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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I begin, I want to take a moment to acknowledge what today is: 23 years ago, terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and 23 years since a heroic group of Americans prevented even greater tragedy by bringing down a fourth hijacked plane before it could crash into another target.

As on every September 11 since that black day, we remember the heroes who rose up--at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in that bare field near Shanksville, PA--and we mourn all those who were lost.

My prayers, as always, are with the families of all those who still grieve their fallen loved ones and with all those whose calling is to respond to danger and stand between us and terror. 2024 Elections

Mr. President, there has been a dizzying amount of change in the Democrat Party over the past couple of months. First, and obviously, there was the replacement of President Biden with Kamala Harris on the ticket. Democrat voters who had gone to the polls in the primaries and cast a vote for President Biden were informed that, in fact, the delegates they had chosen would be supporting Vice President Harris instead.

That was a big change but not the only one. There is also the new Democrat nominee's attempt to reinvent herself. It began 5 short years ago since Kamala Harris was running for President in the Democrat primary as a leftist. She endorsed, among other things, a ban on fracking, taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries for detained immigrants, decriminalizing drug possession, decriminalizing illegal border crossings, mandatory buybacks of certain guns--and I could go on.

Of course, none of that was a big surprise. After all, then-Senator Harris--a supporter of a government takeover of healthcare and the budget-busting Green New Deal--regularly made lists of most liberal Senators. But what is surprising is the apparent 180-degree flip she has made in the past--well, let's say, 7 weeks or so in this campaign.

She opposed a border wall; now she apparently supports one. She supported a ban on fracking; well, now she opposes one. She supported Medicare for All--the Federal takeover of healthcare--and now says she won't push for it if she is President. She supported mandatory gun buybacks; now she won't push for them. She supported an electric vehicle mandate; and now, apparently, she doesn't.

I could go on, on that list. It is amazing what a brief 7 weeks or so can do or perhaps I should say it is amazing what getting nominated for President can do. But it seems that despite her apparent move to the center, progressive voters should not be alarmed.

A far-left compatriot of the Vice President, the senior Senator from Vermont, whose Medicare for All government healthcare takeover she cosponsored, was asked on ``Meet the Press'' last weekend whether he thought Vice President Harris was abandoning her progressive ideals. ``No,'' he answered, ``I don't think she's abandoning her ideals. I think she's trying to be pragmatic in doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election.''

``I think she is trying to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election.''

Well, nothing like saying the quiet part out loud. I suspect he is right, and I suspect that one of the Senate's most liberal Senators could quickly become one of the Nation's most liberal Presidents.

I think it is fair to say we have gotten a taste over the last 4 years as to what government under Kamala Harris looks like, and so far it mostly looks like a historic inflation crisis, a raging border crisis, and uncertainty on the global stage.

When I say the past 4 years have looked like a historic inflation crisis and a raging border crisis, I do mean the past 4 years. Inflation started spiking within 2 months of President Biden and Vice President Harris taking office, thanks in large part to Democrats' American Rescue Plan's spending spree, a spending spree, I might add, for which Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote. And almost 4 years later, inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's target inflation rate. Americans are now paying a staggering $13,000 more a year just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed when President Biden and Vice President Harris took office--$13,000.

Vice President Harris recently said in her speech at the Democratic National Convention that her administration would work on lowering the cost of everyday needs like groceries. Well, why hasn't she tried that already? She is not an outsider coming into office. She has been in office for the past 4 years. If there was something she thought she could do to bring down prices, why hasn't she done it already?

And Democrats' nearly 4-year inflation crisis has been matched by the Biden-Harris border crisis. Border numbers started spiking almost immediately after President Biden and Vice President Harris took office after they sent the message on day one that border security was at the bottom of their priority list. The ensuing crisis has raged for almost the entirety of the Biden-Harris administration until fears of losing reelection prompted President Biden to at least take some too-little- too-late action this summer.

I could go on and talk about the Biden-Harris administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan or the deep uncertainty on the world stage that has characterized their tenure. I could also talk about the ways that they are putting us on track for an energy crisis, but I will stop here. Suffice it to say, after the past 4 years, no one has to wonder what Democrat governance would look like, and I hope our country and American families will be spared another 4 years of it.

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