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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, last week I joined one-third of this Chamber in taking the oath of office so that we could start a new term of Congress and celebrate what it means to be able to say: This is our new start. We have got 2 years. Let's see what we are going to do with this Congress.

While taking that oath to support and to defend the Constitution and to defend our freedoms, I really felt and thought about what an honor it is to represent the people of the great State of Tennessee.

Over the last 6 years, I have fought vigorously to bring the voice of the people of Tennessee to this Chamber to make certain that their thoughts and their wishes and their values were brought forward and that we made the effort to defend faith, family, freedom, hope, and opportunity, not only for Tennesseans but for all Americans.

I will tell you, we were able to get so much done over the last 6 years. Much of it was done by working with colleagues across the aisle, by taking these great ideas from Tennessee, bringing them here, and saying: How do we distill this so that it becomes a policy that is going to positively impact and make better the lives of Tennesseans and all Americans?

In Tennessee, we have a lot of veterans, and there are two provisions that I was able to shepherd through and get signed into law. One is the VA Veteran Caregivers Act. And, of course, as our veterans have returned from wars, as caregivers from their families have stepped up to assist them, there were some--basically, some gaps that needed to be filled in. We did that.

We also passed legislation, Strengthening VA Cybersecurity Act. I was so pleased that that got signed into law to make certain that the identities and the healthcare information, the benefit information of our veterans, is going to be protected. In Tennessee, we have a big military presence. Fort Campbell primarily sits in Tennessee. We have the Naval station over in Millington, right outside of Memphis. We have Oak Ridge National Lab. The Air Force has the Arnold Engineering Development in Tullahoma.

And I was successful in pushing forward to end President Biden's COVID mandate--COVID vaccine mandate--on our military communities.

In addition to achieving that, every year, Mr. President, you and I have worked tirelessly together to make certain that our military assets--our National Guard, our Active Duty--were well covered in the NDAA.

There has also been a foreign policy issue, a couple of them, that I have paid attention to. One is strengthening our ties with Israel and standing with our allies like Taiwan and assisting them as we stand up to what I call the ``axis of evil''--Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

One of the bipartisan measures that I brought forward after China took control of Hong Kong was to make certain that we supported internet freedom and that we blocked the export of crowd-control equipment to China and China-controlled Hong Kong and barred the FAA from buying drones from the U.S. adversaries. These provisions became law, and they strengthened our national security.

We also fought to end the modern-day slavery of human trafficking, especially with my bipartisan REPORT Act and the Project Safe Childhood Act. Both of those were signed into law last year; and standing up for women with the Speak Out Act--Senator Gillibrand and I worked diligently on that--and the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. And also, Senator Baldwin and I just got across the finish line the Women's Suffrage National Monument Location Act. I will tell you, so many people were absolutely shocked to find out that there has never been a monument in this city that recognized women's suffrage.

We have also worked to confirm judges to the Federal bench, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Of course, we all know that that led to the overturning of the Roe decision and the Chevron decision--two decisions that will impact our Nation.

We worked with the first Trump administration to protect life and to bar Federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood.

And, Mr. President, you and I have put endless hours into making certain that we secured relief for communities in Tennessee and across the southeast that have been adversely impacted by Hurricane Helene. There is so much more that we have done.

But we have turned the page now, and we are looking at how do we use these 2 years, this 119th Congress that is in front of us.

We know that the American people have spoken. At the very top of their list is securing that southern border--getting that border under control, ending illegal entry into this country. The American people know, you cannot have--you will never have--national security without a secure border.

Every law enforcement officer I talk with in Tennessee says we can't get our arms around gangs, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and crime in our communities until that southern border is secured. So legislation that I am working diligently on to get passed is my CLEAR Act, which many of our colleagues in this Chamber have heard me talk about for years. Basically, this codifies the 287(g) Program. It would ensure that our State and local law enforcement officials can apprehend and detain criminal illegal aliens and make certain that ICE deports them and that ICE reimburses that local law enforcement agency.

With all the harm that has been caused by sanctuary cities, this legislation would end Federal funds going into those entities. It should be a top priority of this Congress.

We also need to lower costs and make life more affordable. We all know about the economy, taxes, inflation, affordability--another of the top issues for the American people. And they want us to hold this government accountable for what they have done to push inflation forward.

It means that we need to make permanent the 2017 Trump tax cuts. That created the strongest economy in decades, and it truly spurred new investment in Tennessee and across the country.

It also means slashing this out-of-control spending and making certain that we rein in this lawless bureaucracy that makes life worse for so many Tennesseans and Americans.

President Trump is tackling this problem. He is doing it with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

With my DOGE Acts, Congress can play a crucial role in ensuring their reforms last beyond the Trump administration.

You know, the American people want us to change how the Federal Government does business, get the spending under control, and get rid of the bloat that is in the Federal Government.

I think we should concentrate on this to the point that we ``DOGE'' every single Federal Agency and turn ``DOGE'' into a verb, a term of action.

Another goal at the top of the agenda--and this is a goal that Senator Blumenthal and I share. We have now worked 4 years on holding Big Tech accountable with the Kids Online Safety Act and ensuring that parents have the tools they need to protect their children in the virtual space.

This is just a sample of all the work that is in front of us. But the list of things we can do to empower American workers and taxpayers and businesses and families and farmers goes on and on.

I am looking forward to a new administration as we aggressively tackle these issues: expanding access to quality healthcare, especially for our vets and especially in rural America; defending female athletes in women sports from the radical left's agenda and celebrating the accomplishment of female athletes. We should pass my American Girls in Sports Day on October 10 of each and every year and celebrate our female athletes; we should end the surge of violent crime in cities across this country; and when it comes to supporting Tennessee's creative community with the American Music Tourism Act, the No FAKES Act, which is AI protections, and the HITS Act for our recording artists. Each and every one of these have a place on our agenda for the 119th Congress.

Before we can do any of this, we need to make certain that we confirm each of President Trump's nominees, make certain that he has his team in place, and that his Cabinet is in place so that they can carry out the mandate that was sent by the American people, which is: No more business as usual; secure the border; make certain that we get the cost of living down, we get inflation down; expand and extend those tax cuts; and be certain that, once again, our allies know they are an ally and our enemies fear us on the global stage.

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