-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today having just heard the minority leader talk about the fact that the Democrats have now filed five new War Powers Acts. Let's talk about that act and what it all means and what the Democrats are trying to do here.

The War Powers Act was enacted in 1973. It was first used by the Democrats. They first used it in 2018. So it sat for 45 years not being used, and then they used it against President Trump in his first term. There have been a total of 11 times that War Powers Resolutions have been offered, 8 of them were from Senator Kaine and Senator Sanders, all aimed at President Trump. We defeated one of these last week.

So now they have come out, and they have introduced five more, and one of the Senate Democrats' loudest complainers about everything said that it is basically symbolic. It is just symbolic what they are doing. These are show votes. We know the record of the Democrats. Do you know how many they introduced when Obama was President? Zero. Do you know how many they introduced when Biden was President? Zero. Because when a Democrat is President, Democrats forget about the War Powers Act-- ignore it completely.

So what is behind this charade of what the Democrats are doing? Well, let me quote Senator Tim Kaine the Senator from Virginia, who was the Vice Presidential nominee when Hillary Clinton ran for President, because it is all about trying to control the Senate floor time. This is what Senator Kaine said earlier this year. He said: Flood the Senate calendar with privileged motions where I am taking the floor time away from the Republican Party.

That is what this is all about. This isn't about advancing the needs of the Nation. This isn't about helping people. It is not about protecting Americans. None of that is true. It is about slowing down the Senate, throwing instruments into the gears, all to try to create theater--not to help protect our troops, not to help protect our people, not to make the world safer. Not at all. That is what this is all about. Their hand has been shown. Iran

Mr. President, after 47 years of terrorism and torture and tyranny, what we are seeing today that is Iran's murderous leadership, they are dead. Their missiles, their launchers, their production sites--they have been severely damaged. Since the start of the operation, missile attacks from Iran have gone down by 90 percent. Over 50 of Iran's warships have been sunk. This is a sign of success on the part of our brave men and women in uniform.

For decades, American Presidents have pledged Iran would never acquire a nuclear weapon. Thank goodness we have a President now in the United States--President Donald J. Trump--who kept that promise. The President has acted boldly; he has acted decisively; and this is where so many others have hesitated.

What we see is Presidential courage and commitment to ensure that Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons. What we have seen is American peace through strength.

Iran is a terrorist regime, and that is why, today, Iran is still terrorizing the world by trying to hold the world's energy supply hostage. This regime is attempting to choke off the shipping of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. In recent days, Iran has attacked oil and gas facilities across the region and has targeted oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. Remember, 20 percent of the world's oil supply goes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, I understand why families are worried about the price of energy. I agree absolutely with these families that I talked to this weekend in Wyoming. This weekend I met with a group of ranchers. We were at the Green River Valley Stockgrowers Association meeting. It was in Big Piney.

Now, when the price of gasoline goes up, it is a concern to everyone, and not just because of the cost of gas but also the cost of food because it costs more to produce the food when energy prices are higher. So we need to do everything we can to make sure we can get down the price of energy for people who are not only having to just drive but who produce in this Nation. And that is why Republicans are taking action now to lessen the pain.

Fortunately, America is once again energy-dominant. It wasn't that way in the past when American energy producers were being attacked by the Democrats.

Wyoming is America's energy breadbasket, and we are no longer utterly dependent on the Middle East for energy. We were in the past but not anymore. And that is because of Republican policies that unleashed American energy, and we have it in abundance.

America is now the No. 1 producer of oil in the world. We are setting record numbers for production--almost 14 million barrels of oil every day. That is more than double where we were 15 years ago.

Now, with respect to what is happening in the Persian Gulf, there is no question: Prices are going up, and Republicans are working to bring gas prices back down quickly. I believe we are in a strong position to do it because of the energy dominance agenda that we have.

At the same time, President Trump is determined to get energy flowing again in the Middle East. He has announced that the United States will provide risk insurance to oil tankers in the region. He also announced that the U.S. Navy will escort cargo ships if necessary.

You know, this is very similar to what President Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s. It worked then; it is going to work now.

The President's dynamic actions are going to get prices back down, and what he is doing, in the long run, is going to keep prices down. The real loser, of course, with what is happening in Iran right now is communist China.

China is one of Iran's biggest allies and enablers. It buys most of Iran's oil exports, and it buys them at a discount. It buys them at a discount because it is buying them on the black market. So China has been getting massive amounts of oil from Iran and paying a lower price as a result.

What does Iran do? Well, it turns and uses the money to buy Chinese air defense systems and other weapons, as well as fund terrorism. These are the very weapons that our military is destroying and continues to destroy today.

Operation Epic Fury is more than just a success against the world's No. 1 sponsor of terrorism. It is a significant setback for our No. 1 adversary in the world.

President Trump is completely rewriting the global energy map, and he is doing it in America's favor. Our Nation needs to continue to produce more energy. That means oil and natural gas. It means coal, and the President has been terrific in signing Executive orders on that. It means uranium for nuclear power.

We all know affordable, available, and reliable American energy is a source. It is a source of American strength, it is a source of American safety, and it is a source of American prosperity.

In the meantime, Congress should take action to lower gas prices for American families. I have introduced legislation to do that. It is called the Pay Less at the Pump Act. It does exactly that. This legislation repeals a harmful tax called the Superfund tax on crude oil.

Well, where did this tax come from? Well, the Democrats--$12 billion tax in their 2022 reckless tax-and-spending bill. Working families have been paying the price ever since. It is unfair. It is what the Democrats want to do. They always want to raise taxes.

My bill will lower prices at the pump and lead to more American energy production. It is certainly good for my home State of Wyoming. It is good for working families. It is good for our entire Nation.

Republicans promised to make America safer and more prosperous, and we are going to continue to do both of those things.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source