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: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, we got some good news over the weekend with the announcement that the president and speaker kevin mccarthy had reached an agreement on the debt ceiling legislation. it will finally, finally, after two years of out-of-control spending begin to rein in our nation's budget. i am tremendously grateful to speaker mccarthy and to house republicans for their tireless work to make sure any legislation to raise the debt ceiling was pared with meaningful spending reforms. the fiscal responsibility act limits discretionary spending increases to 1% each year over the subsequent five years. it clause back on unspent -- it claws back on unspent covid funds. in fact, the bill rescinds more unobligated government money than any bill in american history. it also places into statute pay-go rules on the executive branch which would require government agencies to accompany ne

quorum call: mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, last week i came to the floor to talk about how the president's economic policies are failing to serve the lower- and middle-income americans he claims are his priority. the president talks about wanting to give american families, quote, a little more breathing room, end quote. but his big-government, big spending policies are taking away america's breathing room as cash-strapped families struggling with the effects of the president's historic inflation crisis contest. today, mr. president, i want to talk about another set of the president's policies that are not serving americans and that's the president's energy policies. since the day he took office president biden pursued an agenda hostile to conventional sources of energy, namely, oil and natural gas. he set the tone on his

reggie: right this way, mr. thune. -- mr. tuna. jobina: i will never forget that. drew: drew tuna?gie: it certainly is not. jobina: did you ever know someone with the last name tun a? drew: a light layer certainly needed as you go about your morning. we are dry out there. the weather is going to be active later this evening. the storm impact scale is in play tonight into early shot -- early saturday. santa cruz, a little bit of sunshine trying to break out from those clouds, that the day is mostly cloudy. showers in the north bay, and then light showers across the region by 9:00 p.m. if you have friday night plans, do take the umbrella with you. we will have light showers. temperatures 50's, mid-60's. the low average for may. 61 in oakland today. 65 in concord. 60 in napa. tonight, we have light showers. tonight, the showers move in. they wrapped up around 10:00 a.m. saturday. all of sunday is dry. then we start to see the weather move in next week. jobina: a quick traffic update for you. thankfully, it has been pretty quiet out there. east bay will have slowdowns. we have some roa

mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, it may have taken a while, but it looks like the white house may finally be coming to the debt ceiling negotiating table in a more serious way. the president has appointed members of his staff to have negotiate directly with speaker mccarthy's team, a logical and overdue step since passage of debt ceiling legislation depends on around agreement between the -- on an agreement between the president and republican-controlled house of representatives. i was also encouraged by the white house' statement after tuesday's debt ceiling meeting which noted that the president is, quote, optimistic that there is a path to a responsible bipartisan budget agreement if both sides negotiate in good faith and recognize that neither side will get everything that it wants. and recognize that neither side will get everything that it wants. that part is very important, mr. pre

mr. thune: talks on the debt ceiling continue, and leaders are meeting with president biden today. i hope that's a positive sign, because if the president's treasury secretary is correct, we could be two weeks away from the united states beginning to default on its debts. something that would have very serious consequences for our economy and for our nation's financial standing. if we're going to get a debt limit increase, the president will have to negotiate with speaker mccarthy and house republicans. really negotiate, mr. president, which means that president biden is going to have to accept some real spending reforms, because otherwise a debt limit increase is not going to make it through the house of representatives. those are just the facts, mr. president. democrats, of course, have been kicking and screaming at the idea of spending reforms. you can witness their frantic campaign to portray the responsible reforms in house republicans' bill as extreme. apparently suggesting that we should return to 2022 2022 discretionary spending levels for 2024 is an extreme position. despi

mr. thune: mr. president, it may have taken a while, but it looks like the white house may finally be coming to the debt ceiling negotiating table in a more serious way. the president has appointed members of his staff to have negotiate directly with speaker mccarthy's team, a logical and overdue step since passage of debt ceiling legislation depends on around agreement between the -- on an agreement between the president and republican-controlled house of representatives. i was also encouraged by the white house' statement after tuesday's debt ceiling meeting which noted that the president is, quote, optimistic that there is a path to a responsible bipartisan budget agreement if both sides negotiate in good faith and recognize that neither side will get everything that it wants. and recognize that neither side will get everything that it wants. that part is very important, mr. president, because previously democrats and the president's position was that democrats should get everything they want, an

mr. thune: mr.ident, it's about time. 90 days after his last meeting with speaker mccarthy and after weeks of point-blank refusal to engage in discussion, president biden has finally agreed to meet with the speaker about debt ceiling legislation. i'll say it again. it's about time. if the administration's estimate is correct, the united states is mere weeks away from reaching the limit of its borrowing capacity, which means of course that the president has to reach an agreement with the republican-led house of representatives on a debt ceiling bill. but the president has been completely awol on this issue. and while i'm very pleased that the president's treasury secretary has apparently managed to convey the urgency of the matter to the president and that the president is actually going to sit down with speaker mccarthy, it remains to be seen how seriously the president will take negotiations. he certainly hasn't been taking this issue certainly so far. house republicans, on the other hand, have bee

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican chip. mr. thune: mr. president, at a press conference on tuesday, president biden was asked if the united states was ready for the surge of people expected to come across the border after title 42 covid-19 restrictions are lifted. his answer, it's going to be chaotic for a while. it's going to be chaotic for a while. well that unfortunately, mr. president, could describe the situation at the border during his entire presidency. the biden administration has been defined by chaos at the border for two long years and counting. two years of record record-breag numbers of individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally. more than five million attempted illegal crossings in total. an average of 6,300 some individuals per day. 6 thown -- 6,300 per day. to put that number in perspective, during the last administration, the average number of illegal crossings per day was approximately 1800. and all of these numbers just refer to individuals who are actually apprehended. there have been well over a mi

at the same time we are clear eyed about the challenges where likely to face in the mr. thunesorry, mr. president. mr. president, it is may the 10th. may the 10th. if the president's treasury secretary is correct, in three weeks the united states could reach the limit of its borrowing capacity and -- and -- absent an agreement between the president and the congress, begin to default on its debts. if you think that means the president has gotten serious about reaching a debt ceiling agreement, you'd be wrong. the president did invite the democrat and republican leaders of the house and senate to the white house yesterday, presumably one would think to finally begin negotiating. but as it turned out or, the meeting was apparently little more than an occasion for the president to reiterate his position that he won't negotiate. mr. president, here's the political reality -- the president can't raise the debt ceiling by himself. he has to work with congress. and, more specifically, he has to work with speaker mccarthy and the republican-controlled house of representatives. that's j

mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr.dent, as i begin, i want to talk about a subject here in a moment, i also want to react to what the senator from illinois said with regard to the debt limit, because i think it is important to point out, as folks on the other side and at the white house talk about the need for a quote, clean debt limit, in other words, a debt limit that increases the amount of borrowing without anything whatsoever attached to it. to point out that in seven of the last ten debt limit debates, there were budgetary or policy items that were negotiated and attached. seven of the last ten debt limits. many of those insisted upon by the democrats at the time. in fact, i pointed this out yesterday, but president biden when he was vice president harris back in 2011 made statements that he couldn't understand how anybody could not understand the importance or the need to negotiate on a debt limit increase other policy matters related, hopefully, to spending and debt, but it seems to me, at least, that a debt li