defend the constitution alone. it's the responsibility of the majority party as well of every individual member here in the senate. and then we had the president fire a member of the national labor relations board. but the law says you can't do that. they have a term, you get to put and nominate a new person at the end of the term. but he was fired anyway. why? because it's part of the attack on families and the ability to enforce labor protection s, this president opposes. he wants to give free reign to corporations to run over labor provisions embedded in the law. if there's no one to appeal to, then there's no constraint on the abuses vetted onto, put onto working people.

that's what we are facing. and the president fired the head of the consumer financial protection bureau. i can tell you protection of consumers through terrible financial products is incredibly important. you know, when i was elected to the senate, we had two types of loans that were predatory mortgage loans that were turning the dream of home ownership into the nightmare. one was called the triple option loan, and what that meant was that you could pay a smaller amount, and the amount you owed on your house would actually escalate over time. then when you got to a tern point of escalation, the loan would switch and you would have to pay a different amount that many people couldn't afford. so it resulted in a lot of foreclosures. we had another type of home mortgage with an exploding interest rate. you get a subsidized interest

rate for a couple years, then the rate explodes to 9% or 10%, and people couldn't make those payments. they had been steered into those loans by mortgage brokers who are getting kickbacks undisclosed to the person taking out the loan. they're being betrayed by k kick kickbacks, called steering payments. that is the type of thing that hurt america terribly, because the foreclosures then were a key factor driving the collapse of the economy in 2007, 2008, into 2009, hundreds of thousands, millions of homes foreclosed on, all because there wasn't a consumer financial protection bureau to say those loans are not okay. i was very pleased to lead the charge in dodd-frank to end those predatory loans. but ongoing protection against

scurrilous, scandalous scams, you need a watchdog for the consumer. the president, favoring billionaires and corporations over the american workers, proceeded to fire the watchdog that protects us against scandalous scams in financial products. and then the president fired members of the fbi, experts who were focused on making sure the executive branch stays within the confines of the law. well, if you don't want the fbi checking out the fact that you're breaking the law, you fire them so there's no one there to hold you accountable or do a report. this is the act of a president determined to rule by fiat and break the laws and break the constitution. and then donald trump gave elon

musk unprecedented and unacceptable access to the u.s. treasury's most sensitive payment systems. those payment systems control over $5 trillion a year in payments. those payment systems has everyone's private information. do you like the fact that elon musk and his team of musk rats with their laptops have been in there downloading information on you? don't you kind of worry about the type of big brother government that downloads your private information and sends an in -- sends in inexperienced people to take over the payments and take your private information, where you live, how much you earn, your tax returns, whether you get medicare, whether you get social security, your social security numbers, everything within that world?

that's a massive assault on the privacy of american citizens by a big brother government, the type of government that wants to be an authoritarian presidency and control everything and have power over everything. so they inveiied the treasury and -- invade the treasury and system of payments. not only is it a huge risk to the privacy of americans across this land, but also an invitation to exploitation. it's an invitation to extortion. because now big brother government in the form of mr. trump and elon musk and his musk rats have your information they can use against you, should they so please. and finally, there is the danger that this crew that invaded treasury, alters the codes, and

screws up the payments. maybe they don't intend to, but they do because they don't know what they're doing, they're not experts on the code. suddenly the medicare or social security payments or tax returns don't go out wait they're supposed to. a whole lot of americans apartment like billionaire trump and his -- aren't like billionaire trump and his band of brilaire bros. they're living paycheck to paycheck. screwing up a single payment can put a family in a world of hurt, including missing a rent payment that gets them thrown out of their house. so, that's not the only way that team trump is attacking ordinary fam families. there's also the big sales tax that he wants to impose across the nation in the form of tariffs. now, mr. trump says, ha, it will be the foreign companies that pay for tariffs. just factually, it's wrong frmth

the im -- it's wrong. the importer pace the tariff bill -- pays the tariff bill. the american company that imports pays the tariff. in order to pay the tariff, they raise their prices. so it becomes a sales tax on the american people. 25% tariff on mexico or canada becomes a 25% tax, more or less, on working america. you know, president trump posted on truth social that tariffs should never have been ended in favor of the income tax system. just recognize this, tariffs that result in higher prices on americans are incredibly regressive. they have a much bigger impact on those less well off, who have to buy food and groceries, and unlike a sales tax that has an exemption for health care, food, or groceries, there's no

exemption from the higher prices driven by a tariff. so they're incredibly regressive. the tariffs are a strategy to attack working families across this land. well, trump was very clear. he said, basically we should go back to the old system of funding our government by tariffs, the system we had before 1913 when american ratified the 16th amendment that allowed the income tax. in other words, he wants to go from a tax system on income that can, if implemented carefully, and often it is not and has way too many loopholes, it can be progressive. that is, the rich who can afford to pay more can pay a higher percent. but the tariffs converted into a sales tax on americans, that is in fact incredibly regressive, hurting the poor. it's why rich folks always want a sales tax replace an income

tax, because they know they pay less, the rich pay less, and the working stiffs have to pay more, because their paycheck has to go directly to consumption, because that's what they have, paycheck to paycheck, got to pay the rent, got to pay the food, got to pay the utility bill. but the well off, they're taking their extra funds, they're investing, so they don't have to spend every dime on consumption. that's the mechanics of how a tariff becomes a regressive sales tax. let's be crystal clear about what is happening. there's a three-part plan in project 2025. again, the architect of which is up for confirmation right now, for the question of advise and consent on the senate. so the architect of project 2025 has a three-step plan -- attack working families.

that's step 1. that's what happens when you cut the programs for health care and housing and education and children. you attack the families. step 2, borrow trillions from the treasury and run up the debt, currently estimated to be in the area of about $3 trillion. then take and deliver a massive tax giveaway to the bill billionaires. that's the plan -- attack families, borrow trillions, give away trillions to the billionaires. in fact, the current estimate for the amount given to the trillion airs is around 4.6 trillion -- or to the billionaires and megamillionaires, the richest americans, 4.6 trillion. kind of ironic, isn't it, that a president who campaigned on helping families is actually

driving a plan, in partnership with russell vought, to attack families and deliver for the billionaires? campaign on government for families, get elected, and immediately pivot to attacking families and delivering for billionaires. that's what we're facing. this is the great betrayal, a betrayal of all the voters who believed donald trump when he said i'm for you, who believed when he said he wants to protect and help working families, and yet he attacks the ability of workers to organize and get a fair day's pay for an honest day's work. that's the great betrayal. the architect of this is up for confirmation right now. the architect for this is advocating for the president to violate the laws, and has already demonstrated that this

last two weeks. the architect of this is arguing that we cut programs, run up the debt, and give it all to the richest americans. that's the plan. so, over the next 30 hours, democrats are coming to the floor, united, determined to stand with the families of the united states of america. mr. trump standing with the billi billionaires. my colleagues, who have indicated their want to confirm russell vought, confirm the architect of project 2025, confirm the person who inspired the attacks on family programs a week ago monday night, they're standing with the billionaires. i invite them, come join us. do not stand for government by

and for billionaires. come join us and fight for families. come join us and honor the responsibility of the executive branch to obey the laws. come join us and protect the constitutional separation of powers. after all, the president's effort to move the power of the purse from congress, the power of congress to say here are the instructions -- we want you to fund this program, this program, and this program -- the president wants to say, it doesn't matter, those are just suggestions. i have news for you, read the constitution. the president is not a king, and a law is not a suggestion. so come join us, united in support of the law and the constitution. russell vought is a leading

proponent of the impoundment theory, that says a president can decide how much to spend on programs that congress has written into the law. in other words, that the appropriation bills are simply suggestions, not the law. no, we had this conversation back in the nixon era. remember president nixon, along with watergate? remember that other unconstitutional thing he did? that was to say i, as president, can stop the funding of programs that the law says i'm supposed to fund. well, the court said otherwise. it said, in fact, no way, that's unconstitutional. and then congress said, in 1974, in the budget and impoundment control act, congress said, hey, mr. president, we will give you a mechanism by which you can present the idea of changing

current law. you don't think we need to spend money on, say, that weapon program because the technology is outdated, or maybe you don't need to spend money on some feeding program because it's duplicative of another feeding program or food program, you don't need to spend money on x, y, or z, maybe a nuclear warhead was rebuilt to be on a certain missile, but we're not building the missile anymore. so the president could proceed to say, here is a letter that comes to congress saying i know these are in the law, i know i have to fund them, but we shouldn't fund them, so please, over the next 45 days, debate and vote on changing the current law so that we save this money. it's called a recision. it's in the 1974 budget impoundment control act. we gave the president a tool by which he could follow the constitution and ask for reductions in programs already

passed into law. now, i'm quite sure that not a single senator here, not a single senator wandering around the capital somewhere has received -- capitol somewhere has received a recision letter from president trump or one on behalf of president trump from the office of management and budget. if you want to cut programs that have already -- that are already in the law, there's a mechanism to do it lawfully. you ask congress to do so in a letter for a recision. fancy word. we don't talk about it much. presidents don't very often ask us to undo programs we've just passed because we budget on an annual basis. we pass those laws on an annual basis. so they aren't rarely so out of date. they are rarely so out of date that a president says okay, undo that program. but they have the power to do so because we gave the president the ability to ask in the 1974

budget and impoundment control act. and by the way, the lower court decisions that preceded that 1974 law, those were then reviewed and made it to the supreme court, and the supreme court said absolutely the president cannot impound funds. it's a violation of the constitution. so to my colleagues, you're saying well, i don't know if senator merkley from oregon is right about this, read the supreme court case. and you have a responsibility to defend the constitution, and that's why you have a responsibility to vote no on russell vought who wants to violate the constitution. another piece that i'm concerned about with mr. vought is that he didn't wait to be confirmed to start being essentially the

shadow director of the office of management and budget. and i can't count how many nominees have come through and said, well, actually, i can't go near that office until i'm confirmed because that would be a violation of the intent of the const constitution, that people have to be confirmed before they take a role. but what did we hear from the white house after all those illegal executive orders were put out? press secretary karoline leavitt said russell vought told me to tell all of you the line to his office is open. so here's mr. vought basically saying i'm really the power already to omb. my line's open. call me. well, mr. vought, if you would quit breaking the law and advocating for breaking the law, you would know you shouldn't be in the office of management and budget essentially acting as if you have been confirmed when you

haven't been confirmed yet. again it's a confirmation of the inclination of this individual to say the laws don't matter. i will do what i want no matter how much damage it does to the law or the constitution. so we did send a letter saying to mr. vought, are you on the payroll currently? do you have a title? have you been hired as a senior assistant? is that legal given you're up for nomination to run the place? is it legal for you to be hired as an advisor and then act as if you are running the place? is that legal? we didn't get any answers. another reason to vote no, the file is not complete. he hadn't answered. -- hasn't answered. why doesn't he want to answer? because you wouldn't like the answer. the american people wouldn't like the answer that he is over there running omb at a time he hasn't even been confirmed by

the senate. so he doesn't answer. that, too, should bother colleagues on both sides of the aisle. because we didn't have answers, the democrats on the budget committee wrote to the chair of the budget committee and said delay this vote. delay it for two weeks so we can get answers to questions and get a complete file. well, that's a reasonable request in this situation. because both sides of the aisle have often worked together to say nominees have to complete their paperwork. they have to answer the questions raised by the committee. but we were told no. this position is so urgent, the president so desperately needs the architect of project 2025 to be the engineer on the train

that we can't actually wait and get answers and have the file completed. i certainly disagree with that answer. i think it disrespects the entire membership of the budget committee. and then the vote in committee was scheduled without the foil complete -- without the file complete, and it was scheduled to be done in a little room off the floor over here where the public cannot attend and where members would not be allowed to talk to each other and share their obvious vases or concerns -- observations or concerns which basically violates the whole premise of members on a committee sharing their observations to try to get to a better answer. now, i was told that as the ranking democrat, i could make a few comments, but the rest of my

committee, well, the democrats or even the members -- other members on the republican side, we were told they couldn't make any comments or attempt to influence each other. so we said no, that's not right. this is such an important nomination. and his background is so troubling and his current actions are so troubling. hold that conversation about the vote in a public forum. just that morning we'd held just such a public conversation on the ambassador to the united nations in the foreign relations room. each member was asked, do you want to add anything as we consider whether or not to send this nomination to the floor? well, the ambassador to the united nations is a pretty important role. but you know the chief engineer of the office and management -- office of management and budget, the architect of this entire

strategy that president trump is laying out, that is very important as well. so we asked for a public hearing or discussion so that members could talk to each other, share their concerns, maybe persuade each other, though not often enough we listen to each other, and the result was from the chair of the budget committee no, we're not holding a public dialogue about whether people think he should be confirmed. so the vote was held, tiny room. i think one reporter was allowed in. no public was allowed in. no extended press core. no dialogue between the members. we asked a reasonable request that this be done publicly and that was denied. i'm sorry to the american public that you were excluded because you would have heard then what you're hearing from me now, and you'll hear from members of the

democrats oef the next 30 hours -- -- over the next 30 hours how unfit this individual is to serve in any government role. so we're here tonight on through now, through the night, into the morning, we're here for the next 30 hours to raise the alarm about how dangerously unfit this nominee is to serve in the role of chief engineer because he doesn't respect the law, he doesn't respect the cons constitution. he's already demonstrated that by stepping into the role and coordinating the dark-of-night decisions to cut programs to working families all across this land. now, i'd say does he really believe in this whole

impoundment thing? is he really an advocate of breaking the law? yes, we saw it a week ago monday night. but we also saw it during the first trump administration when russell vought was the architect of impoundment of the funds destined by law to go to ukraine. so this isn't some empty theory. it's already in the historical record. russell vought coordinated a strategy of refusing to send the funds required by law to go to ukraine. now, there was another element of this which was president trump during his first term was trying to use those funds and the impoundment of those funds to get the president of ukraine to say bad things about a mechanic of the biden family -- member of the biden family. that combination of impoundment which was illegal and then essentially using that to extort a statement from the president

of ukraine which the president of ukraine refused to do led to trump's first impeachment trial. so russell vought's illegal, unconstitutional strategy of impoundment and using it as a tool of extortion to try to attack a political opponent led to trump's first impeachment and first trial here in the senate. so have no doubt that the man who advocated for impoundment and the extortion of a statement from the president of ukraine back in the first trump administration is certainly very honest when he says he's still for impoundment right now. that's the one thing i will say, he didn't try to disguise this fact. he said the president doesn't like what the supreme court decided on the constitution. i don't like it. so we're going to ignore it. he ignored it before. he intends to ignore it again. i'll tell you something else

that i think is deeply disturbing. and that is russell vought's absolute disdain for the nonpart professionals who work for the american people as civil servants. he wants to take folks who are members of the civil service and make them at-will employees of the president so the president can sweep out of position tens of thousands, fire tens of thousands of servants of the american people who use their professional skills to deliver services as efficiently and effectively as possible and replace them with loyalist lackeys. i don't want a loyalist lackey in the control tower deciding when planes land. i want a nonpartisan professional. i don't want a loyalist lackey having access to the treasury payment system and trying to use

that to extort favors from people around the country or disclosing the private information of individuals or absolutely screwing up the computer code and causing payments not to be delivered effectively. i want a nonpartisan professional. i don't want a loyalist lackey deciding on how to transport vaccines across the country who doesn't know a damn thing about whether they have to be refrinl rated or not or -- refrigerated or not or how long they can sit on the shelf or how to get them effectively delivered. i want a nonpartisan professional. but not russell vought. in fact, russell vought called for federal workers to be traumatized so that they would consider themselves to be villains and would leave public service and could be replaced by loyalist lackeys. that should concern everyone.

and listen, i understand the pressure my colleagues are u under. we all become as part of our party essentially part of a team. the inclination is to support the member of your team who is now president. but there is a higher responsibility here. it's a responsibility to the law and it's a responsibility to the constitution that you took an oath to. and certainly supporting the firing of tens of thousands of nonpartisan professionals and replacing them with loyalist lackeys is a huge disservice to the families of america who depend upon all of those core programs and health care, housing, education, programs for children, standing on their feet so they can thrive and move into the middle class. it's part of the attack on families embedded in trump and russell vought's project 2025.

i'll tell you what else i don't like about russell vought. he wants to weaponize the justice system to prosecute officials who investigated president trump's crime. weaponizing the justice system is absolutely wrong. that's what happens in third world countries with dictators. and i realize as an advocate of the imperil presidency, vought wants to use every tool available like a dictator does, but that is wrong. we are a republic. we are not a monarchy. we are not an authoritarian state, unless we become one by refusing to stand up against vialses of laws -- violations of laws in the constitution. you know, ben franklin when he was leaving the constitutional convention, he was asked by a bystander, because they had met and worked on this crafting of

the constitution. he was asked -- ben franklin -- what do we have? what type of government do we have? and he responded, a republic, if we can keep it. but what are the fundamental elements of a republic? the integrity of the voting booth is one, the ballot box, the integrity of an election. and that integrity is under assault across this country. second, the peaceful transfer of power. and president trump at the end of his first term did everything possible, including incentivizing a riot that stormed through these doors and took over this chamber, to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. they were calling for the vice president, who was fulfilling his constitutional role just

down the hallway through those doors, down the hallway, to count the electoral votes, they were calling h.r. founding mother had been hung -- calling h.r. him for hung. what else is critical to a republic? well, it is a foundation of laws that will be respected by the executive brage. that's being violated. and it is the separation of powers that trump is violating right now. so every piece of our republic is under attack by russell vought and donald trump. ben franklin right now is turning over in his grave, fearing perhaps for the first time since he was buried six feet under that we might lose our republic. russell vought also supports the use of the military to quell domestic unrest.

that is an absolute violation of the law, but he supports doing it. russell vought has called for an end to any drugs that provide medical abortions. he wants them banned. he wants to interfere with the right of every family, every woman in america to exercise her judgment in partnership with her spiritual advisor and her family and her doctor. he wants big brother government to be in the exam room of every woman in america dictating whether or not they can use drugs as part of an abortion process. and he also doubles down on this saying there should be no exceptions to a law banning abortions for rape or for incest

or to save the life of the mother. you know, i was absolutely struck by the recent memo from the new secretary of transportation that said we are going to prioritize giving our grants to communities that have the highest birthrate and highest marriage rate. what? big brother socially programming, using transportation grants to determine who gets to repair their bridges or repair their roads or expand their metro system or build bike lanes or whatever depending on your marriage rate and your childbirth rate? that's in the memo from the department of transportation. well, here's russell vought, his social programming is he wants his view of reproductive health care to be imposed across america with big brother, big

government in the exam room of every american woman. that's who this man is. those are his dangerous views. presidents are not kings. laws are not suggestions. unless russell vought is confirmed and makes it so. if he is confirmed and makes it so, we have failed. -- failed to defend our democracy. we have failed to defend our republic. we were elected by our citizens of our respective states to be here with the vision of government by and for the people, not the vision of government by billionaires for billionaires, not the vision of big brother government going into our living rooms and into our exam rooms telling us to

have children in order to get a transportation grant. but that's the type of social programming we are facing. to my colleagues across the aisle, i all have pointed out -- you all have pointed out quite accurately that you are threatened with a primary funded by elon musk if you don't loyally follow step by step, move by move everything that trump wants to do, including confirming russell vought. i say to you, stop trembling in your boots. you are being threatened, you are being pressed, you are being extorted. stand up and say, i am a senator of the united states of america. i was not elected by president trump. i was not elected by russell vought. i was not elected by elon musk and the billionaires. i was elected by the people of my state, and i am going to fight for them.

that is your responsibility. that is your path to escape the dilemma we have heard you express. i don't believe any other time in our history the president of the united states has threatened to sick the billionaires against members of the united states senate. and we need to stand together and say, hell no. that's what it means to defend the constitution. that's what it means to be a senator, this privileged position, elected by the citizens of our state in order to pursue what the people are asking us to do to build a stronger union and better opportunity for every -- every citizen. donald trump and russell vought are trying to use their executive orders to break the

spirit of the american people, to break the will of congress, to break the back of the constitution. such plans are evil. and every one of us, democrat or republican, should say, we will not be intimidated. we will not cower. and we will not bend to fear of donald trump and elon musk. trump may inflict his worst, but we must awaken our best. president franklin roosevelt said, we won't let them, quote, clip the wings of the american eagle to feather their own nest. colleagues, stand with me, stand together, stand as senators

united to stop the president from clipping the wings of the american eagle to feather the nest of the billionaires. to protect our constituents, to protect the constitution, to oppose this sweeping authoritarian coup, to stand with american families and against the betrayal of those same families. we are coming to the floor united to say, we must not confirm the nomination of the most unfit man to be considered as director of the office of management and budget. you all have heard me say a few words about impoundments. it's a big word, but it's a big word for a simple action.

it means that the president refuses to spend the money that he's required to spend by law on a program. oh, i don't like health care programs that we're doing and the law says, here's what you must spend for this particular program in the coming year, and the president says, no, not doing it. yeah... well, that's illegal, and it's unconstitutional. it's not up for debate. in the 1970's, president nixon did exactly this action, impoundment, to stop funds for the environmental protection agency for individual programs that he didn't like. he told his epa administrator, russell train, to withhold the funding. a recipient of those funds was the city of new york and the city sued, and in that case, train v. the city of new york, the supreme court ruled that the white house did not have the

power to impound funds and refuse to do what the law says they're supposed to do. and, furthermore, the supreme court said this is inherent in the constitution. the executive is to execute the laws, not to make the laws. not to remake the laws, not to ignore the laws, not to treat the laws has a suggestion. the executive must faithfully implement the laws of the united states of america. that is the responsibility. congress, in the 1974 budget and impoundment control act, did create a way for the president to say, i am neat just waiting for the budget next year. i'm not just weighing in on the programs i want for next year, i want to change the ones this year, and we gave him -- congress did -- a tool to do so. that's the tool of rescission that i mentioned before. well, let's fast-forward from 1974 and the battle with nixon to 1996.

1919 -- 1996 there was a very interesting debate over the balanced budget amendment and you needed 67 senators to approve in both bodies this constitutional amendment. the house easily passed it. here in the senate, the republican chair of the appropriations committee said, no, every year through our revenue bills and through our spending bills -- appropriations bills -- we decide what the deficit will be and we can decide any year it shall be zero. but we shouldn't be so constrained to address national emergencies, whether it be a famine, whether -- from drought or whether it be war or whether it be covid -- of course, covid or some disease -- that we shouldn't be contrained as to be unable to meet the moment. so senator hatfield from oregon said, no. he would not be the 67th vote. and then he offered to resign,

and what the history books rarely record is that in oregon, the governor does not have the power to appoint an individual to the senate seat, which meant there would have been 99 senators and 66 would have been enough to pass that constitutional change, and it would have gone out to the states for ratification. well, the majority leader, robert dole, turned down hatfield's offer to resign, so the 67 standard was not met. well, then the republican leadership said, let's give the president line-item veto, slings give the president impoundment power, impoundment power that the court says the president doesn't have. and so they passed a law and gave the president impoundment power. line-item veto, and it went to the supreme court and the

supreme court said, hey, congress, the constitution charges you with the responsibility to lay out what will be funded for what program. you can't simply delegate for that president. if you could, you could have a majority in the two chambers that says we have the power to en -- it would be a pathway towards an authoritarian takeover of our country if congress abandoned its constitutional role to set the parameters for what programs are funded. and so the distort struck it down -- and so the supreme court struck it down. well here we have again russell vought ignoring the supreme court in train v. the city of new york, ignoring the supreme court when it struck down the line-item veto and once again threatening to so undermine the law and the constitution. colleagues, my fellow caucus members will be coming through

the night to share their perspectives and why russell vought is untrustworthy, unelected, and unfit to serve as the director of office of management. i believe that my colleague from hawaii is going to carry the train of this conversation forward, and, therefore, i am wrapping my comments while he figures out some issue at the counter. but but i want you to all go forward into this long 30 hours knowing just a core fact, that we only have a republic if we can keep it. and we can't keep it if we put a man at the head of omb who posts determined to -- who's determined to break the law and violate the constitution.

i yield to my colleague from hawaii. mr. schatz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: thank you, mr. president. thank you to the ranking member of the budget committee for his lead leadership. we're doing something a little unusual. first of all, every democrat is united on the vote that will occur 26 or 27 hours from now. second of all, almost every united states senator on the democratic side is going to come to this floor to articulate why we are united and why we think this moment is so important. if confirmed, the director of omb, russ vought, may well be the most important man that no one's ever heard of. under normal circumstances, the omb director is a powerful but kind of anonymous because they're responsible for technical things, nerdy things,

developing and implementing the entire budget. but russ vought wants to go way beyond that, wants to take an agency that people outside of washington never heard of and turn it into the power center of the federal government. he wants to consolidate power at oma in a stark and sometimes illegal way that he alone will get to decide who deserves the government's help and who doesn't. you do not have to take my word for it. i'm a democrat. i always want to make the case for our side, but i want you to understand these are his words because he's one of the authors of project 2025. and let me just say what he says about this job. the director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the president's mind as it pertains to the policy p agenda while being ready with decisions to affect

the agenda within legal resources. this role cannot be performed adequately if the director acts as ambassador of institutional interests. this is like, everybody watched "game of thrones." he wants to be the king's hand, wants to be able to say i represent the president in foreign policy, tax policy, spending policy. all of it. that's actually not what an omb director is supposed to do. he then talks about a practice called apportionment, to essentially get around the bills that we pass, the appropriations bills. he wrote, no director should be chosen who is unwilling to restore apportionment decision making to the program associate directors who are political appointees, not career officials, personal review who is not aggressive in wielding the tool on behalf of the

president's agenda or unable to p defend the power against attacks from congress. look, the door swings both ways in washington and this attempt to make the legislature irrelevant is going to bite us in the butt. there is going to be a progressive president and if this is allowed to stand they're going to reach in and defund stuff you like. that is the creature of duly enacted law. i'm not saying anybody should make this their point of primary opposition to the senate but we're on the floor of the united states senate so let's be a little serious for a moment and say we swore an oath to uphold the law and constitution of the united states. and the constitution is actually, it's ambiguous about a couple of things but not ambiguous about this. we hold the purse strings. we're the article 1 branch, and

our power, besides confirming or rejecting nominees, is substantially that we set the parameters for a spending bill. and i bet that there are 53 members on the other side of the aisle that have a different view of spending than i do and i get that we just lost. and so we're in for some outcomes that we don't like. i'm not complaining about outcomes that i don't like. i am complaining about an unlawful view of the separation of powers. and we saw it last week when they just literally froze all federal fundings, not even with the pretext of we're just going to review this and make sure everything is, no waste, fraud and abuse. they shut down the medicaid portal, shut down head start, froze construction projects. i want everybody to understand what's at stake here is literally the american system of

government. because these guys view this branch of government, one that is plural, not just one person elected, but 535 people elected from their states and their districts to represent all of the people of the united states of america, and it is supposed to be messy and it is supposed to be contentious. and you know what? it's also sometimes supposed to be slow. it's supposed to be slow. it's supposed to be hard. we have the best document undermining any country that has ever existed in human history, and what it does is it says we don't want any branch of government to be too powerful. and so this is not some trivial little partisan dispute about particular programs. this is the ability for the executive branch to literally seize power, storm into the

offices of an agency that they hate, and shut it down operationally and use a bunch of white shoe law firm, fancy pants words to develop a pretext for eviscerating the united states constitution which clearly gives us the authority to establish spending laws, right? and can we spare ourselves the punditocracies, democrats should be focussing on something else? i understand, i understand that some of the stuff that we're going to say to each other on the senate floor is like not necessarily compelling to speem outside of this building. but people outside of this building understand on a very basic level that there are three branches of government and they're supposed to be roughly equal, and stealing power from the legislative branch is inherently bad, even if you agree with the outcome. even if you think i kind of

agree with him, i don't like this program. if you don't like a program, introduce a bill. if you want to p defund something, there's like an actual process for that. there's a lot of stuff i don't like in the federal budget, and i usually propose cuts to those things i don't like. sometimes i prevail and sometimes i don't, but i have no illusions that i'm a monarch. and it is true that this president of the united states won a free and fair election to be at the helm of the executive branch, but he did not win a free and fair election to be the monarch of the united states or the ceo of the united states. and i think one of the conceptual problems with bringing in all these billionaires is they really are the monarchs of their companies. that's like how the private sector -- when you're the ceo and you want something to happen, you tell them this is what is going to happen. this is not a democracy, i'm the boss. do it. that's literally not our

constitutional system. and so russ vought has ideas that i disagree with about the size and the scope of the federal government. and that's part of this, right. he really does want to cut medicaid, cut medicare, cut the affordable care act, l eliminate programs that i think are essential for people in hawaii and people across the country. but there really is something bigger at stake right now. and we, all of us, democrats, republicans, independents, the media, which is so damned casual about what is happening, we have to understand when you're in the middle of the fight you're not sure if this is an historic moment. when you read about it in the past, you can identify that historic moment. when you observe it in a far-away place with a hard to pronounce name, you can identify what happens, creeping fascism.

when you're in the middle of it you're not sure to display courage. if this is to be stopped, we only have 47 votes. three people at some point, i have no illusions it will be in the next 30 hours, but three people have to say i like conservative outcomes, i like conservative justices, i like tax cuts, but i don't like unlawfulness. and those are my parameters. i am an adult, i have been here for 13 years. i've been in the majority, i've been in the minority. i've been in sort of every iteration of whatever elections bring. that's okay. that is the way this process works. what is happening right now is an attempt to reorder the whole damned system in a way that is going to make every individual citizen across the country, across the country less powerful because when you elect

someone -- and i'll yield to the the senator from from minnesota in a moment -- when you elect someone and you tell them your spending priorities and they come home and say good news, i got this or good news, i cut this, and then you realize that's only a recommendation. it's the omb director whose name you never heard of, his name is russ vought, who gets to decide that's not our system of government. and that's why we're going to be fighting all night about this issue. and i yield the floor to the senator from minnesota. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. smith: mr. president, i rise today, i want to thank senator schatz for his clear-eyed description of what is happening right now and how that connects to this nomination before the senate right now, the nomination for mr. vought. i rise today to join my colleagues in calling out the threat that russell vought poses to our system of government.

as senator schatz says this is not about liking or not liking what mr. vought has written, what he stands for, what his policy positions are, though i clearly disagree with those. this is about whether or not we are going to abide by the systems of law in this country that say that we have a separation of powers and that the power of the senate and congress, the power of the purpose that rests in the senate and the congress, that we keep that power. that is an p institutional prerogative that i think is on the line today with this vote. and that is why my colleagues and i are going to be using the full 30 hours of debate in order to really make this point clear to the american people. but i will tell you, mr. president, that minnesotans are waking up to this, and they are not happy. in the last week thousands of minnesotans called or written my office about the unprecedented chaos occurring in agencies or programs, and they can see it across the country which have come from elon musk and from president trump but are rooted

in russell vought's dangerous project 2025, donald trump's and russell vought's dangerous project 2025. these ideas are dangerous, unconstitutional and hurt real people. the funding freeze is straight from russell vought's project 2025 plan. that is one of the reasons i'm going to be opposing him when we vote on him ultimately tomorrow. whether this freeze is blocked in court or whether it is still in effect is in some ways beside the point because i think the point here is to create chaos. the real point right now is that people are feeling this pain, they are concerned, they are scared. and for what? why is this happening? it is to test out russell vought's extreme and dangerous ideas and seep how far they can take it. that is what we'll be voting on. we are going to be voting on the man who is behind all of this chaos. i know my colleague, senator schumer, is going to be speaking

in just a couple of minutes but let me go for a second about what this means for minnesotans. for minnesotans, a federal funding freeze means life or death, seriously. the administration's list of frozen programs covers people's most basic needs -- food, shelter, medicine, safe drinking water. i've heard from thousands of minnesotans who are terrified of what this means for their families. the senate phone lines, colleagues, i think we know this, have been overwhelmed to a breaking point this week because of people who have been so outraged by elon musk's and president trump's actions. this is real pain for families and leaving them wondering what this is all going to mean for them tomorrow. the scope of vought's project 2025 and the funding freeze that it inspired is so broad that i don't think there is a single person in this country who won't be impacted in some way direct or indirect. and this is not going to be good for anyone. americans, it is true to say, are less safe today than they

were last monday before this funding freeze. the freeze has put our most fundamental and essential services in this country in limbo. what does this look like in minnesota? it means that counterterrorism programs, programs to combat human and drug trafficking, programs to fight child sex trafficking, all of those were covered by this freeze. liheap, which is keeps heat on for low-income families in minnesota, that has been at stake. it was minus 12 degrees in international falls last night to give you an idea of what it means in the cold north country of minnesota. i want to acknowledge what it means for food assistance and clean water projects is a real and specific impact and pain that people in minnesota are feeling. now, mr. president, i have a few letters i'm ready to receive, but i'm going to yield to the senate minority leader, senator

schumer from new york, so he can tell us what this means for the people of new york and the whole country. mr. schumer: i thank my colleague from minnesota for her outstanding leadership and her passion. thank you. i want to thank my colleague from minnesota for her passion, representing the people of minnesota and showing how terrible this nominee is. we're going to be speaking all night. we want americans every hour, whether it's 8:00 p.m. or 3:00 a.m. to hear how bad russell vought is and the danger he poses to them in their daily lives if he were put as head of omb. we want to sound the alarm -- sound the alarm on the reckless and lawless things that russell vought will do to american families. to sound the alarm on the chief architect of project 2025, to be sound the alarm on russell

vought because russell vought sadly, alarmingly, outrageously, stands on the brink of confirmation as director of senate omb, thanks to senate republicans who have fallen in line, one right after the other, behind donald trump and have rubber stamped his nominees no matter how unqualified, no matter how harmful to the american people. and of all of the nominees, of all of the -- of all of the extremists and deletion that come to the -- idealogues that have some to the senate, none hold a candle to russell vought. most people have never heard of russell vought before. but make no mistake about it, my fellow americans, he is the most important piece of the puzzle in donald trump's second term. he will be the quarterback of

white house policy. for all intents he will run the command center of the trump administration and his decisions will reverberate from one end of america to the other in every city, in every town and every household and every rural area. and of all the people -- of all the people donald trump could have picked to lead the white house policy, he chose the godfather of the ultra right. make no mistake about it, russell vought is project 2025. russell vought is the chief architect of 2025, its intellectual inspiration and now he will have the ability as head of omb to put these awful ideas into effect. and who will suffer? not the billionaires who seem to be running the trump administration, but the average american, the tens of millions,

the hundreds of millions of average americans. will he me say this. there can be no worse proposal for the american people than project 2025. there can be no position more able to implement this terrible proposal than director of omb. and in could be no person -- and there could be no person who would be worse for running 2025 from omb than russell vought. it's a triple loser. the worst program, the worst place to put it, because it does the most danger, and the worst person to run it all rolled up into one in this vote. now, remember during the campaign russell vought put together project 2025 with a bunch of other right-wing ideologies.

their goal was to smash the government, break the government, not just eliminate waste. oh, no, that's not what they wanted to do. they are so, so deeply anti-anything government does whether it's social security or helping our veterans or defending our country that they're against it. why? well, their ideas really started with this small group of hard-right people who felt they didn't want to pay any taxes and they didn't want any regulation so we don't need a government. and they gained strength on the hard-right side of the republican party that became the maga part of the republican party and donald trump embraced it. now he hid it during the campaign. when project 2025 came -- became public, donald trump said i don't know anything about it. because he knew that he'd lose the election if he embraced

project 2025, that an overwhelming number of americans would be against 2025. he knew that. and so he knew nothing about it. but the minute he won the election, russell vought started to take over and the pieces of project 2025, already we z seen, are begun to be -- we have seen have begun to be implemented. it is such hypocrisy for donald trump to say he didn't know what 2025 was during the campaign and now he's putting the chief architect in the most important position where it can be implemented with great harm to america and the american people. americans don't want to see social security or medicare cut. they certainly don't want to see medicaid cut. they certainly don't want to see help to veterans and hospitals and to help people pay for

health care and to afford housing. there are so many bad things in 2025. some are pretty obvious to slash government programs. some are less obvious. one that really bugs me, we have so many people who need housing in america. it's one of the greatest needs, and over the years the wisdom of the american people, administrations, democratic and republican, said let's give a little help by having the federal government back mortgage loans, fannie and freddie. and it made interest rates be lower than they normally would have been for a young family that's looking to buy their first home, having their second little baby and they're so happy and we can have a home for our children and they want to get rid of it. in part maybe so some private sector people can make some

money doing it themselves, but mainly because they are so viciously antigovernment that they'll slash anything no matter the consequence, no matter who is hurt. and that's what we're on the brink of happening here. we had hoped on this side of the aisle, because we know how our colleagues feel. if you asked the 53 senators on that side of the aisle to vote yes or no on project 2025, my guess is of the 53 probably 50 -- at least 45 would vote no. but they're actually voting to implement project 2025 when they vote yes for russell vought. he's the architect and they're putting him in a position where he can take the plan and implement it, basically shove it down america's throat. so here we are.

we've already begun to see the chaos that the russell vought philosophy, the project 2025 philosophy engenders. a freeze -- freeze funding of all programs. they didn't look at which programs were good and which programs were bad. no, no, no, they prose them all. chaos -- froez them all. chaos erupted, day care was not funded, veterans' programs were not hupded -- funded, mental health not funded, so much they had to back off for a period of time. but that's project 2025 at work. and now the treasury payment system, which in one sense is a lifeblood of how government works, of how we help people because we're giving money to things that people need is being

infiltrated by doge. what is doge's view? let's cut $2.5 trillion. they don't say how. they don't really care as long as they can just slash government and hurt americans so that their billionaire friends can pay even less taxes than they do now, despite the fact that income inequality in america is getting worse. it's one of the main things that bothers working-class americans. his fingerprints are all over this past week's disaster, whether it's at treasury, whether it's with federal workers, whether it's at a.i.d., whether it's at hurting justice department people, prosecutors, all of that is russell vought at work.

he's working to hurt you, mr. and mrs. america even before he gets in office and imagine how much more harm he'll do should he become the head of omb. and i want to ask mr. vought some questions. mr. vought, how is freezing all of these funds supposed to lower people's costs? yeah, it may lower the taxes on your wealthy friends, but how is it going to help the average american? you've never explained it. the just fanatical hatred of government without rhyme or reason without distinguishing between programs just permeates everything. so, mr. vought, explain how lowering these funds going to help people. how is provide privatizing freddie and fannie going to

help? this is small but it is it indicative, how is cutting the programs that help us eliminate bird flu, how will it help? it raises it. the price of eggs is high. $5, $6, wow. so imagine this, folks. imagine a world where russell vought and the doge team team up and it's a team that can be such, such harm, pain for america. they team up to eradicate the funding they allege is wasteful. what would it mean for kids at school who struggle to get a good meal? they'll say it's wasteful, or parents who struggle to get groceries, they'll say it'sful. a couple seeking a loan to buy a starter home, they'll say it's wasteful. getting rid of head start.

right now in my state, even though the funding freeze has been rescinded, there are head start programs getting no money. kids in two counties had to be left out of head start, 200 families struggling during the week because so many of them have either one participate who's working or two parents who are working. what are they going to do? do they have to watch the kids? do they have to quit work? will they get fired? will they get demoted? all painful, really painful. head start provides dental and medical care for little kids. what a waste vought would say when we know that when kids have bad teeth at a young age, it hurts their learning, it hurts their ability to become productive citizens. there's nothing more cost effective than something like that. and, folks, bad news -- bad

news. what we saw this past week with the beginning of russell vought's ideas and programs and philosophy and ideology to be implemented is just the beginning. just a preview. i hate to say this, but unfortunately we ain't seen nothing yet should vought get into office in this powerful omb position. let me say again, why does vought want to hurt so many people? why is he being so mean and cruel and heartless and uncaring? very simple. so republicans can give tax cuts to donald trump's billionaire friends and supporters. of course it's cloaked in some kind of ridiculous ideology that was paid for by the hard right. they set up think tanks for 30

years to come up with this libertarian type of philosophy, but it has no basis in reality. where it comes from is not what would make america better, but rather make a few rich people richer. the harm is i maysing. everything we see happening to today, the flurry of executive orders, all of the awful things happening at the treasury department and omb and elsewhere, it all boils down to one end game -- a broken, paralyzed government, that breeds corruption and self-dealing and self-interests, that ignores the public and caters to the ultra, ultra wealthy. that is the entire ballgame of trump 2.0. the only solace is we are a democracy, and it will catch up with them all, with president trump, with russell vought, with

all the republicans who vote for these things. that happens. the roots of democracy are deep. we saw little sprouts of it this week, when president trump had to back off tariffs and back off a funding freeze, because so many people were going to be hurt. but it will, it will be rejected by the american people, and i'm confident that it will change the political fortunes of both parties as it is implemented, those who support it on the republican side, the american people will like them a lot less, and those who opposed it, on our side, the american people will understand we're on their side. but the damage, mr. president, the damage that will be done in the interim is enormous. the number, millions, tens of millions, probably hundreds of millions of people who will be

hurt, and hurt in real, severe ways. it will be horrible. so there's no solace. i do believe that the political system, with all its infirmities, with all the big money having so much power with donald trump and his republican friends, even with all of that, i believe ultimately our democracy's roots are deep, and ultimately i believe those who support russell vought, he himself, the president who put him in, the republicans who voted for him, will be rejected by the american people for doing it. but the damage in the interim will be enormous, worse than almost anything we have seen. so, i say to my colleagues on

the republican side, maybe it's not too late. maybe somehow you'll realize how damaging russell vought is. maybe you'll say to yourselves, despite the fact that i might have trump angry with me, i'm doing the best thing for him by voting down russell vought ultimately, ultimately politically. maybe. unlikely. forlorn hope. i always try to be an optimist. but maybe. this is a very, very important vote, and as the way it's looking now it's a very awful and sad vote, one of the worst, if it passes, that i have seen in this body in the many years i have been here. for those who think russell vought won't be so bad, read his

book, see what he's done even in the first few weeks. i mean, read his project 2025, it's a project, not a book i don't think, and maybe, maybe, maybe you'll realize it. unlikely. highly unlikely. it's a forlorn wish, but things are so bad if vought gets in that you have to cling to that forlorn, highly unlikely hope. 20 years ago, it will be hard to believe that somebody as hard right, as narrow-minded, as vicious in his philosophy as vought would get a single vote on the floor of the senate, but now he may get a majority. we are warning the american people how bad this is.

we will see the consequences in the weeks and months ahead. there are very few votes i've cast with greater fervor than this no vote for russell vought. he is, as i said, a danger to working people, a danger to america's beliefs and ideals, a danger to the unity, cohesiveness and beauty of this great america. i proudly, strongly, and with complete conviction will vote no on this awful, awful nominee. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, it's not unusual in this job of ours, in the united states senate, to run into a reporter in the h hallway. it happens all the time. they're trying to write a story, and they want to ask you a question or two to get a quote possibly for their story. today, i came out of one of our hearing rooms, and on the committee on agriculture, and one of the more prominent reporters for one of the cable news networks said to me, can you give me a reaction to the suggestion by president trump yesterday that somehow or another the united states of america is going to take over control of the gaza strip and develop it? well, i'd read that in the morning papers, i was aware of

that assertion, and all i could say to him was, if you follow his suggestions, that canada become the 51st state, that we take over the panama canal, if necessary by force, that somehow or another we come into ownership of greenland, the notion of developing hotels on the ocean in the gaza strip is just one of the trump suggestions we're dealing with. for those who argue, well, the american people voted for him, were they voting for those things? the point i'm trying to make, it's been made earlier by senator schumer, there are efforts afoot that go way beyond the issues of this last presidential campaign, where the american people, i believe, said we want a change, we're going to vote a majority for donald trump because we want to see a better lifestyle for ourselves and our

kids. those things make sense to me, and i'll tell you, in my life, as i reflect on things that have happened to me, there were times when the government played a very important role in my life. i recall when my father passed away when i was in high school. there was a social security disability assistance check that helped me to go to college. then, of course, there was something called the national defense education act, where i could borrow money from the federal government, that had to be paid back, but i could borrow the money to pay for my school expenses. had the government not been there in those two instances, i'm not sure i could have completed college or where i'd be today. i didn't start off with a litmus test whether i loved government or don't. i needed a helping hand, and there was a program created by this government, by this senate, that came to my rescue. what we're discussing now is the nomination of russell vought. i don't know the man personally,

but i've read plenty of what his philosophy consists of, and i believe he's being offered one of the most powerful jobs that most americans don't even know, the office of management and budget ing. one of the essential powers of the senate under our constitution is advice and consent, which means the founding fathers said a president can pick his team, but the senate has to approve that team, advise and consent when it comes to that person. the constitutional authority gives the senate the power to review and approve presidential nominations, and with it the responsibility to ask hard questions. well, that's been the case in the last several weeks, as the nominees for the president's cabinet have all come forward to be reviewed by members of the senate. our nation's founders viewed this as a check on the power of the president, ensuring that the country's most important leadership posts are filled by

truly trustworthy, qualified, law-abiding americans. i take that responsibility seri seriously. i probably, as i reflected on running for the senate, did not reflect on how many times i would be called to judge a person as part of my job, but as a member of the senate judiciary comm committee, ranking member at this point, i have had to review the resumes and interview literally hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applicants for lifetime positions with the federal government. when i reflect on it, it's an awesome responsibility, but you have to project as to what that person will do once they have the power of office, and that's what we're doing today. i join with my colleagues in opposing the nomination of russell vought to be the director of the office of management and budgeting. he's been nominated by president

trump to run this agency. it's the largest office within the executive branch of the government. its job is to oversee federal agencies and administer the federal budget. now, most of the time when we're called on to evaluate nominations, we do our best to take a look and review the nominee's qualifications and experience. we meet with the candidate. i've done that today several times, with several nominees, and ask them questions to determine their fitness for the role. sometimes you can tell this is the first time they've ever really seriously considered serving in government in their lives. well, we try to imagine what they'll do with that power, but for mr. vought there's no need for imagination. he already has served as director of omb during the last half of trump's, president trump's first term in office, and i believe he proved who he was in that period of time. when he served as director of

office of management and budgeting during president trump's first term, mr. vought illegally refused to release hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance to ukraine, and delayed $20 billion in disaster aid for puerto rico. if that sounds like a lot of power, it is. there was literally a question whether ukraine would survive the invasion of vladimir putin. our government had committed to hel helping. mr. vought decided, in his capacity as head of omb, to withhold the funds, and there was a serious question whether ukraine, fighting for its life, would survive. $20 billion in disaster aid for puerto rico after the hurricanes had struck and did such great damage to that nation, it was a l liv-and-death proposition, and he -- a liv-and-death proposition, and he decided to withhold these funds. when he left that role, mr. vought became a key architect of what's been referred to many times as

project 2025, a policy proposal written by a conservative think tank outlining a sweeping extreme vision of america's future. project 2025 included policies to consolidate power in the executive branch and to undermine critical services the federal government provides to american families. if that sounds familiar, perhaps you're following the president's ongoing attempts to freeze federal funds legally appropriated by congress. that is no coincidence. mr. vought is the maga puppet master in this administration. two weeks ago, we saw it at its worse. i see senator murray of washington is on the floor. she is our democratic leader when it comes to appropriations. i saw her on that committee, i respect her judgment. i'm sure she remembers as i do, when the word came out there was a pronouncement from omb they

were going to put a freeze on federal spending. it didn't sound real. to think they'd stop spending across the board? they made a few exceptions, but to stop spending in so many areas? then the phones started ringing. from the state of illinois they started calling senator duckworth's office and my office, telling people exactly what was involved. programs like head start. head start is a critical program that began in the 1960's. it's for kids prekindergarten to spend a day under supervision and a learning experience and socialization experience that can make all the difference in their lives. for their parents, it's a great opportunity. last friday i visited one of these head start facilities in the city of chicago. it's known as el valor. it's remarkable. seeing those kids, the experiences they're going through. it's heart warming. these kids are from working

families, and they're not from families with a lot of wealth. they have an opportunity in head start to have a good, clean, positive classroom experience that prepares them for school and for life. one of the parents came, to make a point of telling his story. he talked about what a transformation took place in his little boy when he became part of this program. i have such positive feeling about that, balls i can't think of -- because i can't think of a better investment of my tax dollars or anybody's tax dollars than making sure that next generation has a fighting chance, and let start giving them that chance. when omb announced the freeze, one of the first places they felt it was head start, they started realizing they couldn't keep their doors open because they don't have a lot of money to turn to if they didn't get the regular infusion of federal funds that had been guaranteed to them over the years.

some of them actually thought maybe we could last a day or two without that federal fund. but most of them realized they couldn't last at all without it. so why in the world would omb turn to a program like head start and say that's where we want to freeze federal spending? for goodness sakes, i'll be the first to admit there's waste in our government, waste in corporations, there's waste in many directions, but to start with kids struggling kids from working families and to say we're going to cut off their program, that's your first priority for cuts sdm meals on wheels. what is meals on wheels? well, it's something most people with an elderly parent or grandparent know full well. it's that one time each day when someone knocks on the door and brings literally a hot meal to someone who is living alone usually and has to depend on that, not just for food but for socialization and that friendly smile once a day that they just dream of and live for.

and to cut that program along with head start, come on. but that's what i learned. i learned that this freeze from omb that start ed by the trump administration involved meals on wheels. it isn't just these programs that touch my heart and i hope touches yours, we had calls from medical researchers, from hospitals across the city of chicago, and i'm proud of those hospitals. we have some of the best in the world. and they do key research, critical research, cancer, heart disease, and so many other things. and they work with the national institutes of health, the premiere medical research agency in the world. well, it turns out that when the ob of president trump wanted to start turning out the lights, they decided to do it on medical research as well. what were they thinking? if you've ever been in a terrible moment in your life where someone you love so seriously ill and you're

wondering if they can survive, one of the first things you're going to ask that doctor, is there a medicine, is there a process, is there a surgery, is there some breakthrough that can save the life of somebody i love? that's one of the first questions you ask when you face that awful moment. so what did this omb decide to do under president trump? they decided to cut off funding for medical research. these are researchers literally said we're told at 5:00 to go home. that means walking away from an experiment which i've been working on for a long time and losing all the progress that i've made. really? that's your priority? i don't think the american people thought that was what they were voting for when they voted for donald trump in this last election. mr. vought has made his beliefs perfectly clear. he believes that the president can refuse to spend money that congress has appropriated for the american people. despite this being a direct violation of the law, the law is known as the impoundment control

act. some have naively claimed that project 2025 is nothing but a thought experiment. it is clear that since the president took office, it has been a blueprint for a radical rewrite of the principle of the balance of power in our constitution. and it's no surprise that as a key author of project 2025, mr. vote continues to lead that charge. knowing this as we do, placing him in charge of omb would be irresponsible. you saw what they did initially with the freeze just a few weeks ago. and it would entirely undermine the role of the senate appropriations committee and the united states senate itself. what i find disappointing, discouraging is that so many of my republican friends who work so hard to be elected to this chamber are willing to give away our constitutional rights and our constitutional authority. this idea of impoundment gives away the power of congress to

appropriate. this latest attempt to put a sweeping funds on federal funds is far from the first time mr. vought has broken the law and undermined congress' power of the 'us that is set forth in the constitution. it is clear from mr. vought's comments and actions that he has contempt for congress as a coequal branch of government. it's appalling that so many of my republican senate friends voted to advance his nomination as he actively attempts to strip congress of our congressional authority. we're not oppose mr. manager vought solely because he poses a threat to our ability to do our jobs in congress. mr. vought has made it clear that he's targeting working families across the country. both in his previous tenure as omb director and in policy proposals, mr. vought has proposed budget cuts to slash the social safety net -- those resources for tax cuts for the wealthy. it's being reported today that representatives of elon musk,

so-called department of government efficiency, are now inside the centers for medicare and medicaid services where they've gained access to key payment and contracting systems. i know elon musk. i've met him on two or three occasions one on one. we've had conversations. i respect him in many respects for his achievements with his car as well as with spacex. and solar energy projects. he's done some remarkable things, making him the wealthiest person in the word. having said that, i don't believe he has any qualification to sit here in judgment of our government and its future. he's given an outsize role in the trump administration, though he has no authority from the american people. he hasn't been elected to a damn thing but he currently won over the heart of the president and he's making decisions which affect people's lives every day.

these representatives of the doge, department of government efficiency which isn't even a department is looking at the systems technology and medicare and medicaid as well as spending that flows through them. that means every hospital, every senior in a nursing home, every child with serious health condition are at the mertzy of elon -- mercy of elon musk's minions where they're considered to be -- worthwhile spending. the director of omb should serve the americans, not billionaires. while serving as omb director during president trump's first time, he was the architect of, quote, schedule f, a plan which would allow the president to fire nonpartisan civil servants and replace them with partisan loyalists. on january 20, president trump signed an executive order reviving schedule f, another move right out of mr. vought's project 2025 playbook,

effectively stripping thousands of career civil servants of job protection. mr. vought has called civil servant, quote, villains, close quote, and he's advocated for their mass termination, but more than 70% of the federal workforce serves in national security roles. his plan, vought's plan, would jeopardize americans' security. to my republican colleagues, for the sake of an institution in which we've worked, the constituents we were elected to serve, and the constitutional foundations of our nation, please don't vote for mr. vought. maya angelou once said when someone shows you would they are, believe them the first time. from his tenure running omb to his authority of project -- authorship rather of project 2025, mr. vought has shown us exactly who he is and what he believes. he is a man with little respect for the constitution and limited understanding of the plight of real working americans.

giving mr. vought the reins of omb is an invitation to a policy battle at the expense of our constitution. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to join my colleagues in urging all of our colleagues to vote against reduce vought's nomination to lead the office of management and budget. the senate should not vote to confirm as the head of omb or to any important role for that matter someone who does not respect the constitutional authority of the senate and thus the people we represent. we should not entrust someone to implement our laws who has made clear time and again through his past actions in this same role during president trump's first term, through his work as the head architect of project 2025,

and through his own words in hearings and meetings that he will not follow the law, that he will not follow the laws, and that he will not send our communities the funding that we all worked together to pass. why on earth would any one of us confirm someone whose entire game plan is to break the law and then dare the word to stop him? that's it. that is how reduce vought plans -- russ vought plans to run the omb. it is not a secret. it is a very public fact. he has put this on the record time and again. just look at what happened last time russ vought served as director of the omb. he tried to break the law to give president trump unilateral authority he does not possess to hold up security assistance to ukraine and override the

spending decisions of congress. and he's not given up on that idea. he has written about it in many -- many, many times in the years since. as a chief architect of project 2025, vought doubled down and charted an unconstitutional plan for the president to ignore the will of congress which led him to being named in the first articles of impeachment against president trump. he mapped out a lawless path that as i will detail shortly president trump is already barrelling down at full speed. but if you still weren't convinced that russ vought will trample all over the separation of powers, will ignore the authority of congress, and will hurt the american people by holding back funds they rely on, well, you're in luck because at our hearing with him, i asked

vought directly, point blank will you follow the law. that should not be a hard question. even if you disagree with the law, you don't ignore it. maybe you don't like the 25 mile an hour speed limit in a school zone, but unless it's changed or struck down, you still have to follow it. it is true for speed limits and it is certainly true for the constitution. that's something that almost every single american understands, except apparently russ vought and donald trump. because today the impoundment control act is the law of the land. despite vought's own wishes and his own feelings, it has not been changed, and it has not been struck down in court. despite what vought pretepdzs is true -- pretends is true, the reality is the constitution gives congress, not the president, the power of the

purse. and yet russ vought will not say he will follow the law. and look, vought is not just lawless, he is extreme. let me drive that home for a second. let's take abortion, for example. project 2025 already calls for ripping away birth control, allowing states to deny women lifesaving emergency care, and effectively banning all abortion nationwide. that is already a dangerous republican fever dream, far out of line, by the way, with the american people. but vought wants to go further. on abortion he is for, and i quote, abolition. abolition. you know what that means? it means a national abortion ban without any exemptions -- exception, even in the case of rape or when a woman's life is at risk. that is as far right as it gets. and of course abortion is not the only issue where vought has

made statements that are deeply alarming. he has stated that he believes the 2020 election was, quote, rigged. that's not just out of touch with america, that is dangerously out of touch with reality. he has said he wants to traumatize our federal workers. that means all the people who work really hard to help in our communities, whether they're inspecting food or reviewing the safety of drugs or keeping our travel safe, maybe they're strengthening our infrastructure or fostering inno he vision and small business or giving care to veterans or supporting our tribe, so much more, vought has said we live in a, quote, post-constitutional time. mr. president, doesn't get any clearer than that. a post-constitutional time? that's what he believes we're in. do my colleagues agree with that? do they think it's time to shred the constitution? that is what is at stake with this confirmation vote because

vought has made it all too clear that as omb director, he will put everything on the chopping black, from programs that people rely on to the checks and balances our democracy is founded on. again, he has put it down on paper in black and white. we know he wants to cut medicare and in particular, medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars. we know he wants to find significant savings from eligibility changes to veterans health care and disability benefits. we don't even need project 2025 to see that. he laid that out in some of his budgets from trump's first term. vought's goals are not secret, nor are they subtle. we do not have to decipher anything here. there is no mystery. we know he is planning for cuts beyond anything this country has ever seen, and we know, if russ

vought gets his way and gets his hands on the nation's funding again, he will not just draw blood, he will cut programs families rely on, families rely on, down to the bone. snap cuts that leave families hungry. policies to cut people off from their health care. cuts to disability benefits that veterans have earned through their service to america. thousands of public servants forced out of roles serving the american people -- all while he works with trump to dole out more tax breaks to billionaires and the biggest corporations. and here's another thing -- we don't have to imagine just how painful and chaotic vought's lawless ideas would be in practice because vought is actually already putting his agenda in place, which frankly raises another question -- why should the senate vote to confirm someone who is already secretly doing the job behind

our backs? because, guess what? those executive orders that trump still has in effect, those orders which are right now illegally blocking money our communities need, that is right out of the project 2025 playbook. or the effort now to get rid of thousands of federal workers through illegal firings, and now scam buyout offers that have no basis in law to carry out, or trying to illegally abolish entire agencies with the stroke of a pen. that has project 2025 all over it. and it's not just a parallel in ideas here. when omb issued its blatantly illegal guidance and attempted to block trillions in federal dollars, congress -- all of us -- passed, there were digital fingerprints all over that digital document linking right back to project 2025.

and in the chaos that followed, you know who reportedly met with omb about how to respond in russ vought. let's not try to pretend how lawless this guy is. let's not pretend how much damage he will cause. the damage that trump and vought caused last week alone was unlike anything i can recall. never in my time in the senate have i seen a president cause as much chaos, panic and damage in 48 short hours. chaos, panic, and damage which continues even now. president trump inflicted serious harm when he implemented vought's reckless vision to brazenly and illegally freeze federal grants across the government and across the country. my phone has been ringing off the hook because, unlike

billionaires like trump appeared musk, unlike hyper partisans like vought, the american people actually have a painfully clear sense of how this will hurt our communities. after all, they are the ones that would suffer the consequences of the reckless policy like this. and let's remember, the trump administration's first halfhearted attempt to clean up the massive mess they made with this new guidance essentially boiled down to, we'll let some funding go, but we're still going to hold up everything else. and while later they finally admitted they were disastrously wrong and revoked the entire guidance, they are now still today illegally holding up other funds, which i will say more about later. and the chaos alone they caused with their cruelty and incompetence is utterly unacceptable. the explanations the trump

administration offered throughout that saga last week, freezing seemingly trillions of dollars that families rely on, created no clarity or certainty for many panicked families and businesses and nonprofits and towns and states. and nothing they said changes the basic fact that trump was and is still holding up funding that our communities need, funding that is the law. but let's talk about the effect. let's talk about the chaos and alarm they caused, the damage done to communities and families that all of us represent, and the collision course we were on before americans spoke out and forced trump to retreat. because in terms of chaos, the trump administration was trying to say a lot of programs were not affected. even when we had firsthand accounts making clear that was not what organizations across the country were experiencing.

i'll give you one example -- head start providers were locked out of their reimbursement portal, meaning folks taking care of our youngest kids were suddenly not sure how they were going to keep their doors open or pay their teachers and staff. and, by the way, some providers in my state are still locked out, not getting the funding. talk about rental assistance -- that's the payment system for housing providers. it was down for photographer a day with rents that were -- it was down for over a day, with rents that were due at the end of the week. seniors were left wondering whether they'd have dinner last week. grant programs to combat the fentanyl crisis, to get families health care and so much more were in an instant put at risk of evaporating into thin air. i mean, mr. president, the panic and confusion were absolutely widespread. because there was a long, long list of programs president trump

tried to put on the chopping block here. programs that, by the way, help red states and were you states alike. -- and blue states is alike. funding to address the opioid use epidemic could have been paused. this is a long-standing bipartisan priority and trump wanted funding frozen for a period that would cut people off from the treatment that is helping them beat addiction. cops hiring grants which help our states and communities higher law enforcement officers. trump was freezing those, too. these investments increase community policing capacity and they prevent crime. without this money, our streets and our neighborhoods would be less safe. and let's not forget about other crucial doj grants -- funding for the national center for missing and exploited children, for amber alerts, for safe havens that support victims of human trafficking, or in my

state there are 25 child advocacy centers that were trying to figure out how they would be affected by the freeze. think about that. funding for firefighters. you know what doesn't stop when federal funding stops in fires. and speaking of fires, trump's move also threw funding for recovery and relief efforts into uncertainty. in eastern washington, my state, $44 million was announced weeks ago to help spokane county rebuild from wildfires. we were left with big questions about the future of that badly needed funding last week. and while it was just two weeks ago that trump visited communities in both north carolina and california who are still reeling from disaster, the very next week he sent them reeling himself throwing funds they were counting on into limbo with his initial omb guidance. because for a while there the system that all of our states use to get disaster relief

funding was shut down. and let's not forget grants from the violence against women's act. i heard from organizations in washington state that support survivors of violence. they were trying to figure out what to do because their federal payment site went down. without that vital funding, survivors would be left with no way to access the legal aid and services they deserve. like so many other organizations, they were ringing the alarm bells because they were not going to be able to pay their staff or pay their bills. this illegal freeze left domestic violence centers wondering how long they could keep their doors open and pay their staffs. and our tribes were thrown into chaos as well. the pualute tribe was told they couldn't move forward with a critical road project and housing and health care and

education and so much else was getting caught up in this funding freeze. one told me they were left trying to determine if they were going to have to lay off 400 people because of this. causing layoffs with an illegal funding freeze would be a profound breach of the federal trust responsibility to our tribes. here's another alarming one -- one of trump's executive orders was set to cut funding used to help detain nearly 10,000 isis militants in syria, to detain them in syria. that funding was about to be cut off altogether, potentially leading to prison guards leaving the job and risking isis militants getting out of jail -- until this administration was alerted to how reckless that would be and they carved out that funding. but, trust me when i say there are many other funding streams that help keep us safe that are

still at risk, especially because of the illegal executive orders that are today still blocking foreign assistance. and the absolutely lawless effort to dismantle usaid which does lifesaving relief work around the world. i am have more to say on that in just a bit. and, by the way, how does undermining health, which will mean diseases run rampant, particularly at a time when bird flu is on the uptick and impacting many of our producers and workers and state, how does at that make any sense? because when p it comes to health care, this attempted freeze posed a huge threat to our families. set aside the fact that medicaid payment portal went down in my state and in every state, something we're told was a coincidence. that doesn't change the fact

that all federal health care grant reimbursements stopped. it doesn't change the fact that community health centers were blocked from getting the funds they needed to pay their staff and continue providing care in our communities, including rural areas where they are often the only option for miles. it doesn't change the fact that title 10 providers, who support care like family planning services and cancer screenings and more, couldn't draw down their funds. i also heard from hope sparks. it is a health care provider in my state. they warned that without federal support, kids in the south puget sound would lose access to mental health care and crisis services. biomedical researchers were suddenly left dealing with questions not about how to save lives but about grant freezes and how these vague, broad actions might stop research programs and clinical trials across the country.

chaos alone presents a huge risk of derailing crucial studies. scientists at the university of washington and washington state university told my office they were deeply alarmed. a freeze like trump ordered would have been research projects collapsing and staff being furloughed or laid off. the fred hutchison cancer cancer moved to bridge the gap to keep it from being derailed. but not getting this fixed would have meant putting them in the hole to the tune of $1 million a day. that that sort of unexpected burden would have had a huge impact on lifesaving cancer research and agriculture research was faced with uncertainty as well. wsu is a national leader in this as well. research to help our farmers grow more crops, more resilient crops, fight pests and plant

diseases. wsu was deeply concerned funding could be cut off undermining important work supporting our nation's farmers. and threats didn't stop there for those in food and agriculture. one organizations which works alongside our local growers told me, losing fund wooing mean a reduced capacity to grow and distribute fresh local food to our communities. that would hurt both the farmers and the families who rely on those programs to put food on the table the a meanwhile, a group in washington who are addressing youth homelessness, warned it would have to kick kids out if the funding issue wasn't resolved. let me repeat that. a homeless youth group was pushed to the brink of having to kick kids onto the street because of president trump's illegal freeze. i was also deeply concerned

about how the freeze might hurt an important diaper pilot program as well as reports i got from multiple housing providers in my state worried that tens of thousands of people would be at risk of homelessness, thanks to this illegal freeze. don't let me get started on infrastructure. these are projects that take years, years to plan, to build, to complete, and do an awful lot of good for our communities. in my state alone, there were big questions about what was going to happen to electrical grid upgrades that are happening in oqanoggin or sea tech's plan. some of those questions remain true today because as i will detail in a minute, there are still many other ways programs are being put at risk by trump illegally blocking funds with his executive orders.

i will continue fighting for the federal funding congress already provided to keep all of those projects on track, but that can only get us so far if president trump illegally blocks it all and our republican colleagues could let that happen. the list goes on and on. the calls keep coming in. even now that omb has reversed course. the chaos has not died down. the questions, the uncertainty, the fear from families in communities that trump will pull the rug out from under them is still there, because even though after the intense outcry from the american public, trump has now admitted this was a colossal mistake because he rescinded the guidance, but the threat, the chaos, the panicust be wiped away, especially while some funds are still today being blocked. no one feels any sense of calm

after this. people aren't feeling lasting relief. they are wondering how could something like that ever happen, and what in the world is going to happen next. the trump administration, through a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions, and a willful disregard of the law, caused and is still causing real harm and chaos for millions of people over the span of just a mere 48 hours. but we did learn something extremely important. when the american people speak out with one voice, when regular people stand up, it makes a difference. that victory belonged to everyone who raised their voice. but i want etch to know -- but i want everyone to know, this fight is not over. as i said before, we still have a lot of work to do right now to make sure all that funding actually does get moving again. this is not like turning on a light switch.

we just saw through the chaotic rollout, this is complicated stuff. so i want you to know i will be watching closely to make sure funds get where they belong as soon as possible. i already know that in many cases this has not been what is happening at all, so this is a very serious concern. i actually spoke with a constituent last week, mike. he runs a nonprofit supporting military families and helping servicemembers transition back to civilian life. and even days after the omb guidance was reversed, he was still unable to access federal funding. so he used his own line of credit to pay his staff in the meantime. and if this didn't get fixed, his organization wouldn't have been able to help military families or pay its employees. the homeless shelter that i mentioned a few minutes ago,

short $5.1 million. $5.1 million because of trump. they still have their funds frozen. they're still looking at reducing beds and facing layoffs. as i mentioned earlier, some head start programs are still not able to get their grant funding. so the chaos of this omb saga is far, far from over. and let me make one thing perfectly clear. even before this latest world of chaos, president trump was already, already illegally blocking billions of dollars. and even after that omb guidance was reversed, he is still holding back all of those funds through his illegal executive orders. you don't have to take it from me. you can take itting directly from the white house -- take it directly from the white house press secretary. quo, this is not a position of the federal funding freeze. the president's executive orders on federal funding remain in

full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented. that was the chaos of last week. i want to talk about how that chaos remains. what we are still seeing this week and what it means for folks back home and across the country, because there is still significant confusion. and the remaining freezes are still causing significant pain. for example, i heard from cities in my state and from the washington state department of transportation. it's still hard to get a clear picture given the chaotic roll back and more. but they are telling me they are concerned about infrastructure projects all over my state that are already getting delayed now and could get derailed entirely because president trump is still illegally blocking funding we passed with his executive orders. if this illegal freeze

continues, people will lose jobs. communities will lose out on projects that have been in the works for years. trump is blocking money to repair electric chargesers to install heavy-duty chargers for trucks, to make critical repairs to bridges in order to protect the safety of millions of dollars, and to install new chargers along major roads in my state, like in 90, us-97 and us-395. stopping these projects is just pointlessly, pointlessly hurting commuters and businesses. it is costing construction workers, it is killing jobs. trump is holding up road projects to make streets safer for pedestrians, and drivers.

not to mention the liberty parkland bridge in spokane which would reconnect communities and provide more green space for families to enjoy. or funds for the city of lakewood. they are planning to revitalize their downtown and bring in more retail space and restaurants and health services and financial services and make upgrades to roads and provide a new festival area and park area and more. trump freezes are also a concern for the samich indian nation as it works to improve access and safety to their land. and for a project led by the tilalip tribe. congestion can get so bad it backs up to the main highway. we want to get those projects done. the last thing we need is uncertainty about stalled funds. there is also a project underway to upgrade the technology at our

border with canada. replacing and improving the outdated wait time system to improve accuracy to help inspection and transportation agencies. this will help travelers headed to canada avoid long wait times at the p border and help fans from around the world, by the way, traveling between seattle and vancouver traveling for the world cup. but not if trump's executive orders stop the funding. same for the effort to update statewide planning with the new electronic system. and of course in washington state, we can nfrl forget about fish -- never forget about fish which are crucial to our culture and our economy in many ways. trump's ongoing funding freeze is putting projects to improve fish habitats on ice. replacing the culvert at thurton creek, replacing the culvert at

wapito creek, or removing the fish barrier culverts at johnson creek which will open up nearly 3,000 meters of upstream habitat. not to mention other wildlife preservation work like wildlife barriers east of winthrop. funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law is still not restored, still not restored today for projects along the columbia river, projects like the infrastructure that will help keep toxins out of our water. our ports. our ports so critical for not only washington state's economy but for the entire country are caught up in this too. there are port projects now on hold across my state, including for electrical infrastructure and shore power for vessels. these impacts are being felt from anacortes to port angeles

to vancouver. frozing funding is hurting working families in washington and across the country and making our economy less competitive. and we cannot forget our ferries. washington state ferries are looking to improve their data for collecting wait time at our terminals. that will help give thechl information to improve efficiency and make life better for the people they serve. losing that funding means more people will miss ferries and more wait time for washington commuters who cross the water for everything from work to medical appointments. we have electrical transmission and distribution projects on hold now and in jeopardy. these are projects that are necessary helping reduce or wildfire risks, ensure grid

reliability, improve resilience to natural disasters, and lower costs for ratepayers across my state of washington. those are all funded under the bipartisan infrastructure law. that is a bipartisan infrastructure law that members of republicans and democrats worked on and passed. it's a program that republicans thought was important enough to provide $10.5 billion. what have we have seen in recent months and years, i don't know how you can say with a straight face that modernizing our grid isn't absolutely vital to the future of our country. you don't have to listen to me. secretary burgum and secretary wright said as much in their confirmation hearings. but this project, all of these projects and many more have been thrown into complete uncertainty because of president trump's executive orders. it is completely unclear when or if those projects are going to get the funding they remember counting on -- they were

counting on and they were owed from bills that congress passed and signed into law. and that is not justly causing chaos. it is causing delays. it is causing harm and alarm because it could mean construction grinds to a halt. workers lose jobs. it means the work will go unstarted or perhaps in some cases unfinished. plus it would mean increasing costs, increasing costs for our cities, towns and states and charge for those projects that somehow make it through all of this. while there are many more infrastructure projects in my state i haven't touched on not to mention others across the country, there are so many other projects and organizations and people who are being harmed right now by president trump's reckless funding freeze. i know there are medical researchers still worried their work will somehow be considered woke when in reality, it is

actually pretty darned important that we do understand the roots of he health disparities. things like why the maternal death rate is so much higher for black or native american women. yet now researchers are being told their research is at risk of being defunded if they are examining issues of equity or barriers to care, or even if they are specifically studying females. and there are hospitals in my state and across the country who are worried that some of these programs which are appropriately focused on someone's gender or race are in jeopardy. for example, i'll give you a good example, we know that pulse oxip meters are less accurate for people with dark erskine tones. making sure these clinical measures are accurate will save life and have life and death consequences for patients. we know women have much higher rates of autoimmune disorders than for men. we need to look at why that is.

we need to invest in training the next generation of scientists including from diverse backgrounds. studies actually show us that diversity in the scientific workforce leads to greater innovation and productivity. but there is a serious concern that lifesaving work is going to get caught up in president trump's sweeping illegal executive orders. another impact of trump's actions, the national park service has rescinded all of its employment offers for our summer seasonal staff. now that doesn't just mean people are going to be facing longer wait lines or dirtier bathrooms. they will. it could mean park closures clout this entire summer. it will mean delayed responses to emergencies making people less safe. an outside our national parks, trump is also freezing regional cleanup efforts. things like stopping illegal dumping and improving air quality in our communities.

and, mr. president, let's talk about foreign assistance. because for decades now there has been widespread bipartisan understanding that promoting stability abroad, promoting democracy, improving health, strengthening trade, building partnerships is crucial to u.s. leadership. but trump's executive orders put all of that at risk by illegally freezing funds. i spoke to organizations from around the world about how they were unable to deliver the lifesaving aid that millions of people rely on due to these stop work orders. that meant millions of doses of lifesaving drugs sat unused on shelves. time-sensitive prevention methods against diseases like malaria were not cared out

putting -- carried out putting millions at risk. training for more than 64,000 health care workers, put on hold. hundreds of metric tons of u.s. commodities sitting, at the risk of spoiling, in transport instead of reaching their final destination across the world to fadeaway people in need. in spite of the waiver by the state department to resume work, much of this lifesaving aid is still today on hold. without a start work order, those organization fear they are taking on significant risks now in continuing operations. put simply, this was already unacceptable and now over the weekend president trump and elon musk have decided against all reason, against all evidence, and against the law, mind you, to completely dismantle usaid. and that is on top of the

illegal funding freeze that has already been pushing u.s. businesses and nonprofits and intern international aid aide -- aide groups to make tough choices. it should be obvious that these cuts will hurt people across the world. these cuts will mean that people starve. these cuts will mean more disease outbreaks with higher death counts. these cuts will mean less help for victims of violence and higher death rates for pregnant women. and anyone with an ounce of humanity can see this freeze will get devastating fast, and it is important to note it will get devastating in ways you cannot just make up with more money later once that damage is done. that is just not how it works.

when people are starving, you cannot just feed them money. you need to have already made the investments to grow food. when democracies are in crisis, you can't just cut them a check, you need to help them build strong institutions. when a deadly disease outbreak strikes, you're going to learn very quickly that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. these are not lessons we need to learn the hard way by letting people die. we know it all painfully well right now. and so to freeze that funding is asking for disaster, and not just for other countries across the world, but for us, for the u.s. and for our families here at home. freezing foreign assistance is not putting america first. it is guaranteeing america comes in last. because every funding gap we leave is an opportunity for our

adversaries to step in, fill that gap, and play the hero while casting us as the villain. how are we supposed to lead the world if we are unwilling to invest in it? i'll tell you right now, china's not holding back. they are investing constantly because they know they aren't just building infrastructure across the world, they are building stronger partnerships, and we just counted ourselves out of that competition. you want to end u.s. global dominance? you want to tell the world the u.s. is done being the leader? you want to tell other countries we cannot be trusted to keep our word? because that is exactly what we are doing if we let trump get away with illegally cutting off global aid with a stroke of a pen and letting the richest man in the world cut off help for

some of the poorest people in the world. it is not just u.s. leadership on the line here. there are u.s. jobs at stake. that reality is hitting home hard this week. back in my home state of washington, there are some world-class organization that i know may have to lay off people this week, hundreds of people all because of president trump's funding freeze. it is a scene that is not isolated to washington state. i know it is playing out across the country as well with thousands of layoffs across 38 states and counting. and i know so long as president trump's lawless war on foreign aid continues, so will those layoffs. we will see, if not thousands more every week. international aid organization may make a difference around the world, but they support american jobs too. people who have a paycheck and a family, people who work incredibly hard and who are

incredibly proud of the work they do to make the world a better place and reaffirm u.s. global leadership. but they are being sent packing, not because they have done anything wrong, not because this work is not important, but because president trump and elon musk are listening to whacko con sp conspiraciy. while ignoring the experts and the obvious realities and, again, ignoring the law. we should all stand against this. and i know, mr. president, we are here tonight to discuss the vote nomination, but i want to talk about someone who's not been nominated to anything. he's not been elected to anything, and yet he is serving as de facto co-president elon musk. arguably he is more important and more influential than the

sitting president. he has proven himself in lockstep with russ vought, who we are voting on tomorrow, when it comes to slashing programs that matters to american families and ignoring the laws of our nation. in recent days musk has been busy illegally shuttering usaid, cutting off foreign assistance programs, which i said will lose jobs for americans, lose lives in countries around the world and lose leadership as adversaries like china fill that gap. shockingly, musk has even had people fired for denying his lackeys classified resources that they had no authority to access. and last weekend we all learned that elon musk commandeered access to the treasury department's most sensitive payment system, handling $6 trillion every year and managing nearly all of our

federal reimbursements. if is a stamp that contains extremely sensitive, personal and commercial information. and i've been hearing from people across my state who are truly alarmed about what musk and his associations having access to this system could mean for their data and for funding that they count on. let's not mince words here. an unelected, unaccountable billionaire with expansive conflicts of interest, deep ties to china, and an indiscreet ax to grind is hijacking our country's most sensitive data system so that he can illegally block funds to our constituents based on the slightest whim or mildest conspiracy.

funds that congress on a bipartisan passed. some republicans trying to suggest that musk only has viewing access to treasury's highly sensitive payment system, as if that's acceptable either. why on earth should we believe that, particularly when musk is saying the exact opposite, loudly and repeatedly for everyone to hear? what funds will elon attack next? we know that he is targeting faith-based organizations and promising to cut off funds based on conspiracy theories. in other words, the world's richest man is about to cut off funding that helps the least among us. think about that. next, think about how many dollars he himself makes from government contracts. i mean, seriously, the richest man in the world with countless

government contracts, ties to our adversaries is taking over the treasury in the name of fighting corruption? the irony is almost as rich as musk himself. and let me underscore, mr. president, just how dangerous this is. because now that trump has handed over treasury's checkbook, what if elon doesn't like how rivian is getting money for its manufacturing facility. what next? he could say to president trump they're woke. maybe elon will decide he doesn't like blue origin so he wants to gum up the works on payments. is that how this works? maybe see lon decides -- elon wants to get into electronic

systems or private corporations or competitors need to take note, the potential for abuse and corruption by elon, especially considering his track record is pretty. limitless. it is not just treasury. musk and his henchman are launching an invasion of data systems across government. we are talking about the small business administration, we are talking about noaa, we are talking about medicare. the reporting is clear. they are not just looking. they are directly making changes to some of those critical systems. this is not silicon valley where you can just move fast and break things. when you break things here, people don't get their health care, they don't get their social security check, they don't get crucial warnings and lifesaving information. anyone who thinks that surely

won't happen has not been paying attention. because just this week elon musk and donald trump put americans in danger. we have citizens in dangerous corners of the world who are suddenly locked out of their e-mails and they were cut off from an act that is meant to help address threats like kidnapping. so no one should be shrugging this off and saying what's the worst that could happen? because this could get really, really bad really, really fast. if anyone is thinking that we have guardrails, we have laws, make no mistake even though trump and musk have absolutely zero authority to hold up payments that are federal law, it has not stopped them so far. they are already halting funds illegally. they are firing government watchdogs and officials left and right regardless of our laws,

they are putting forward blatantly unconstitutional executive orders. the fact of the matter is trump and musk have yet to find a law they think applies to them. they think because they are rich and powerful they get to call all the shots, regardless of the courts or congress. that is not how things work in this country. billionaires are not above the law and neither are presidents. we do not have a monarchy where a president is king. we do not have an oligarchy where the richest people get the largest say. we in this country have a democracy, if we can keep it, where each citizen has a vote. we have checks and balances where the president is accountable to the congress and to the people, where he has to follow the laws we pass. but some of my colleagues across the aisle seem to be forgetting that our democracy doesn't work by magic. we have to do our part, our part

here to hold presidents accountable. our job is not to say yes to everything the president does no matter how lawless or harmful. our job is not to shrug our shoulders or cover our eyes. it is to fight for the people who sent us here and to defend the constitution. so democrats will be pushing back with the tools we have. we will speak out, we will press this administration, we will open investigations and we will demand accountability. but one tool we do not have is the majority in in congress. so that means, mr. president, our republican colleagues have to say enough. we need them to join us. we need them to stand up to the corruption and the lawlessness and stand up for the people they represent. and, mr. president, while i'm on the subject, i want to talk about another scheme that elon musk cooked up. we are approaching the deadline that's set in trump's

administration fork in the road message that claims to give federal workers the option of a deferred resignation that would allegedly allow workers to retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and be exempted from all work requirements until september 30. i want to speak directly to all of our federal workers about this because they deserve better than to be pushed out the door with a nine-day tactic that leaves a lot up answered -- unan unanswered. here's what's important to know, first, there is no guarantee workers who accept that offer will get paid through september 30, as they've been promised. not only is there no funding for that time frame right now, but i personally am deeply skeptical of any offer from a president like donald trump who has so consistently shown he will try

to stiff workers at every opportunity. being given only nine days to decide something like this should set off alarm bells. there is a short amount of time to consider all of the financial impacts ever poe -- of potentially accepting this offer, including if and when you can find another job, how this impacts health insurance, retirement and more. we all know scammers often pressure people to act immediately. additionally, the information provided continues to change, and included a lot of caveats. it claims you can rescind your resignation if you change your mind, but that your job may no longer exist. if that happens, tough luck. it claims you aren't expected to work if you accept this offer, except in cases determined by each individual agency. it claims you can stay in your current role, however there is no guarantee your position will be needed.

the lack of clear information and resources about exactly what will be allowed is rightfully creating confusion for the more than 56,000 federal workers in my state alone. to me, this leaves a lot of questions unanswered. finally, mr. president, i want to express a real gratitude for our federal workers, who power so many essential services provided by our government. the american government is not twitter. people rely on our federal workers, and sometimes their work can be the difference between life and death. federal workers help inspect meat processing facilities, they make sure baby formula is safe, they approve lifesaving drugs and treatment, they manage our air traffic, they help ensure clean drinking water and so much more. where this administration shows outright hostility towards many of our federal workers, i will continue to fight for our federal workers, everyone from

h handford workers in the pacific northwest national lab to the people making sure you get your social security check. mr. president, i got a letter this week from a hanford worker. they started last year, hoping it would be a stable job to provide for their family while making a difference in their community. this employee has already been recognized several times for hard work, and then elon musk tried to push them out the door with this scammy buyout thing. now they're on the list of employees with the threat of being terminated to no good reason. that is an utter betrayal. it is a betrayal of a hardworking parent who did nothing wrong and of my hanford community where trump is undermining important environmental clean-up work. because at hanford alone, already understaffed, there are nearly 30 people on the chopping block. they are nuclear safety engi engineers, they're facility safety representatives, they're procurement and contracting

personnel, they are attorneys, they're labor relations staff, they're accountants. how is firing nuclear safety engineers supposed to make anyone safer or better off? mr. president, there are so many stories like this already happening or around the corner. i've heard that musk and trump plan to cut workers at the department of energy in half. these are federal employees who put in long hours to support their families and strengthen our country. for all their years of service, all their sacrifice, elon musk is showing them the door and saying don't let it hit you on the way out? this is wrong, and it's ungrateful. for god's sake, we're talking about nuclear security here. why on earth would anyone think it's a good idea to cut corners? here's my message to our federal workers -- you do so much for our communities. you deserve so much better than to have a billionaire with no understanding of what you do come in, belittle your work,

subject he can do it better -- suggest he can do it better and push you out the door. i hope you will all keep up the good work for the american people. we will keep fighting for you as well. so, mr. president, before i conclude, i want to hit once more on what is at stake with vought's nomination. we are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending that congress, us, passed, that our communities are counting on, and that mr. vought has made painfully clear he will not think twice about illegally blocking it. giving this man the power to enact his illegal schemes will do real harm to folks back home, cut people off from getting groceries and making rent, cut families off from child care and health care and cut veterans and their survivors off from disability and education benefits they earned through their service to our country. it will cut off breakthrough medical research and help for people struggling with opioid

addiction. it will cut off communities working to build bridges and improve roads and strengthen their energy infrastructure. that will have serious consequences we cannot overlook. we are here to fight for our families, but there's also another serious consequence here, one that cuts to the heart of what makes this senate work and your democracy work. con confirming russ vought to omb makes it that much harder to negotiate our spending bills. it is much harder to reach a bipartisan deal with my colleagues whom i respect and trust and have worked with for years if that deal is going to be implemented by someone in whom i have zero trust, someone who's made clear that despite our laws he is going to block any funding we pass. why should any senator vote to confirm someone who has made it perfectly clear he will undermine their authority to

help their constituents? mr. president, as i have said, our system of checks and balances does not work on its own. we have to actually do our part here in congress, to be the check of presidential abuse of power, and we have an opportunity -- no, actually, it's an obligation right now to do just that. before us right now is a nominee who has made it very clear he will not respect the authority of congress, of all of us, and the people who voted us in. nominated by a president who's not respecting the authority of congress and the people who voted us in. we have to say we can't stand for that. we have to say from here that the law is the law, and a simple way we can send that message is by rejecting russ vought's nomination outright. so mr. president, i'm here today to strongly urge my colleagues to join me in doing just that. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

ms. warren: mr. president. the presiding officer: the recognize the senator from massachusetts. mr. warner: thank you, mr. president. -- ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. . i'd like to thank senator murray for her extraordinary leadership. she's been a stalwart in the senate for many, many years, and now is the ranking member of the appropriations committee, and knows firsthand the importance of the process by which we make a law in the united states, and that includes that we pass those laws in congress, we fund them in congress, it's signed by the president of the united states, and people across this nation can know, through that process those are what the laws are. and if you don't like those laws, then elect different people who will come up with different versions of the law. but everyone, democrat or republican, sticks to the same version, and that is a law is a law. the president of the united

states, or his co-president elon musk, do not have the right simply to go back on the laws and say, oh, we pick that one, that one, and that one to enforce, and that one, no, that one, no, and maybe that one half time. that is not how the process works. senator murray has been a leading voice in fighting back. i want to say how much i appreciate all she's done. i want to talk about project 2025. during the 2024 election, the american people became familiar with this republican document called project 2025. the document laid out republican plans to reshape our country, if they gained control. now, americans, a little at a time, got a chance to see the plan. people started to read it, and they were shocked. in no time, people from across

the political spectrum, not just democrats, democrats, republicans, independents, made clear how much they hated project 2025, and that they wanted no part of it. so, what was in project 2025 that made it so widely hated across the political spectrum? a few things -- firing civil servants, weaponizing the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation, unleashing force onto protestors, and targeting political opponents, restricting abortion nationwide, ripping retirement and health care benefits from seniors, dismantling public education, and, biggest and best, funding tax cuts for the rich by raising taxes on america's middle class. now, i want to be clear -- it's a big document. those are just the top lines.

so donald trump's response was to swear over and over and over again that he had nothing to do with those plans. didn't know about them, didn't endorse them, didn't want anything to do with them. here are some of the things that donald trump said about project 2025 back in 2024 -- quote, i know nothing about project 2025. i have nothing to do with project 2025. i disagree with some of the things they're saying, and some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. and, my personal favorite, they've been told, officially, legally, in every way, that we have nothing to do with project 2025. so, think about that. during the 2024 election, donald trump claimed he didn't know

anything about project 2025, but he lied. shortly after the election, he nominated one of the chief architects of project 2025 in a key role with the government. now, donald trump has named the lead architect of project 2025, russell vought, to oversee the federal government's entire budget office. that's right, listen to this one, he is putting the head writer of the plans that you had only read about in nightmares in a key government position. russ vought wrote project 2025, and now donald trump is rewarding him by inviting him into the government in order to carry out the republican blueprint to make our government force people to live in the

image that russ vought and other extremist republicans approve of. and he plans to rework our economy to benefit the wealthiest among us and make everybody else pay for it. here are just a few of the things that russ vought has called for -- russ vought has called on congress to outlaw medication abortion nationwide, restricting women's reproductive rights even in states that protect abortion. russ vought has encouraged discrimination against transgender people in the workplace and in health care. in his first stint as omb director, russ vought decried the use of federal funding for diversity and equity training in a letter to federal agencies. the project 2025 play block calls for eliminating almost

every civil rights office in the federal government. and russ vought has said he intends to put federal workers, quote, in trauma and destroy the merit-based system for civil servants so that he can fill the government with right wing extremists. i'm going to pause here for a minute to see if senator gillibrand wants to speak. mrs. gillibrand: thank you, senator warren, for your unbelievable tenacity and clear-eyed and thoughtful remarks. i yield the balance of my postcloture debate time on the vote nomination to senator schumer. the presiding officer: duly noted. mrs. gillibrand: thank you again, senator warren. ms. warren: keep in mind, russ vought has called for outlawing abortion, medication abortion nationwide. doesn't matter whether you live in the state that says no, we're going to protect abortion, russ vought wants to find a way to make sure it's shun down

everywhere -- shut down everywhere. he wants to encourage discrimination against transgender people. he thinks getting rid of civil rights is the way to go for the american government. and he says he wants to put federal workers in trauma and destroy the merit-based system for civil servants so he can fill up our government with right wing extremists. now, we are already seeing firsthand the devastating effects of russ vought's plan for america. russ vought was the puppet matzker behind the funding shutdown that through this country into chaos last week. i saw this in massachusetts. parents didn't know if their toddlers' day care would be open. seniors didn't know if the hot meal that they were expecting from meals on wheels would grind to a halt. no one knew. if the nursing homes funded by

medicaid would be able to pay their workers. and that was just the tip of the iceberg for russ vought. if he is confirmed, you can absolutely bet on russ vought pulling out the rug from working people over and over and over again. and, quite frankly, we don't know where he will stop. this is where they started. three weeks in and this is where they've started. so will russ vought, elon musk, and donald trump stop when they've ripped abortion rights away from every sipping gal woman -- every single woman in america? will he stop when he's abolished the department of education and fired 180,000 teachers from their jobs? will he stop when he has privatized medicare and when seniors can't afford to go see the doctor? will he stop when he's done

stealing from middle-class families in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest households? by the way, that is in his blueprint, too. tax hikes for the middle class. tax breaks for the rich. or will he stop when he crashes the economy? and take it from me, with these kind of plans, crashing the economy is no longer a stretch. russ vought's project 2025 proposals will lead to higher inflation, higher interest rates, and weaker economic growth. project 2025 would seriously threaten another recession. look, already families all across this country are feeling the pressure from high grocery prices while donald trump and his administration just turn their backs on working families.

american families cannot afford for russ vought to be in charge. we don't know how far russ vought's extremism will go, but we can't afford to wait and find out. americans voted for each and every one of us right here in the united states senate to fight for them, and they do not expect us to roll over and play dead. it is our sworn duty to stop dangerous people like russ vought before he destroys our freedom, our economy, and the stability of every working family in this nation. and so i urge every senator to vote no on his nomination. i also want to take this chance to share some of the stories i've been hearing from my constituents, the people of

massachusetts. the impacts of donald trump's and russ vought's policies are affecting people in the commonwealth of massachusetts and all across this country. i am here to fight for the people of massachusetts and i'm here to share their stories. so i want to start with a message i received from a family child care center that cares for hundreds of children each day so that moms have the opportunity to succeed in their careers. here's how the message goes. quote, our community of early educators and families is on edge. we work with a very diverse population and the rumors and threats related to immigration activities are having an impact. we have begun having families questioned removing their children from much-needed and valuable early education programs because they are scared

to separate from one another or even to go outside. 99% of the families we are working with are receiving a subsidy for their care. so with current funding through the department of early education and care, i believe it breaks down to approximately 60% federal and 40% state funds. we have also historically been recipients of cbgd funds which support our training program which would only be possible with federal support. to think about that. when russ vought and donald trump and elon musk just decide to start shutting programs down, we have child care centers who are writing in saying in effect they're not getting to have the money to keep the doors open for the children and the mommas that they serve. or take this from a small

business owner in lynnfield. sadaf own as small business that works to innovate new lab equipment to improve cancer and prenatal screenings. she gets money from the national health institute. this is exactly the kind of person we want to see doing work right here in the united states. and here's what she writes. my small business is currently partially funded through an nih, nhgr grant. today the grant is frozen and we are unable to access any funds. if this freeze lasts more than a month, we will have to lay off hardworking employees and shut our doors. think about that. here's someone who has built a small business around doing more effective cancer screenings and prenatal screenings, and she has been recognized by the national

health institute as someone who's doing the kind of cutting enresearch -- edge research and delivering the kind of services we need and because russ vought, donald trump, and elon musk say no, we're just going to freeze funding here, the consequence, as she says, i'm at risk of having to lay off my employees and close my business. i've heard this from many of my constituents. another in worcester runs a small nonprofit to help communities vulnerable to the climate crisis. they have one and a half million dollars in contracts that they now can't access and soon they're going to have to lay off employees. the impact of holding this money up is real, it is felt in our communities, it is felt household by household by household. when people can't get to the money they need so that they can

issue the paychecks and keep people working. why and how is that making america any better off? or take this story from "the boston globe" entitled am i going to lose my husband? the real price of trump's budget freeze. quote, the freeze is harming real people. one of them is james, a virginia resident who told his story to the editorial board but asked that his last name not be used because he fears retaliation. eight years ago when james was 32 after years of health problems, he was diagnosed with ne neuroindoctrine humanors, formally called carcinoid cancer with accompanying severe carcinoid syndrome. tumors were in his intestines, in his liver with nod yules on his -- nodules on his lungs.

doctors gave him three to six months to live. now, standard treatment for these tumors is shots with one or two drugs. i'm going to do my best to pronounce them. ocetatrido or lanrecatide. the first dowell of -- couple of months after diagnosis, he spent a total of about $10,000 on shots and scans. and that was in addition to his insurance coverage. this is someone with health insurance. he was working in a toy shop. he was studying graphic design. and the medical care completely drained his savings. then james entered a national substitute of health -- national institute of health research trial. because james was unusually young to get carcinoid syndrome, nih researchers wanted to study how he reacted to the disease

and treatments. so for the next eight years, nih provided and paid for his shots, scans, surgeries, medications, and procedures. quote, all i had to do was be a begin any pig -- guinea pig, james said. as of december, he was getting a shot of lanreatide which can cost -- which can cost thousands of dollars and was getting shots every week to keep the tumors from growing. quote, if i would lose the medication, they would likely ramp up, become more aggressive and potentially spread to other organs. it could be a death sentence, james said. the disruption started when it became clear donald trump might win the presidential election. in october and november, nih began recommending that if patients could get some medications, antinausea

medication or painkillers from other doctors, they should because the federal agency feared budget cuts. in december after trump's election, james said his doctor told him nih could no longer provide lanreotide but he was still part of the research protocol so he would get yearly scans and the nih would conduct and pay for any necessary surgeries. in other words, they wanted to continue to be able to study him. in december james started experiencing afash ya and -- aphasia and memory loss and the scan found spots on his brain. he's still undergoing diagnostic tests. nih had a treatment protocol prepared for if the cancer did spread to his brain. once trump took office in

january, however, james was told the research was frozen indefinitely and he won't be getting any nih care until that changes. james is continuing treatment with a medicare insurance plan provided by kaiser permanente, and he qualified for financial assistance grant through may. but he worries that the trump administration will end that financial assistance. james receives disability payments and his wife is a teacher so they can't afford high out-of-pocket payments. quote, when i heard about this, i thought, am i going to lose my husband? is he going to die? his wife becky said. make no mistake, these are not one-off stories. families everywhere, all across the country, in red states and blue states are feeling the impacts of these policies.

every one. now, make you knew about this. maybe you didn't. but trump is trying to keep you in the dark on some of these things while he distracts by renaming the gulf of mexico or dreaming about canada as the 51st state. in just his first couple of weeks in office, donald trump has gone on a rampage against working people, signing hundreds of executive orders rolling the clock back on progress and reinstating harmful and unpopular policies from his first term. he signed many of these executive orders in the middle of the night because he and his administration didn't want people to know about them. so i just want to remind everybody for all those pictures of donald trump signing while everybody looked on and everybody smiles or donald trump holding up an executive order that he signed very proudly,

that's not all the executive orders. there are a lot of executive orders that got signed late at night and just pushed out. here are some of the executive orders that the american people may not know about and that are right in lockstep with project 2025. executive order donald trump called for a federal government hiring freeze. project 2025 proposed implementing a, quote, hiring freeze for career officials. end quote. so trump does the executive order, exactly what project 2025 was proposing. or here's donald trump's executive order, quote, i hereby order a freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees to be applied throughout the executive branch. there it is. project 2025, donald trump's executive order. another executive order, he withdrew from the paris climate

accords. so let's start with project 2025. it proposed that the, quote, next conservative administration should withdraw the u.s. from the u.n. framework convention on climate change and the paris agreement, close quote. and here is donald trump's executive order signed late at night. the united states ambassador to the united states shall immediately submit formal written notification of the united states withdrawal from the paris agreement under the united nations framework convention on climate change. project 2025 calls for it. donald trump delivers. he paused the implementation of the inflation reduction act and bipartisan infrastructure law which is fighting the climate crisis and helping cities and towns across america to upgrade their roads and bridges. project 2025 called

to repeal, quote, massive spending bills like the infrastructure investment and jobs act and inflation reduction act, which established new programs and are providing hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to renewable energy developers, their investors and special interests and support the rescinding of all funds not already spent by these programs. in other words, project 2025 is saying shut it down. shut it down. here's donald trump's executive order. quote, all agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the inflation reduction act of 2022 or the infrastructure investment and jobs act. so there we are. project 2025 calls for it. donald trump delivers with an executive order. the fact that he cannot legally do that doesn't seem to have slowed him down at all.

in fact, project 2025 talks about repealing those laws. that means you come to congress and then congress votes on it. the house, the senate. and only if you get majorities in the house and the senate do you send it over to the president of the united states to sign it into law. donald trump isn't doing that. republicans are in charge of the house. republicans are in charge of the senate. but instead of saying we're going to amend the law that has already gone through the process and been signed in, the money has all been appropriated for it, nope, instead donald trump says, middle of the night executive order -- and i'm just going to say stop spending money. that is impoundment, and it is clearly unlawful. he is in violation of the law. now, on abortion or, trump restated -- reinstated and expanded the global gag rule, a

heartless rule that makes women and girls across the world less safe by cutting funding for health centers that may provide abortion. you know, planned parenthood gave us an idea just how bad this is. here's their quote on this. this is also known as the mexico city policy. the global gag rule prevents foreign organizations that receive certain u.s. assistance from providing counseling -- from providing, counseling, referring, or advocating for legal abortion in their country, even with their own money and their own resources. the global gag rule blocks health care access, disrupts coalitions, and stifles local advocacy efforts, and undermines reproductive rights worldwide. by the way, it is also deeply

unpopular with the american people. in fact, here's what alexis mcgill johnson, who is president and cree of planned parenthood of america said, quote, president trump is kicking off his second term exactly as anticipated -- attacking sexual and reproductive health care. the global gag rule not only disrupts the delivery of health services in areas of the world that are most in need, it also rolls back progress in countries that have fought to advance health care and human rights. elected officials should not be interfering in personal medical decisions. in this country or anywhere else in the world. we must reverse and end the global gag rule permanently, full stop. but donald trump just signed that executive order in the middle of the night and women,

particularly poor women with all around the world will pay the price. and here's more of what donald trump did to try to turn back the clock on women's bodies. this one comes from "politico." quote, president donald trump's campaign trail promise to leave abortion regulation to the states lasted just a few days into his presidency. he issued executive orders that revive some antiabortion policies from his first administration, including retrickses on federal funding for family planning and other health care programs abroad that discuss abortion as an option or provide referrals for the procedure. so the president signed the executive orders hours after addressing the annual antiabortion march for life in a prerecorded video. a 2022 study by the national

academy of sciences estimated that trump's antiabortion restrictions on foreign aid led to 108,000 deaths of women and children in poor countries over the four years of his first administration. how does that happen? well, it's because that executive order from the first time around slashed funding for groups like the nonprofit mms reproductive choices, which operates clinics that provide contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections with u.s. funds, and it uses separate revenues to fund and provide abortions. msi said ahead of the policy being reinstated that it wouldn't abide by it. this will lead to the organization losing $14 million

in u.s. agency for international development funding and msi spokesperson said. the organization estimates the financial loss could result in an additional $2.4 -- 2.4 million unintended pregnancies because the organization would have to stop providing contraception in several countries. i am at a complete loss to explain how the united states is better off if more unintended pregnancies happen in poor countries and how we explain that last time around when trump did this it resulted in 108,000 deaths of women and children in poor countries and that we're headed straight into the same plan again. another study by stanford university researchers found that the narrower version of the

mexico city policy that several gop presidents enacted prior to trump caused the number of abortion,s to increase across sub-saharan africa because so many women lost access to contraception. let me say that one again. for everyone who thinks that abortion should not occur, understand the consequence of the trump executive order, and that is that it increases the number of abortions across sub-saharan africa because women lose their access to contraception. abortion rights advocates have also argued that the policy is overbroad because it imposes restrictions in countries where abortion is legal. one day earlier in another ma that thrilled abortion opponents, trump issued pardons

for roughly two dozen people convicted of forcibly entering and blocking access to abortion clinics. in fact, this has been an important part of the trump executive order stream in this area. the idea that the federal laws that protect women who are walking from where they've parked their car to an abortion clinic -- and also a place where they may get contraception, where they may get a mammogram, where they may get other health katrin screenings -- not to be interfered with, that they have a chance to walk without people screaming in their faces and spit on them, that has been taken away by the president of the united states. he has said, move in a little closer, bear down harder on those women. and, still, the antiabortion

groups that helped trump win reelection are looking beyond these actions and are pushing for more from the new administration. so, for example, what are they asking for now? well, they want a look at a ban on telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery of abortion pills. they want to do rules forcing states to provide more detailed information on all abortions within their borders so they can see more about who's getting what treatments, and the repeal of the biden administration rules that expanded abortion access for some military members and veterans. it's all happening out in plain view. let us be clear. this is and always has been about controlling women's bodies. donald trump packed the supreme court with antiabortion

extremists to get roe overturned and he bragged about it afterwards. this is the latest in trump's yearslong crusade against women's reproductive rights, and understand this -- we will fight back. now, as you probably have already seen in the news, elon musk has taken control of the government's critical payment systems, which include sensitive personal information for millions of americans. this is the system that makes sure that your grandpa gets his social security check. this is the system that makes sure that your mom's doctor gets the medicare payment to cover her medi-cal apayment. and this is the system that makes sure that you get the tax refund that you are owed.

and now it has been taken over by elon musk. every organization, from your state government that uses federal money on that bridge project to your local head start that takes care of little kids while their mommies and daddies go to work is now at the mercy of elon musk. maybe you get paid. but, then again, maybe you don't. elon just grabbed the controls of that whole payment system, demanding the power to turn it on for his friends and turn it off for anyone he declares he doesn't like. one guy deciding who gets paid and who doesn't. it is not the law, but it is the reality. now, there's a second problem here. it is not just payments from the federal that are now in elon's control. elon and his handful of friends

now have access to your personal financial information, anything that is in the system. your payment history, your social security number, your address, your bank account numbers. elon now has the power to suck out all of that information for his own use. and now, whether it's to boost his personal finances and to expand his political power, it is all up to elon. understand, in a world in which data is power, elon has just increased his power. and there's a third kind of problem here -- in order for this handful of programmers to gain access to over $6 trillion -- a $6 trillion payment system, we don't know what kind of safeguards were pulled down.

are the gates wide open now for hackers from china, from north korea, from iran, from russia? heck, who knows what black hat hackers from all around the world are finding out right now about eached and every one of us, copying that information and storing it for their own future criminal uses. how many back doors are being installed right now in the system that is truly the financial guts of our economy? the one that makes sure that the payments go out. all of that information is now at risk. this week i wrote to secretary of the department of the treasury scott bessent with extreme concern following his reporting. so here's what i said. quote, i write regarding a disturbing report that in one of your first acts after you were

confirmed as treasury secretary you have given elon musk and his surrogates full access to the federal government's critical payment systems, which includes the sensitive personal information of millions of americans. it is it is extraordinarily dangerous to meddle with the critical systems that process trillions of dollars of transactions each year that are essential to preventing a default on our federal debt and that ensure that tens of millions of americans receive their social security checks, their tax refunds and medicare benefits. i am also alarmed by reports that you personally sidelined the key official responsible for managing the extraordinary measures the department of treasury is taking to avoid a default on u.s. debt, risking

missteps that could result in a global financial meltdown that costs trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. i am writing to seek answers about your role in this security and management failure and about how you intend to protect the integrity of the federal government's financial operations after handing over the systems to mr. musk's team. according to public reports, even before president trump's inauguration, mr. musk's surrogates began demanding access to sensitive payment systems that the federal government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year. the public depends on the integrity of those systems which control the flow of over $6 trillion in payment to american families, businesses, and other

recipients each year, with millions relying on them for social security checks and medicare benefits, federal salaries, government contract payments, grants and tax refunds this filing season. in just one year, for example, the department's bureau of fiscal service disbursed nearly 1.3 billion payments totaling $5.4 trillion. it also collected nearly $5.5 trillion in federal revenue. given the highly sensitive nature of the information in these systems, control over them is typically limited to a small number of career officials. the musk team's unprecedented demand for total access to the system reportedly caused serious concern at the department, particularly given that the system has historically been

closely held because it included sensitive personal information on millions of americans and sends out virtually every federal payment, including payments that are critical for the economy and national security. i just want to say off to the side, you and i were both in a banking hearing this morning, and one of the questions that democrats put to our bankers who were present is, would you let someone come in and see the personal banking records of your customers? and the the bankers of course said no, there is no way they would permit that. and yet, the secretary of the treasury opened the door and said elon musk and his designees could come in and look at anything they wanted to look at. controlling the system could allow the trump administration to unilaterally and illegally

cut off payments for millions of americans, putting at risk the financial security of families and businesses based on political favoritism or the whims of mr. musk and those on his team who have managed to work their way inside. it could also give them access to millions of americans personal and financial information that is protected by law. we would shut down a bank that did what the secretary of treasury did in letting elon musk come in and root around in the personal financial information of americans all across this country. "the washington post" reported that the department's top career official, david leberick, who served in nonpolitical roles for decades, served republicans,

served democrats, including as fiscal assistant secretary since 2014, that he resisted political pressure to cave to the musk surrogates. the demands of those outsiders were especially concerning because mr. musk and the trump administration have tried to control spending in alarming and potentially unlawful ways, including through the chaotic announcement of a federal funding freeze last week that caused widespread harm and confusion. mr. musk was reportedly trying, quote, to deploy his engineers to find ways to turn off the flow of money from the treasury department to things that mr. trump wants to defund. in other words, a small group of insiders would suddenly be in a position to make decisions about whether to hold up payments to

individual families or businesses with absolutely no transparency and no accountability. but rather than protecting the integrity and function of the payment system, our secretary of the treasury reportedly bent to pressure from the white house, suggested putting mr. lebrick on leave and ultimately forced him out. this astonishing mismanagement, turning over the federal government's entire payment system and sidelining the most senior career official responsible for imagining it also puts the country at greater risk of defaulting on our debt, which could trigger a global financial crisis. the fiscal assistant secretary was, quote, the government staffer perhaps most responsible for figuring out how the united states should handle the alarming prospect of running out

of money, making him a pivotal if lesser known player in a debt ceiling standoff. the fiscal assistant secretary is responsible for assessing when the country will exhaust its funds and ensuring that congress has that information for, quote, coordinating and determining how much money the treasury needs to borrow to finance the government. and for managing the extraordinary measures that the department uses to delay a default as long as possible. the fiscal assistant secretary, unlike the amateurs that the secretary of treasury has empowered when he forced them out, was well prepared to manage these kinds of crises. he had, quote, moved through the positions that gave him deep

exposure to the plumbing of federal financing and was a, quote, scrupulously apolitical civil servant who was not angling for a political promotion. that expertise is particularly critical at this moment when the department is already taking extraordinary measures to avoid a default that, quote, would precipitate another financial crisis and threaten jobs and savings of everyday americans. i sent this letter to the secretary of the treasury, and i said i am alarmed that as one of your first acts as secretary, you appear to have handed over a highly sensitive system responsible for millions of americans' private data and a key function of government to an unelected billionaire and an

unknown number of unqualified flunkies. the american people deserve answers about p your role in this mismanagement which threatens the private security of every american. it is no surprise that working families are paying the price for donald trump and russ vought's reckless actions. just look at who is running the government. donald trump, billionaire. elon musk, billionaire. scott bessent, billionaire. linda m{l1}c{l0}mahon, billionaire. howard lutnick, billionaire. charles kushner, billionaire. and the list goes on. the total network of billionaires in the trump administration is it at least brs 382 billion. that is more than the gdp of 172

different countries. elon musk, first buddy and head of the department of government efficiency, is worth $410 billion. he is $115 billion richer than he was on election day. linda mcmahon, scare of the department of -- secretary of the department of education, $3.23 billion. howard lutnick, $1.5 billion but likely more. many kelly loeffler, head of the small business administration worth $1.1 billion. robert f. kennedy jr., nominated for the department of health and human services, estimated to be worth about $15 million, and ep has refused to give up a lucrative arrangements with a law firm that will enable his family to make millions on

vaccine related lawsuits. steven -- take this piece. elon musk plowed it at least $260 million into efforts to send donald trump back to the white house, a massive infusion that makes him one of the largest single underwriters of a presidential campaign and underscores the outsized influence of the world's wealthiest person in this year's election. thursday's filings with the federal election commission show that the tesla and spacex executive gave a total of $238 million to a super pac that he founded this year, american pac, which worked to turn out voters on trump's behalf in key states. but he was also the financial

backer of other groups that cropped up in the final days of the election to support trump, including one that spent millions on advertising to defend trump's record on abortion. it had sought to link trump's views on abortion to those of the late supreme court justice and liberal icon ruth bader ginsburg. these people have no shame. musk, through a trust that bears his name, donated $20.5 million to the group named rbg pac, on november 24 according to files with the federal election commission. he was the sole donor to the group which was formed in mid-october. the donation's timing meant that musk's involvement was not disclosed until after the election, after the inauguration, not until last thursday's post election filings with the federal regulators.

ginsburg's granddaughter publicly denounced the ads which sought to neutralize abortion as a liability for trump in the campaign as misleading and an affront to ginsburg's legacy as a staunch defender of abortion rights. so true. according to the new filings, musk also donated $3 million to the maha alliance, a super pac that ran stark ads in key swing states urging supporters of robert f. kennedy jr. to back trump in the closing stretch of the campaign. kennedy himself had ended his independent campaign over the summer and endorsed trump. now maha stands for make america healthy again. kennedy's spin on trump's maga catchphrase. trump has not tapped kennedy one of the nation's most prominent

antivaccine conspiracy theorists to oversee the health and human services. trump selected other big donors for roles in his incoming administration. howard lutnick, the cantor fitzgerald bank chief who trump tapped to head the commerce department made a nearly $3 million in kind donation of stock on october 21 to a pro-trump super pac, maga, inc., according to to the organization's filings thursday night. that is on top of the $6 million that lutnick previously donated to the super pac over the course of the election cycle. other trump supporters who landed spots in his administration also donated to maga, inc. 24e include linda mcmahon, tapped to serve as education secretary. she donated more than $20 million to the trump aligned surm pac this cycle.

they also serve as cochairs of trump's transition operation. other trump picks who have made seven-figure donations to maga, inc. include former georgia senator kelly loeffler, his choice to lead the small business administration, scott bessent who trump selected as treasury selected and two of his choices for plum diplomatic posts in europe -- arkansas investor warren stevens and charles kushner, the bessent. daughter-in-law. if you made a fortune because you had a great idea and built a terrific business, good for you. but i guarantee that any great fortune in america was built, at least in part, using workers that all of us helped pay to educate. built at least in part on getting your goods to market on roads and bridges that all of us

helped to pay to build. built at least in part protected by police and firefighters that all of us helped pay the salaries for. and now instead of creating a system that will let the next guy or gal that comes along building is, these guys want to pull up the ladder. they poured money into the 2024 election and now they expect a return on their investment at the expense of everyone else. the trump strategy is to flood the zone. partly so we don't see each of the horrible orders and pay attention to them, but partly to demoralize us. trump and his republican friends hope we will be demoralized. they hope that we will curl up in a little ball and let them do whatever they want to do. i get it.

it is tough right now but it is important that we get back up and fight and that is exactly what i am doing. i am challenging elon musk on his department of government efficiency efforts to take away help for seniors who are living in nursing homes and little kids are hoping for their day care. i am asking questions of every nominee and pointing out to other senators and to the public will they pose a real danger to the american people? look at the fight of the secretary of defense, pete hegseth. he's a credibly accused rapist who has been falling down drunk at work events and run not one but two nonprofits directly into the ground. nonetheless republican senators stood beside him. he made it through his confirmation, but it wasn't a

free by. -- freebie. some republicans broke ranks and everyone in the country who was paying attention got to see up close and personal just how far the republicans were willing to go to power in front of donald trump. those are the fights we must keep fighting. we will not roll over and play dead. this is not business as usual. the number one thing people can do right now is speak out. speak out on social media about every one of these things. talk about the threats these people pose. speak out about what donald trump is doing. in the middle of the night last friday, donald trump issued a batch of executive orders turning back the clock decades on women's reproductive rights. if people talk about that, then that is how we will begin to

rebuild a movement to push out the trump vision of america in which billionaires are on top and everyone else is left in the dirt and women don't get to make their own health decisions. i've only got 24 hours a day, but i plan to spend as many of them as humanly possible fighting back against trump, musk, and the billionaires who have taken over our country to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else. it is up to us. i'm not lying down and playing dead, and i hope nobody else does either. mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from -- mr. gallego: i yield my post debate time to senator schumer and -- the presiding officer: the senator has that right. mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i have eight requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. with me today is one of my colleagues from my senate office, mr. james shay. he is one of my right-hand people, and does great work and

i'm honored that he could join me today. gosh, i don't know where to begin. i've been in the senate for eight years. in dog years that's 56 years, and it feels like 56 years. i've learned a lot. met a lot of interesting people. you know, before i got here, everybody told me about the washington bubble, and i said, you know, how serious could they be? well, it's true. there is a washington bubble. this place is different. in its own way sometimes disappointing, sometimes refreshing, it is deeply weird.

for on -- for one thing common sense is illegal in washington. it's illegal. for another thing, i discovered this is a town of very frustrated x-class presidents. and there's a washington way of doing things. and when things aren't done that way, when somebody challenges the status quo, many, not all, but many of these frustrated x-class presidents in washington on the hill and otherwise, they get excited, not in a good way. they can't get their mind around doing anything other than the

washington way. they -- some of them, particularly in the media, they go almost catatonic or the exact opposite, they foam at the mouth. and they really get upset. they could make a valium nervous. it's like the world -- we're not doing things the way we've always done them and the world's going to spin off its axis. i want to try to put in perspective what many of my democratic friends have been talking about today. they're very, very, very upset at president trump, and they're very, very, very upset at elon musk. president trump ran for president on a number of issues. one of the issues he ran on, he

said it almost every day. he said if you elect me president, i'm going to go through the entire budget and review all the spending line by line. if i heard them say that once, i heard him say that a thousand times. and that's what he's been doing. he went out and appointed, through an executive order, elon musk, who people -- some people like him, some don't, but he's not a dummy. he's a very successful business person. he's got a top secret security clearance. president trump issued an executive order and he turned to mr. musk, and he said, mr. musk, i want you to do for me what i said i would do in the election, i want you to go through all the

spending line by line. now, let me ask you something, mr. president, how are you going to review the spending without reviewing the spending? how you gonna audit the spending by an agency without auditing the agency? that's what i mean when i say common sense is illegal in washington, d.c. that's what mr. musk is doing. he's put together a crackerjack team and they're going through everybody's spending line by line, item by item. and my -- my democratic colleagues are very, very, very upset. and they're -- they've been very eloquent, they've talked about the process, president trump's executive order supposedly -- supposedly violates the

const constitution, and they -- they've accused mr. musk of having conflicts of interest. i've heard people say he's sitting over there with a notepad copying down everybody's social security number and he's going to go use it to make money. i mean, people in this town, not just my democratic colleagues, they're really upset. they've never had anybody question their spending. but that's what mr. musk is doing. but you know what -- i've listened. this has been going on for a week. people have been screaming like they're part of a prison riot. oh, my god, look at what musk is doing, he's looking at the spending. and i've listened to people talk about the process and debate whether it's constitutional and -- and discuss how many lawyers can dance on the head of a pin. but you know what i haven't heard one single person who's

upset with president trump or mr. musk talk about -- what he's found. they don't want to talk about the spending -- the spending porn, the waste of taxpayer money that he's found. i mean, that's the opponent of all of this. i'll tell you who is interested, the american people. the people in america who get up every day and go to work and obey the law and pay their taxes and try to educate their kids and try to do the right thing by their kids and try to save a little money for retirement, and they've had to -- to live through 20% inflation under president biden. they understand what musk is doing. they understand spending porn and wasting taxpayer money. now, mr. musk started with the

usaid. that handles a lot of foreign aid for america. the american people are very generous. in our country, you know, when you're homeless, we'll house you. when you're -- when you're hungry, we'll feed you. in our country, if you're too poor to be sick, we'll pay your doctor. and woe send a -- we send a lot of money overseas, and the usaid is in large part in charge of that. i'll tell you what mr. musk discovered. i find it fascinating. he discovered that the american taxpayers are giving money to afghanistan. he found that we are giving

money to yemen. he found that we giving money to syria. i didn't know that. some of our foreign aid is going to yemen, afghanistan, syria. he found that the usaid has 10,000 people -- 10,000 people employees, and every year they give away $40 billion. mr. musk also found -- and i'm not saying that all of this money is wasteful. i'm not. some of this money i'm sure does some good. that's why secretary rubio's going to revamp the department and separate the good from the bad. but this is the kind of stuff mr. musk found.

he found that the usaid gave money to support electric vehicles in vietnam. our money, taxpayer money. he found that usaid gave money to a transgender clinic in india. i didn't know that. i bet you the american people didn't know that. he found that usaid gave $1.5 million to a serbian lgbtq group called groupa isladogi. i probably miss pronounced that. my apologies. they got $1.5 million to, quote, advance diversity, equity inclusion in serbia's workplaces and business communities. what else did mr. musk found that my colleagues don't want to talk about?

well, he reviewed a study, and then went and checked it, the study was done by the middle east forum. they found that usaid spent $164 million to support radical organizations around the world. we're not talking cub scout troupes here. we're talking about radical organizations around the troop. they gave $122 million of that to groups aligned with foreign terrorist organizations. our taxpayer money. according to this report and mr. musk, the usaid has given millions of dollars to, quote, organizations in gaza controlled by hamas. why -- why -- why aren't my

colleagues talking about that? recipients of the money, they found, have, quote, called for their lands to be cleansed from the impurity of jews. that's who we're giving foreign aid to? what else? i'm not going to spend my whole time talking about this, but nobody else is talking about it. they're just talking about the process, and mr. musk, and he's a mean guy, he shouldn't be looking at our spending. well, he is, and i kind of find that -- i kind of find what he's found out interesting. he found we gave $2 million, usaid did, for sex changes in guatemala. he found that we gave $20 million to produce a new "sesame street" show in iraq. he found that we gave

$4.5 million of taxpayer money to combat disinformation in kazakhstan. he found that we gave $10 million, usaid did, of meals to an al qaeda-linked terrorist group, called the nusfra front. mr. musk found that we gave $7.9 million of taxpayer money to a project that would teach sri lankan journalists to avoid bi binary-gendered language. we took, the usaid took, 8 million bucks and gave it to a bunch of journalists in sri lanka to teach them how to avoid binary-gendered language. i don't know what the hell binary-gendered language is. i think i do. you think most taxpayers would

support that? why aren't we talking about that? the usaid gave $1.5 million to promote lgbt advocacy in jamaica. they gave $1.5 million to rebuild the cuban media ecosystem. they gave $1.5 million for, quote, art for inclusion of people with disabilities in belarus. another $3.9 million for lgbt causes in macedonia. $8.3 million for equity and inclusion education in nepal. i could go all night. and many of my colleagues are upset, they're really mad at mr. musk. hell, i think we ought to give

him a medal. all he's doing is what president trump said he was going to do. president trump said he's going to audit the spending. so, trump goes and hires musk, again, with a top-secret security clearance. nobody can quibble with his intelligence. the guy's as smart as einstein's cousin. he's a very successful businessman. some say he's the richest guy in the world. and he's doing the auditing. and man, he's finding a lot of stuff. i call it spending porn. now, i'm not saying everything that usaid does is wasted. but i'm saying a lot of it is, a hell of a lot of it is. and we ought to be on the floor of this united states senate thanking mr. musk. and we ought to be asking him to go through every agency and look at everybody's budget,

everybody's budget. that's what the american people want. they don't want to talk about process. they don't want to continue with the washington way. they want to save some money. now, let me tell you what's really going on here too, mr. president. for four years under president biden, and for, what, eight years under president obama, and i respect both of them -- i don't hate anybody, i don't. when i say my prayers at night, one of the things i ask god, god, don't let me hate, because it's hard in washington. don't let me hate. i have all the respect in the world for president biden and president obama. tough job. but between them they spent 12 years in washington, and presidents set the tone. they control the questions that are asked.

and here's the question that president obama and president biden asked for eight years, i heard it -- for 12 years, i heard it every single day -- who needs to pay more in taxes? is it you? is it you? who needs to pay more in taxes? we need more money. who needs to pony up more? that was the issue. but that's not the issue today. we have a new president. you know what the issue is today? what the hell happened to all the money? what the hell happened to all the money? and that's what mr. musk is finding out. that's all this is about. and i'm just -- i'm just shocked that my colleagues have decided that this is a hill they're going to die on. how can you look the american people in the eye and support

this kind of waste? support this kind of spending porn? i mean, the election, to me, made at least one thing clear, that the american people are sick and tired of people in washington denying reality. the last administration tried to convince us that we were living in a crime-free world, where inflation was temporary and the border was secure. and the american people didn't buy it. you know why? because it wasn't true. and the administration, our last administration, tried to argue that bidenomics was making our lives better, but the american people knew differently. they understood bidenomics to mean i get to spend more to live

worse, and they voted. now, i mean, the american people were poorer under the last administration, but they didn't become stupid. they could see that the government was creating a problem, not trying to fix it. and they noticed the national debt, too. put up that first chart for me. you know what our national debt is, mr. president? $36 trillion. not million, not billion, $36 trillion. it takes my breath away. highest it's ever been, over 100% of our gross domestic product. our debt's growing faster than our economy. and we toss around these numbers, a trillion, a billion,

a million, a squillion, like it's nothing. i want to put this in context. if i started counting right now, and i counted one numeral, if you will, per second, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and i kept counting, all day and all night, i didn't sleep, i counted between bites of oatmeal at breakfast, i just counted continuously, one numeral per second, it would take me 32 years to count to one billion. 32 years to count to one billion. it would be 2057. i'd be dead as woodrow wilson. i wouldn't live that long.

that's just a billion. our debt's $36 trillion. you know how long it would take me to count to a trillion? 31,000 years, if i counted one numeral per second. about as old as chuck grassley, 31,000 years. it would take me one million years to count to 36 trillion. those are the kind of numbers we're talking about, and the american people understand it. since 2019, america's population has grown 2%. we're not having babies. 2%, and that's after massive immigration. you know how much our budget has grown? 55%, 55%.

yeah, we've had inflation, but we haven't had 55% worth of inflation. that's how we got to this $36 trillion in debt. put up the next chart for me. now, some of this money we had to spend during the pandemic, and it was a bipartisan effort during the pandemic, republicans voted for it, and democrats voted for it, because we had no choice. i was there. i saw it from the inside. we came this close to losing the american economy. and you know who helped a lot, doesn't get enough credit? jay powell and the federal reserve. i watched it. the whole world wanted to go into a cave and retreat. back in the great recession, i remember all the other countries in the world who looked to us, they may hate us but they know we're the greatest country in all of human history, they looked to america, and you know what, back in the great recession, all the other

countries wanted -- they wanted treasury notes, treasury bonds. not this time. they were so scared, they didn't want treasury. they wanted dollars. cash dollars. so, jay powell, thank the lord, he goes over to the federal reserve, he opens what's called a currency swap line, and he told every country, you want dollars? i'll trade you dollars for your currency. and everything calmed down. he doesn't get any credit for that, but it was a gutsy thing to do. but on top of that, to save the american economy, that wasn't helping the american economy, we had to keep the economy going. we spent a lot of money. but then covid ended, and what we should have done was go back to pre-covid spending. but we didn't do that. president biden, after the

shutdowns and the coronavirus, the pandemic was over, passed the american rescue plan. covid was over. he spent $1.9 trillion. never let a good crisis go to waste. i didn't vote for it. then he came back and passed what he called an infrastructure bill. it was really just the green new deal. i know what's in that bill. that was another $1. trillion -- $1.2 trillion. then he passed the inflation reduction act. i didn't vote for it, but that was another $1.0 trillion. then he passed the chips act. this is really special. he said big tech, the semiconductor companies, need our money, they need taxpayer money, they're not making enough money. and he gave them money. he didn't give hardware stores money. president biden didn't give the

health care industry money. he said i want to help big tech, and boy, they sucked it up like a hoover deluxe. we spent $280 billion subsidizing big tech. and you add it all up, that's $4.3 trillion, almost $4.5 trillion. that's how we got $36 trillion in debt. that's why donald trump said i'm going to look at every line item of spending, and that's why he gave the job to elon musk, and that's why musk is auditing these accounts. but nobody wants to talk about what he's finding. nobody wants to talk about the spending point, except the american people. they get it, mr. president. they get it. and i hope mr. musk continues.