages--a Potemkin make-work program for liberal activists.

Of course, Washington Democrats intend to grab greater control over the development of America's young people long before they are eligible for made-up green jobs. Their spree contains a massive ``toddler takeover'' that insults the diversity of American families and their aspirations. It only throws money at a subset of secular childcare centers that woke bureaucrats happen to favor.

Forget faith-based options, forget flexible part-time arrangements, forget being remotely fair to families with a parent at home, Democrats want to bring their inflation into childcare and make daycare more expensive, more inflexible, and more unfair.

And then there is the latest offensive in a long campaign to restrict more of American's healthcare choices. Democrats' plan would mean more one-size-fits-all programs, more government control, a wet blanket over the world-leading innovation pipeline that creates new cures, and a further gamble with seniors' Medicare when the trust fund is already in danger of insolvency.

Then there are the massive tax hikes our colleagues want to use to cover the bill--all those radical changes, all those Big Government intrusions into family life, compared with the crushing tax hikes that would hit our country like a ton of bricks.

There are new surcharges on individual taxpayers. There are tax hikes for passthrough businesses. There is a brandnew, radical scheme to make American industry less competitive that Senate Democrats scribbled down with no hearings or committee process.

President Biden promised he wouldn't raise taxes one penny on anyone making less than $400,000. But experts agree that Democrats' tax hikes would break that promise. People with far less income would be affected.

So for goodness' sake, in 2022, their bill would give a bigger percentage tax cut to people making more than $1 million every year than the families that pull in between $75,000 and $100,000. That is according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The average person who makes upward of $1 million gets a bigger tax break--a bigger tax break--from Democrats' bill than the average household that makes just under--just under--six figures.

In large part, that is because of an absurdly expensive tax giveaway that Democrats want to hand out to benefit high-income earners in blue States. Their SALT policy would make the Federal Government subsidize the property tax bills of people with mansions who choose to live in high-tax States.

It is an insane proposition, and it is struggling to even earn support from Democrats' rank and file. But their leaders from New York and California are obsessed with it, so go figure.

But SALT is only just the beginning of the gravy train this bill steers toward Democrats' pet projects and causes. There is also a tax code tweak that would create a special deduction for union dues, while letting one for charitable contributions actually expire. Another special incentive--to the tune of $10 billion--would help liberal colleges and universities indoctrinate students in new ``environmental justice'' programs, whatever that is. Still, others would pour $29 billion into funding a ``National Green Bank,'' $2.5 billion into increasing--listen to this--``tree equity,'' $1.67 billion to bail out news outlet, and an extra billion on top for ``improving climate resilience'' of Pacific salmon--an extra billion on top for ``improving climate resilience'' of Pacific salmon.

And then, of course, there are the extra special ways Democrats want to use this bill to fulfill more personal hometown priorities. Speaker Pelosi didn't end up getting to earmark millions of Federal dollars for redeveloping a park in her district. Ah, but she did secure one Congressman's vote by upping the funding for a defunct regional commission that largely benefits his district by 13,000 percent. That is old-school vote-buying, a slap in the face to taxpayers.

Our own colleague, the Democratic leader, has pledged to ``use all of [his] power'' to personally steer tens of billions of dollars toward a hometown New York City housing authority with a long and storied reputation of corruption, mismanagement, and scandal.

So it is hard to wrap your head around all this; that is, unless you subscribe to Washington Democrats' apparent core principle--core principle: When the American people are footing the bill, the menu is all-you-can-eat.

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