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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I just heard the minority leader, the senior Senator from New York, Senator Schumer, on this floor talking about today's Consumer Price Index data. Stunningly, he points to President Trump as the reason for it.

Let me just correct the record. The price data that Senator Schumer is complaining about is from the final days of the Joe Biden administration. Those are the numbers that are out today from the final days of the Biden administration.

Certainly everyone in Wyoming and everyone in your home State of Oklahoma knows that under the Biden administration, the Democrats, prices of goods and groceries, gasoline--the things that we need in our everyday life--prices rose more than 20 percent under Joe Biden.

High prices are Joe Biden's parting gift and his lasting legacy. They are the party of open borders and high prices. That is why they lost the election.

So here we have the Senate minority leader--now in the minority. He used to be in the majority. The reason he is in the minority is because of the high prices brought on the people of this country as a result of that administration. The numbers out today are reflective of the final days of that administration.

Painfully high prices--they came from Democrats' reckless overspending. And their policies--we are from energy States--were anti- American-energy policies. Those are the things that Senate Democrats voted for repeatedly and stood behind and supported.

Republicans are focused on making life more affordable for families all across this country, hard-working families. We have a plan to unleash American energy, and that way, we can keep lowering prices for American families.

I can just never forget when Joe Biden said he wanted to prioritize climate over energy that was available, affordable, and reliable. It was a disaster for the country and resulted in the defeat of the Democrats. Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Today, Mr. President, I come to the floor also to talk about confirmation votes. The Senate will soon vote on the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to be the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

America needs to be healthy. I am a doctor. I have worked with patients for over 20 years, was a surgeon in Wyoming. The problem is, our Nation faces a chronic disease epidemic--chronic disease, including diabetes, cancer, obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Chronic diseases are so widespread that managing them accounts for almost 90 percent of the Federal healthcare spending in this country. We spend a lot of our gross national product on healthcare.

Nearly three in five American adults and one in four American children are impacted by this. Our healthcare system tries to address the problem. Yet, by incentivizing procedures over prevention and paying for that, well, it often fails to address what we need to do effectively as well as economically. As a result, Americans are actually becoming less healthy.

We need to put America on the path to good health. President Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to do just that, to make America healthy again. Mr. Kennedy will bring a fresh set of ideas and eyes to important debates surrounding our Nation's public health. He is going to be a voice for the vast number of Americans who were failed by the previous administration. The previous administration silenced reasoned debate.

I believe Mr. Kennedy is going to deliver accountability and transparency. For Americans, that means more choices and better information. It means healthy foods and healthy competition for patients. It means lower costs and higher quality. It means increased access to care. Access is so critical in my home State of Wyoming, with so many rural and frontier communities, people going long distances for healthcare. It also means honest, unbiased, and trustworthy scientific research that is both innovative as well as accountable to the American people. People want the truth. They want to know what the facts are. They want to make decisions for themselves.

This is Mr. Kennedy's bold vision to revitalize America's bill of health. He is very clear about his mission, has been throughout. The mission, as he told the Finance Committee, is ``to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again.''

Apparently, that is not enough for the Senate Democrats. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada was actually dismissive of him at the Senate Finance Committee. I heard her say to Mr. Kennedy:

So that's the only reason why you're are at HHS? To address this one issue.

This one issue--chronic disease epidemic that is plaguing our Nation--is the key issue to our healthcare. Respectfully, addressing chronic disease is what we ought to be talking about for healthcare for the people of our country.

Mr. Kennedy had to testify and did testify before two separate Senate committees as part of his confirmation. Most people being confirmed come to the Senate and only testify at one committee. He responded to rigorous questions from both Republicans and Democrats, and he answered those questions with candor and with clarity.

He told the Senate HELP Committee that his leadership approach was collaborative. He pledged to ``empower the scientists to do their jobs,'' not to impose, as he said, ``preordained opinions on anybody at HHS.''

He was also clear that he supports vaccines. He told the Finance Committee:

I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking . . . those vaccines.

The Senate has every reason to take him at his word.

Mr. Kennedy is a bold choice. He is pro-health, pro-vaccine, and pro- transparency. He is the right choice to make America healthy again. I look forward to voting to confirm him.

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