>> if you believe in a business that has a diverse work force and part of the private sector and believe it helps you and string customers and going to demand it and going for the ultimate parent company and demands for me and if you're a kentucky business and going to bebu logical about it and -- >> continuing watching on cspan.org and over to capitol hill as the u.s. senate returns from a brief recess.

live coverage on c-span2.

>> this past november in an extraordinary and illegitimate

move the international criminal court issued arrest was for prime minister benjamin netanyahu and form israeli defense minister. the court's decision was troubling on multiple levels. first, the international criminal court, or icc, has no jurisdiction over israel or its citizens. neither israel nor the united states is a party to the treaty establishing the court and thus the court has zero authority over israel or its leaders. second, the courts clear suggestion come more equivalence between the government of israel and the hamas terrorists who attacked israel and oppressed their own people is the on pale. israel wages war against terrorists. hamas wages war against innocence. and the only reason israel has been waging war against hamas is because hamas chose to launch a

massive attack on innocence avoids the resulted in 1200 deaths and the taking of approximately 250 hostages, more than 80 of whom of whom are still in captivity today. mr. president, when it emerged last year that the icc was planning to seek rewards for israeli officials, republican-controlled house of representatives brought up legislation to sanction those responsible at the icc. 42 democrats voted for it. but the legislation was dead on arrival in the united states senate with the democratic leader refusing to bring it up for a vote. when the icc released its warrants last november i promised that if democrats would not bring icc sanctions legislation to the floor for vote, i would. and today i am following through on that promise. the bill before us today will sanction for an individual involved in icc efforts to investigate, arrest, or

prosecute u.s. citizens were citizens of u.s. allies that are not party to the icc. bill passed the house again earlier this month with the support of every republican plus more than 40 democrats. and and i hope we will see a g bipartisan margin in the senate as well. first, because this illegitimate targeting of a key u.s. ally should concern all of us. and second because while the icc is targeting israeli leaders today, it could easily set its sights on americans. and american soldiers in particular tomorrow. it's happened before back in 2020. while the united states will not be turning over in of our military members to the icc, the issuance of warrants for your soldiers or military leaders could jeopardize american troops ability to move freely where

needed and npr ability to defend our country and stand with our allies. i want to thank senator cotton for all his work on this bill as well as senator risch. and i hope i hope my democratic colleagues will join republicans to swiftly get this legislation over the finish line to the president's desk. mr. president, i you before and i suggest the absence of a quorum. >> thank you, mr. president. mr. president, criminals in the world today have an international threat that threat is called the international criminal court. the icc is headquartered in europe. it claims unchecked power, and power to enforce very loosely defined so-called international law, and the icc is a kangaroo court. u.s. has never ratified this treaty. neither has israel.

we are not members with this group. this so-called court seems to me to just do the bidding of the country of iran. never issued arrest warrants for leaders of iran, never tried to prosecute assad the former dictator of syria. the icc embraces a legal fiction and a moral fraud. and it is the fraud and the fiction that israel violates human rights and sovereignty doesn't matter. they also believe israel doesn't have a right to defend themselves. come to the floor today to oppose h.r. 23. this is a bill that levels unprecedented mandatory sanctions on the international criminal court, the icc. i understand my colleagues' concerns about whether the court

has jurisdiction over israel, and i share those. i agree the court should not focus its resources investigating u.s. servicemembers. i can't believe anybody in this chamber wants to see that. but the way this bill is drafted, sanctioning the icc will not get them to withdraw the arrest warrants for israeli officials. it could actually have the opposite effect, hardening the court's position. these sweeping sanctions we're about to consider are an incredibly powerful tool and making this an issue that goes beyond israel and the united states and stretching around the world is not going to be helpful to our national security. these sanctions will make it almost impossible for the united states to engage the court on other issues in our national interest, whether prosecuting

the atrocities in sudan or human rights abuses by the taliban or in venezuela or russia's war crimes against ukraine. this bill would target the civil serve the ants who work at -- servants who work at the icc. not just them, it would target their families. lower-level workers who provide administrative, para legal, research and even catering and sanitary services would be affected. it could -- they could target family members for being re related. it could target subsidiaries of major u.s. companies like microsoft for providing technical services to the icc which they may have been performing for a number of years before this bill was passed. and the way it's worded, it's retroactive, it would affect them. not only that, this bill targets some of the united states' most important allies. for example, the host country

for the icc, the netherlands, as well as the united kingdom, france, germany and japan are the icc's biggest donors. it also includes the citizens of those companies who work at the icc. these alliances are one of america's greatest assets. they make us stronger and safer, and this bill could do real damage to these relationships. it could undermine vital multilateral organization and hurt u.s. strategic interests. so, madam president, i was hoping that we could come to an agreement. we've been negotiating with senator cotton, who's the author of this bill. i know we share most of the same concerns that he does in drafting the bill, but i think it's overly broad, it's not drafted in a way that addresses what i think are the unique concerns that we have with

respect to the international criminal court. so sadly, since we have not been able to come to an agreement to address those concerns, i intend to vote no on this bill and i urge my colleagues to do the same on the motion to proceed. i yield the floor. mr. cotton: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to calendar number 3 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous consent to be able to complete my remarks before the scheduled vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cotton: the so-called international criminal court is a threat to america's sovereignty and our troops, that was clear in its founding in 20 -- it's why in the same year congress passed the american servicemembers protection act,

also known as the hague invasion act, a law which authorizes the president to use all means necessary to release our citizens detained by the court. 23 is a long time but we still have some who voted for that bill, including senator schumer. senator wyden also voted for it. even that has not started the hague from targeting americans. under president obama, it threatened to investigate soldiers in afghanistan. to this day the icc has an open investigation into u.s. troops who risk their lives to fight against terrorism. to be clear, the united states is not and will never be a member of the international criminal court. yet, this kangaroo court continues threatening to haul our citizens in front of foreign judges, judges who have no jurisdiction over americans and who do not follow basic rules of due process provided for by our

constitution. the state of israel is another nonparty to the court in the hague where anti-semitism is alive and well. although israel has never consented to the court, yet they have issued arrest warrants to the prime minister. the icc has grossly violated the rome statute, the treaty in a created the court, it broke its own rules by prosecuting individuals. i also would note that the court has not issued arrest warrants for flagrant human rights abusers, like iran's supreme leader, the former syrian president bashar al-asaad or the president of china, xi jinping it seems to look -- it is no

secret that the court's target aring israel is a target run to go after americans. if succeeded against israel, america will be next. that's why congress must guarantee any acts of aggression by in court will be met with a swift response. our illegitimate court counteraction act would sanction icc officials involved in prosecuting any american, israeli or american allied citizen. this apth r- act is a -- this act is a targeted response to the constant threats by this court. that's why more than half of measures said they would support sanctioning this court. it's also why every house republican and 45 house democrats voted for the bill earlier this month. now, despite the broad bipartisan and public support, some of my democratic colleagues

still have concerns. so let me put their minds at ease. first, some have called the sanctions in this bill, quote, draconian. far from draconian, these same appropriate and visa restrictions were used by the obama and biden administration not once, not twice, but 49 times. others have said the bill could target our allies. the bill, however, clearly is directed at foreign peshs, not foreign nations. okay, but still others have said the icc bill targets, quote, citizens of our allies. yes, if you are involved in illegitimately targeted americans, you could face sanctions. this bill does not, once again, sanction foreign nations, lock the united kingdom but if british nationals at the court are targeting american citizens you better believe they can face sanctions. others say it will undermine our

alliances. the bill only targets be officials directly involved in action against the united states and our allies, not foreign nations. furthermore, if past is prologue, all of our allies will stick with the united states. when congress passed the hague invasion act in 2002 with senator schumer's vote, all of those nations entered agreements with us to continue their relationship with us, not with the court. still others say that this would target foreign subsidiaries of american companies. i have worked with senator shaheen in good faith and i commend her for her works with me over the last few days. it seems to have become clear these american subsidiaries want a massive carve-out that would in fact allow them to continue in the future, say, providing information about american troops' actions in afghanistan, which we do not think they should have. again, every republican in the house voted for this.

45 democrats in the house voted for it. two democratic senators who were in the house last year voted for it. last april, i led several of my colleagues in a letter to the court's prosecutor. the letter warned him against issuing arrest warrants to target israeli leaders. we said if you target israel, we will target you. despite this clear warning, he proceeded anyway, a gross insult to our friends in israel and an even more dangerous threat in the future to american sovereignty. this court should now face the consequences, and i urge all of my colleagues to vote on this motion so we can continue debate on this critical legislation. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. now, madam president, i have spent decades watching the international criminal court with a critical eye. from the beginning, even when i

was in congress, i was certain that the icc would display the same anti-israel bias that permeated the u.n. and other international organizations. unfortunately, i believe subsequent years have proven me correct. while the icc has undeniably done some good work, including going after president putin and addressing atrocities in darfur, their anti-israel bias has taken over and become too much to ignore. last may, seven months after hamas' horrific attack on israel, the icc made a shocking announcement. instead of going after terrorist organizations who ordered the murder, rape, and abduction of innocent israelis, the icc's prosecutor chose to equate those un-godly actions with the justify fiebl response of the israeli government.

i know that's hard to comprehend so i'll say it again. last may the icc equated the hamas terrorist organization with the israeli government, betraying an anti-israel buy p i can'ts that cannot be ignored, a buy p i can'ts that is deeply rooted, sinister and which fuels the anti-semitism resurging across the globe, including here in america, the country i love. it's hard for me to comprehend even today. and that false equivalence, i believe, is the reason we are here on the senate floor considering an icc sanctions bill. the icc bill is one i largely support and would like to see become law. however, as much as i oppose the icc's deep combries against israel and -- deep bias against israel and as much as i want to see that institution reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic.

it will have consequences that undermine its primary goal. the bill is drafted would enable sanctions against american companies who have contracts to support the icc's technology functions. these american companies not make investigative or prosecutorial decisions. these american company employees do not recommend nor bring cases. these american companies do not demonstrate the same anti-semitic bias that the icc does. but the work of those companies does defend the icc's computer network against russian hackers who would expose, who would like to expose witnesses who have shared information about russian atrocities. a small fix, a small fix could have been made to protect the work of those companies, but the republican majority refused to make such a fix. the bill as drafted would also allow president trump to

arbitrarily sanction the heads of state of our allies. they all called and complained about that part because their countries are members of the icc. during this time of world ten-minute, that's an -- world tumult that's an unnecessary burden to place on our allies. by sanctioning our allies this bill as drafted would hamstring the icc's ability to go after putin for his war crimes, giving him the best gift possible. again, a small fix, what senator shaheen tried to get, would easily have he addressed this concern. these fixes could have been easily been made, and lord knows senator shaheen tried to fix them. you see, once leader thune brought this to the floor, i asked senator shaheen, the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee, to try to work with our republican colleagues to address some of the drafting errors. not having, not going after, not changing in any way the way the

icc should be taken to task for the way they go after israel, but these other changes unrelated to israel. she and her staff worked tirelessly to find a way forward, but the republican majority, the senator from arkansas, refused to make these simple changes. therefore, because they have chosen this partisan, nonconsultati ve path i will oppose the cloture on the motion to proceed with the fervent hope that the other side will realize their error and their careless drafting and resume real conversations with us. a bipartisan agreement is still very possible, and we hope and urge our republican colleagues to sit down with us and come up with a bill that addresses the very real problems at the icc without adversely affecting american companies and our

allies. and i ask for the yeas and nays. go ahead. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 3, h.r. 23, an act to impose sanctions with respect to the international criminal court, and so forth, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to proceed to h.r. 23, an act to impose sanctions with respect to the international criminal court engaged in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute any the protected person of the united states and its allies, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester.

the clerk: mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn.

ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. husted. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly.

mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts.

mr. risch. ms. rosen. vote: the clerk: mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy.

ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. >> good to see all of you. it's an honor to be with all of you. a lot of familiar faces, a lot of new faces your president trump is back and the golden age

of america has most definitely begun. the senate has confirmed five of president trump's exceptional cabinet nominees. secretary of state marco rubio, defense secretary pete hegseth, cia director john ratcliffe, homeland security secretary kristi noem and treasury secretary scott bessent. it is imperative that the senate continue to confirm the remainder of the president well-qualified nominees as quickly as possible. as you've seen during the past week president trump is hard at work fulfilling the promises that he made to the american people on the campaign trail. since taking the oath of office president trump has taken more than 300 executive actions come secure nearly $1 trillion in u.s. investments, deported illegal alien rape is, gang members and suspected terrorists from her homeland, and restore commonsense to the federal government. i want to take a moment to go through some of these

extraordinary actions. on day one president trump declared a a national emergent our southern border to and the for your long invasion of illegal aliens under the previous administration. additionally president trump signed an executive order to and catch and release and finish construction of his effective border wall. by using every lever of his federal power president trump has sent a loud and clear message to the entire world. america will no longer tolerate illegal immigration and this president expects that every nation on this planet will cooperate with the repatriation of their citizens. as proven by this weekend when president trump swiftly directed the esteemed issue harsh and effective sanctions and terrace on the colombian government, upon hearing them denied his military aircraft full of their own citizens who were deported by this administration. within hours the clinic government agreed to all of,

president trump's demands proving america's once again respected on the world stage. so to foreign nationals are thinking about trying to illegally enter the united states, think again. under this president you will be detained and you will be deported. every day americans are safer because of the violent criminals that president trump's administration is removing from our communities. on january 23, ice new york arrested a turkish national for in them without inspection. he was a known or suspected terrorist. on january 23 ice san francisco rested a citizen of mexico unlawfully present in the united states who has been convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child age 14 or younger. ice st. paul has arrested a citizen of honduras was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct with a

minor. ice buffalo arrested a citizen of ecuador who has been convicted of rape. ice boston arrested citizen of the dominican republic who has a criminal conviction for second-degree murder. this criminal was convicted of murder for beating his pregnant wife to death in front of her five-year-old son. ice st. paul also arrested a citizen of mexico who was convicted of possessing pornographic material of a minor on a work computer. these are the heinous individuals this administration is moving from american communities every single day. president trump has your back and he is grateful for your hard work. on the economic front president trump took immediate action to lower costs for families who are suffering from four long years of the biden administration's

distractive and inflationary policies. president trump ordered the heads of all executive departments and agencies to help deliver emergency price would be to the american people. untangle our economy from biden's regulatory constraints and in the reckless war on american energy. president trump also signed sweeping executive orders to in the weaponization of government and restore commonsense to the federal bureaucracy. he directed all federal agencies to terminate illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to help return america to a merit-based society. president trump also signed an executive order declaring it is now the policy of the federal government that there are only two sexes, male and female. sanity has been restored. before i take your questions i would like to point out to all of you once again have access to the most transparent and accessible president in american

history. there has never been a president who communicates with the american people and the american press corps as openly and authentically as the 45th and now 4747th president of the united states. this past week president trump has held multiple news conferences, gaggle of air force one multiple times and sat down for a two-part interview on fox news which aired last week. as political sums it up best, trump is everywhere again. that's because president trump has a great story to tell about the legendary american revival that is well underway. in keeping with this revelation immediate approach that president trump deployed during the campaign, the trump white house will speak to all media outlets and personalities. not just the legacy media who were seated in this room. according to recent polling from gallup americans trust and mass

media has fallen to a record low. millions of americans especially young people have turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media and of independent outlets. it's essential to our team we should president trump's message everywhere and adapt this white house to me be landscape in 2025. to do this i'm excited to announce the following changes will be made to this historic briefing room where mr. bradys legacy will endure. this white house believe strongly in the first amendment so it's what our team will work diligently to restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration. we are opening up his briefing room to new media voices who produce news related content and his outlet is not already represented by one of the seats in this room. we welcome independent journalists, podcaster, social

media influencers and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this white house. you can apply now on our new website, whitehouse.gov/new media. starting today this seat in the front of the room which is usually occupied by the press secretary staff will be called the new media seat. my team will review the applications and your credentials to new media applicants who meet our criteria and pass united states secret service requirements to enter the white house complex. in light of these announcement our first question for today's briefing will go to these new media members whose outlets despite being some of the most viewed news websites in a country have not been given seats in this room. before i turn to questions i do have news directly from the president that was just shared with me in the oval office from president trump directly an update on the new jersey drone.

after research and study the drones that were flying over new jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the faa for research and various other reasons. many of these drones or hobbies, recreational or private individuals who flying drones. in time it got worse due to curiosity. this was not the enemy. a statement from the president of the united states to start this briefing with some news. with that i will turn over to questions and will begin with a new media members, mike allen from axios, matt boyle. mike, why integrate? >> does the present see -- ? its origins orts cause? for china's ability to make -- cheaper, quicker affect our standing generation data centers? >> the present was asked that

deep seat last night of air force one when he gaggle for think the third or fourth time threat the weekend with members of the traveling press corps. the president said he believes that this is a wake-up call to the american ai industry, the last administration sat on their hands and allowed china to rapidly develop this ai program into president trump leads in restoring american ai dominance and asked why he took very strong executive action this past week to sign executors roll back some of the regulations on the ai industry. president trump is also probably appointed the first ai and crypto czar at this white house whom i spoke with yesterday, very knowledgeable on the subject and his team is here working every single day to ensure american ai dominance. as for national security implications i spoke with nsc. they are looking into what those may be. whenever an update i will share it. >> you say restore youth dominance is there fear u.s. -- has fallen behind and how with

the president make sure usa's had? >> the the present confident l store american dominance in the air. >> first off thank you and trump are doing -- media outlets that represent millions and millions of americans. the thing i i would, i got a two-part question. can use expand upon what the white house is going to take to bring more voices not less which is what our founder breitbart believe didn't in this room with writing long? >> absolute. as i said, it is a priority of his white house to honor the first amendment and it is a at americans are consuming the news media from various different platforms especially young people. as the youngest press secretary history thanks to president trump i take great pride in opening up his room to new media voices to share the president's message with as many americans as possible. in doing so we will ensure

outlets like yours axios and breitbart which are widely respected and viewed outlets have a seat in this room every day. we also again encourage anybody in this country whether you're a tech talk content creator, a blogger, podcaster, if you're producing legitimate news content no matter medium you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this white house. as a said earlier our new media website is whitehouse.gov/newmedia. we encourage people to apply. again as long as you are creating news related content of the day and your legitimate individuals you're welcome to come to the white house. >> you laid out several of the actions trump has taken. stark contrast to the previous administration. can we expect that to continue as the first 100 days moves

along and beyond? >> absolutely. there's no doubt president trump has always been the a hard switchmen of politics. that's been proven over the past week. this president has signed more than 300 300 executive orde. he's taken historic action. i tackled the air force board want to mark the first 100 days of this administration 4 p.m. last friday. first wanted hours rather. this president morton first when it ousted a previous president did previous president did in the first 100 days. president trump you can all expect for him to continue to work at this breakneck speeds the hope here to work. i know we are. >> a question we've asked your predecessor both parties in this job. when you're speaking to the american public you yourself and your role as speaking, advocating a path of the present, unvarnished truth that is not to lie, not to obfuscate to the american people. >> i committed to the truth from this podium every single day. i commit to speaking on behalf

of the the president of thed states. that is my job. i will say it's easy to speak truth from this podium when you have a president who is in limiting policies that are wildly popular with the american people and that's exactly what this administration is doing. it's correcting allies of the past four years many of the lies that been told to your faces in this very briefing room. i will not do that. since you brought up truth to speak out like to point out while i about to provide the truth from this podium we ask all of you in this room hold yourself to the same standard. we know for a fact there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family and we will not accept that. we will call you out when we feel you you reporting is wrong for this misinformation about this white house. so yes, i will hold us up to the truth and expect everyone in this room to do the same. >> on a substantive question come yesterday the white house -- across-the-board --

[inaudible] a lot of confusion around the country, head start providers come services to homeless veterans, medicare providers. help us figure out -- and also is at uncertainty had is at uncertainty serve as a presidents orders? >> fizzled and certainly from amongst the media. there's no uncertainty in this building. let me provide the certainty and clarity all that you need. this is not a blanket cause on federal assistance and grant programs from the trump administration. individual assistance, that includes i'm not naming everything that's included just to give you a few examples, social security benefits, medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistant that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this

cause. i want to make it very clear to any americans who are watching who may be a little confused about some of the media reporting. this administration if you're receiving individual assistance from the federal government used to continue to receive that. however, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. that is something president trump campaigned on. that's what gets launched toshiba, department of government efficiency, who's working alongside omb and that's what omb sent out this memo last night -- launched. >> host: . signed an executive order directing omb to do just this. the reason is to ensure every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions this president has taken. what does this mean? means no more funding for illegal pei programs. means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost american taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. no more funding for

transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies. no more funding for green new deal social engine in policy. t is not agreed to.

it's illegal and unconstitutional. donald trump has done a lot of bad things in the last week but nothing is worse than this. it is nothing less than project 2025 by another name. removal in 2025 came out during the campaign? some of the public found out about it. 60% of people knew what it was

indicated it. this is the same thing in another name. same types of slashes, things that hurt people. who are they putting in charge? the chief cook and bottle washer of 2025 russell vought. to implement it. so you know what they're up to when you know the american people hate it. people are scrambling in all of our states to figure out what it means. i've gotten hundreds of calls from everybody, head start, hospitals, firefighters. what does this mean, what does this mean? people are worried, in a panic about it. and many of our groups that get the money whether they be governments or businesses or nonprofits they have to make mortgage payments, pay their staff, keep operations running. what do you think when you heard the funding is cut?

just about any organization with its school, state, police department, fire, hospital that depends on federal grant money to run its day-to-day operations is now in danger thanks this morning thanks to donald trump, health care for seniors and veterans is at risk. thanks to donald trump mass transit and workers getting to and from work will have a difficult time. thanks to donald trump this new taxes for americans everywhere, a new tax on active military duty and spouses. they totally eliminate the child tax credit and the tax social security benefits. hospitals and community health centers can't draw down any of their funds. they needed every day, every day. to deal with people who have emergencies at hospitals. head start programs in new york have begun to feel the impact. they are unable to access any

funds some of them are rent checks today that don't have the money. this is a cruel and it affects everything everywhere. republicans are quite literally defunding the police, and all these things we will not stand idly by. the blast radius of this terrible unconstitutional and illegal decision is virtually limitless. its impacts are going to be felt over and over and over again by families, and we are already in touch with families and people throughout the country to mobilize them against this cruelty, this blatant assault on americans. and american family should make no mistake, the money has been taken from them, will be spent. that money will be spent but not on them. on the people at the very top who want tax cuts.

it's cruelty and lawlessness as a center this cruel action hold down the price of groceries? no. just yesterday before they did this i was in upstate new york talking about funding to stop the scourge of bird flu because eggs are six dollars. to hold back the funding that farmers need to do that? this will go up higher. that's just one small instance of how much this affects things. no matter how much you believe the president doesn't have the authority to ignore the law. i spoke to our attorney general in new york and she is the head of the attorneys general association. they are filing a suit and we're going to be joining them and other legal action but it's not just going to be legal action. it's going to be action anywhere. pressure on republican house and senate members to see if they support this stuff. mobilization of people across the board because this cannot

stand. patty. >> well, thank you. every one of us in this building owes a a huge debt of gratituo our capitol police. considering all the sacrifice they make to keep us safe, we all should be able to say with one voice that if you violently assault a capitol police officer, you should not, not get a pardon and you should not get off scot free. i will have a lot more to say on that on the floor later today but from trump pardoning violet insurrectionists to issuing blatantly unconstitutional executive orders, to law leslie, flawlessly locking bipartisan funding. we got a lot of ground to cover. today i want to talk about the omb guidance of the trump administration issued in the stead of that. in a brazen and illegal move the

trump administration is working to freeze huge chunks of federal funding passed into law by republicans and democrats alike. now not even 24 hours later there issuing new guidance trying to clean up the massive mess they've made saying wait we don't actually know what we're doing. but they are still leaving needless uncertainty about what actually, actually is happening and they are still living make that clear still withholding funding all across the government. the chaos is already hurting people creating confusion and causing devastating delays. where do we start? there are a lot of urgent questions but precious few answers, and the answers keep changing. what about grants for public safety? grants for our firefighters? or that prevent violence against women? those are not direct individuals

are they still -- what about the community health centers that millions rely on including in our rural areas? 90 fighting the altered crisis, grants they go to states, communities and nonprofits, , ae they stopping funding for addiction treatment and prevention? clinical studies, scientists at the university of washington and washington state university are deeply alarmed. this is not theoretical. research projects will collapse, staff will be furloughed or laid off. tribes come in my state, deeply alarmed that they will see severe cuts across healthcare, education, law enforcement, housing, practically every aspect of daily life on indian land. and, of course, what about disaster relief that could be derailed? in eastern washington $44 million to help spokane county rebuild after wildfires. money that was announced weeks

ago still on pause. last week trump visited communities in north coletta, california reeling from disasters. now he's throwing the aid those community need in the chaos. schools that need title i payment are worried they may not get the funds that congress has allocated and voted on. suddenly we now don't know how we will meet meals on wheels, seems to depend on them. what does this mean for our homeless veterans? entire budgets and payrolls across the country are carefully hinging on these resources. we're talking small towns,, cities, rural america, school districts, university of much more. just kidding, not in 24 hours, is not a solution. you can't pretend you have no idea that this would cause chaos despite all the warnings. that is not believable.

even if it was true, not a good reason for all the damage that's been caused. even despite what we've heard from the administration in the last hour they are still, they are still promising to illegally withhold funding over to all of our states. that basic truth is not change. i'm urging my fellow republicans to open your eyes to just how bad this is and will be for your states and your communities and speak out. i know reports say the white house is trying to silence members who have done that. stand up. we talked about your constituents, , and specificalli urge my republican colleagues on the senate budget committee to vote against russell vought. republicans should not advance this nomination out of committee until the trump administration follows the law. and i morning the trump administration, the law is the law if you need to reverse

course, follow the requirements of the law, ensure the nation's spending laws are if omitted, as congress attend and avoid this pointless damaging chaos. [inaudible] >> they are defunding the police. republicans are defunding the police. [inaudible] >> housing for seniors, they cut. funding for hospitals and community health centers, cut.

>> this inspector generals being fired. memos going out telling government workers to spy on government workers to see if anyone is overly sympathetic to the idea of diversity. now, we have trump saying i'm going to steal the power of the purse. allocated in the constitution. been a turning point for the united states of america. president donald trump's inauguration marked the beginning of, as he put it, a new golden age for america. and our new president unveiled a list of executive orders undoing four years of decline in his very first week in office. he's already reversed a number of the failed biden-harris policies that weakened security

at the border. he's taken action to end catastrophic catch and release policies. he reinstated remain in mexico. and he stopped the abuse of immigration parole. not only did president trump turn counter's border and immigration policies around 180 degrees on his very first day, but finally, at long last, congress is working again. the house and the senate sent the strongest immigration enforcement legislation to the president's desk since 1986, after nearly a year of working to get the laken riley act through, it is finally near hours from becoming actual law. we are finally on our way to ensuring that criminal illegal aliens are off our streets before they can commit the most heinous crimes imaginable. providing our states the ability

to compel the federal government to do its job is something it also includes, and the enforcement of the laws that are actually on the books. far too often we hear from grieving parents whose children's life were cut far too short by illegal border crossers, who were poisoned by fentanyl brought across our southern border or who were suffered abuse at the hands of people who shouldn't have been in our country to begin with. the american people have heard enough of those stories, and on november 5 they told us they wouldn't take it any longer. the results of the november election were a signal from the people we represent to the lawmakers meant to act on their behalf. they were a verdict from the american people that washington had for far too long become guilty of overlooking the problems that actually matter to the people we're here working

for. with the laken riley act, we've started to deliver on that verdict, but we're not done yet. the laken riley act addresses the important problems of criminal illegal aliens already inside our country. but interior immigration enforcement is only one aspect of the problem we face. there's another priority we must focus on -- preventing criminals from entering our country to begin with. that's why i've reintroduced the wall act. it is long past time to finish construction of a wall on our southern border, and this bill would put us on the path to doing just that. it would appropriate funding necessary to finish the wall and it would allow president trump to do so without raising taxes on u.s. citizens or increasing our national debt by a single

cent. in fact, we would fund the wall by fixing yet another issue with our immigration system. we would eliminate taxpayer-funded entitlements and tax benefits to illegal aliens. not only would taxpayers stop having to foot the bill for illegal aliens, but we would also close the loopholes that illegal aliens are taking advantage of. meanwhile, the benefits intended for citizens and legal residents would truly only go to citizens and legal residents. solving another problem, the wall act would impose monetary fines on illegal aliens and immigrants who overstay their visas. we would finish building the wall and we would save money while we're at it. the joint committee on taxation estimated in 2018 that enacting the provisions in the wall act would save us $33 billion over

10 years. the bill would save us both dollars and lives. and what could be more important than the task of keeping our country safe and restoring financial responsibility, mr. president? just like the laken riley act, the wall act is common sense. and most importantly, it delivers to the american people what they've demonstrated they want, need, and deserve. it's the first move towards making sure that our immigration enforcement and border security agencies have the funding they need to carry out the will of the people. we must fund border construction wall -- construction of the border wall, but we can't just stop there. as the chairman of the homeland security appropriations subcommittee, i am committed to ensuring that the trump administration has the detention space they need to get criminal

illegal aliens off of our streets. and providing funding for cbp and i.c.e. enforcement and removal operations. these agencies have the personnel, resources and technology necessary to fulfill their missions. and that, mr. president, is a long time coming too. both leaders and citizens have understood that the most important role that the government has is to provide security for the people who live under its jurisdiction. from the white house to both chambers of congress, the republican party is committed to getting our country back on track, to responding to the demands of the american people that they made to us this last november, securing our border, removing criminal illegal aliens from our streets, and providing a safe, orderly nation for the

american people. there is no greater responsibility we have, no higher calling we can seek than making america safe again. we've heard the american peoples voices and we understand the call. now let's heed that call and pass the wall act. let's continue to turn our promises made into promises kept. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

>> above all, not the rule of law. you cannot let america become a place where leaders hold back the people's fund by day and perjury the watchdog by night. not here. not in a democracy like ours. not ever. thank you. >> let me say one things folks. any republican senator that votes for this will bare on their shoulders all of the horrible things in action. they have a chance to stop this. >>reporter: [inaudible] what can you do other than filing a lawsuit that could take weeks? >> i think our republican senators and congressman will hear approach their constituents from one end of the country to another. they will hear from police departments, schools, cancer

research clinics, fire departments. everyone is upset about this and continue to put heat on them so they won't vote. they will bare the consequences on their backs for what they have done to their constituents. next. >>reporter: in light of jewish groups talking about evil speeches. do you have concerns about elon musks gesture and his speech at the afc. >> there shouldn't be anti-semitism anywhere. >>reporter: do you think any sanctions from the united states in efforts to bring russia to stop. >> it's not that we didn't want to make sure that we did everything we could to stop

their anti-semitic actions. >> they said they would be in communications to get more clarity. do you anticipate some kind of communication directly? >> we will communicate with everyone under the sun and most importantly with constituents. let your republican senators and congressman know you hate this and feel the heat. >> have you spoken directly -- [talking over each other]

journalist and professor marvin is joining unites states now. he's the arthur of a different russia. start at the end. if you would. you wrote when they learned that john kennedy had been assassinated.

he cried, why. it was a fascinating thing. he had a dream. if he could sit-down with an american president. he could solve all of the problems of the world. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: mr. president, the government shutdown that donald trump just ordered is illegal and unconstitutional. he is not a king, and we do not live in a monarchy. it is congress' authority to decide on federal funding. the power of the purse is the foundational funding of the article 1 branch. everybody talks like that. everybody says those things, but

now we are all put to the test, democrats and republicans. are we going to forfeit all of our power? we're the elected branch. we make the laws, and the president of the united states just ordered a funding freeze for stuff he doesn't feel liking funding. that is literally not how it works, and today the white house press secretary was asked about specific popular, essential programs, and you know what she said? she said have those people talk to russ vought and make an appeal to him. now there's a couple of problems with that. first of all, russ vought doesn't get to decide in an appropriations law which parts of the law to follow and which parts not to follow. second of all, let's be really

clear about this, russ vought is not a government employee right now. he's a nominee to lead the office of management and budget. and so we're supposed to have, i don't know, medicaid recipients, v.a. home loan recipients, nursing homes, education organizations, health care organizations, transportation contractors, appeal mercy to the king. will you please release these dollars? that's not how the american system works. this is illegal. there is real pain starting today because of this funding freeze. schools, child care facilities, fire departments, community health centers, domestic violence shelters, all of them

will instantly lose their funding at 5:00 p.m. today. because somebody said we're fiscal conservatives. you want to enact a fiscally conservative appropriations bill? pass a law. pass a law. i also would like to select the federal funding which i agree with and fund that, and select the funding that i disagree with and defund that, but i'm not a monarch, and neither is donald trump. we're hearing from so many constituents across the country, and i had a bit of a time delay because it's earlier in hawaii, but all of my colleagues were getting incoming texts and calls and panicked people. this isn't about some arcane government program. this is like basic stuff. people are, like, staged to do

construction, and told not to show up for work. some of these construction projects are in places where you only have a narrow window during which you can even do construction. so a 90-day freeze means wait till next year. i don't care what the law says, wait till next year. if you're a disaster survivor in north carolina or louisiana or california or texas or florida or maui, you don't know what happens next. if you're a low-income family that relies on the women, infants, and children program to get healthy meals for your kids. if you live in a remote area in hawaii, and you go to a community health center to fill your prescriptions to get a check-up, this freeze on funding means you don't get help. you know how long it takes to get a home loan, v.a. home loan or any other kind of home loan. people are showing up to get

their v.a. home loans and saying, not today. you might be like 45 days from closing, you're a veteran, you're entitled to this thing under the law. russ vought, not a member of the federal government yet, has decided you don't get your home loan today. what an embarrassing abdication of the role of the congress! all of this high-minded talk from my fellow appropriators, about -- you know, there's really three parties in the congress. this is the old joke. democrats, republican, and appropriators. the idea is the appropriators are the adults in the room and they're not going to let nonsense, unconstitutional, illegal acts happen because we control the pursestrings. in addition to the pain being caused, my goodness, the door swings both ways in washington. imagine a progressive president

reaching into the federal budget, after an appropriations bill is passed, and saying you know what, i don't like that thing, i don't like that other thing, i don't like this one, i don't like that one, i'm in charge. what are we even here for? and so this is not going to be business as usual. i will tell you one thing, i have never in my 13 years w withheld my unanimous consent. i've used a little leverage, everybody does, but we better get this straight on a bipartisan basis, not because i want to score partisan points, not because i want to characterize donald trump in one way or the other, but because we all worked so hard and made real sacrifices to get to this place so we could have a position of responsibility to uphold the constitution of the united states. what's happening today is

unconstitutional, it is also against statutory law, but most importantly it is causing pain across the country. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

journalist and professor marvin is joining us on a new book a different russia. mr. calb. when they learned john kennedy had been assassinated, he cried, why? >> it was one of the most interesting, of my judgment fascinating aspects. he had a dream. the dream was that if he could sit-down with an american president, he figured he and it president could solve all of the problems of the world. he just needed that opportunity. he got that opportunity once in june of 1961 when they met at

the summit. it was growthed with huge expectation and ended in the deepest disappointment. he wanted to somehow or another take kennedy to the cleaners. he would get his way. he wanted to really right the strategic balance in the world. it favored the u.s. they wanted to favor russia. he had that moment with kennedy that lead to the cuban missile crisis. an atmospheric treaty. after that, finally, in his mind he felt he could sit-down finally with dendy. he felt like he had six more

years. four years of the second term. they would reach all kinds of agreements. they wouldn't know that it's fanciful. a feeling about the world within the month kennedy would be assassinated and within a year he would be kicked out of power. when he learned kennedy was killed, all of the reports i have seen showed that he cried. when he went to sign his name at the american embassy the day after the assassination he was in tears. >> the book is a different russia. not your first memoirs. how is this one different? >> jonathan the continuation of the first two. the first book was the year i

was peter the great. closer to him. the second book. on edward hired at the cbs and as they moved me through the system i never been a journalist before. someone representing cbs and moscow who spoke the language and knew about the history and literature of the country and i had written somethingthe times that he liked and on that basis a conversation we had it lasted for three hours. you can ask me any number of questions and fantastic

journalist. would you like to join cbs. that was a scholar. it's as a journalist. this is from may of 1960 and this book begins with the inaugustration. >> they gave it a scenes the world, his justment. this was independently doing his explanation of the american people of the world. this was the global system he would like and it's fascinating individuals. extraordinary people. they were in collision with each other. they represented two totally different social political

systems and when row thought you thoughtabout it in national. the soviet union on one side of the cold war which is where we were at that time and kennedy on the other side. it's an amazing thing. they were in charge at that moment in october and november of 1962. we tend to forget this. at that time the world was on the edge of a nuclear war. one of the two people haas the guts to acknowledge in public and tremendous blunder. this is to shift the balance of power and gain an advantage in

berlin. he failed because kennedy called him on it. he had not backed off. they might very well end -- sk quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. blackburn thank you, mr. president. i have four requests for committees to meet today during this session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. blacmrs. blackburn: thank you, president. nothing is more important than our national security and this nation's sovereignty, and that means we must control our borders. mrs. blackburn: that's why in november, the american people gave president trump an overwhelming mandate to finally go secure these borders.

it was a major issue. they were tired of four years of biden-harris failures. thankfully, in just his first week in office, the president has already taken steps to do just this. on inauguration day, for example, president trump restored many of the successful policies from his first administration that former president biden had ended, including the remain in mexico policy, border wall construction, and enhanced v vetting of all aliens trying to come into this country. at the same time that president trump did those reinstatements, he terminated biden's disastrous open border measures, including ending catch and release, thank

goodness, and that cbp one app where he was trying to make illegal entry legal. the trump administration ended that, and they ended migrant flights that brought more than 500,000 illegal aliens to cities all across the country. ended those flights. he also took new action to strengthen our border and end illegal immigration, including executive orders to prohibit birth tourism. now, -- now this is a practice where you have companies or cartels and they sell you passage to the u.s. and they come here for the express purpose of having a child on u.s. soil. it's a practice called birth tourism.

the -- president trump ended that. he designated cartels as foreign terrorist organization and he chose to send troops to the border, and among these troops are tennessee soldiers from fort campbell's 101st airborne division who are doing incredible work to help make this nation safe. perhaps most importantly, the president ordered mass deportations, something the american people have demanded after the biden administration allowed more than 10 million illegal aliens to enter this country. and, mr. president, that does not count the got-aways, the got-aways, known and unknown got-aways that are here. the worst of the worst most likely. people who were trying to evade detection and people who have

seeped into our communities. to no one's surprise these strong executive actions are already yielding positive results for our nation. our nation's sovereignty and security and the safety and security of communities all across this country. because on joe biden's watch, what did we see happen? we saw every town become a border town and every state become a border state. people went to the polls in november and voted saying enough is enough. we have to restore law and order. and in the last week -- and i want you to think about these

numbers. mr. president, i encourage all of our colleagues -- look at these numbers from the last week. in this last week, ice, immigration and customs enforcement, arrested more than 2,600 illegal aliens -- now these are criminal, illegal aliens, they are gang members, convicted sex offenders and murder suspects. 2,060 in one -- 2,600 in one week. this tells you they knew where they were, mr. president, it's just their hands were tied by the biden administration. they could not go get these people that were making our communities less safe. just on thursday alone, ice arrested two people in

nashville, tennessee. what we found out, they were both members of the gang trende aqua. both of these criminal aliens have a history of promoting prostitution and entered the country last year after being processed by the biden administration. while migrant encounters have plummeted over the past week, the trump administration has also conducted deportation flights to send illegal aliens back to their home countries. make no mistake, if any country refuses to take in their own citizens, president trump has made clear that there will be consequences brought to bear. in just the last 24 hours, the

government of colombia learned that lesson, completely reversing its blockade of deportation flights after the president said he would impose tariffs and sanctions. for so many in tennessee and across the country, this is welcomed news. this is what they wanted to see, mr. president. they were tired of talk. they were tired of appeasement. what they wanted was action, to get these criminals out of their communities, to get them behind bars. we can only have national security and know that this country is safe if we have border security. and for too long tennesseans, and i think all americans, have suffered the consequences of this open border. the migrant crime, the fentanyl

overdoses, human trafficking, strained public resources, and the list goes on and on. while president trump will continue to lead the way in securing our border, congress should play a crucial role in supporting his efforts and make certain that no president can surrender our national sovereignty ever again. that's why in this -- in the senate i've introduced a slate of bills that promote securing our border. here's an example, the container act. this is something that i've had for a while. this would empower communities along our border to construct barriers that will wol prohibit -- that would prohibit illegal aliens from crossing into their communities and stop the flow of traffickers and drugs and criminals that have been coming through these

communities. when you're on the southern border, you visit ranchers and farmers and communities where they said, if we could just put a barrier up, the karener act would give them that -- karener act would give them that opportunity to put up a barrier and protect their barriers. the clear act, meanwhile, would reaffirm the authority of state and local governments to enforce federal immigration laws by apprehending, detaining and transferring illegal aliens to federal custody. it also says that the federal government has to reimbetters -- reimbetters that local law enforcement agency for that expense. while president trump's executive order remain in mexico, which requires asylum

seekers to remain in mexico while awaiting their court date, i also introduced legislation that would make this crucial policy the law of the land, requiring future administrations to support it. and, see, that's the importance of congress taking action on what the president has done by executive order is putting it in law, putting it in federal statute so that future administrations have to abide by the law and implement it. in addition, i have recently introduced the preventing violence against women, which aliens who are convicted of sexual offenses or sexual abuse.

what we learned is that under the biden administration is that hundreds of illegal criminal aliens convicted of sexual offenses entered our country. this legislation would ensure that every single one of them can be removed from this country to end the surge of human trafficking at the border and bring this modern day slavery to an end i also have brought forward a comprehensive package of bills. the prince act would give border patrol the authority to fingerprint people under the age of 14 so we can combat this horrific practice of child recycling. this is something that the cartels do. they take a child, they place them with an adult, they bring them to the border, and then

once they're across, they turn the child loose. many of these children have name, address, and phone number written in in indelible ink on their backs, on their arms. this needs to stop. to the prince act would give the border patrol the authority to use these fingerprints. and we have the end child trafficking now act, which would require a dna test to determine the relationship between illegal aliens coming across the border with children with them. both bills are crucial for ending child trafficking, and we know that between 30% and 40% of the children that presented at that border when we were doing dna testing were found to being

children -- to children being trafficked. think about that. now, the biden administration ended the practice of dna testing. when i inquired as to why they did it, the answer i got was because of the amount of time it took to do the dna test. well, it took 45 minutes. 45 minutes. but to the biden administration, pushing people across the border and into the country was more important. and now we know hhs has lost track of over 300,000 children. it is imperative that we find these children. it is imperative that we end this cross-border human trafficking of children. i also have the save girls act.

it's bipartisan. senator klobuchar has joined me on that bill, and it would provide states and local governments and nonprofits with the vital resources they need in order to help combat this trafficking of girls and women. i also have a bipartisan bill, the national human trafficking database. it would establish a national human trafficking database at the department of justice and incentivize state law enforcement agencies to report crucial data. you know, as we fight human trafficking, one of the things that we have learned from local and state law enforcement, who by the way, mr. president, this is a job that landed in their lap to do this because there was not federal enforcement. but we learned that there was no single repository for information about the

traffickers, individuals that were being apprehended. so this would establish that database. so, mr. president, we have had a busy week. the president has had a busy week, and we are grateful to president trump and vice president vance for how quickly they have moved on these issues of national security and the response they have given to the american people that, yes, they have been heard and they are taking action that the american people have wanted to see. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. quorum call:

good afternoon. today finds the democrats in disarray and we are going to find get here, real soon, if that disarray assumes to abandoning the defense of israel when it comes to an unlawful court the united states are not members of. we know, for sure, in the past, international criminal court targeted american soldiers. if we don't take a stand against that now. they will do it again. i'd like to than be senators for their leadership on this. we will hear from them in a moment. we know on the floor days of

nominations. the democrats made a big deal and blocked the nomination of john ratcliff to cia. he got 74 votes on the floor. that's the case. they can block them but we'll continue to press on and get them confirmed. they can do it the hard way or easy way. if they want to construct and delay we'll continue to grind. we will do that through the weekend if necessary. i'm hopeful on the nominations that have come out of the committees with big margins. they allow the president to get his people in place so he can implement his agenda. we will work with him to make sure that happens. i'll flip-it to our colleague senator risch.

>> the president put these blocks before when he was in office. it's been very well near a full year since the democrats obstructed this bill and i'm glad republicans in the house and senate are taking action to protect sovereignty, the sovereignty of american citizens and rights of our ally israel. a sizable number of house democrats voted for this bill not once but twice. how much, remains to be seen. when the criminal court issued arrest warrants for the prime minister, defending their country against attacks.

the i cc exceeded it mandate. just another example of politicalization and anti-semitism. the first objective of a court of justice is to recognize right from wrong. the i cc fell down on what's acome bent upon them that would put them in the same bucket and doesn't know right from wrong. this needs to end. pastime to pass the legislation and sanction those responsible for the decision and show the icc it won't tolerate -- we won't tolerate the cor resumption there. thank you very much. >> i think senator cotton is on the floor, obviously, with his

issue. quick questions. >>reporter: [inaudible] on nod t republicans to say, okay, this is the executive branch or this is the legislature branch? will we protect them in this dangerous situation to have the administration claim so much power so quickly without clarity. >> well, i think they are clarifying it. this is not unusual for an administration to pause funding and take a hard look and scrub of how these programs are being spent and interact with the

executive orders the president signed that's the main criteria, does it implicate, do the exsec tiff orders implicate funding. they have taken certain things off the table. some asked about programs that directly benefits an individual, medicaid snap. the green new deal and things like that. that's in direct contradiction with the eeos. >>reporter: the green new deal involved major infrastructure. >> they provided guidance and clarity on that. they will farther clarify what will be impacted by this. it's not unusual for an administration to pause. president biden did that with the border wall. senator risch. >> look at this from a

50,000-foot standpoint. this is a different day in washington d.c. the president of the united states would like to do something about inflation. where does it start? it starts at government overspending. particularly deficit spending. we are going in debt a trillion dollars. the best way to go after inflation is ratchet that back. this is a work in progress. take a deep breath, stay calm. everyone of the programs will be looked at. he didn't say we'll do a two year study. 90 days we will look at it. i spoke to secretary rubio and on monday because of questions from my colleagues how will this go down. the way it's working there where constant input on programs going in right now that are being looked at. one of the best things that

happened we have from foreign relations. they are running out of their cubbyholes in mass. showing us information we will try to get. this will work. we will get this done and reduce spending. >> [inaudible] >> it's for member nations and all the work they do. we are simply saying american soldiers. the u.s. and israel are not members of the icc. if they target american citizens we will impose sanctions.

there are questions around who all might be in the periphery impacted by that the united states and israel are not members of an unlawful court. they are targeting american citizens in this case targeting the prime minister of israel. we think it's important to take a stand on that. >> [inaudible] >> i think we'll get clarity with time. any of these funding decisions are not unusual for a new administration. they are pausing. taking a look at where and how money is being spent.

making sure it's being spent wisely and well in accordance with the administration plans. executive orders give guidance about the priorities and funding will follow that.

the actions and we will not stop asserting our power as an equal branch of the government. but right now today we're going to focus on one issue in particular, one that is not just alarming but actually personal to all of us here in the senate. because it concerns the capitol police each of us walk by every single day. i have made it clear i will not sit back and allow president trump to rewrite the history of the january 6 insurrection. already his justice department has taken down the public database that laid out the thousands of investigations.

he is literally trying to erase the evidence from public memory. but no president can rewrite history, not unless we stand by and let him. and that is absolutely not going to happen. we will not forget what really happened here on january 6, 2021. as we all remember, as the american people witnessed in realtime, armed insurrectionists egged on by the sitting president broke into the u.s. capitol and violently assaulted capitol police officers in their attempt to overturn a free and fair election. you do not have to take my word for it. though like many of my colleagues, i have a first-person account of that day. the reality is well-documented in videos, in photos, in case documents from thousands of people charged with felonies after that date, including assault. we know as a matter of fact some

insurrectionists brought knived, tasers, axes, hatches, pepper spray, zip ties and more. we know, as a matter of fact, some assaulted officers with flag poles, stun guns, fire extinguishers and bear spray. we know as a matter of fact that capitol police officers suffered severe injuries as a result, including cracked ribs, smashed spinal disks, brain injuries, and even the loss of an asmt officers here sacrificed tremendously to keep senators safe. republicans and democrats alike. and we have the footage, the photos, police reports that clearly show the crimes and the violence that was committed. so, mr. president, president trump's decision to pardon en masse 1,500 people charged in the insurrection is truly an

unthinkable attempt to erase the facts of that day and undermine our democracy. but it is especially heinous that he chose to pardon individuals who violently attacked our capitol police officers, not to mention commuting the sentences of 14 others, people found guilty of is he dishous conspiracy, people like enre-kay tarrio, leader of the proud boys, and stewart rhodes, leader of the oath keepers. it is a betrayal of the law enforcement that protected all of us that day and a dangerous endorsement of political violence telling criminals that you can beat cops within an inch of their lives as long as it's in service to donald trump. every one of us here owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to our capitol police. they protected our lives and they protected our democracy.

that is why we are here today to pass a resolution that makes clear the u.s. senate stands with our capitol police officers by disapproving the pardon of those who violently attack the officers who keep us safe. it is a very simple, modest resolution. it reads in its entirety, resolve that the senate disapproves of any pardons for individuals who were found guilty of assaulting capitol police officers. it is that simple. we aren't relitigating every case. this is only about people guilty of assaulting capitol police. i made this -- sure that this was short and clear, something we can pass unanimously because a message like this really should be unanimous. in fact, mr. president, to underscore how straightforward this is, i want to read it in its entirety once again. resolve, that the senate

disapproves of any pardons for individuals who are found guilty of assaulting capitol police officers. that's it, the entire thing. i don't think there's anything here for anyone to disagree with. i yield to the democratic leader. mr. schumer: well, thank you. let me thank patty murray for her leadership on this issue. now, it's become clear -- it has been clear but it's even clearer today, a pattern is emerging from donald trump's presidency, a pattern of lawlessness. he has pardoned insurrectionists, hale fired many of the government's independent watchdogs. last night he canceled billions. under donald trump it is already clear, it is a golden age, a golden age for lawlessness. today democrats will seek passage of a resolution that

says -- that talks about one aspect of this lawlessness. we simply condemn pardoning rioters who attacked our capitol police officers on january 6. my colleague, patty murray, who has done such a good job on this, read the whole resolution. how the heck can anyone object to a resolution that says we should condemn pardoning those who assaulted police officers? where's the law and order crowd? where's the people who talk about defunding the police? how do you think every police officer feels when one of their brethren is assaulted and then they're pardoned and their own senators who represent thousands and thousands of police officers each in their states won't even stand up for their fellow officer? i just hope our republican colleagues don't block this resolution. all of us, every one of us -- it doesn't matter if you're a democrat or republican, liberal or conservative -- every one of us should be able to agree that

people who attack police officers don't deserve presidential pardons. and if republicans stand in the way of this resolution, what an awful message it sends to our own capitol police, who we see every day, who work so hard to keep us safe. let's be clear. the people who invaded the capitol on january 6, whether he engaged in violence or not, committed a very serious crime. i saw them. i was within 20-30 feet of them. now, because of fear of president trump, the party on the other side says, never mind. one of the worst days in american history. there's no gray area here. and particularly when it comes to people a tack police officers. -- who attack police officers. by handing out these pardons to convicted criminals, president trump is effectively saying, you want to attack our brave police officers? that's okay. pardoning lawless rye oaters is not -- rioters is not, not, not what americans want the

president to be prioritizing. they want to see answers to problems that impact them -- inflation, good-paying jobs, a better future. and they sure as hell don't want to see omb taking away moneys that have been lawfully allocated that they desperately need in so many aspects of their lives. our capitol police deserve nothing less than our full and steadfast support for everything they don't keep us safe. the very least we can do for them is to come together and declare those convicted of attacking capitol police officers, say clearly with one voice -- let's hope -- that these people do not, do not deserve a pardon. mrs. murray: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 42, my resolution condemning the pardons for individuals who were found guilty of assaulting

capitol police officers which was submitted earlier today. further, the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there an objection? mr. barrasso: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. barrasso: mr. president, reserving the right to object, i heard the senator from washington state said we are now one week into the trump administration. mr. president, i'm very grateful we're now one week beyond the biden administration. democrats do not want a serious debate here about the use of presidential pardon power. if they did want a serious conversation, they would talk about joe biden's pardons -- over 8,000 them, mr. president. the previous president used his fine dales in office to grant clemency to 37 of 40 of the worst killers on death row. president biden said time and time again, oh, he wouldn't pardon his son hunter.

oh, no, no. not only did he pardon hunter for the crimes for which he had been convicted, he pardoned him for 10 years of his additional criminal activity, which has not yet been discovered. then minutes before leaving office, on inauguration day, joe biden gave preemptive, blanket pardons to five more members of his own family. if they weren't guilty, why would they need or accept pardons? president biden commuted the sentences of two men who killed a sussex county police officer. president biden also committee commuted the -- commuted the sentence of a killer who executed two fbi agents in cold blood. the fbi agents association said biden's pardon was, quote, a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen agents. and that they said that the biden pardon of this coldblooded

murderer was, quote, a slap in the face of law enforcement. president biden also commuted the sentence of a drug trafficker involved in the murder of an 8-year-old boy and his mother. the biden administration actually classified him, believe it minority, as a non -- believe it or not, as a nonviolent offender. even the democrat senator from connecticut said, quote, someone dropped the ball on granting that clemency. in all, more than 8,000 criminals were pardoned or had their sentences reduced by joe biden. now, that's more than any other president in history. it isn't even close. this resolution that the senate is asked to consider today does not condemn the biden abuse of the pardon power. it does not condemn the pardons or the commutations of police

officer killers, of murderers, of rapists. it ignores the pain and suffering of the victims and their families. i oppose, as do my colleagues on this side of the aisle, any violence against police officers. i oppose pardons of violent criminals. these officers deserve our thanks hand our prayers -- and our prayers. they deserve not to be used in political games, games like the ones that the senate democrats are playing today on this very floor. democrats should be ashamed and democrats should be embarrassed. and, therefore, mr. president, i object. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: objection is is heard. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i am deeply frustrated that is the response we got today. we cannot agree on something as simple as standing by the officers who keep this building safe, officers every one of us walk by every day? there are officers standing outside the floor right now

keeping watch as we are forced to debate whether it was not okay to pardon the people that violenting attacked them. i don't know how my colleagues who oppose this simple resolution can look them in the eye. it is insulting enough that speaker johnson, someone who has a dedicated 24/7 detail, has refused to put up the plaque honoring the brave officers who kept us safe four years ago. but the fact that we can't pass a resolution as simple as the one i presented today, the fact that we can't all agree that we should side with the people that keep us safe over the people who were attacking us is disgraceful. it is unworthy of this body and unworthy of the sacrifice our capitol police have demonstrated time and again. we owe them better. i will not stop pushing to make sure we show them we understand that. the president may be able to grant pardons a, commute sentences, delete databases, but i will tell you here, he can take no action that will erase

the past unless we let him. and as long as i can stand, as long as i can speak, as long as i am here, i will not let him or anyone rewrite the history of the january 6 resurrection or erase the important lessons that we must learn from it. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i rise in support of the resolution offered by my colleague from the state of washington. i thank her for that. this is personal. for many of us, it's personal. we were here on the senate floor on january 6, 2021. vice president pence was presiding. i was sitting at this very desk. a few minutes after 2:00, the secret service came in and literally removed him from his chair. we knew there were demonstrations outside, but we didn't know how serious or how

violent they'd become. a few minutes after that, a capitol policeman stood in front of this chamber and said to all of us, stay in this room. just take your seats. this is going to be a safe room. there will be many people coming in here. we'll keep them safe. we didn't know what was happening outside but we knew something serious was going on. we waited another ten mens. the same capitol policeman said, a change of orders. leave immediately and exit through that door. we all filed out headed for one of the buildings on capitol hill where there was a safe space for members of the senate to meet. i wasn't sure what was going on in the house of representatives. i still don't know all the details. but the reality was the mob, the insurrectionist mob were taking over the capitol. thousands of people were storming into this building not for peaceful demonstration by any means, but sadly for violence and destruction. that day was the worst day i can recall in the history of the

senate in terms of respect for this building that has become a symbol not only for the united states, but for the world, for peace and democracy. and i thought of those poor capitol policemen who were asked to defend us with their lives. they were asked to risk their lives for us, and they did. four or five of them lost their lives as a result of it and over 140 were seriously injured. some of the things that were done to them were outrageous. you've seen the videotape. we saw it as they tore down bu building structures, as they beat up on these cops, as many of them faced death and knew at the time it was that serious. the grimace reality of those riots was the subsequent death of five of these law enforcement officers and the injuries to

approximately 140 others, many of whom still pay that price to this day. last week president trump, who incited the violence, commuted the sentences of 14 individuals and granted full, complete, and unconditional pardons to approximately 1500 others convicted of offenses related to the january 6 attack. many of the perpetrators have shown stunning lack of remorse following the assault on the brave u.s. capitol police. for example, last august david dempsey, just a few hours after receiving a 240-prison sentence for attacking police on january 6 with a flagpole, crutches, pepper spray, pieces of furniture, called into a gathering of supporters from outside the d.c. jail in reference to trump's opponents mr. dempsey said, quote, don't

celebrate too hard man because the sentence is only going to last like six months. he knew that if president trump were elected and had the power, he would pardon him, despite what he had done to the capitol police. devlin thompson attempted to throw a speaker at police officer which ended up hitting and injuring a fellow rioter and hit a police officer with a metal baton. daniel d.j. rodriguez, a california man who drove a stun gun into an officer's neck during one of the most violent clashes of the capitol riot was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison before president trump granted him clemency. andrew tack can i pepper sprayed police officers and hit one with a metal whip. he was supposed to serve 34 months in federal p prison in beaumont, texas but p was pardoned by president trump. these are a few that president trump decided to pardon.

the list of crimes committed by these thugs goes on for pages and pages of court document. winston churchill said once those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. that is why we must continue l sounding the alarm on the violence and chaos of that day to ensure it never happens again. we must also be it clear that violence for political purposes is never, never acceptable. it has no place in democracy. the men and women who bravely defended the members of this body deserve more and we should honor them for their heroic efforts, not excuse the thugs who attacked this body and the ideals it represents. president trump was wrong in pardoning these men who attacked the police. i thank senator murray for introducing this resolution condemning president trump's pardons of january 6 of the insurrectionists who assaulted our brave law enforcement officers, and i'm disgusted, disgusted that our republican colleagues won't join us in

honoring the men and now women who risk their lives every single day for us. they risk their lives for us. and senator murray has asked us to recognize that fact and say violence against them is never acceptable. we couldn't even get a bipartisan vote for that. it's a shame it's reached that point, but it has. i yield the floor a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kelly: mr. president, i stand before you today as the son of two police officers. growing up in our family, service always came first. my mom was actually the first woman to become a police officer in our hometown of west orange, new jersey. before that, she was working as a secretary and a waitress, often at the same time. her becoming a cop meant more

money for our family. it literally changed our lives. one day my mom was seriously injured in the line of duty. when on patrol she got a call about a burglary at a department store, she rushed to that store to help. the criminal attacked her, attacked her pretty badly. she was injured, and her injuries forced her to retire. it ended her career. now that was a risk that she took for her community as a police officer. these are the same risks we see officers make every single day across our country. all 50 states, all the territories, and here in washington, d.c. our new jersey community and her union, they had her back.

the very idea of her attacker being let off the hook would have been outrageous. it would have been shocking. and it's almost impossible to imagine because it simply would have never happened. and yet, that's exactly what did happen when the president, donald trump, pardoned hundreds of criminals who violently assaulted capitol police officers and d.c. police officers on january 6. that was his priority on day one of his presidency. it wasn't to lower the price of gas or groceries or housing. it was to let violent criminals off the hook for storming this building and attacking the police, leaving many of them

bleeding and bruised, or worse. in some cases much, much worse. now how does this line up with backing the blue? i don't get it. these pardons are an insult to every man and woman, like my parents, who served and serve our country in law enforcement. president trump is sending a message that violence against cops is okay when it's done for him. that is a message that all of us must reject unequivocally. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, i rise together with my colleagues to speak in opposition to the president's position pardoning those who attacked the capitol on january 6, 2021. i was here that day, share that day with my colleagues and we have memories we never would have imagined and hope never to repeat. but i'm not going to talk about my experiences of the day. i'm going to talk about a friend, a virginian, howie liebengood, a capitol police officer who spent his career protecting this building and who died as a result of that day. and the fact that president trump would pardon the people who attacked this capitoling leading to howie liebengood's death is a deep stain on president trump and frankly a stain on this body if we tolerate it. howie liebengood was a virginian who grew up in this building.

his father was the sergeant at arms of the united states senate, and prior to assuming that role worked in other roles in the senate. howie and his two siblings grew up coming to the capitol and treating it like it was sort of their mrap ground and their -- their playground and their yard, running through the halls, meeting senators, hearing their dad tell stories about what it was like to serve this article 1 branch as a patriotic american public servant. when howie came of age, he started a career that he enjoyed and worked together with his father for a number of years as a nascar driver. he worked on the nascar circuit, kind of working his way up from minor league races to more significant races. but after a number of years of doing that, look, he was a child of the united states senate. he was a child of this capitol, and he is decided that he would enter the training program to be a capitol police officer.

and he told his siblings -- by this time his father had passed -- he told his siblings, i think my dad would be very, very proud of me. howie went through the academy and became a capitol police officer. and i came to know him, as i suspect many of my colleagues did, because he be usually was staffing the delaware door at the corner of delaware and constitution right here. this is a door, i know senator murray's office is close to that door, maybe the closest to that door and mine is close as well. we would come in in the morning and howie liebengood would be there to greet us, ask us about the procedural vote the night before, what was on today. as much as he was a friend of mine, he was even more of a friend of my staff. my staff loved interacting with howie. and he eventually served as a capitol police officer for 15 years. he was here on january 6, when

his beloved capitol was attacked. and as devastating as that attack was for many of us, for howie , who had made this place his whole life, who had really been raised in these halls, that attack was very devastating. in the aftermath of the attack, those working on the capitol police were put on extended hours, little sleep. would there be more attacks? where is this going? what would happen? it was a time of fear and anxiety and confusion. and a few days later, within three days after that attack of january 6, howie went to his home in virginia, his wife serena asked if he was doing okay. she could tell he was under enormous stress. he said he just needed to sleep. and howie went upstairs, and using his own service revolver, ended his life. howie liebengood would be alive

today -- howie liebengood would be alive today if president trump hadn't urged people to gather to do something wild in washington, d.c. on january 6, 2021, and then urge those gathering to go up and raise hell at the capitol. my friend would be alive if president trump had not done what he did. i've waited in vain, not naively, but with a hope that there might be some, some sign of remorse over what happened for the pain suffered by serena liebengood and howie 's siblings and family members. four other law enforcement officers, all of whom lived in virginia, lost their life as a result of that day. dozens of others were injured. and i have waited for years to see if there might be some

semblance of remorse shown by the president who inspired that attack for the damage and pain and loss of life and injury that he's caused, and i've seen not a shred of it. but these pardons are the ultimate injustice, are the ultimate injury. the families still suffering for them, it's salt in an unhealed wound and an injury that will never heal. and so i join with my colleagues in howie 's memory, in support of serena, in support of howie 's family to stand on this floor and deplore as strongly as i can -- and words aren't suffer to really explain how i feel about this, but i stand here to deplore as strongly as i can the pardons of these lawbreakers who gathered for a particular time at a particular moment, in a particular place to conduct

violence in the cause of a particular result -- the overturning of the peaceful transfer of power. as i sit down, mr. president, i'll just say this, i lived in a military dictatorship in 1980 and 1981 in honduras when the military ran everything. i know what authoritarianism is. i didn't live there for years like my honduran friends but i experienced it. i was very naive. i was 22 years old and saup what it's like to have a society run by somebody who believes they can foment violence, who can make sure that those who the commit violence escape with impunity. i know what this is like, and' are in danger of moving into the same kind of authoritarian behavior when we casually pardon and excuse those who perpetrate violence to overturn our demo democracy. that's a big concept, but it all comes down to the effect it has

on individual people like my friend howie liebengood. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, many of us who were here on january 6 have pretty indelible mem memories. i'm looking at senator murray, who had particularly harrowing memories. one of mine is i was one of the last people out of the senate, and by the time we got to the room where we were sequestered for our own protection from the mob, colleagues were irate, and they had been frightened. there is footage of republican senators running through the halls to get away from the mob.

i remember one of our colleagues shouting out that we should get back over here to vote, even if it meant protestors would have to be shot. again, a republican. there were 600 of the rioters who committed violence on police officers, nearly 200 of them used weapons. they were convicted of this after all proper, fair procedures, in an american court of law. and then the notion of pardons started to come up, and we were basically shushed by our republican colleagues -- oh, that will never happen. the vice president said, if you committed violence on january 6, you shouldn't be pardoned. in fact, he said, obviously,

obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned. and another colleague in the judiciary committee chastised democrats for asking the attorney general nominee what would she do with respect to the violent january 6 protestors? would she recommend that the president pardon them? and we were chastised for the absurdity of that question. that is a, quote, absurd and unfair hypothetical to even ask. over in the house, jim jordan said that he didn't think anybody violent was going to be par pardoned. i think, he said, he's going to focus on all the people who didn't commit any violence. another colleague on the judiciary committee said he was

against any such pardons for people who assaulted cops, threw stuff at cops, broke down doors, broke windows. we heard this cascade of denial from the other side about these pardons. it was unfathomable that he would do this. it was wrong that he would do this. it was absurd that he would do this. and then he did it. and what happened? well, two things happened -- one, over a thousand people who have demonstrated their wil willingness to commit acts of political violence at the behest of donald trump were set loose on the streets. we haven't heard the last of them. there may be another call to arms. will be wild, be there.

we haven't heard the last of them. but just the leading edge in only the week since we've been there, one's already been arrested for a violence confrontation with police off officers, another was killed in a shooting incident when he refused to be arrested and engaged police officers with a weapon, and a third is in rhode island in our aci, in our adult correctional institute, for having challenged police officers in an armed stand-off. now, he was in prison when he was pardoned. nobody in this pardon operation thought to understand that this guy actually was convicted again of violence against police officers and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment in my state. so, we know there's going to be more violence from these people. we know that trump now has an

on-call assault team that he can use to launch political violence, just the way he did on january 6, and this is a dangerous situation. this ought to be the easiest vote in the world. how you can even walk through these halls and look at our capitol police officers in the eye, the ones who were there, the ones who took their lives in their hands to steer the mob away from vulnerable senators, how you can look them in the eye if you haven't supported this, i don't know. there's a word in the english language, subservans. i think we need a new word called trump subserviance. things you know you shouldn't do but you do because you are frightened of trump or want to suck up to him. this is not a great moment. there is an effort, frankly, to

erase that incident. for a long time, oh, just peaceful protestors, this was all, you know, happy people coming in to visit the capitol, fun and games. yeah, so fun that we had senators running down the aisles to get away from them? so fun that to get back into this building we had armed swat officers with automatic weapons lining the entire pathway back from where we were secured into this chamber? just remember what our colleagues were saying in that time period, but the effort to rerace this -- erase this moment goes on. it occurred recently in the judiciary committee when the attorney general nominee said that there had been a peaceful transfer of power. like january 6 never happened. i asked a question for the record, asked her to explain that. she said, well, on inauguration day it was peaceful. you remember why it was peaceful

on inauguration day? because we had the capitol of the united states surrounded by more soldiers, more police officers, more fencing, more snipers, more law enforcement and military safety people than had probably been the case since the civil war. and yet, now everything's peaceful. we cannot forget what happened here. it is wrong to forget what happened here. it is an insult to this capitol to forget what happened here. it is an insult to the men and women of the capitol policemaned and the d.c. -- police department, and the d.c. policemaned and the others -- d.c. police department and the others who came to fill in when they were overwhelmed by those brutal rioters. i'm glad senator murray did this. i appreciate very much the opportunity to speak on their behalf, both for the sake of those police officers and the sake of the truth and for the sake of our history here. this deserves to be remembered.

i yield the floor. mr. schiff: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. schiff: eight days ago, democracy and the rule of law were dealt another blow. it wasn't at the hands of a mob this time. no bear spray. no battering rams. no chants of hang mike pence or where is nancy echoing through these halls. this time when the blow came, it ma made barely a sound. no screaming rioters in military garb and viking helmets. only a president with a suit and tie with a demure flourish of a pen. eight days ago president trump pardoned over 1500 people who assaulted this capitol, brute lyzed police officers and saw to

overflow a free and fair laboring. amongst them, the ringleaders of the proud boys and oath keepers, violent unrepentant white nationalists who orchestrated an insurrection. some convicted of seditious conspiracy, others of beating police officers, of dragging them into a mob, of bear-spraying them, of crushing them in a resolving door, horrifying, sickening stuff. and with the flick of a wrist, their benefactor, their inspi inspiration, donald trump, erased their crimes and handed them something unthinkable in a democratic society -- be a solution in the -- absolution in the form of pardons and clemency. this was not mercy, this was madness. 1550 pardons. 1550 acts of be asolution for

those who committed violence against our constitution and those who swore to defend it. 1550 get out of jail free cards handed to individuals who tried to overturn a free and fair election. and make no mistake, these pardons were a promise, a promise that if you commit violence in donald trump's name, you'll be protected, you'll be hailed, even glorified for your violence. a promise that no matter how egregious your actions on behalf of this president may be, accountability will not find you. a promise that america will now have to live with the fear that january 6 may not be the last of the violence in service of this president. mr. president, senator kaine was saying we have seen what happens when democracies falter, when leaders resort to violence and when those who are meant to stop

them lose their will. when those who defy the rule of law are exalted instead of prosecuted. history is littered with the wreckage of nations whose leaders decided violence for them was more important than justice, more important than the law, more important than the people. and sadly, these pardons are not the last action the president will take to bend and subvert the rule of law to his will. already we've seen this president and his justice department fire those who led a completely justified investigation into him, which led to indictments, and if allowed to proceed to a jury would likely have led to his conviction. we've seen his justice department announce an investigation into the investigators and those who prosecuted important cases against january 6 violent criminals. we've seen this justice department, his justice

department, reassign those who were viewed as not loyal enough. and we will see a lot more before the week, the month, and the year are out, much more. if we are to remain a democracy, we had better see much more done to stop it. in this body, in this vital check on the power of the executive, we must see more done to stop it. we must draw a line here. we must draw a line now. the vice president argued that these pardons are about liberty. they are not. i ask you what does liberty look like to the police officer who was beaten with a pole that once held the flag he was sworn to defend? what does liberty look like to the congressional staff who barricaded themselves in their offices, listening to the chaos outside? what does liberty look like to

the families of those who died as a result of the violence that day? liberty and justice don't come from pardoning the perpetrators of violence. it comes from ensuring that violence is not repeated, condoned, absolved. the question before us is simple, one that our founders answered correctly, and that today we must answer again -- are we a nation of laws? or are we a nation of men? or more specifically of one man, above accountability, beyond reproach? because, make no mistake, we cannot be both. what does it say if the senate cannot and will not pass such a straightforward recognition of the law enforcement officers who protect us? or a condemnation of the rioters who attacked them and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of

power? it says that we are willing to see our cherished legacy die with a whimper, one sordid be asolution after another. it is really that simple. i urge my colleagues to join me, to join us in condemning this most grotesque abuse of power. condemn these pardons. i yield back. ms. klobucher: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobucher: i thank the senator from washington and senators schumer and durbin for bringing us together to condemn the pardons and what happened, but i also want to first express my dissatisfaction about what's happening with this administration in just the first week. it was only a week ago that we

gathered in the capitol rotunda, and as i said that day, there's a reason we have three branches of government under the constitution. and the first article is article 1 that establishes the congress and makes very clear our job to have people's backs. and what has happened with an order in the milled of -- middle of the night, just a letter from a bureaucrat in which one person can what? basically get ahead of the constitution. i think we have gathered today to say no. this has real consequences for people's lives. i think about the mom who didn't know this morning if she can send her kid to child care. i think about the teenl ager -- teenager and i was contacted about this in a cancer study. i think about the woman in an abusive relationship who has nowhere to go because a domestic

violence shelter couldn't take her in. we heard today from a domestic violence center that could not help today. we think about what we saw them doing in los angeles over the past month. grants that pay for their equipment, funding that pays for them to allow them to hire fire thes. this is not -- fire the dr firefighters. this is not acceptable. it is congress's job to effect funding through both chambers. the laws we're dealing with here had bipartisan support, that's how they got in when we had one house that was republican and one house that was democratic. now it's switched, they're both republican. but the money and funding was supported by both parties.

the american people have sent us here to represent our constituents and that is what we are doing. so this chaos that we've seen today with multiple groups and people not knowing what was happening reminds me that the last trump administration we saw the same thing. just a few days ago, the president issued blanket pardons for the insurrectionists who desecrated this very building on january 6, 2021. it is a shocking disrespect for the rule of law and those who defend our democracy. i have been critical of pardons from presidents of both parties. i think we need pardon reform. while it is the power of the president, when you look at governors do, they have commissions set up on the recommendations, you can have the power to pardon, but you can make recommendations on look at

these cases on a case-by-case basis. so january 6 and the assault on our democracy. many of us was there. i was with senator blunt, the former senator of missouri, and we were the ones at 3:00 p.m. 30 in the morning when everyone walked home with vice president pence. it was just the three of us and three young women holding the mow hog any -- mow hag any boxes, and in the morning when we made that walk, it was a celebration, pomp and circumstance, everyone following behind us. that night we had officers with scratches on their faces, over 100 injured. and we made that walk over broken glass. but we made that walk and

democracy prevailed. part of that democracy was to make sure that those who violated the law, those who assaulted the police officers, those who had members of our staff, people always focus on the members of congress, but so many members of our staff were hiding. my staff hiding in the little kitchen downstairs with knives in their hands for three hours behind a door. two of them in this little closet off the kitchen. that story was repeated throughout the capitol. these were assaults. this was a violent mob that attacked our democracy and attacked brave men and women of the capitol police who were defending it. over the last four years, i have led bipartisan hearings to examine the events and the security failures. i did that with senator blunt and senator portman and senator

peters. we have recommendations that came out of the inspector general and dozens that came out of our committees, and chief major has met the challenge, all 103 recommendations. we have increased morale. we have more police officers, we hired hundreds more and then the gut punch of these pardons. the gut punch to justice. the gut punch to these police officers. they were the heroes that day, not the criminals that stormed the capitol because they didn't like the election result. to pardon of these criminals, many of them convicted of very serious felonies is to endorse political violence. it is a slap in the face of the men and women of law enforcement who showed true patriotism that day, and it is truly an affront tower democracy. thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor.

mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, we have several other colleagues who will come later to speak about this as well. i want to thank everyone who is here today. we want to make it very clear. we will not forget what happened on january 6. i don't care what records they erased or what stories they want to tell. this country cannot forget. today we are here simply to say that the senate disapproves of the pardons of the individuals who were found guilty of assaulting capitol police officers. i'm disappointed that our republican colleagues today refused to join us. thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor. you, you for .

special you to. coming.you for .

last night, president trump plunged the country into chaos. accrual nasty and illegal chaos. without a shred of warning the trump administration announced a call to virtually all federal grants and loans across the country. in an instant with no precedent, no justification, no legal grounds, donald trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions of dollars that held american families every single day. it is cruel. it is reckless. and this money supports states and cities, school boards, hospitals, small businesses, families, firefighters, police officers. so many things just.

law-enforcement aid to the elderly support for veterans, this decision is lawless, it is destructive, it is dangerous, it is cruel. it is illegal and it is unconstitutional. donald trump has done a lot about things the last week. but nothing is worse than this. it is nothing less damn project 2025 by another name. remember when project 2025 came out during the campaign, somehow the public found out about it. 60% knew what it was and they hated it. and, yet, this is the same thing in another. same types of slashes for things that are people. who are they putting in charge, the bottle washer of 2025 russell boat. to implement it. so you know what they are up to

and you know that the american people hate it. people are scrambling in all of our states to figure out what it means. i have gotten hundreds of calls from everybody. head start, hospitals, firefighters. what does this mean, people are worried. people are in a panic about it. and many of our groups that get the money whether they be governments or businesses or nonprofits, they have to make mortgage payments, they have to pay their staff, they have to keep operations running. what do you think when you heard the funding was cut, just about any organization whetherth it ia school, state, police department , fire, hospital, it depends on federal grant money to run its day-to-day operations now in danger. this morning thanks to donald trumpeg, healthcare for seniors and veterans is at risk. thanks to donald trump last

transit workers getting to and from work will have a difficult time. under attack. it was under attack not just metaphorically, it was actually under physical attack on that day by rioters who bore pipes and baseball bats, and, yes, first time, and physically battered this place and they threatened every one of us who were here. they did more than threaten the police officers who defended the capitol that day. they actually assaulted those police officers. they attacked them brutally. sometimes with their own shields or with the arms that they brought with them, and they did

lasting, severe injuries to a number of them. and in some enassistances contribute -- instances contributed to their deaths. the mob violently attacked those police officers, punching them, kicking them, choking them, pepper spraying them, plunging stun guns into their necks, beating them with all kinds of weapons, including flag poles, hockey sticks, as well as those baseball bats. many of us have heard capital police officers recount their feelings on that day. terror, fear, guilt. they thought they would die. many thought that would be their last day. and some phoned their families to tell them as much.

these brave officers suffer from severe and lasting injuries and trauma. five died in the aftermath. all experienced some form of very severe pain and trauma. nearly 600 rioters were charged with assaulting law enforcement officers. 170 of them were charged with using a deadly weapon or a dangerous weapon to commit the assault. true, they were not charged with killing anyone, but those charges against them were serious and severe and they were convicted by juries of everyday americans who were instructed properly as to the law by judges who were simply following those statutes on the books.

and they convicted those defendants, insurists -- insurrectionists, rioters, in proceedings that have been reaffirmed on appeal where they were appealed or where there were guilty pleas and acknowledgments of responsibility from some. and now with clearly callous regard for the justice system, for those juries, for the prosecutors, for the judges, for the rule of law, the president has gifted them, gifted them, quote, full, complete, and unconditional pardons. full, complete, and unconditional pardon, even after those proceedings, lawfully convicting them. shame on him.

these sickening pardons are the ultimate show of disrespect for our police officers and a clear endorsement of political violence. his actions normalize political violence. they condone it. maybe even encourage it because from now on, those kinds of rioters who disrupt the lawful and peaceful transition of power or any other functioning of our government can at least hope for and under this president maybe expect that they will never be held accountable. these pardons are a betrayal not only of these officers, the capitol police on that day who defended and protected us and who literally were going to lay down their lives for our

democracy, these indecent pardons show that it is past time for congress to enact reform and implement restraints on the pardon power. america elects presidents, not kings, with unfetterred power. the pardon power was lift ed, taken from england by the founders who saw the practice in the monarchy at that time. it was one of the only powers, maybe unique among powers in being totally unchecked. we need accountability and transparency, starting with this resolution. transparency and accountability starting here. but we also need the measure that i proposed, the pardon transparency and accountability

act, that will pose some guardrails and safeguards, a statement by the president explaining why he is doing a specific pardon because it's supposed to be an individualized judgment. and then a justice impact statement that gives the victim of that crime or any related offense the opportunity to be heard and state a position, the prosecutors an opportunity to state a view and a disclosure as to what lobbying, maybe even campaign contributions have been involved. ultimately, and i know we're speaking to history here, there needs to be a change in the constitution, an amendment that in effect shares that pardon power with other branchs of government. it may be that pardons are appropriate, whether it's an

exercise of mercy or ultimate justice or recognition of rehabilitation, for whatever reason, maybe we need the pardon power. but it should not be unchecked and absolute in the present. we are limited as to what we can do in reform because it is in the constitution and what we can do without a constitutional amendment by statute is simply to require some explanation and a justice impact statement and fuller disclosure, more transparency and accountability in the limited ways that the constitution permits. but we need to begin with this resolution today, right away. i urge my republican colleagues who are protected on that -- who were protected on that awesomely terrible day and who are now silent, they are silent in the

face of these sickening pardons, to join us. come with us in condemning the violence that occurred and stand with the officers, the police, the law enforcement, stand with the blue and condemn the violence of that day. stand with the officers who put their lives on the line and who suff suffered injury, maiming, and some deaths in the aftermath. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. a senator: thank you, mr. president. mr. murphy: you know, the murder rate in the united states, the global murder rate today is

infinitesimal, a fraction of what it was 200 years ago, 400 years ago, 600 years ago, a fraction of what it likely was in the bronze age or in the days when native tribes patrolled this land. what we've seen over the course of global history is that human beings have decided that instead of advancing our social power or our economic power or our political power through violence, instead we are going to have law and order. we're going to have economies that reward merit. we're going to punish people who disobey those laws to protect the rest of us. and that served us really, really well. today you are fundamentally less likely to be attacked, to be murdered by a neighbor, by somebody that you have a contest with than you were centuries

ago. donald trump is throwing that out the window. donald trump is throwing out the window the idea that we only advance ourselves politically or economically or socially through nonviolent means. because what happened last week is that donald trump said to this country, if you use violence on my behalf, you're off the hook. if you beat the hell out of police officers, if you pound them over the head with metal poles, if you yank them by the neck and drag them into a crowd, hold them down so that people can stomp on them, if you taser police officers to the point that they suffer a heart attack, as long as you are doing that to advance my political power, you're off the hook.

the people that walked out of jail last week were convicted of vic viciously violent crimes. and, yes, there were plenty of people who were convicted who didn't engage in that horrific violence, but i was here in this chamber that day. i remember all of my republican colleagues running out the door just like democrats did. i don't remember any of my republican colleagues staying in the chamber to greet the tourist s. everybody knew that our safety was in jeopardy. democrats certainly knew our safety was in jeopardy because as we found out, many of those prot protesters were looking for democrats. one of the most violent protesters who was let out of jail last week in the middle of his sentence, after he had

beaten up police officers, went to the gallows, went to the noose that was constructed and posted on social media too bad no democrats here. if you beat up a police officer for reasons other than perpetuating donald trump's power, you're still in jail. the only people who beat up police officers in the year 2021 that got let out of jail last week, the only ones were the ones that beat up police officers to help donald trump. that send as clear signal that your violence is excused if it's for donald trump's political purposes. and that puts all of our lives in jeopardy. that puts our democracy in jeopardy when violence is excused. and what we are learning in the

days following that unconscionable executive order, pardoning the rioters, not some of the rioters, everybody, is that it's part of a plan. listen, i have done a lot of work across the aisle. i have such respect for my republican colleagues. i spent hours, weeks, days sitting in rooms negotiating immigration bills and voting bills and public safety bills, but, man, you are watching this president try to seize power right now, try to make us irrelevant, try to suppress political dissent. what happened last night is part of a story. the president can't be the only person in charge of who gets money or not in this country. that's corrupt because then the

president can dole out money to his political friends or the friends of his billionaire friends, can dole out money to stateswith senators that are loyal to him and can punish companies that are competitors with his billionaire friends or punish states represented by people who are disloyal to him. that's not how our democracy works. we're in charge of making sure that task pair money is spread out -- taxpayer money is spread out. it has nothing to do with loyalty or disloyalty to the leader. a couple of days ago all the inspector generals just not fired. that's illegal but they all got fired. why? because if you're going to engage in corruption inside these agencies, you don't want anybody to be watching and so you've got to put this next to each other. you've got to understand the story. if you're trying to transition our democracy to a government in

which only one person is in charge, you permit people to engage in violence on your behalf so as to intimidate the opposition into being silent -- and i'm just going to tell you, if you don't believe this, there are a lot of folks who don't support donald trump who are not going to show up to rallies, who are not going to participate in politics because they just lettered that if they do and somebody hurts them, that person might be let off the hook. you excuse violence, you arrange government so you can operate in darkness and you rig the rules so that nobody is in charge with dispensing money except for you. violence is a legitimate tool of politics. one person in charge of doling out money. government decisions made in secret.

that's not a democracy. that is a recipe for corruption. for corruption. and so, yes, i am fuming mad about how my republican colleagues talk about law and order and then mostly, with a few exceptions, either remain silent when the most violent january 6 protesters get pardons or celebrate those pardons. but i list want to be clear -- but i also want to be clear that it stands in a context, a context of actions taken during this first week, that are undermining our democracy to the point of putting it on the brink, the possible extinction as a means for fundamental corruption to take place inside our government. that should be unacceptable. that is unacceptable. and i'm thankful to senator

murray and others for bringing this down to the floor to raise this alarm bell. i yield the floor. ms. cortez masto: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. ms. cortez masto: thank you, mr. president. you know, i'm so appreciative of my colleagues coming down here to talk about not only the january 6 pardons, what president trump has done, but to stand with the men and women in law enforcement. you know, when i'm home quite often, i will hear at times that, well, democrats don't support law enforcement. they don't support the men and women who keep our communities safe. and that's just not true. as you can see today. but here's what i know, and this is

why this is devastating, i think, to so many men and women who not only are capitol police officers right here, that defended this capitol on january 6, that stand guard to protect us, but, honestly, for all of the men and women in law enforcement across this country who are paying attention and watching what this president does. will he have their back when the time comes? will he be there to truly support them in their time of need, when they are doing their jobs, like he says he will? now, we have spent the last decade hearing donald trump talk about law and order and cracking down on crime. and last fall, on a national podcast, he called for giving our law enforcement back their

dignity. he said, we need to give them their dignity back. and just last week at the white house at a press conference, he claimed to be a friend of the police. well now, donald trump has been in office for just one week, although i'll be truthful, it seems like longer. but it's just been one week. and already his actions have made it crystal clear that he does not mean what he says. in fact, from his actions that we have seen so far, he has actively -- he is actively working against the men and women in law enforcement, and not only here that work at this capitol but across this country. let me put this in starker terms that i think my republican colleagues will understand. mr. president, nevada families across my state have been torn

apart by dangerous drugs like methamphetamines and opioids, and that's true for so many families across the country, including, mr. president, in your own state. and it doesn't matter if they're democrats, republicans, they're libertarians, or independents. illicit drug trafficking is impacting everyone in this country. but last week, just last week, donald trump pardoned the founder of silk road. what is silk road? it is an underground internet site that oversaw the trafficking of two million -- excuse me, $200 million in illegal drugs and other illicit trade. the founder of silk trade was convicted by a jury of his peers and sentenced to life in president of the united states on for -- in prison for

participating in a criminal organization and distributing narcotics and the internet. in fact, we know, after that trial, that some americans died after purchasing those illicit drugs on that website. a website that was specifically designed to skirt the law and support criminal activity. but now this founder, the founder of that website, who was sentenced to life in prison, is walking free because donald trump pardoned him. donald trump giving a full, uncountrial pardon to this -- unconditional pardon to this drug dealer and criminal profiteer is a slap in the face to the victims of this crisis and to law enforcement who work to protect our communities and to keep our communities safe. what donald trump has done is not law and order; it is chaos.

and it is not just with one party. donald trump has pardoned more than 130 individuals -- 130 -- who were convicted of assaulting police officers and some of them right here at the capitol. like my colleagues you've heard, i was here that day. i will never forget it. i remember in the capitol running into one of those police officers who had been pepper sprayed by a rioter in donald trump's mob, and at the same time while he was washing out his eyes, he was reassuring us senators that, don't worry, i've got your back, and i am standing guard. and he ran back out to the front of the capitol. he was doing his job that day. but you know what else happened that day? as we all saw -- we saw it on tv -- and those of us that were here, we either saw it personally or later found out --

that those rioters and those insurrectionists, they actually came to the capitol with weapons and zip ties. now you if anybody knows what a zip tie is, that's a handcuff. what were these rioters doing with weapons and zip ties coming into our capitol? they used wd-40 and bear spray on our officers. perfect example -- the officer i saw that morning. and they assaulted our officers with american flags, american flags. they were beating them with these poles of these american flags. this is not some political conspiracy that donald trump would like to rewrite. this -- these were insurrectionists. we all know. they posted it online. you saw these videos. if you didn't watch it realtime on tv, you saw those videos. we saw them shoving, punching, attacking our law enforcement,

and now instead of serving their time and facing the consequences for the dangerous action that they committed against our officers, donald trump is telling them that not only were they wrongfully punished but, in fact, their behavior on that day is encouraged by him. as long as -- listen, think about this h it's encouraged by him as long as they're doing his bidding, as long they're doing his bidding, he does not have the back of our law enforcement officers. crim criminals convicted of attacking law enforcement are now giving tv interviews -- you've heard from some of my clearly, they're givi this is an endorsement of political violence. these actions, what president trump has done, is an

endorsement of political violence. and, quite honestly, it is an insult to the men and women whoific ared their lives -- who risk their lives every day to keep our families safe. why do i know that? you don't have to you don't have to -- you don't have to, you don't have to trust what i'm saying. i cannot imagine anyone here in this room, when you have a problem, you have a concern, the safety of your family and friends, at home, where every you are, what's the first call you make? to 911, to get a law enforcement to come and stand and protect you. i happen to know many law enforcement officers personally because i've spent a good part of my career as a prosecutor, not only here in this u.s. capitol but as the attorney general of the state of nevada. i've spent most of my life working with some great men and women in law enforcement. oh, and by the way, i'm married to one. my husband worked in federal law enforcement his entire career,

and like the men and women in law enforcement, his priority for doing his job was to keep people safe. because that's what our law enforcement does, that's what they're trained to do, to put their lives on the line every single time -- every single time to keep our communities safe. and let me just say, it is not just the law enforcement officers. this is not just a slap in the face to those officers. it is to their families because when you are the spouse or the loved one of an officer that gets that call, sometimes in the middle of the night, and they are going out to address some sort of crime or activity that is happening in their community to keep our communities safe, you don't know if they're coming back. there are two calls, the worst kind you can get as the spouse of a law enforcement officer. the first one is from your spouse saying, i'm in the

hosp the second one is not from your spouse but it's from another law enforcement officer telling you that your husband or wife went out on a call and didn't come back. the sacrifices not only of our officers but their loved ones need to be considered, and if we truly believe in law enforcement and we truly believe that we should support them because they put their lives on the lines every single day, then we should stand to have their backs, no matter how difficult it is, no matter your politics, no matter what is happening. we should always be there to support them. now, you can imagine from what i am saying and my personal back ground, that i will always stand up for law enforcement. i've passed legislation to

support public safety under both adminis administrations, democracy -- democratic and republican. listen, i've heard some of my colleagues call out president biden's pardons as an excuse not call out donald trump's pardons. but let me just say, i disagreed publicly with president biden. i disagreed publicly granting pardons to his family. i disagreed publicly when he gave clemency to leonard public health -- leonard peltier when he was granted clemency for killing two fbi agents. and i'll tell you what, i also spoke out when president biden nominated adil mungi to be a

federal judge. i did not support him because of his affiliation with a group that wanted to let cop killers out of prison. now, that was me standing up for law enforcement. believe me when i say this is not partisan. this is about standing up for the men and women who put their lives had on the line every day, despite the fact that you may be in the same party of the ongoing president. it shouldn't be hard. listen, everybody knows, everyone knows that you talk to in your communities, you commit a violent crime in our community, you should face the consequences. but, you know what, don't take my word for it. there are many police organizations out there. one ever them which is the largest, the organization of sworn law enforcement officers in the world, the fraternal order of police, and they have condemned trump's pardoning of

those who assaulted capitol police officers on january 6. i'll tell you what, i'll tell you what -- there are too many members of this body who have the benefit of those capitol hill police officers on january 6 -- capitol police officers on january 6 protecting their lives. and you today, my democratic colleagues and i, we cosponsored a resolution to condemn these pardons. you'd think that's very simple. everybody should get on board, everybody should have the back of police officers. even my republican colleagues, who claim to be pro-law enforcement, should have signed

this resolution and stood with it, but you heard what happened today. it was opposed. the only thing i can tell you, mr. president, in this day and age is that if we truly believe in law and order and we want to work together to keep our communities safe, we have to not only talk about it, but we have to act. because the american people deserve better. the american people deserve a president who isn't going to release violent criminals back into our communities. the american people, they deserve safety. and our law enforcement who maintain that safety, they need to know we have their backs. with that, mr. president, i

yield the floor.

bear some concern in the senate but that may be difficult to do in the partisan space so it may end up being a bipartisan exercise aware that fits fits in and in what sequence is part of the discussion and we will make that determination in the coming week or so. and let's talk about the next election cycle 2026 midterms. he said yesterday republicans will gain seats in 2026 despite the history of the party in power the president's party at the end of the term and you said you expected in the last election cycle you lost a couple so what makes you think that this time of the different? don't discount what we did here last time. we had a very unfigure will map

and we held the majority with great effort of course. they traveled around the country and did 350 campaign events in 250 cities in 40 states logged a mild and i keep saying this to myself because it helps me come its therapy getting through that but it worked and we kept the majority and in most of you in this room said that wouldn't happen but we will. only twice in 85 years as the president's party gained seats in a midterm election. normally his party loses a good chunk of seats in the house and that's not going to happen this time. we have a very favorable landscape this coming election that we did not have this time and in case it's live. we are defending 16 seats and we had republicans 16 democrats and it's different now. this time we will have 13 democrats who succeeded in

states that the present one and we will play offense to take back and gain those seats. we only have three republicans right now that are seed in district the kamala harris one so it's a very favorable map for us and we are group that defies conventional wisdom and sometimes gravity and surprises everyone and break some of these traditions and makes history. we are going to do it again. i think we have a broad coalition of new folks that come in to the party and we deliver on this agenda as we say we will we will hold that and i think we will hold it for a decade but i think 2026 will be a good term term for s.. >> what about from the seats you lost in states like new york in california? do you think you'll be targeting those seats >> some of those districts are on the margin so will be a

target rich environment in that regard but some of those were heartbreaking losses very small margins in the loss for the california seats in new york were particularly frustrating for me because i a lot of time personally and those districts in california they drag out the vote tally in california seemingly can't count those like every other state in the world and it takes them weeks or months to tally votes and was a great disappointed because all three seats we lost there we were ahead on election day and graduate rippled away. it raises a lot of questions and we won't go back and re-litigate that. there'll be a lot of attention paid to and you heard the president say when he was in california visiting the wildfires they need to clean up some of their integrity measures and that's something they will pay attention to. we are going to test those areas and i think we can win back the seats and i'll be a good thing for the country. >> on voter i.d. you really

thank you can connect that to wildfire -- wildfire eight >> i don't know it has a new is wild for aid -- wildfire eight. we had to do everything we can to ensure we have free and fair elections very important to the american people and i've heard all over the country. blue states red states aware of his traveling around and i think we did a good thing by restoring people's trust. there's always more to do in that regard them to make sure for example illegal aliens were in the country are not voting in elections and unless voter i.d. and citizenship verification is a means to do that it would have ensured and that's always going to be a question people's minds and it's a problem. president trump has been busy with the executive action over the last week most recently last

night he ordered a freeze on federal grants. the white house is clarified that is not a blanket policy and the judge paused that directive. a number of democrats and some republicans have expressed nervousness about what this means for their constituents. do you have any concerns about that >> i don't. i fully support it. we have a two pager from all and be today explaining the answer to some of those faq grant questions at the temporary pause in for some programs it could be an hours long pause and it's not a big thing. some of the programs have already already been approved but but this is i believe application of common sense. i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 12:00 noon on wednesday, january 29. that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the senate proceed to executive session and resume executive calendar number 8, lee zeldin. further, that if any nominations are confirmed during wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of senator kennedy and my democratic colleagues. the presiding officer: without objection.

to think what he is doing is consistent with that. >> he does seem to think he is a big mandate that you've been night with all the campaign money he still has two discount and saying he doesn't think he can use this for another run but to return to you constitutional lawyer and said what do you think rex what do you think? that was tongue-in-cheek of course. i can't change the constitution but there are means to do that. i think he's having a score with the media and i think that's what that was. >> you aren't taking them seriously >> i take everything he says seriously but that was clearly a tongue-in-cheek statement. >> you have a close relationship

with the president. we have had an issue on the hill with the usc fight calling you maga mike and when you do have disagreements do you err those to him and do you bring those up? >> we have had different ideas on legislation and strategy before. i don't agree with my wife on everything. this is part of the relationship and i think one of the reasons i think he respects the relationship he and i have is because i was one of his attorneys at one point. the job of the counselor is somebody who extensively once advised or someone who brings the perspective. you aren't supposed to get be against me and i'm not.

so we have had really healthy discussions about ideas that we had that were different but i don't criticize the president publicly and i don't criticize any republican publicly. you don't speak of another republican but i try not to criticize democrats personally. policies are churches and we could talk about that all day long. >> coming back to reconciliation you indicated a desire to move 11 bill but there still some republicans saying good to be better two and some senators as recently as this weekend. is it set, is it one of% said at one >> we have an aggressive timetable on which we have to operate as the first 100 days will evaporate rapidly if we don't work quickly and there lots of different ideas and opinions on this but the reality of the house is the one bill

strategy makes the most sense and that's because we have a diverse conference and almost 218 republicans at this point. we have interest in a district level specific concerns that are not at issue in the senate still are math is more complicated. remember that the senate republicans have a wider margin than the house republicans do i think for the first time in history so the nuance happens in the house and not the senate. with regard to reconciliation when i can only spare one vote or three boats this is got to be a member driven process bottom up and we have to build consensus along the way that's what we are doing in the one bill strategy ensures the highest probability of success rested check the necessary boxes in phil art campaign spots and that's what we are going to do. >> you put a focus on having a member driven process and it's a

very diverse house republican conference a lot of conflicting ideological ideas but at some point you've got to make a play call. so how are you going to approach that when it comes to things like demands for cuts and appeasing everybody and you think that keeps everybody happy. >> course i do. we are right on schedule. we are following a timeline that we set out a month ago. we are right on schedule. the retreat is part of it. the blueprint is planned to be prepared by tomorrow by the time we leave for a budget resolution and we stick to the schedule. what you will see his the resolution will be marked up in the budget committee in the first of february we get back and we will get that done in the senate will do their part and come back with a minute to ours and we will solve that. that's through the month of february and in march we begin the committee process for the

more detailed analysis of the discussion inside the room about how we get into the details and to make sure this thing meets with everybody's criteria and it will end by the time you get through march and then you're in april and you put it on the floor for a vote for the reconciliatory -- reconciliation package. we plan to do that before easter and then it goes to the senate only stay in her schedule. we will send its president's desk by the end of april or early to mid-may and that we'll be right on time. this is important because the tax provisions for example which are one of the most important things, it's important to get that locked in so that the american people can see and feel and experience the benefits of that prior to the 2026 election. we want them to know we did right by them and fulfill their promises and they can see the effects of it. there's a lot of reasons we pressed go and are moving aggressively. rebuilding the economy is a

primary obligation of hours the primary responsibility we have and all that we are doing in roll call in -- reconciliation with a part of. will there be cuts do you think? >> the president said clearly and he said as recently as yesterday we are going to affect social security benefits or medicare benefits and obviously we are all in agreement on that. mr. president, is mr. nick ayers, who is one of my colleagues in my office, on whose judgment, counsel, and advice i rely regularly. mr. president, as you know, on any given day, the halls of the

senate office buildings and the capitol itself are teeming with people. we have a lot of visitors, which is a great thing. we have a lot of staff members, very able. we obviously have 100 senators. and we have many, many, many -- did i mention many? -- members of the press. and today, many of those folks, not the tourists, excuse me, mr. president, today, many of those folks, not the members of the public, visitors, people who are visiting us, but some staff members, some senators, and some

members of the media have been cata catatonic, catatonic, they've been foaming at the mouth, and it all has to do with a simple memorandum issued by the office of management and budget, dealing with spending. and i want to talk about that for a few minutes, mr. president, and try to put it in perspective. i thought about starting my talk today off by saying if it weren't for double standards around this place, there wouldn't be any standards at all. and actually, that's true, but that's too cynical for the point i want to make today. the point i want to make today

is that in congress we're headed for a multiple-vehicle pile-up, a multiple-vehicle pile-up, which i will describe in a moment. and it's going to be messy. and dealing with it is going to be messy. and we've got to deal with it in accordance with the constitution and our laws, as passed by congress, but we're also going to have to try to do some things a different way. and it's not going to be altogether pretty. now, we can all debate -- i haven't met a dummy yet in the united states senate. some people would disagree with

that, but that's been my experience. every single member of this body is very clever, and they can get as bogged down in procedure and debate forever about how many lawyers can dance on the head of a pin, and all that's important. i've done it myself before. but we're also dealing with reality. did i mention we're dealing with a multiple-vehicle pile-up? mr. president, i remember back when president obama was president. he repeatedly refused to enforce laws that he didn't like. when certain provisions -- i remember it like it was

yesterday -- when certain provisions of the affordable care act proved to be controversial, it was law, but some of those provisions of the law that he passed were controversial. i'll give you an example, the mandate that large employers provide insurance to their employees or else pay a big pen penalty. president obama just unilaterally delayed implementation. said i'm not going to enforce it. nobody went catatonic. around here. nobody started foaming at the mouth. maybe everybody had taken their meds that day. i don't know. but there was no yu in cry, an s we've here today as a result of that omb memorandum. i remember also when congress took up the issue, at president obama's suggestion, of dreamers.

remember the dreamers act? congress wouldn't pass it. dreamers are children brought to the united states of america illegally by their parents who'd come here illegally, but the children are children, they don't know better. president obama proposed the dreamers act. congress didn't pass it. so president obama just ignored the law. he protected them from de deportation through executive action. it's called the 2012 deferred action for childhood arrivals program. he broke the law. nobody around here foamed at the mouth. nobody around here went catatonic, including but not limited to the media. i remember when president biden did a very similar thing. he sought to preserve and

fortify daca as we call it, and he also took a number of steps unilaterally to weaken immigration enforcement. we know that. that's why the border under president biden was an open, bleeding wound. he refused to follow the law. nobody foamed at the mouth around here. members of the press didn't become catatonic. i don't remember anyone, democrat or republican, calling for president obama's impea impeachment. after a federal court criticized his administration for spending money unloverlyy -- unlawfully. you remember that? president obama decided to pay subsidies to health insurers in

2014. decided to give them money. just one problem -- congress hadn't appropriated the money. the gop house, the republican-controlled house, sued him. federal judge ruled against president obama. but the money was spent. i remember when the gao concluded that the obama health and human services in 2016 illegally spent money. congress didn't appropriate it. by paying insurers instead of sending the money to the department of treasury. nobody around here foamed at the mouth, including members of the press. nobody around here went cata catatonic. now, i didn't come here today,

mr. president, to debate the take care clause of the united states constitution. we're all familiar with it. the president has a constitutional duty to, quote, take care that the laws be faithfully executed. that's the law. it's in our constitution. bigger than dallas, right there. and i believe in it. i didn't come here to debate that. i didn't come here today to debate the 1974 impanelments control act, which the courts have ruled to be constitutional, which says that congress gets to appropriate the money and the president has to spend it. i don't want to get into all

that. but i guess my point, mr. president, in light of this omb memorandum, which i'll talk about in a moment, my point is that having embraced n nonenforcement when they like the results under president biden and president obama, my democratic friends have very little standing, in fact, none, zero, zilch, nada, no standing to complain when president trump employs the same legal theory for different purposes. i'm not suggesting that we ought to follow the rule, two wrongs don't make it right, but they do make it even. i'm just gently suggesting that maybe i should have started this speech with if it weren't for double standards around this place there wouldn't be any

standards at all. let me say it again. i support the take care clause of the constitution. and i can read the law. i know a law book from a j. crew catalog. i know what the impoundment act says and i can read court opinions holding that it's constitutional. now, why am i talking about all of this stuff? as you know, since he's been president, i don't know, a week, ten days, president trump has issued about an squillion executive orders. i think it's the most executive orders issued by the president in a short history of time. i'm still trying to read them. and most of his executive orders, it's a general

statement, but i think it's fairly accurate, intends to reverse many of the policies implemented by president biden. and i think it was yesterday, the office of management and budget under president trump, under an acting director issued a memorandum. and the memorandum went out to all agencies of the federal government. and it said, look, you've seen the president's executive order changing federal policy, which he has the right to issue, so hold up spending any money omb said to the various agencies, that would implement president biden issues as has been changed by president trump. and omb was very careful in its initial memorandum and in its explanation later to say, look, we're not talking about direct payments to pandemic.

we're not talking about medicaid, we're not talk about medicare, we're not talk about social security, we're not talking about snap benefits. very careful. well, people around here today have been screaming like they're part of a prison riot. oh, my god, the president's not falling the law. like this had not happened before. again, i'm not saying that two wrongs don't make it right, but they do make it even. i'm just trying to give you a little context for this, mr. president. my good friend, senator schumer -- and he is my good friend. i went on a trip with chuck to china. and i don't want to personalize this about chuck.

let me put it another way. some of my democratic friends and some of my friends in the media have been running around like a 5-year-old in a batman t shirt screaming that the world is coming to an end and the impoundment act is being violated and the take care clause of the constitution has been thrown into the garbage bin as if this sort of hesitation to spend money has never happened before in washington, d.c. why is the trump administration doing this? look, i don't know. i don't talk to the trump administration every day. people have a multitude of reasons for doing what they do. but i can see what's going on and what is going to be going on, mr. president, over the next six months to a year -- did i

mention we're headed toward a multiple-vehicle pileup? here's the problem. we've got to extend the tax cuts from the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017. we don't have a choice. like it or hate it. if we don't extend those tax cuts when they expire shortly, taxes are going to go up $4.3 trillion on the american people, not 4.3 million, not 4.3 billion, $4.3 trillion, and 50% of that will impact lower income and middle income americans. that's just the fact. if we don't extend those tax cuts, it is going to drive our gdp and our economy on a journey to the center of the earth.

even my democratic friends know those tax cuts have to be extended. but we've got other things we have to do too. we're deficit spending. we're spending money around here like it was pond water. -- like it was pond water. i don't want to blame it all on president biden, but if the shoe fits, wear it cinderella. this is what president biden spent. he didn't spend this from tax revenues, he borrowed $1.9 trillion on the american rescue plan, $1.2 trillion on the green new deal which they called an infrastructure act.

$1 trillion on the inflation reduction act. the chips act, where we gave money to some of the biggest companies in america, big tech, because they said they needed it, we gave them $280 billion for semiconductor manufacturing. it was just announced yesterday china just kicked or ass on artificial intelligence. i don't know if i can say ass on the senate floor, but by god, i just did. they did. i don't know how else to describe it. after we spent $280 billion. i mean this is just under president biden, $4.380 trillion of money that we don't have. we are deficit spending every nanosecond. i don't know how many millions we had to borrow since i have been talking.

we're taking in $4.5 trillion, give or take, we're spending $6.5 trillion. and if we deficit spend, the money doesn't just fall from heaven, we thank heaven for it. but we have to borrow it and we have to pay it back. and when those deficits, those daily deficits, monthly deficits roll over into national debt, we're going to run out of digits, that is well over 100% of gdp. so we've got to renew the tax cuts, which is going to cause short-term before it stimulates the economy -- short term loss of revenue and we've got to stop the deficit spending and we've got to reduce our debt. but there's more. there's more. we've got to decrease defense

spending because president xi is working working with -- is working with president putin and who it and -- and they want to dominate eastern and central europe, have china dominate the indo-pacific and the south china sea and be free to roam in sub is a hara africa and south america. i don't want to be the -- to be the police -- the world's policemen and weakness invites the wolves and we've got to start spending more money on defense. now, you don't have to be ein einstein's cousin to figure out that all the things i just described that we've got to do in the next year to six months could be called competing interests. tax cuts, stop deficit spending, reduce the debt, but find more

money for defense. something's got to give. and all -- and all this is a long-winded way of saying we're going to have to reduce spending. we're going to have to do it. the numbers are the numbers. since 2019, the american population has grown 2%. we're not having babies. 2%. and that's after all the illegal immigration. you know what has happened to our budget? it's gone up 55%. i know we had a pandemic. we had to save the economy. 2% growth in population, 55% increase in spending. we've had inflation, but not 55% worth of inflation. we have to be able to afford tax cuts and more defense spending and to pay down deficits and to

pay down debt, we're going to have to reduce spending to pre-pandemic levels, and that's what this omb memorandum today, which temporarily held up the spending of some money, consistent with president trump's executive orders, was the first baby step toward. that's what this is all about. that's what it's all about. the world is not going to spin off its axis, and again, i support the take care clause of the duly noted. i understand what the impoundment act says, but this is reality. and this is it what we've got to solve over the next year. and we're going to have to solve it -- show me that other chart. we're going to have to solve it together because of -- because the debt is $36 trillion.

our population is 355,000 people, that's 102 grand per man, woman, and child and it's increased and we're about to extend the tax cuts and start spending more on defense. there's a lot of of -- a lot of excitement are around here about the reconciliation bill or bills. i'm excited about it. you can write this down, mr. president, and take it home to mama. those reconciliation bills, which we have got to pass to get through this multiple-vehicle pileup that i just described, are going to contain substantial spending cuts. they are. because you know what? if they don't, that reconciliation bill or bills will never pass the united states senate. and i know it will not pass the united states house of representatives. and then we will have failed to

do what we told the american people that we were going to do, which is to get federal government right sized, to try to -- to put the high prices behind us by growing out of -- out of them. by stimulating the economy and increasing wages. by making energy cheaper, by paying down our debt. and that's what's going on. so i hope all the folks today will go home and take off their batman t-shirts, wash them. they're probably a bill sweaty. i hope everybody will go home, those who drink, have a cocktail, take their meds, and put this all in perspective.

that's what this omb memorandum was all about. and i'm going to say this one final time because maybe some members of the media are listening. i am not advocating to ignore the constitution. and i am not advocating to ignore the impoundment laws of this congress. what i am saying is, if you don't believe we're going to have to cut spending substantially in order to get out of this mess that has been created, then you shouldn't be driving it. mr. president, i yield the

along is the temporary pause on federal funding? to make it important understand

it's a review process to say for discretionary >> not directed by congress or required by law so this would be for example something like a contract to a nongovernmental organization to -- but there has to be a department or agency that reviews the expenditure of democratic control over the operation of government. it doesn't affect any federal programs that americans rely on full stop. spend it doesn't have any impact on any americans or what they rely on >> it to benefit program that americans rely on. >> like meals on wheels. senate correct. it's implementing the original executive order which doesn't cover entitlement >> at all and that's clear if you read it. >> in el salvador the president

spoke to the president and next week secretary rubio will be there and should we expect an agreement between the two countries >> all i can say on this because i don't want to get ahead of president rubio the president has offered a tremendous degree of cooperation with the united states on all things migration. we are hoping will provide a framework for migration cooperation that cap the region and it's clear the present will be -- [inaudible] it's our full expectation that madiera will accept the ranking members back to venezuela. >> is the trump immigration method applicable to europe that has a huge immigration problem? isn't applicable understand your

question correctly you you're asking should europe consider mirroring our own politics? yes. absolutely yes. >> how >> you have established a policy that says anyone who crosses the border will be immediately repatriated anyone in the country illegally is a general matter -- which poses enormous burdens on the population? >> it's the presence expectations the countries across the world participate fully in the enforcement of immigration laws in and a particular and the repatriation. this is a big international obligation for the united states abides by it in all developed nations abide seidin partner nations throughout the region to abide by it as well. we have had the incredibly

productive conversations across latin america led by secretary of state rubio who does a fabulous job. >> does he consider this to take effect february 1 >> can you walk us through how you expect that to happen click the present is talked about 25%. >> i do want to get ahead of the president i will let them speak for himself but the bottom line is at the united states in manufacturing jobs welcome back and it doesn't allow other countries to exploit us. i don't want to step on the briefings so i'll do three more questions. expect the terrace to take effect immediately? v i don't have anything to add to that? >> can you give us a sense of the figure you brought up quick

>> i just published the daily numbers. i did an interview with jake kaepernick talked about the new targets that have been set which is really a floor. to put this in perspective biden's worth month in office there were 350,000 apprehensions at the southwest border so that gives you the sense of the scale of work we had to do here so we will continue to set ever more ambitious targets and focus in on public safety understanding you can can't have a situation as the nation where say if they released 100,000 illegals in the country they came in december of 2020 and you can't have a nation run that way. [inaudible] >> there was no call between the president or the president said in his correspondence he had

spoken to him. anymore questions i want to give to him. >> what should we expect for the rest of the week >> i will let the press do that. i want to thank you all for your time and i look forward to seeing you again. thank you.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: thank you, mr. president. if it weren't for a judge's temporary administrative stay, we would still be in the middle of trump's pointless and illegal

shutdown right now. federal funding for a whole host of things would be frozen, meaning people all over the country who count on the federal government wouldn't get help. and all of us, all 100 of us, got calls from back home saying what the heck is going on. v.a. home loans are being shut down. the medicaid portal is being shut down. the head start portal is being shut down. construction projects are being shut down, all because the trump administration believes that they don't have to follow the appropriations law. now, lots of us disagree with the size and scope of the government. lots of people vote no on the appropriations law. fine. but once it's the law, the legislative branch sends it to the president of the united states. the president either signs it or vetoes it. in this case, president biden signed the appropriations law.

there is no provision in the statute and there is no provision in the constitution that permits a president to pick and choose the spending that he prefers. that just doesn't exist in the law. and the article one branch has one most foundational power in terms of the three branchs of government being separate and coequal. coequal is kind of a funny way to say it but it's important to think of these three branchs as in constant struggle against each other for power. and our power is the power of the purse. our power is the power to enact appropriations bills, to determine the level of federal spending on various programs. but what the trump white house did today was announced about i fiat we're not going to fund disaster relief. we're not going to fund public

housing. we're not going to fund rural health care or foster care or opioid treatment or highway and rail projects or wildfire containment or cancer research or clean energy initiatives. all of it gone in an instant and in this case only for an instant because donald trump woke up yesterday and decided he no longer wanted to fund some of the most basic things that the federal government supports. and again this really isn't about arguing about the merits of each individual program, although i don't know who's against allowing highway repairs to continue. i don't know who is against allowing medicaid-funded nursing homes to tip. i don't know who is against allowing someone who has been waiting for their v.a. home loan to be able to close on that loan. but it's really not about that.

it's about a more basic question, which is are we a nation of laws? are we going to allow ourselves to turn into a monarchy? and i want to hearken back to something i mentioned earlier today. the white house press secretary was asked about a specific program. and she said, well they talked a reduce -- russell vought. he is the nominee for the office of management and budget. there are a couple of things wrong with this. first of all, it's not his call whether or not to spend the money. the congress already decided that. and second of all, even more creepy than that, this guy hasn't been confirmed. he's not a government employee. he's not in charge of anything. and we're supposed to, like, petition this person to beg him to follow the law. and so this is the beginning of a long battle over a couple of most basic questions. first, are we going to allow

this administration to just cause pain all across the country. every state, every county, school lunches, v.a. loans, construction projects, you name it. are we going to allow this president to just do this because he feels like it? the second question is not about the question themselves or the program themselves or even the people they help. it's about law. and so who are we as a congress? and where we swear an oath to uphold the constitutioned and laws of the united states, is that just a thing we do before they give us the pen that says -- the pink that says united states senator? you know, you stand right there and you swear yourself in, and they give you a little pen that says united states senator. you look at it and you go, i'm a united states senator. but the important part wasn't

when they gave you your election certificate. it wasn't when they handed you your pen. it wasn't when they give you this pin here that says united states senate. it's when you swear that oath to uphold the constitution and laws of the united states of america. and the constitution and laws of the united states of america make it very, very clear -- we are not a constitutional monarchy. we are a democracy. and what the court did today is important because it stopped a lot of pain all the way across the country. personal economic pain, family economic pain, macroeconomic pain for shutting down construction projects and business operations and all the rest of it. but it's nor foundational than that. -- but it's more foundational than that. we have to establish some

boundaries here that go beyond our partisan boundaries. we have to establish that enough is enough. that you might have your view about the size and scope of the federal government. you might have your view about the previous president or the previous election campaign, but the law is the law here. and we're not going to allow any president, any administration, anytime to disobey the law in this flavor and fashion. one final thought -- there will be a democratic president at some point, and if this becomes the precedent, i promise you, if you are a united states senator on the republican side, you are going to hate this. you are going to hate the idea that a progressive president can reach into the defense budget or the v.a. budget or the department of commerce's budget and just say, you know what? i don't want to fund that. i'm going to plus up this and

defund that. that's not the way the federal system is supposed to work. i yield the floor. mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. this is my first time with you presiding, so it is good to see you. this power grab, this attempted power grab that took place today in flagrant disregard for our separation of powers, has a home -- not in the constitution; in project 2025. the american people hate project 2025, so donald trump spent his campaign trying to distance himself from project 2025, but then he put one of the authors of project 2025 in charge of the office of management and budget. who is, as we saw in the budget

hearing, out one side of his mouth saying, oh, president trump doesn't have anything to do with 2025, he disavowed it. and as president trump's appointee to omb merrily implementing project 2025. this is exactly aligned with the project 2025 playbook that americans rejected so much that trump had to lie and pretend he rejected it, too. in addition to being unconstitutional, that's not just an allegation any longer -- a court today here in the district of columbia found it to be unconstitutional and has ordered a stop to this pause. and that is a relief because, for people in my state, today was a scary day. medicaid was stopped. the portal to the medicaid system that the state reaches

into was closed. medicaid -- people say, what is medicaid? medicaid is how a great many american seniors pay for their nursing homes. if you're shutting down medicaid for your jollies, what you're doing is threatening the security of elderly folks living in user nursing homes for -- in nursing homes for who medicaid pays the bill. we have in rhode island and other states gone through very serious addiction crises. addiction recovery is very often paid for through medicaid. so when you shut down medicaid and close the portal, you are threatening people who are fighting bravely their way through their addiction, trying get well and better, and suddenly president trump is cutting the legs out from under them by closing the medicaid

portal and threatening medicaid. 300,000 rhode islanders get supported by the medicaid system, so this sent a lot of fear through a lot of people. i know there are a lot of people in the trump administration who enjoy that, they get their kicks out of people getting fear. cruelty is their pastime. but this is getting carried away. firefighters and police officers -- i spoke this morning to the major county sheriffs a association and they raised the concern, what about my hyde grant. it is the afg grant, the assistive firefighter grants through which they buy safety equipment, breathing apparatus, new fire engines and vehicles. so all of that -- panic stop -- because of this rash and

unconstitutional decision that was made. kids in school often are supported by federal programs. federal start is a -- head start is a particularly good one. we had mayor of our capital city who is that righted with head start, and became the mayor of our capital city. why would you want to threaten all of those children? sojourner house is a domestic violence support entity and shelter in rhode island that supports women when they come out of an abusive relationship and need to try to put their lives together. it is supported by federal grant. that president trump tried to shut down today. $33 million in small business loans out in rhode island with a big question mark by them because of today's bad behavior. so, you know, it's -- the community health centers. people had doctors'

appointments, people were going in for minor procedures and treatments. suddenly there is a cloud over the ability to fund the health centers in this is just wild, extreme, dangerous stuff. and, to be -- you know, let me lawyer role for a minute, talk about unconstitutional, the constitution provides a method for the president to veto legislation he doesn't like. that veto method does not include not being the president, coming in in a whole new administration, having missed the opportunity to do a proper veto, or for congress to override and doing this unilateral thing that is not only forbidden by the separation of laws and the veto, but the impoundments. so it is flagrantly illegal. and i'll close by saying, it's

also a threat of corruption. every time you look at the trump administration, you got to lift up the hood and look for where the corruption thread is. we're going to see corruption like you've never seen before out of this administration, and the corruption thread here is that you close all these things down and then you pick the ones you like for the people who are your big donors, for the companies who gave you big bucks, for the special interests who put you in office, for the political allies who serve you, and you let them have their money freed up while everybody else is frozen. think that's imaginary? i it's exactly what the trump administration did with the tariffs in his last term of office. you could go into a secret little line and if you knew the right people, you could get a waive area. there is an absolute avenue to corruption in this. thank god the courts shut it

down. this was a bad moment. it is not over. and i hope that my republican colleagues will rise to the occasion because this is a basic attack on our constitution, and it is a basic attack on the legislative branch of government. with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: first i thank my friend from rhode island for his layseder-like -- for his laser-like a. tension. i just finished doing a little tv taping to the people of new york to tell them how evil, how horrible this plan that trump has put into effect will be. the plan will shut off billions of dollars, maybe trillions of dollars, for what? for things average working families need. they'll be less safe because police will be cut. fire will be cut. their kids will be less educated

because schools will be cut and in places where there is a school tax like long island and westchester, you could have your taxes go up. it will be less safe because food inspectors who keep our food safe could be cut. it is -- it will go across the board. housing will become more expensive. we desperately need housing. everything -- this is going to affect everything. the radius will expand and expand and expand of what donald trump can do. and make no mistake about it. project 2025 which proposed slashing everything, all cut, cut, cut, cut -- all to give one thing. tax breaks to the very wealthy people. this is project 2025 by another name. it is the same stuff. they couldn't call it project 2025 because when the public found out about that, they were outraged. well, make no mistake about

this, president trump, when the public finds out about this, they will be outraged. i got on the tv tonight and asked my constituents, particularly those in republican house and senate districts, to call their congressmen and senator and tell president trump to drop this evil plan, which will hurt them so badly. the fact that mr. vought will be head of omb, which is the agency which is in charge of all of this spending, is frightening. it's like putting the fox in the chicken house. and all the chickens, which are the american average taxpayers, are going to be susceptible to the sharp fangs of mr. vought. and, by the way, speaking of chickens, here is a reason -- here is another little reason -- there's so many -- right now the price of eggs is through the roof. $5, $6 a dozen.

it was $2 a year ago. it was $4 in november. why? because there's something called bird flu which ares killing off -- which is killing off millions of chickens. when you have fewer hens, fewer eggs. fewer eggs means prices go up. when we were still in charge in november, we put $300 million into the budget to help our farmers deal with bird flu, with avian flu. it helps them get the ppe they need. it helps them isolate the diseased chickens, because you need to build different types of facilities. it helps them learn what to do. that could be cut. that could be cut, and the price of eggs will go up to $8 or $10. all of these things have an effect in one way or another on average working people. how about all the hundreds of thousands of workers who have now gotten jobs in clean energy? it is a great thing, for the

first time good-paying jobs with a future for so many people. -- could be gone out the window if this plan goes into effect. now, i know that the court has stayed this till monday. america, don't be fooled. trump and his henchmen vought will keep at it and keep at it and keep at it until project 2025 is implemented, even they they don't call it project 2025 oppose.they'll go to a differen court, maybe in a very conservative red district to continue to squeeze the middle class, cut the things that the middle class needs, and then cut the taxes on the wealthiest people in america. any organization -- i've heard hospitals are worried and not

providing the care that they need. head start is going to close. what do the parents do? people who -- the agencies that deal with mental illness, they depend on federal government. so much is at take. in my state we're getting thousands of calls -- how is this going to affect us? even if the cut hasn't come through yet, people are worried, and they say we better save for a rainy day, cut back on this and that. it's frightened people. maybe that's what trump likes doing, frightening paunch, middle-class folks -- frightening middle-class folks. it's terrible to do. meals on wheels, a hot meal for people who don't have food, in danger. rural hospitals and community hell, in danger. mass transportation, in danger.

money for housing, in danger. everything, everything. and so, mr. president, we here, we senate democrats are doing all we can to stop this. not just today, not just tomorrow, but a long-range plan. but we're also urging americans to call their senators, call their congressmen, particularly republicans, and get them to tell president trump to stop it, cut this out. cut out these cuts. because you're going to hurt us. the only people who will get hurt by this are average american middle-class families, and that's just about everybody. i yield the floor and thank my colleague from illinois for taking up the cudgel here. mr. durbin: i thank my leader from new york. i'm glad he gave us the little seminar on chickens. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: very well done. as a midwesterner, i know a little about that.

i respect his observations hochl is mr. -- who is mr. vath? his title is the acting leader of the office of management and budget. he sent out a letter, or memo that basically called for a temporary pause in government spending. by what authority did he do that? i don't know. i've been in congress for a few years. i've never quite seen anyone with an acting before their name have this much authority and power, but he had a lot. he has taken to himself the decision-making that affects families all over the united states, including in my state of illinois. that little memo he put out last night is particularly troublesome to me, because if you read it, what he's saying is we don't want anybody who

receives these federal funds, who does not abide by the executive orders of this new president. the executive orders of the new president are seven, eight days old, brand-new, and i can't tell you whether or not the recipients of federal funds all comply with these executive orders, which have been tumbling out of the white house on such topics as dei and some of the other favorite political positions of president trump. but he basically paused federal spending starting last night, so that these recipients could answer the basic questions as to whether they're loyal to his point of view. he referred to those who didn't agree with him as marxists, as in karl marx. who is this guy? how does he have this much authority? how is he able to say things like that that are so blatantly

political? well, the money that was turned off today was felt across america. this poorly conceptualized and communicated policy created mass confusion in my state and across the nation. worst yet, it has endangered health, safety, around welfare of americans across the country. the proposed freeze mandates that the government, quote, temporarily pause, unquote, the disbursement of key funds. think about that for a minute. we're going to temporarily pause reimbursement to local units of government and charities, for example, while we decide whether they're living up to the standards of donald trump in terms of his political values. here are some of the programs that were affected today -- head start. i think everybody knows what head start is. if you've ever been there, it's one of the most enjoyable visits a politician can make. they pit you in a -- put you in

a room with little kids, i mean little kids, 3, 4, 5 years old. you get to read them books, play with them. for a grandfather, it's a joy. reminds you how much joy you have with your own kids and grandkids. why are they important? for many families, head start is day care. head start is pre-k. head start is a chance for kids in tough family circumstances to have a fighting chance. of course, the head start agencies need to get their federal funds to keep the lights on, feed the kids, make sure they can heat the buildings. today, mr. vaeth whoever the hell -- whoever in the world he is, has decided we're not going to give them money, close the portal, close the opportunity for them to receive federal funds. what is he thinking? if these kids can't come to these head start facilities, they not only miss the opportunity for education and socialization and a warm place to be, but they're missing an opportunity to makes a

difference in their lives. the other is violence against women. the groups are calling us in illinois. they call me because the senate judiciary committee, which i serve on, authored this bill years ago. a senator from delaware at the time, joe biden, introduced this legis legislation. what it boils down to, if you're a stricts imof -- a victim of domestic violence, there are grants to provide safe and secure places for you to stay, rather than put in these horrible violent situations at home. what are we going to do with mr. vaeth's idea to put this on temporary pause? have a temporary pause on violence at homes? i wish we could. where does he get the authority to do this? doesn't he have any conscience when it comes to the impact of these decisions? natural disaster relief speaks for itself. you think of the poor folks in california trying to recover from their wildfires.

think of the flooding, hurricanes, all the other events. there are people who need a helping hand. mr. vaeth puts that on temporary pause. veterans benefits speaks for itself. men and women who served our country earn these benefits by risking their lives for america. to put those on temporary pause is a disgrace. loans to small businesses. so many aspects of business rely on a helping hand to get started. if you think loans to businesses are for little businesses, keep in mind that in 2009 elon musk came to the obama administration and asked for a loan so his tesla car company wouldn't go into bankruptcy. there are a lot of smaller businesses just as desperate for a helping hand. in illinois the impact of this is already being felt. another area near and dear to me, medical research. the national institutes of health, with the annual budget

of $38 billion to $40 billion is the premier medical research agency in the world. things they're working on -- new drugs, new surgical techniques, new treatments -- will save lives. we know it. it's happened over and over again. today, they get mr. vaeth's memo about the temporary pause in funding. they've got to tell their laboratory researchers, doctors, specialists to stop what they're doing at 5:00 today, that was the end of the funding from the federal government. mr. vaeth, what are you thinking? stopping medical research? you want that on your head, your conscience? think about what that means. federally funded research scientists are going to lose funding for this research and the people of america pay the price. families pay the price. disability community, the same thing. ability to access critical services for them and their

loved ones. paying a personal attendant to help a disabled person get dressed so they can spend a productive day at work. if they're not there, the disabled person doesn't have that opportunity. thiel a real life issue for a lot of families with disabilities. the coalition against sexual assault in springfield, they contacted us today, said because of this announcement from omb and the trump administration, they don't know if they'll be able to help survivors. these are a few of the many examples that emerged in the chaos of the past 24 hours. if your goal is to make america great again, why start by cutting these basic services for families and deserving people across this country? we're better than this. i'm proud of a nation that cares for people that need a helping hand. i'm not ashamed to say that. some of these people, particularly veterans, earned it. earned it over and again. these are a few of the people

who contacted us. although the trump administration's claim that individuals who receive direct assistance from the government will not be affected, americans across the country have faced severe service disruptions with medicaid and head start amidst the policy changes that mr. vaeth, the acting head of the omb, has imposed. even the president's own press secretary a few minutes ago was unable to even answer the questions about what was going on with this omb director. you know why? because this is nothing more than a power grab designed to target the most vulnerable and disguise it as a way to analyze government spending. tell that to the family waiting desperately for medical research, tell them we had to suspend that for a while to do a little analysis. the president is blatantly violating the law by holding up these vital funds across

america. the federal funds this administration it refusing to distribute have been collected by taxpayers and appropriated by congress. the money belongs to the american people. it's the law. thankfully, a federal judge here in the district of columbia has decided to temporarily block this freeze from going into effect until monday, february 3. this measure is only delaying chaos and uncertainty if it's president trump's determined effort to make sure this happens. we will not stand idly by while the president plays fast and loose with the laws and lives and livelihoods. we can have fiscal responsibility, we could have a budget we're proud of, but this action taken by a fellow last night, in the bowels of a building here in washington, is hurting people all across america. you can't help american families be great if you don't give them a fighting chance. we've got to stop this and soon. i yield the floor.

mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i'm honored to join my colleagues on the floor tonight, but we all wish we weren't here. we should not be here. we're here because the trump administration last night swept the country into chaos. we're here because it's a break-the-glass moment for our demo democracy, the unconstitutional and unilateral decision to halt congressionally mandated funding is against the law. it's against the constitution. it's against the impoundment control act.

that's the reason a judge this afternoon ordered it be stopped, but only temporarily, until february 3, and then we are in uncharted waters. this action is totally unprecedented on this scale and scope. let's call it for what it is. it's theft. president trump is stealing money from people's pockets and pocketbooks and wallets, threatening their ability to pay rent, heat homes. it is imperilling programs around my state and the country that provide shelter for homeless, suicide prevention for veterans, health care for people who are uninsured. the list is endless.

that's not hyperbole. and just in the last 24 hours since this new broke, connecticut organizations are already feeling the impact, and they are contacting me, reaching out in fear and worry. i've been fielding concerns from constituents who are already seeing the impact in doctors demoralized and food insecurity workers disspirited. some community health centers were unable to access federal funding this morning and many are weighing furloughs and cuts to federal services. one nonprofit in gratin who provides health care services to children doesn't know if they're going to to have the fund

necessary to pay their staff. connecticut head start will be operating on a deficit as of february 7 if they can't access federal funding putting the entire program at risk. amtrak's state of good repair backlog for the northeast corridor is tens of billions of dollars alone, estimated $78.7 billion in 2023, this funding is critical for safety concerns, reliability, repairs along the amtrak rail lines, funding like the connecticut river bridge replacement project and the gateway hudson tunnel replacement project that will ensure passenger rail safety throughout new england. this freeze on fund threatens all of those projects. it imperils the federal-state partnership for inner city passenger rail and consolidated rail infrastructure. i know that that kind of

blizzard of terms seems abstract and hypothetical to some people but it's real in contractors who need to meet their payroll and pay for gas for their machines and trucks. this kind of p draconian, dictatorial measure imperils 100,000 households in connecticut that rely on liheap to meet their home energy needs, uncertain about federal funding leaves these vulnerable families unsure about whether they're going to be able to heat their homes right now in the middle of winter. it has a trickle down effect on organizations that don't benefit from federal dollars. one example, a connecticut program that provides supplemental energy assistance for households that don't

qualify for liheap expressed concerns that they're going to face an unsustainable deluge of demand if federal fund is halted. i was in connecticut just yesterday -- it seems like an age ago -- announcing a reconnecting communities pilot grant program in new haven. i joined the mayor of new haven, and representative row is a delauro to announce new haven was awarded $2 million to reconnect neighborhoods, an exciting and inspiring project to bring communities together, increase housing, and social and economic opportunities. now residents of new haven will be kept in waiting. i was with connecticut farmers just yesterday. we were celebrating millions of dollars in disaster assistance

from extreme weather events. now they may not see it for months. maybe never. that's disasters resulting from flooding and hail storm. they were counting on this disaster recovery aid. now they may be deprived of it. connecticut food chair, just talked to them today as well. they're anxiously waiting to learn more about the potential impacts to halting food assistance, maybe through snap, the emergency food assistance program. they're unsure. the president has failed to clarify whether it will apply to snap, but clearly the effects psychologically, creating chaos and confusion is itself a severe deprivation. museums, many of whom run successful education programs critical to our students'

success, they're halting services. even a temporary pause can have a significant impact on education. and for all of these organizations and many others, the effect is not only in dollars and cents. it is in demoralizing. people who are dedicating their lives to public service, they're working in federal ly supported community health centers, making less money, working longer hours, doing residencies as young doctors, and what's the expression of appreciation? it is telling them, we're stopping, we're halting, we're ending the funding. it is profoundly disrespectful to those programs that often

operate as a safety net, whether it's for health care or hunger or education. it is profoundly destructive to the fabric of our society in the greatest nation in the history on earth. so, it is theft. it's not a victimless crime. it is illegal. it won't be punishable in a court. but my hope is the american public will rise up. they need to be the voice of conscience and conviction in this country and say to my republican colleagues, this isn't a red or blue issue. this is about people. it is about everyday americans who will be severely harmed, and their children who will bear

perhaps, unfortunately and tragically, lasting scars, emotionally and maybe physically from this destructive impact on their lives. i regret that we're here today. i'm proud to be with my colleagues. i wish we were joined on the other side of the aisle. but i believe that they will hear on the republican side, despite their silence tonight, voices that are loud and clear to them from the american people that this kind of halt, a dictatorial, illegal stop in federal funding should violate the conscience of our nation. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. s

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. president, our economy -- mr. heinrich: our hospitals the, our economy, your niece's after-school program, our police and fire departments, our newborns, our elders, our veterans, pretty much everyone in my home state of new mexico, president trump threw them all into chaos with an unconstitutional and patently illegal power grab in an overnight maneuver that would make a dictator envious. president trump unlawfully and unilaterally froze all p federal grant funding. he shut down the housing portal that nonprofits and tribes in my home state used to access mortgage financing. he literally shut down the

medicaid reimbursement portals across the country. although after a day of raising hell over it, i think that medicaid, at least the medicaid portal in my state may be up and running again, at least for now. and for context, almost a quarter of my state's budget actually moves through that portal, about $8 billion in medicaid funding every single year in one small state alone. he threw every town and county, tribe and nonprofit, health care provider, school and preschool into total disarray. and from our state's roundhouse to the classroom to the emergency room, today was chaos. people want answers. my phone has literally been ringing off the hook from people around the state who want answers, who want certainty. did donald trump just cut off funding for seven out of ten

nursing home residents, for 55% of newborn births in new mexico's doctors, new mexico's hospitals. did donald trump just deprive seven out of ten new mexican children their daily lunch? did donald trump effectively close my child's preschool program? the reality is that most of president trump's own staff don't know or won't answer those questions just yet. my republican colleagues sure aren't jumping in to figure it out either. one thing that is clear to me, it's the law. the president cannot override, delay, rescind congress' appropriations laws once they are signed into law full stop. this has been upheld time and again by the supreme court, by the department of justice, the government accountability office.

and by the law, specifically the impoundment control act of 1974. congress had to write and pass this law after president nixon tried to withhold congressionally appropriated funds. and nixon was wrong, just like president trump is wrong now. we should all remember, especially my republican colleagues who aren't here tonight, but really all of us, that elections swing both ways. we've seen the back and forth for the last few election cycles. sometimes your party is in charge of the white house, sometimes it's not. but think for a moment about what it would mean if the president, any president, could unilaterally cut off federal funds that he or she didn't like. sure, a conservative president could decide to cripple the head start programs in blue states, but it's every bit as true that a progressive president could decide to cripple the defense

contracts or the military bases in red states. that is not democracy. that's chaos. and today was just a small taste of that. as a member of the senate appropriations committee, i know how much work goes into writing and passing our bipartisan funding laws. there have been times when i've been able to work with my republican colleagues to pass appropriations bills out of committee unanimously. and i know that -- and i am not going to cede that to any administration to be abused. here's where i need help from my own constituents, help from new mexicans. i want to hear from you about donald trump's blockade and how it is affecting you and your family. if your town's cops grants get

frozen, i need to know. if your v.a. mortgage gets held up, i need to know. if you're a nonprofit that is giving services in the area of violence against women, refuges for people who are battered, and your funding gets held up, these are the stories that i think need to be held up to understand just what is happening in our country right now. and i hope that all of us -- not just democrats, but republicans as well who have a vested interest in being able to create certainty in our own states, certainty for the economy, certainty for the small business community -- can come together and say that this is not what democracy looks like. let's create that certainty. let's follow the law. let's make sure that whatever we agree to here in this amazing

capitol, that not only passes both chambers, but gets signed into law by the president of the united states, that we abide by that. because only if we all agree to color inside the lines and to act like this is a democracy will this remain a democracy. and i just want to say to my own constituents how sorry i am that they're going through this right now because the amount of anguish and uncertainty and -- you know, i heard from a tribal housing program today that said, we won't be able to make payroll in a few days if this is, if this is how this is going to be. and you can tell story after story like that of just huge clouds hanging over people who are just trying to do a good job for their communities and provide services and do their jobs.

that is not how you grow the economy. so i hope -- i want to thank all of my colleagues who have come to the floor to talk about this. we're all getting story after story from our states. we need to lift those up. and we need to say that we need to put this chapter behind us for the benefit of the american people. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: mr. president, i raise today -- rise today because the people of my state are in pain. they're confused and they're scared. this is because of a blatantly unconstitutional power grab by the president of the united states. while we have seen this power grab blocked by the court, it is only temporary, and the larger issue racisms. our constitution is extremely --

issue remains. our constitution is clear. congress, those in our districts, it's congress that makes the law. in the senate, those laws are almost always passed on a bipartisan basis. and after we work out our differences and pass a law, the president then implements the law. that's it. the constitution does not say the president can implement just the laws he likes. the constitution does not say the president can implement the laws just when he likes. the constitution is crystal clear on this. but the trump administration is ignoring the constitution and refusing to implement the laws that democrats and republicans passed together. and it's trying to cut funding

for absolutely critical programs. every senator and member of the house of representatives should be deeply concerned by that. i doubt my republican colleagues would want a future democratic administration to ignore annual appropriation laws. so a judge's 11th hour decision to temporarily block this power grab may have postponed the pain, but that's all it did by a week. the pain i'm worried about will be the impact that people in every part of my state experience. will community health centers be able to access funding to continue to provide health care for the 30 million americans that they serve annually? will title 10 be available to continue providing cancer screenings, access to

contraception, and other preventive care for women and families? will individuals with opioid abuse disorder be able to access treatment? will homeless youth be able to access emergency shelter and transitional housing assistance? will research into lifesaving cures into deadly diseases including cancer, diabetes, and alzheimer's be paused? will patients be able to continue to receive potentially lifesaving treatments as part of clinical trials? the programs our veterans rely on could be cut. programs children and families rely on could be cut. support for our farmers could be cut. the list goes on and on, but my office saw and heard the people

behind this list. like the deputy fire chief who called today wondering if he was going to lay off some of his firefighters or the mothers and local school district staff who we heard from who called worried their kids would not get a hot school lunch tomorrow. we heard from a child care facilitate in western wisconsin that would have to lay off people by thursday if these cuts went into effect. my office heard from a mother whose son is disabled and she didn't know if his medicaid was going to be cut or not. i heard from a substance use treatment provider who didn't know if they could help those fighting addiction or escaping unsafe situations. these people are real. these are very real consequences

if the president gets away with this unconstitutional power grab and cuts programs that americans rely on. i am calling object my democratic and republican colleagues to speak out against this overreach, stand up for your constituents, and for that matter stand up for the constitution. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, i'm honored to be with my colleagues on the floor to talk about the actions that have become very manifest in virginia today because of the president's executive orders, particularly the recent order pausing federal funding, grant funding, program funding, and i want to thank my colleagues for being here on the floor to talk about this and share just in the last 24 hours

what virginians are saying and what virginians are asking and what virginians are worried about. and then i want to make one point about my federal workforce and the promise the president made to them at the end of the day. and then finally raise a question of what president trump is afraid of? president trump has two republican houses. if he wants to do something to shrink the size of government, if he wants to do something to reduce spending here or there, we have a march 14 budget deadline and he has two republican houses and there's a way to do this unless you are afraid that your republican majorities don't want to go as far as you do in cutting medicaid and cutting medicare and endanger social security and hurting kids, veterans and hurting families. let me talk about the orders of the day and then the federal workforce and ask this question,

what is president trump afraid of? i started to hear from virginians about this federal funding pause yesterday. i was at an event in fredericksburg to kick off tax season and the local united way and chamber of commerce were initiating something they had done for 21 years in a row, volunteer tax assistance is for low and middle class folks, class community programs, a lot of volunteers, folks trying to figure out how to file taxes and make sure they get the benefits they're entitled to. as i was at this kickoff, people came up to me and said, hey, i'm a veteran, i'm trying to get an appointment at a v.a. hospital or clinic, but the v.a. portal is closed to me. what's going on? what's going on? this was the leading edge of this chaos. someone else came to me -- you

know, this kind of good news event about volunteer tax assistance and said, the federal government is paid to build a v.a. clinic in fredericks burke -- fredricksburg, state of the art, scheduled to open in february. we are still told that the grand opening is going to happen but now those working there said they're under a hiring freeze. we spent tens of millions of dollars to build this facility that looks great, but we're under a hiring freeze. can we hire people to serve the veterans in this region? this was how it started. from then to today, let me tell you other calls of anguish we've received in our office. two child care centers, one in the williamsburg area, one in appalachia, far, far away in west virginia, we think our funding may be cut off. we think we may not have enough to pay staff.

and we also think that parents who are receiving some child care funding, that may get cut off, and so neither they did afford child care nor can we afford to maintain the employment of these hardworking child care workers to child care centers. universities reached out to me. we're doing cutting-edge medical research. we have contracts that are ongoing right now, and we're about to send a bill to the federal government because we do the work and then we submit bills, we're not sure it's going to be paid. what do we do, lay off the researchers and not get the research done? what should we do, senator? there's an organization in virginia called the virginia health care foundation. what they do is they help low-income people and seniors apply for medicaid, apply for affordable care act subsidies. they have a contract with cms to

help them hire eight navigators who work around the state who help low-income people access programs to which they are entitled, for which they have paid taxes. they received a note suggesting that that grant to hire these navigators to hire these people was going to expire and they couldn't get any federal funding after 5 o'clock today. they heard this late yesterday, so they did what any good organization would do. they reached out this mrning -- morning to cms, please give us the payment before 5 o'clock today and what they got back was, sorry, our website is down. we decided that today is the day that we will repair our website and it will be open again soon. open again soon, but after the 5 o'clock deadline. you don't have to be a genius to

figure this out. hurting people getting health insurance, hurting child care centers, hurting veterans trying to get appointments, hurting a v.a. clanic that we spent tens of millions of dollars to spend, and that is just a little snapshot. there was an earlier order freezing foreign assistance funding. a whot lot of nonprofits. church-based nonprofits like world vision and other organization that do foreign assistance work around the world, humanitarian aid in ukraine, for example, they were told they don't get funding anymore. the only foreign assistance we will give, according to the trump executive order, is military armament transfers to two countries, egypt and israel. no humanitarian aid, no transfer

of military assistance to other nations many and this is all on the say so of a president trying to overturn existing appropriations bills that have been passed by a bipartisan congress. if i heard these stories in one day and my colleagues have heard these stories in one day, i know what i'm going to hear tomorrow, i know what i'm going to hear through the weekend. this is going to build like an avalanche, and it is not just democratic senators hearing these stories. we have to respect the law and congressional appropriations. and i ask anyone here who is concerned about this, if you're in virginia, call my office, if you're not in virginia call your congressman or congresswoman or your senator and tell them the president is not above the law, the president must follow the law and it's congress, democrats and republicans, who have to ensure that the president follows the law. second, mr. president, i wanted to talk about federal employees.

the federal employees received an interesting e-mail at the end of the day today. i happened to have some fellows who are assigned to me, who are not senate employees, but federal employees working in my office. and they received an e-mail that said from the administration, if you tender your resignation by next friday, we will guarantee you payment through the end of september whether or not you show up for work. so tender your resignation and then, boy, it's just going to be a fwraify train -- a gravy train. you're just going to get paid for seven months without working. the president has no authority to make that offer. there's no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work. this is a guy who made this promise to contractors again and

again and again when he was a private business guy. come work for me in my casino, come work for me in a hotel. we're going to do a handshake, we're going to do a contract. the contractor does the work and then finds out they're going to get stiffed. so my message to federal employees who receive this is, yeah, the president has tried to terrorize you for about a week and then gives you a little sweetheart offer, if you resign in the next week, we're going to pay you for doing nothing for the next seven months, don't be fooled. he's tricked hundreds of people with that offer. if you accept that offer and resign, he'll stiff you just like he stiffed the contractors. he doesn't have any authority to do this. do not be fooled by this guy. you were here before he was here and you'll be here after he was here. show up for work, be diligent, serve americans every day, make

their life better, answer their phone call, give them an answer, track down their constituent call. don't be fooled by a fake offer that because he's terrorized you in the last week it would be easy to just resign now and get a check for seven months because i can tell you that promise is worth nothing, and you will regret it just like these contractors regretted it who did work for this guy when he was a businessman. finally, i will say what is this move by the president to try to shrink the federal workforce. so okay that is one way to shrink the federal workforce. if i can get away with not distributing money, that will shrink the federal budget, but wait a minute. wait a minute.

the president has two republican houses. we are supposed to come up with a budget deal by march 14. what's today? is it like the 25th, 16th. is today january 28th? i think i'm right. march 14 isn't far away. we are supposed to come up with a budget deal by march 14. and the president is like sitting in -- he's got two republican houses. so if he wants to slash federal spending, if he wants to reduce the federal workforce, if he wants to gut medicaid, gut medicare, got social security, got the snap program, gut low-income thesing assistance, gut renting assistance, gut title one funding to our schools, guess what? he has two republican houses that he can persuade to do his bidding. he's been pretty good is a far at persuading these two houses to do his bidding. so why didn't he do that? that would be the lawful way to accomplish that.

if president trump could convince the two houses to slash all these programs in a budget, that would be lawful. get an appropriations deal that cuts all these programs the way he and russell vought and project 2025 want to do it. but that's not what he's doing. he's doing it -- trying to do it on his own. why? why would president trump who has a clearly legal path ahead of him that he can exercise over the course of the next six weeks, it's not very long, to get a budget deal with two republican houses, why would president trump with two republican houses in six weeks to get a budget deal to do everything he wants, why would he not exercise that route but instead use an illegal route as an executive to slash funding contrary to clear statute?

it's because he doesn't think that elected republican members of the house of representatives and the senate will go along with his radical plans. he doesn't think he can convince my gop colleagues to take the ax to all these programs and hurt the american people in the way he wants to. let's make president trump do this the right way, not the wrong way. let's put it on the shoulders of president trump and the two republican majorities. you want to slash all this stuff, fine. have that debate on the floor of the senate, on the floor of the house when we're doing the budget negotiation between now and march 14. show the american public your homework. show them who's going to get hurt. show them that we're going to hurt everyday people at the expense of the big guys that are getting the tax cut in the reconciliation bill later. let's really have that debate right here in the full view of the american public with these

spotlights on and the tv broadcasting it. that's what this president is afraid of, and that's why he's using this illegal strategy to accomplish what he is afraid he can't accomplish in the article one branch. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: thank you, and i thank my colleagues. you know, president trump likes to think that chaos is a useful tool. he can create disarray and disruption and things will end up all right. there's another word that more aptly describes would he did. cruel. deeply cruel. on sunday night in vermont, it's really a special night. you've got the work of the week

behind you, the errands of the weekend are done. if you're fortunate and have a family, you have a dinner. you're watching the football game. you're gathering yourself for the week ahead. the week ahead for people is different. it's a mom who has a dentist appointment that she finally got after eight months on medicaid. it's a dump truck driver who's looking forward to getting back and seeing his friends at work and getting that construction project in town completed. it's a medicaid doctor who as tired as he was from the week before is excited about the week he faces or she faces. it's the meals on wheels recipients, folks who have had a quiet weekend who are lonely and are anticipating the delivery of

that meal, not only for physical nourishment but for the emotional comfort that comes with delivering -- having that contact with the person delivering that meal. these are the everyday things that people do. they are living their life where they do work. they make appointments for their kids. they see them to child care. they help their neighbors. out of the blue with no disc discussion, an announcement goes out. it's illegal. it's sent out by a person who hasn't even been empowered to act. and it says to that mom who is going to the medicaid appointment, it's off. it says to that person who is getting to get a meals on wheels delivery, it's not coming. it says to that construction worker, that project you're so proud of and you're working on and you're making your contribution through your community, don't show up for

work. it comes out of nowhere with no explanation, with no discussion. it's cruel. taking away the expectations that people depend on to live the hard lives that a lot of people have. and by the way, i talked about people who have a fair amount of stability in their life. there's women who are getting beaten, and they have refuge because they can call a hot line and they can go to a shelter. closed. it's some kids who are homeless and have a shelter that they can go to because of the incredible effort of people in our communities, in your community and in mine who care about that when it's invisible to so many others. so the jeopardy of those people, taking away their security in the name of showing how chaos works to accomplish your goals, that's cruel. that is cruel.

you know, it's also cruel because the folks who volunteer at some of these places, you're depriving them of the opportunity that makes so much of a difference in their life when they see their life being fulfilled by being able to help others. i got a ride from an uber driver and i was talking to:. he told me -- to. he told me he was retired and he's retired like a lot of people where they have a job or two. and his was driving. but the other thing he did was he delivered meals on wheels. and he told me about his mother-in-law who until she was 91, delivered meals on wheels, oftentimes to people 30 years younger. and the joy he had in doing that is what made life so vivid and worthwhile for him to live. it's the joy of helping your neighbors. the president's order took that

away from him. no meals to deliver. that's cruel. it's also totally illegal. totally unconstitutional. and this is the test that we f face. if we're united states senators and we believe that the constitution is important not in the abstract but in the role it has played in preserving and protecting the freedom of all americans and we believe that freedom is preserved when there's a check and balance against unbridled power, then we are the ones that have to act in order to protect the well-being of this country against the illegal actions by a president who just doesn't care whether it's legal or it isn't. he worships power. and he's creating a new culture

where if you worship community service, if you worship generosity, forgiveness, empathy, you're a sucker. that's the emotional message from this president trump. our people in vermont, our people in utah, they want and they do better when they see injustice, they see suffering, they respond to it. they don't intensify it. so we have a decision as united states senators to stand up for what this institution requires and that is that we are a separate and coequal branch of government. and when the responsibilities are being subverted by an

overreach by the executive, we resist. and we resist because it's absolutely vital to the well-being of this country that our democracy prevail, three branchs of government, checks and balances. but it's really fundamentally important to the well-being of the people we represent that their opportunity to live with stability, the ability to help their neighbors, to have confidence that promises made are promises kept, that we defend the good work, the goodwill, the integrity of the people of vermont, the people of utah, and of all of our 50 states. i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, as much as president trump desires it, the president is not a king.

we are here tonight because as much as president trump desires it, the law is not a suggestion. and we are here tonight because president trump deciding he is a king and the law is a suggestion has decided to betray american families. you've heard of the great depression. but right now we're living through the great betrayal. the story of a man who ran for the presidency saying he's going to be a champion for families. and then shortly after taking office, just eight days ago, he proceeds to launch an attack on the very core programs that

families, parent, children, communities depend on. wow. have you ever seen anything like it? ever seen anything like it in your life? that someone campaigns for families and just after they're sworn into office, they launch a huge attack on america's families. and that attack is actually illegal. because the law once programs are funded, it is the executive's responsibility to itchment those programs -- to implement those programs, not to say well, i'll implement this one but not that one or i'll shut down all the funding for all the programs. no. in fact, we've had that conversation in the past. let's turn the clock back to president nibsion. president nixon said you all reached a compromise and you had some programs some of you liked

and some programs others liked. and you agreed to fund those programs. but you know what? i'm only going to fund the ones i like. i'm only going to distribute the funds for those programs which fit my agenda. and the courts responded and said no, you can't do that. the power of the purse sits with congress. it is congress that decides what is going to be spent on what, and it's executive, the president's responsibility to implement that. and then congress said, you know what? we'll give the president a break. if the president wants to roll back a program that's already been authorized and funded, he can ask congress to do it. it's in the 1974 budget control and impoundment act. and it's called a recision. the president sends a message up

to us and says, hey, you know what? i don't think we need all the funds for developing that new nuclear warhead because it turns out it won't fit on a missile. i'd like to have those funds rescinded. put back in the treasury. and we have 45 days to act. it's a privileged motion. all right. so along comes the great betrayal president, president trump, who campaigned on families and then decided to attack the programs for families just one week into the office, and he says, i don't like that recision structure. i'm just going to do what nixon did. i'm going to do what the court said couldn't be done because i don't like what the supreme court decided previously. i'm just going to break the law. now, is this like out of character for president trump? well, certainly just hours after

being sworn into office and taking the constitution to the united states of america, he said the 14th amendment, the one about, you know, birthright citizenship, i'm cancelling it. wow! now we have two major instances of breaking the constitution with just eight days into the office. that's quite the record. and the thing is, real victims across this country. my colleagues have laid it out so well. the fact that that grant to run the women's shelter is locked up. that program to run child care centers is canceled. the grant to keep us at the forefront of semiconductor in corvail six, oregon, is on hold.

that medical very much frozen. that contract for the vaccination program so we don't end up with an epidemic that will hurt children can't be written. that employment program for veterans returning from a theater of war, ain't happening. no, that's crazy. and all these things affecting our families. and not just our families, our infrastructure. we worked so hard in a bipartisan way to launch the biggest infrastructure program since eisenhower. we did the massive national interstate highway system. but, you know it was a long time ago so we said, we have to rebuild our bridges. we have to improve our mass transit, and we had a very large expenditure trying to bring these up to speed. well, you know, in my state there is a bridge on the interstate between oregon and washington, it's still a

drawbridge. it's like the last drawbridge in the united states of america. it has to be replaced. but now it's on hold. we have another bridge that is under contract or grants to be able to be earthquake-resistant because it will play a critical role when the big one -- the one we always talk about; like california might fall into the sea -- when that earthquake that happens roughly every 300 years off the coast of the united states on the west coast, like we need to have a bridge that actually holds up to it. well, who knows if that's going to get built now. so not only does this attack families, not only does this obstruct and delay infrastructure projects, but it drives up costs. you know, i seem to have an echo in my ear about the president saying he needs to reduce costs, but instead when you slow down

projects, the cost of materials goes up. what is that? that's called driving up costs. so we're here tonight to say, this cannot happen. we're here tonight to say to our republican colleagues, this is not about red and blue or republican and democratic states. i talked to a colleague earlier today who said, i'm getting all kinds of calls from my home. and i bet that's true for every one of our hundred senators. i know everybody on this side of the aisle has been hearing from folks back home saying, we're pretty upset. we're pretty worried. what is happening? you know, that portal where we get funding for medicaid or that porta portal where we get funding for veterans benefits, it is all shut down. i'm sure all 100 senators are getting these calls.

this is an attack by an authoritarian in the executive branch on the constitutional powers of congress. when we talk about the branches of government, we talk about article 1 and article 2 and article 3. article 1 of the constitution about congress because at the heart of democracy are folks who are elected. down the hall in the representatives, here in the senate, to wrestle with and shape the law. article 2 is the executive, who executes those laws. article 3 are the judges who defend the constitution. well, so here we are. article 2, the president, with authoritarian pulses, is attacking all of us here, all hundred senators, all 435 or so members of the house of representatives, and saying i want to take the power and

decide how things get distributed for things that have already been enacted. well -- so that's why we're here. and i must say, it's even worse. it's even worse than simply this attack on families and this violation of the constitution. it's part of a vast authoritarian power grab. in just the past few days, the inspectors general for agency after agency have been fired. the inspectors general are the ones who make sure the executive branch is according to the law, behaving according to the law. and they do all kinds of reports that hold people accountable. they do things about this program is working, that program is not working, this is being done in accordance with the law, this isn't. if the inspectors general are not there, there's no one to hold people accountable. that's the point of firing them

all. that should put terror in everyone about the lawlessness president trump intends to go forward with. i know there's always kinds of other things, all kinds of other attacks -- for example, all of those lawyers at the department of justice who were assigned to environmental crimes like when companies put huge amounts of asbestos and at the pump it in the wrong place or chemicals that contaminate groundwater and wells cannot be used anymore -- every one of them has been tossed. they got the word. they're not there anymore. just within a few days of the start of this administration. so i thank my colleagues who came here tonight to talk about this. the architect of this plan is a

man named russell vought. russell vought did the last budget for trump. in his first time he served. and then he started a nonprofit think tank that worked to develop the basic plans for project 2025. and then he became the architect of project 2025, and it has three main parts. the first part, attack and tear down programs for america's families, the ones that help them get on their feet and be able to thrive and move into the middle class. the second part is to borrow $2 trillion to $3 trillion from the federal treasury. and the third part is to do massive tax giveaways to the richest americans. he's laid out all three of them. check it out.

project 2025. he came and talked to us all about all these programs, these three steps. savage the programs for families. of course, that wasn't exactly the words he said. he just said massive cuts to things like medicaid, massive cuts to things like child care programs. everybody should be on their own with no foundation to have any assistance getting on their feet and being able to move forward. not on health care, not on education, not on child care, not on anything. well, that's the attack on families. that's the great betrayal. now you he's going to be voted on this thursday -- now, he's going to be voted on this thursday in the budget committee. and budget democrats and our democratic leader have written and said, this vote should be delayed. we are in the middle of a constitutional crisis. the architect of that crisis is the man to be voted on on thursday. this is wrong. let's fix this constitutional

crisis and then continue with the conversation about confirmation of the nominee russell vought. mr. president, let's work together, democrats and republicans, to defend the institutions of our democracy. let's say no to this sweeping authoritarian power grab. let's defend the constitution. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 12:00 stands adjourned until 12:00 >> today the chamber can from sean duffy with transportation secretary about 77 — 22 and senators also trying to address the house bill that would sanction certain members with the international criminal cour,

the recent arrest more for topics the government officials fell short of the 60 votes needed and off the floor to continue to hold confirmation hearings as we can for more of president trump's covenant companies pretty including robert f kennedy jr. ce the department of health and human services and comfort to be director of nional intelligence we will bring you lives and encouragement lawmakers return, right here on "c-span2". michigan democratic senator. peters have announced that he will not seek reelection when his terms of next year printed u.s. senate 2014, he serves on several committees chairing the homeland security committee in the last congress predict the committees assignments services, appropriations scout fm nbc news reporting the democratic congresswoman henry shelton is considering a run for the seat republican lis buckley republican conference jerk taken out of the consideration in 2020

and the seas considered between the twoarties, president trump early run the state last year by about 80000 votes five and half million votes cast in the presidential election. >> coming up tonight on "c-span2" in the united nations security council briefing on gaza refugees, then from c-span's in your own world series, will hear from president trump somebody delete hhs, robert f kennedy jr. printed later hearing on immigration policies and enforcement. >> democracy, just an idea is a process, process shaped by leaders elected to the highest office and entrusted to a selected few regarding the basic essentials in his work debates unfold, decisions are made, the nation's courts charted a democracy in real time and this is your government to work.

this is c-span, giving you your democracy filtered. next a human security council briefing on refugees of these real hamas more and i was to provide to hear from officials on some of the challenges the agency facing in u.s. and is really representatives told us security cancel and relief agency has ties to hamas and suggested shifting effort's interest with organizations predict. background sounds >> good morning. 9857 meeting of the security cancel is called to order. the agenda for this meeting is situation released including the palestinians. the agenda.

in accordance rule 57. councils provision rules and procedures predict presidency of the security council and the representatives. egypt, iceland, israel, and spain and others and to participate in this meeting. it is so decided. i propose the council invite the government palestine to the united nations to participate in this meeting. in accordance with provisional roles the procedures and previous practice in this regard.

there been no objection and it is so decided. in accordance with the role 39. the councils provisional rules and procedures. i invite the following briefing. to participate in this meeting. mr. philip, commissioner general the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the middle east. and, secretary-general of the norwegian refugees counsel. it is so decided. the security council when i began concentration of