mr. thune: mr.resident, i ask unanimous consent that will i be able to speak for up to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we've seen are expected to be temporary. end quote. that's what president biden said one year ago this month, something his administration has repeatedly echoed. unfortunately, mr. president, it long ago became clear that that was wishful thinking on the president's part. far from being temporary, inflation has become a fact of life in the biden economy. last month inflation hit its highest level yet under president biden, climbing to 9.1%, the worst inflation in more than 40 years. the impact of inflation is being felt in every corner of our economy. businesses of every size are dealing with the effects of inflation. small businesses, of course, are being hit particularly hard. 75% of small business owners report that inflatio

quorum call: mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: the republican whip. without objection. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the biden border crisis continues to rage. last month the u.s. customs and border protection encountered 207,416 individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally, the highest june number ever recorded. in april and may successively set records for the highest numbers for any month ever. during the 2021 fiscal year, they encountered a record number of individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally. 1,734,686 to be precise. a record. well, mr. president, we still have three months to go for this fiscal year, but we've already exceeded last year's number by more than 11,000. that's right. in just nine months, we have already exceeded last year's record number of apprehensions. the situation at our southern border is out of control. although you'd nev

mr. thune: mr. president. thank you, mr. president. mr. president, are we in a quorum call. the presiding officer: the senate is. the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: one of the most important bills we take up every year, is the national defense authorization act, or ndaa. legislation authorizing funding for our military wren and women -- men and women and defense of the country. the committee passed this less than a month ago. we have less than three weeks left in the fiscal year. this month we're on a last-ditch effort to pass some version of their build back better tax-and-spending spree in hopes, i have to assume, of eking out a few more votes in november. and apparently, the national defense authorization act will just have to wait. mr. president, as it does every year, this year's ndaa authorizes funding for critical military priorities. the fiscal year 2023 ndaa continues the modernization efforts b

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is not. mr. thune: madam president, yesterday morning june inflation numbers were released and as usual the news was not good. inflation rose in june to 9.1%, the highest inflation since november of 1981. november of 1981. i was in college the last time inflation was this bad. madam president, americans are suffering. everywhere americans turn, they're being asked to pay more. more for cleaning supplies, more for gas, more for health insurance, more for groceries. a new analysis yesterday from the joint economic committee found that it will cost american families a staggering 718 per month. madam president that will happen even if prices stop going up tomorrow. $718 per month. more than 8,$600 for the year. no working family can afford that. madam president, a major reason that we're in this crisis is because of democrats' decision to floo

mr. secretary. >> thank you very much. next, we have senator kaine. -- thune. >> mr. secretary, welcome.nice to have you here. i appreciate the committee turning its focus to the challenges our farmers and ranchers and rural communities are facing, among those high inflation, market volatility, and supply chain constraints, all of which have been referenced at some level today, coming out a time when producers are working to address global food shortage concerns. in south dakota, we have producers dealing with difficult weather conditions this spring including drought, severe drought, excess moisture, and significant storm damage. i would urge usda to provide expedited assistance to those affected producers. many of the commodity prices are high. inflation has sent expenses skyrocketing. to make matters worse, some producers might have had recent storm damage to their property. there is a deep concern about replacing these critical elements of their operations and how expensive it will be given the soaring costs we are experiencing. what is usda doing to address inflation and its effect

thune. >> thank you, mr. chairman. administrator pekoske, thank you for being here today and for your willingness to serve in this important role once again. and last year, thanks to the hard work of this committee, congress passed the faa reauthorization act of 2018 which included my bill, the tsa modernization act reauthorizing the agency for the first time since 2001. passage of the bill enacted several provisions aimed at minimizing security line wait times, deploy more advanced screening technologies increasing protections for unsecured portions of the airport, all to benefit the experience of the traveling public while keeping our airports and skies safe from harm. building on improvements made by the faa extension safety and security act of 2016, the bill required tsa to increase accessibility of the pre-check program including a provision requiring the agency to enter into an agreement with private sector entities to expand precheck enrollment option such as the start to finish secure online or mobile enrollmen

senator thune >> welcome to our witnesses this morning. mr. konter we are here to tug about tax incentives in affordable housing. i they like to start out by asking you about tax related incentives to affordable housing specifically i'm talking about paris which are taxes on lumber from imports from canada. softwood lumber is critical to construction and the tariff rate on these imports increases u.s. homebuilding costs harms affordable housing and pills to to to increase supply. earlier this week senator menendez and i sent a letter to the department commerce and the ustr urging the biden administration to prioritize lumber trade to reduce housing costs so mr. konter you agree reducing tariffs would make home construction and homeownership more affordable? say i thank you for the question. and thank you and senator menendez for your leadership on this issue. yes i do believe reducing tariffs on canadian softwood lumber would help to make homeownership more affordable. lumber represents one of the most significant material inputs for the const

mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: on june 24, the united states supreme court overturned roe v. wade and returning the decision on abortion to the states. this was an affirmation of democracy which had been set aside by roe by a regime on the entire country by activist judges. it took legislative power out of the hands of the people and into the hands of unelected justices. the supreme court's decision puts the question of abortion back in the hands of the states and the people and their elected representatives where it should have always been. i'm profound by grateful for this decision most especially because what is at stake here. the roe decision was not a failure of failed jurisprudence. it was a failure that infringed on our fundamental rights as human beings, in fact, on the fundamental right, the right to life. roe not only allowed for but imposed a regime that forced states to legalize the killing

mr. thune: mr. president june inflations numbers came out last wednesday, as is typical for the biden presidency, they weren't good. in fact, they were bad. this is the worst inflation since november of 1981. the last time inflation was this bad, america was still a year and a half away from fining out whether hans solo would survival his -- survive his time in car binite. when democrats took office, congress passed a fifth bipartisan covid relief bill that met all current pressing covid needs. but now that they were in charge, democrats were eager to get spending. they passed legislation under the guise of covid relief and as expected the economy overheated. despite steadily climbing inflation, democrats seemed incapable of learning from their mistake. they spent last fall attempting to double down on the strategy to get us in this mess in the first place. fortunately their plans for a second spending spree failed last december. it's become clear they're not giving up. in fact, right now they're tr