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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I think we all enjoyed being in our States during August. And during the time I was there, I wrapped up what I do each year, which is to visit with each of our 95 counties. And this is truly a listening tour for me, being able to talk with our citizens, to talk with our elected leaders. And I would leave those meetings so encouraged and think, I could not be more impressed with the things that are being done in these communities.

I would go to the next community and again would be just as impressed. Tennesseans are working hard. And this year has been a difficult year for everyone. But I want to focus on our local leaders today because they are the ones who are keeping these communities afloat. And they have done it in spite of everything that Washington, DC, and the Democrats are doing to them.

I thought it was interesting that yesterday the majority leader opened the Senate by reciting a laundry list of the Democratic Party's accomplishments. Now, he put quite a spin on this.

Back home in Tennessee, the people that I work with every single day are seeing this laundry list for what it is and how it affects them. There is hundreds of billions of dollars for the Green New Deal giveaways, and there are Big Government power grabs; there is crippling regulatory overreach; billions more have been spent on this student loan forgiveness program. Indeed, it could end up being a trillion dollars. And there are attacks on our fundamental constitutional rights.

Yes, indeed, the way Tennesseans see it is that Joe Biden and the Democrats are putting together the pieces for what they call their transformation, their great socialist experiment. But in Tennessee, local leaders are really working around the clock to keep that vision from coming to be and to keep their communities from falling apart.

And as I visited with these 95 counties, they gave to me one message that came through time and again, repeatedly. They don't like what they are seeing from this socialist agenda that is being pushed forward here in DC. Indeed, they would talk about their worries and their fears. They would talk about the impact of 9 percent inflation and $5-a-gallon gas.

Now, that may be Chuck Schumer's version of success, which he really helpfully laid out yesterday as to what he thinks are successes and achievements, and that depends entirely upon his ability to spend somebody else's money on things that the American people have repeatedly said they do not want and they do not need. That message came through every one of our 95 counties.

Now, in Tennessee, when we talk about success, you hear about something different. You hear about growth. You hear about investments that companies are making in our State. And we have earned this the hard way. And, indeed, the rest of the country is noticing. Tennessee is one of the most well-managed States. It has no State income tax. And you have got Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation that have seen the potential in our State, specifically in Haywood County. And they have invested billions of dollars.

When I was in West Tennessee last month, I visited their Blue Oval City project site where, in just a few years, they will have a brandnew manufacturing hub that will create thousands of jobs and grow the local economy by millions and millions of dollars.

The people at Lone Oaks Farms in Hardeman County are working to make certain that there is a great workforce. And they are developing STEM education programs. When I visited them, they were hard at work planning for the new 4-H Development Center, where students will learn how to be good stewards of Tennessee's natural resources.

Across the State in Blount County, I was so happy to officially welcome Smith & Wesson to Tennessee. Now, see, they have moved their headquarters and their manufacturing facility down from their old home in Massachusetts. And they are certainly pleased with the Southern hospitality and the good business working environment that they are seeing in Tennessee.

The largest Buc-ee's in the Nation is coming to Kodak, TN. Also, over on the east end of the State, the Techstars Accelerator Program is thriving in Knoxville. Red Stag set up a new logistics hub in Sweetwater. And we have a brandnew emergency clinic in the Upper Cumberland.

This is the sort of laundry list that I would hope and wish that my Democratic colleagues would be proud of. From one end of the State to the other, Tennessee is drawing investment, no thanks to this White House, to President Biden, and the Democrats that run the House and the Senate. It is our local leaders that are doing the heavy lift, in spite of what Washington, DC, is throwing at them every day.

But with that said, these local leaders deserve the respect and support from the Democratic Party. Even a bare minimum promise to not sabotage their hard work would be welcomed by them. But across all 95 counties, the message I received, as I said, was pretty much the same: They are worried. They are very worried. They are fearful. But they are not letting themselves get caught up in what the Democrats are doing.

Yes, they know the Democrats have a socialist-style agenda that they are pushing. That is the Democrats' vision for the future. In Tennessee, our counties are not going to let the Democrats destroy their hope for a better future.

They know that since the day the Democrats took power, Joe Biden and the Democrats have done everything they could do to seize control and remake a vision for this country into their image, where the elites, the select few--the Democrats--control the power on all the levers, and they can dictate to the States how they are going to live, what they are going to accomplish, what they are going to do.

Tennesseans are suffering the consequences of these policies in the form of record-breaking inflation, obscene fuel and energy costs, rising crime and drug use, and the overall sense that they have been abandoned by the Federal Government. That is how they see it.

The overwhelming issue right now is inflation, inflation, inflation. It is the top concern in all 95 counties. It affects every county budget, and it affects small business.

In Fayette County, I got to speak to Joey Hays of Dyer Foods and some of the truly resilient workers at one of his local grocery stores. We should all be grateful for people like the workers at Dyer Foods. They didn't have it easy during the pandemic, and it hasn't gotten any easier now than it was during the pandemic because more of their paychecks are being eaten up by inflation. Interesting, isn't it? Inflation is outpacing any wage growth.

Many Tennessee counties that have managed to pull themselves out of distress status lost all traction when inflation skyrocketed. And now, guess what? They feel like they are back at square one because of decisions that had been made in Washington, DC. No fault of their own, mind you, decisions that are made here.

Dayton City Manager Tommy Solomon told me he saw the price of pipe go up 200 percent. They had to stop some of their water projects because they couldn't afford to buy the supplies. That is right. The pipe was up 200 percent.

Hamilton County Mayor Coppinger told me the worker shortage has made the inflation-driven problems even worse. They have raised salaries, and they still can't fill critical roles, especially in public health.

In Rhea, Bledsoe, McMinn, Marion, and Grundy Counties, inflation and supply chain issues are wiping out farmers. Most small farms in these counties only planted about half their normal crop due to fuel and fertilizer prices. Their businesses--these small businesses--are drying up.

Many other businesses, including large manufacturers, are being stonewalled by regulators from the EPA with no explanation as to why they are making the decisions that they make.

Do you know what? Unfortunately for small business manufacturers, there is no end in sight to what these regulators in this administration will do.

Meanwhile, while all of this is happening, the border is open by order of the White House. The drug mules are streaming in, and drug use is spiking. Every single sheriff--every one of them--that I spoke to in Southeast Tennessee, told me that fentanyl is their No. 1 issue, and I can tell you that it is an issue in other areas of the State as well.

In Grundy County, Sheriff Shrum told me about what happened to one of his deputies who accidentally came into contact with a dangerous amount of fentanyl. He started the day trying to save a life, but by the end of that day, it was his colleagues from the sheriff's department who were saving his life and giving him a dose of Narcan.

This is what our first responders and our local law enforcement are facing because Joe Biden and the Democrats and this DHS are refusing to secure the southern border. Two million plus and counting, about three quarters of a million known got-aways, but they will stand up there and tell you: Oh, the border is closed.

Law enforcement in our State does not believe that, and I don't either. This is a shame.

Crime is on the rise, but rather than supporting police officers, Joe Biden and the Democrats are obsessed with undermining, defunding, and disbanding police departments.

In Tipton County, I was truly blessed to meet Deputy Gene Molder and his family. Deputy Molder was shot in the line of duty last March while he was trying to help a group of people escape a violent hostage situation. Thank God, he is all right now, but people are outraged at the leftist rhetoric that is clearly designed to increase violence against law enforcement.

Tennesseans aren't asking for much. They don't want a Federal Government to make their decisions for them. They don't want a handout. They don't want centralized control. Honestly, they wish that they could just be left alone when it comes to Washington, DC, and what they are doling out. They want you, the Federal Government, to get out of the way so that they can fulfill their vision for the future-- prosperous, safe, secure.

This President's socialist agenda won't help them do that because prosperity, freedom, independence, liberty, equal treatment under the law, equal justice for all is not what is at the top of their to-do list. It won't help Hamilton County hire workers or the Dayton Public Works Department buy pipe. It certainly won't help farmers in Rhea County grow the food you eat, and it won't help police officers keep their communities safe and secure.

These local leaders in the great state of Tennessee know better than anyone here in Washington what they need us to do in order to help them get things done, and that message came through clear as a bell in 95 counties. What did they tell me--that message I heard all across 95 counties? Please secure the border and support law enforcement, repair and secure our supply chains, keep taxes low, and develop a business- friendly attitude, and, above all else, stop the out-of-control Federal spending.

I know this administration has made a name for itself telling people what they can and cannot do. But I will tell you that this is a power struggle that you are not going to win, at least where Tennesseans are concerned.

The Democrats have an agenda, but in Tennessee I have met with some of the most wonderful people in this country. They have a vision for what they want the future to be. They want it to be focused on hope, on opportunity for all, and I want to thank every single Tennessee leader, law enforcement officer, business owner, and citizens who gave me their time, who talked with me and who offered their advice this past year. Their wisdom is what guides my decisions here in Washington. I only wish that my Democratic colleagues would take their words to heart as well.

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