The Green New Deal

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday, my Democratic colleagues in this body offered the American people a crystal-clear picture of what the Democratic Party stands for in 2019 and whom it represents. Nearly all of our Democratic colleagues wrapped their arms around the radical policy they have marketed to the public as the Green New Deal.

I am sure we will be hearing carefully crafted spin about the transparent political maneuvering behind voting present instead of voting yes. Not exactly ``Profiles in Courage.'' Not exactly ``Profiles in Courage.''

I am also certain that we will hear more indignant claims that I somehow sabotaged the legislation they said they support by actually bringing it to a vote. That is a fascinating sight in the Senate--the cosponsors of a policy complaining bitterly that they actually had to go on record to actually vote for a bill they supposedly support, but go on record they did. They can call it voting present. They can call it voting yes. But when every single Senate Democrat running for President has signed on as a cosponsor, when all of the energy and momentum in the Democratic Party is behind this, when just a tiny handful of Democratic Senators could bring themselves to vote against it on the floor, what we have is a Democratic Party that is fixated on satisfying the far left, even at the cost of crushing--crushing-- working-class and middle-class American life as we know it.

Yesterday, the vast majority of Senate Democrats could not dismiss something as crazy as ending the production of American oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy within a decade. They couldn't vote against that.

Senate Democrats could not dismiss something as absolutely ludicrous as a federally mandated overhaul of every building in America to meet the greenness--greenness--standards of Washington bureaucrats.

Senate Democrats could not reject a plan to take more control over where Americans choose to live, how they choose to get around, and how they earn a living.

Senate Democrats could not even reject a plan that, according to rough estimates, could raise families' utility bills by hundreds of dollars a month and cost the U.S. Government more than the entire 2017 GDP of the whole world. They couldn't vote against that.

American manufacturing, American agriculture, industries, jobs, houses, farms, buildings, and cars that make up daily life for millions of working Americans--Democrats want Washington, DC, to declare war on all of that because it doesn't comply with the latest fashions in Brooklyn or San Francisco. They want to march the entire country toward extreme environmentalist goals that even President Obama's former Secretary of Energy has dismissed as impossible. That is what the Democratic Party of 2019 apparently has become.

Remember, their last Presidential nominee bragged, after her loss, that at least she had won all the places in America that are ``optimistic, diverse, dynamic, [and] moving forward.'' We can fill in the blanks and see how they view all the other places that millions of Americans call home, those places that just aren't enlightened enough to vote for Democrats, places where farm jobs and factory jobs really matter, places where expensive high-speed rail and electric cars and trucks simply will not get the job done, places where soaring electric bills represent a kitchen-table crisis and not just a minor inconvenience, and places that are actually home to the workers who would be, as the resolution breezily puts it, ``affected by the transition''--in other words, jobs shipped overseas and workers out in the cold. In Democrats' eyes, all of us in these places are just backward and out-of-date. People who live in those areas are just backward and out-of-date. Our lives need to be transformed by Washington, DC, bureaucrats, whether we like it or not.

The disruption isn't limited to just environmental and energy issues; there are so many more things Washington Democrats want to get their hands around.

Democrats are pushing Medicare for None, a scheme that would make it unlawful to provide the private health insurance policies that American families rely on and force everyone into a brandnew government scheme designed, of course, right here in Washington. It is ironic that this approach would mean long waiting lists for people with preexisting conditions and cause over 180 million Americans to lose the coverage they choose and rely on. Republicans are dedicated to protecting Americans with preexisting conditions. Republicans are the ones fighting for American families as they try to navigate the unaffordable wreckage of ObamaCare.

The story is the same on every issue: Democrats aren't interested in security and stability for American families; they are interested in Washington redesigning middle-class Americans' lives from scratch so they can conform better to leftwing dreams.

Forty-plus--forty-plus--of our Democratic colleagues, including all of their Presidential candidates, could not even bring themselves to vote against the obviously absurd socialist wish list we considered yesterday. This is what the modern Democratic Party wants to be. These are their plans for the country. At least the American people are certainly offered a very, very clear contrast.

Disaster Funding

Madam President, on an entirely different matter, in recent months, natural disasters have occupied an outsized share of headlines across our country. We have seen counties in Alabama and Georgia bear the blows of a vicious tornado, and we support the loved ones of those 23 people whose lives it claimed. We have seen a spate of powerful hurricanes tear across the shores of Florida and the Carolinas, leaving tens of billions of dollars in damage behind. Flooding has repeatedly caused damage in my home State of Kentucky, and, of course, it is currently at major disaster levels in communities across the Midwest.

In some places, the process of rebuilding has already dragged on for months. Families have faced the daily struggle of getting things back to normal.

Others are still literally--literally--underwater. Residents are wading through the wreckage of homes and businesses. Normal seems a long way away.

From the gulf coast to the heartland, there are Americans calling for our help. Here in Congress we must have their back. We must take swift and comprehensive action. I am pleased to say, a number of our colleagues have crafted legislation that would allow us to answer these calls for help from our people.

The supplemental funding measure advanced by the Senate yesterday would deliver over $13 billion to help American communities recover and rebuild following recent natural disasters. It would mean more help for victims of tornadoes in our Southern States, victims of hurricanes from North Carolina to Puerto Rico, and the families in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas, who are still, as we speak, waiting for the waters of a truly catastrophic flood to recede. The legislation before us would equip the Department of Defense to conduct urgent repairs to bases and installations damaged by storms. It would help America's farmers and ranchers cover storm-related losses, and it would help get local schools, healthcare facilities, and major infrastructure back on track more quickly.

I am proud of the work put in by many Members to prepare this latest package so swiftly and thoroughly on behalf of our communities in need. We owe thanks to the leadership of Chairman Shelby, along with the efforts of Senator Perdue, Senator Isakson, Senator Scott, Senator Rubio, and others who made this effort possible. Thanks to them, the Senate can take action soon on a comprehensive measure to support our fellow citizens.

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Mr. McCONNELL. As I mentioned yesterday, when a similar unanimous consent proposal was propounded, I have consistently supported the proposition that the special counsel should be allowed to complete his work without interference, and I have consistently supported the proposition that his report ought to be released, to the greatest extent possible, consistent with the law and with the need to protect sources and methods and the need to preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations, including investigations the special counsel has referred to others.

The Attorney General has committed to as much transparency as possible in the release of the report, and he is working with the special counsel toward that end. I think we should be consistent in letting the special counsel actually finish his work and not just when we think it may be politically advantageous to one side or the other for him to do so.

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