Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Environmental Protection Agency Relating to ``Emissions Budget and Allowance Allocations for Indiana Under the Revised Cross-State Air Pollution

Floor Speech

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The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks). The Senator from Delaware. Maiden Speech

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER. Mr. President, as America confronts a period of darkness, still I rise, full of bright hope. Why bright hope? ``Bright Hope'' was the name of the church that my grandmother attended for 70 years in Philadelphia. But, for me, it is more than just a name. It is a call to action. It is a feeling. It is what drove me to run for the U.S. Senate and what keeps me going in my darkest of times.

So once again, I rise with bright hope and tremendous humility to deliver my maiden speech as Delaware's 58th U.S. Senator. My presence here would not have been possible without my God, my family, and the people of the great State of Delaware who have put their trust in me.

The word ``trust'' is important here because this is not a time when Americans are eager to trust their elected officials. Partisan tensions are so high right now that we can barely talk to each other, let alone work together.

So the question is this:

Are we to be one people, bound together by common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor? Or will we become a divided nation?

As much as I would like to take credit, those are not my words. They are the words of the late great Barbara Jordan, the Congresswoman from Texas, the conscience of her Congress, who, in the midst of our Nation's bicentennial in 1976, spoke about the ``collective spirit of our nation,'' about the deeply troubling reality that people did not trust their government. And she offered a path forward, saying:

For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.

We must address and master the future together. It can be done if we restore the belief that we share a sense of national community.

We are now 50 years removed from the bicentennial, and our present is rhyming with our past--wars built on false pretense, painful economic downturns, incomplete recoveries that leave many behind, and Presidents who abuse their power. The problems persist.

So how do we, before our tricentennial in 2076, build what Barbara Jordan called our common spirit? How do we restore the belief that a more perfect union is even possible? How do we rekindle bright hope for America? These are big questions, but they are not confined to the Halls of Congress. Go into any coffee shop, a sports game, or a family home, and Americans are saying the same thing and asking the same questions. I saw it firsthand in the grocery store about 10 years ago when a dad with three kids in front of me in line put back a bunch of grapes because they were too expensive. It shook me to the core.

You see, the year before that, my husband Charles, the love of my life, played a game of basketball before his business meetings, ruptured his Achilles tendon, and blood clots went to his heart and lungs. At the age of 52, the love of my life died, and I was consumed with grief. But seeing that dad woke me up from my own pain. I would be OK.

At that moment, I decided I had nothing to lose and everything to give. Having never run for anything in my life, I decided to run for Congress. I spread a huge piece of white paper on my living room wall, and I started to write. I asked: Why me? Why now? What for?

And the answers appeared--three words that have driven me forward, three words that have given me bright hope: purpose, peace, and planet. It was clear that if we can help Americans live their purpose, provide peace, and protect our planet, I believe we will be able to rebuild the trust we have lost.

It begins with purpose. I am a big believer that a good-paying job or starting a business can help us find purpose and that the dignity of work is essential to what it means to be an American.

I have often said that if I had another middle name, it would be Lisa Blunt ``Jobs'' Rochester. For me, I got my first job at the age of 14, and I flipped burgers, worked retail. I was a CEO. I even served as Delaware's secretary of labor. As a matter of fact, in Delaware, a union leader said to me: You can't spell ``labor'' without ``L-B-R.''

I know jobs. I love jobs. And I can tell you, we need a new and different approach to jobs in this country, especially as we look to the future of work in the age of artificial intelligence. With reports that AI is poised to push unemployment rates upwards of 20 percent in the next 5 years, we need big, bold solutions now.

Fortunately for us, America has a track record of taking on historic challenges and transforming them into opportunities for success. When the Soviet Union started the space race in the 1950s, we pushed American innovation to new heights. The groundbreaking research from that era still impacts us today--GPS systems, weather satellites, the COVID-19 vaccine, even the internet.

We need to harness the innovative spirit that landed us on the Moon and apply it to our economy. We must mobilize our Nation's leading labor experts, supply chain strategists, and economic innovators and pursue the future instead of waiting for it to come to us.

From workforce development and apprenticeship opportunities to emerging technologies, our common goal must be for everyone to succeed and find purpose in a rapidly changing economy. Access to economic opportunity is a good start.

But many families derive their sense of purpose from where they live, the communities they belong to, the place they call home.

Growing up, my family lived with my grandparents--my mom's mom, my dad's mom. We lived in apartments. We lived in public housing for a short time. But I will never forget the exhilaration I felt on the day we moved into our own home, a place that was truly ours.

But for millions of Americans, that feeling is out of reach. Instead, home ownership feels impossible. And the rent in America is too doggone high. Yet, for too long, the Federal Government has been missing in action. Our Nation's zoning frameworks date back to the 1920s--100 years ago. Times have changed, and it is time we get back in the game.

That is why, a week ago, I was proud to unveil my very first policy agenda as a Senator, ``The New Way Home''--a blueprint that will touch every corner of the housing crisis. Together, we can expand housing supply, build stronger communities, make housing more attainable, unlock innovative housing models, and invest in smart tax policy. Together, we can chart a path to a new way home and help Americans find purpose, even peace, in the stability that comes with a roof over your head.

Peace--that is something we all need right now, isn't it?

I studied international relations in college, and I have lived and traveled and worked in over 30 countries. My son was even born abroad. I fundamentally believe that we need peace at a global level.

But today, I want to talk about the need for peace at a more personal level--the peace that comes with knowing our purpose and having a steady job and a place to call home and the peace that comes when we can take care of our families.

Not every family looks the same, but we all want the same things: quality healthcare, affordable childcare, and the comfort of knowing that Social Security and Medicare will be there for us too.

Last summer, I sat at a kitchen table with a mother of young children, one with disabilities. She was taking care of her aging father as well--a role that she inherited from her mother because her mother passed away from all the stress. And I will never forget the look of frustration in her eyes. She was drained physically, mentally, and emotionally from all the administrative hoops and barriers and things she had to jump through and financially from all the bills she had to pay. She was barely holding on.

How are we supposed to rebuild trust in our government, rekindle bright hope in our democracy, when families are struggling to care for their aging loved ones and their children at the same time? We have failed the sandwich generation, their children, and their parents as well.

We now have a patchwork of solutions in States, but we are not working together as a nation. We have an opportunity to provide peace of mind and create jobs by investing in childcare and healthcare, but that is only half the battle. We must also focus on those caring for aging parents by addressing the urgent shortages in home care and nursing workforces.

It is also time to revolutionize Medicare, to truly uplift Americans living in their twilight years, because we all deserve peace of mind, of knowing that we can retire with dignity.

Ultimately, the solutions are clear. By simplifying access to care and making it more affordable, we give families the tools they need to strive while strengthening our economy, and we have the power to give our families peace of mind.

But none of this will be possible without a planet. Who doesn't want clean drinking water and clean air? How is this controversial? Yet there are many communities in America where unsafe water, dirty air, and playgrounds built on brownfields are still a reality.

In 2022, I was able to work with the Ellendale community in their decades-long fight for clean drinking water. It is still one of the proudest moments of my career thus far. But for many across this country, there are Ellendales everywhere, many communities that still need champions in this Chamber, especially as we confront the threats of climate change.

Let me be clear. As the junior Senator from the lowest lying State in the Nation, from our farms and our beaches to our environmental justice communities, in Delaware, we know climate change is real. Now is not the time to pull back from our oversight of Agencies like the EPA and FEMA; now is the time to lean in. With rising insurance rates pricing people out of their homes and recordbreaking disaster seasons draining State and local budgets, the health and wealth of our Nation depends on our collective action to preserve and protect our environment.

Purpose, peace, planet--this is how we can earn the trust that has been lost, how we can rekindle bright hope in our democracy, because when people have a good job, a roof over their head, the ability to care for their family, and a healthy planet to call home, they will know they have a government that works for them.

It is on all of us, the people that serve in this Chamber, to meet this moment. And if we are successful, 50 years from now, as we celebrate our tricentennial, Americans will not need to read a speech from 2025 and say these are the challenges of our time, too. They will, instead, be able to freely write the next chapter of the American story.

Mr. President, I will end where I began--with bright hope. I often said: Bright hope shines brightest in the darkness. Right now, a lot of people are asking me how I still have bright hope in the moment that we are in.

Well, let me tell you, I have bright hope because God mended my broken heart after the death of my husband and blessed me with the opportunity to serve my State and my country. I have bright hope because I stand here as a descendent of the enslaved men and women who built this place. I have bright hope because I prayed in the Gallery on January 6, and I am here, alive, standing firm for democracy and love. I have bright hope because in the words of the renowned poet Langston Hughes:

I, too, sing America.

Thank you, Mr. President.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

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