ability to do more together to diversify our supply chains, our ability to do this in a more and more deliberate and determined fashion, those conversations on those topics will continue with our european allies and with our mexican partners. we remain in close contact with them and we will continue to try and contemplate things that we can be doing together in order not to suffer more than necessary to the american measures. >> as we know little parties can be picking a new lead over the weekend but when is it going to be her last official day as prime minister? >> -- >> kept back to capital as the sin is returning after lawmakers party meetings. on the for legislation to repeal ayden administration financial

rules including an irs cryptocurrency room. you are watching live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. . the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mrs. shaheen: thank you. i come to the floor today because i am concerned about president trump's actions to i believe start a trade war with our top two trading partners, canada and mexico. all goods coming from canada and mexico as of midnight last night, i guess midnight today, face a 25% tax, that is, all except canadian energy which is taxed at 10%. trump's tariffs will make everything from gas to heating to groceries to lumber and. mr. moran: expensive for

everyday americans. and i think it bears repeating that tariffs are paid by consumers. they're paid by americans, not by other countries. and what the president is doing amounts to a new tax for americans. for example, heating oil and poe pain which keeps hundreds of thousands of granite staters warm in the winter is going to cost more president we'll add about $150 to $it 50 to the -- $250 to the cost of heating hopes in new hampshire. and gas prices are going to go up n. new hampshire half of the fuel in our cars and trucks comes from canada. and u.s. refineries across the midwest use canadian oil. the u.s. imports 80% of its potash fertilizer from canada. this tariff makes farming and food more expensive. it's unclear how the american auto industry is going to continue to operate. ford ceo's said these tariffs will, and, i quote, blow a hole in the u.s. industry we've never

seen, with up to $12,000 added to the cost of a car. and this will make lumber and electrical equipment that we need to build housing at a time when housing is already in short supply, it will make them more expensive and harder to find. those are just a few examples. there are countless other imports that american businesses and families rely on that are going to be hit hard. and these tariffs do nothing to bring down those costs. they do just the opposite. these tariffs could add $1200 to an average household's yearly costs and we won't have to wait very long for the impact to be felt. it's already being felt on wall street and the stock market. target ceo said this morning that the consumer -- and i quote -- will likely see price increases over the next couple of days. and for small businesses, these tariff taxes will be felt by small businesses in all of our states. i was here a month ago today

sharing stories from business owners in new hampshire who weren't sure how they were going to keep operating if specialized machinery that they can only get from canada suddenly costs 25% more. and since that time, i've heard from even more people in new hampshire, more small businesses. last week i heard from a small company in windham, new hampshire, that makes allergen-free cookies. and they can only get certain ingredients for those cookies from can dachl the ceo -- canada. the ceo built her business which now employs 30 people and now she can't be sure they're even going to be able to keep going let alone keep growing. . when i spoke with business representatives across new hampshire last month, the theme they kept coming back to was uncertainty. as a former small business owner, i know that uncertainty is the most destabilizing aspect of running and growing a business. yet that's what this administration keeps creating. yesterday we learned that new

orders for manufacturers dropped in february for the first time in 22 years, for the first time in 22 years new orders from manufacturers dropped because companies can't work with this level of uncertainty. last wednesday the president was talking about canadian tariffs going into effect april 2. the very next morning he announced 25% tariffs would go into effect today. the whiplash is hard to imagine. i spoke last month about a bus company c&jr. bus line -- jr. bus lines in new hampshire. they were worried about the tariffs and what it would mean for the bottom line. the ceo moved up his delivery date to get three buses in late march before these taxes were set to go into effect. but his costs just went up more than $450,000. businesses plan months, quarters, or years in advance.

they need to place orders and plot out their growth in order to succeed. how can they plan when they can't even know when their costs are going to go up 25% overnight. how can a developer know if they can start building the housing that new hampshire desperately needs if their lumber costs 25% more overnight. and how can a family already struggling with high costs continue to pay the rent or put food on the table if their household costs are going to go up $1200 this year. i want families and businesses to know that the whims of this president are not going to cause them to break the bank on everyday items they need to get by. that's why i introduced the protecting americans from tax hikes on imported goods act. it's a simple change, really. it says that the international emergency economic powers act, ieepa can no longer be used to place taxes on imports.

if the president needs to block some dangerous product, he still can. but if there's a real threat, we'd want to stop it, not just add a tariff tax. that's what my bill does. it would stop these tariffs on goods and energy coming from canada and mexico and it would give businesses and families more certainty to plan for the future and to keep their hard-earned dollars in their pockets. so, madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration of s. 151 and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. scott: thank you, madam president. reserving the right to object. ieepa is a powerful tool that provides the president with a range of authorities to protect

our national skecurity. with all the challenges facing our nation, now is not the time to be limiting presidential power, and that's exactly what senator shaheen's bill would do. instead we must use every tool available to combat these threats, and we are already seeing results. as an example, columbia accept migrant return flights. we've seen mexico and canada take initial incredible steps to combat fentanyl and illegal immigration. now is not the time to tie the hands of president trump. thank you and i look forward working with my colleagues in the senate through regular order to ensure that we take every step to protect our national security. i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mrs. shaheen: i know that my colleague from oregon wants to speak to this issue. but i just want to respond in a couple of ways. i know my colleague from south

carolina cares about the issues that i'm going to address. but he mentioned fentanyl. and that's what the president has used to justify the tariffs. he says this is a way to stop the flow of fentanyl into our country. but he's forgotten a few inconvenient facts. first, it is that in 2024cbp, customs and border patrol, seized about 43 pounds of fentanyl along our northern border. about 1% of the fentanyl coming into this country. now, it's long been known that fentanyl is not coming from canada and that hard drugs and firearms flow north from the u.s. into canada. in fact, on member 25, the canada border services agency announced the seizure of 410 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine from two trucks seek entry into canada at the port of entry. see sures like this are not

uncommon. wouldn't it make more sense if we agreed to work together with our canadian allies instead of putting a tariff on it? the second fact that bears mentioning is that the vast majority of the fentanyl crossing the southwest border is transported by americans hidden in their cars and trucks. that's why i've supported, like most of my colleagues in this body, have supported more funding for technology and personnel to better find these drugs before they enter the u.s. it's why i supported the border bill last year that this president stopped because he wanted a political issue. and on china. we can debate another time whether this is actually the right long-term strategy with china. but more important than that, my bill does not prevent tariffs against countries like china that have unfair trade practices. both president trump in his first term and president biden have already placed tariffs on numerous imports from china to

respond to its unfair trade practices, exactly what section 301 of the trade act is for. that tool remains available. my bill only addresses the ability of the president to tax imports on a whim. and i want to note, thanks to this president, we now have higher taxes on imports from canada than from china. i don't know how that makes sense, that we are taxing our allies more than we're taxing our adversaries. so i would say is this really about china? or is a more important motivation here to raise coxs on american families to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. and as the ranking member of the foreign relations committee, i take very serious our ability to use sanctions or other tools in foreign policy. this bill does nothing to limit the use of sanctions under ieepa. nor does it prevent an embargo or fully blocking dangerous

imports. but i don't think a tax is the right solution for those issues. in fact, this is breaking the united states, mexico, and canada agreement that president trump negotiated just six years ago. and if we're going to break the very deal we negotiated, one of the, i think, most important achievements of the first trump administration, why would people want to work with us in the future? why would they want to work with a trump administration? how does -- unreliable partner to our closest allies help our national security? i think it's important to be clear on this. donald trump's trade war doesn't create any manufacturing jobs tomorrow in the u.s. in fact, it's far more likely to cost us tens or hundreds of thousands of jobs. half of the goods that america imports are enter need components. that means that there are parts that our companies manufacture into finished goods. every one of those items coming from canada or mexico just got

25% more expensive. and we've already heard from automakers. they're not sure how much this is going to add to the bottom line of cars. i think that's a lot at risk for tariffs than president trump can justify for any other reason other than because he wants to get funding to support a tax cut for the wealthiest americans. and yet the president is talking about wanting to cut deals with russia for economic development. i don't see the logic in going halfway around the world to deal with a dictator, a murderous dictator, by the way, like vladimir putin at the same time we're damaging relationships and cutting off trade with our closest allies right here in north america. i'm happy to listen to somebody's explanation here, but i don't think it makes sense and it seems entirely contrary to american values to me.

so i hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will see the folly in what the president is doing, will recognize the impact on the economy, and american families because of these increased costs and agree that these tariffs should be rolled back. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, my colleague from new hampshire is being way too logical for some of what passes as a trade debate here. it's my hope that her excellent proposal will be back on this senate floor sometime soon for unanimous consent to pass a very important bill protecting americans from tax hikes on imported goods. this is, as she has stated, a straightforward proposition. all it does is it claire fays that -- clarifies that the president's emergency powers can't be used to put tariffs on

the things americans buy from other countries. now, donald trump calls himself a tariff man. his quote, not mine. it's the only answer he seems to have to any problem under the sun. he's willing to use any authority he can find to slap tariffs on our trading partners. just today he announced he was slapping 25% tariffs on canada and mexico, which are two of our three largest trading partners and closest allies. that alone is going to raise costs for americans on gas, on cars, on fruits and vegetables, and many other products. it's also going to cost america jobs because canada and mexico announced plans to retaliate against our exports. that is, i say to my friend,

that is the opposite of what donald trump pledged to the american people. it is disturbing that donald trump is going rogue and using emergency powers to pursue his tariffs. the american people voted for lower, not higher, prices. donald trump campaigned on the promise that he would lower costs on day one of his presidency, but just a month in, all trump has managed to do is gut the agencies in charge of protecting consumers and going after predatory corporations and land us in trade wars that are going to drive up the cost of goods people use every day. whether it's to punish a country that he doesn't like or to settle scores with foreign leaders, the only answer donald trump has ever had is tariffs, and as the ranking democrat on

the senate financial committee, i've heard him play that card again and again. no matter how many times we've said, look, tariffs should be one of the tools in the trade toolbox, but it shouldn't be the universal answer to everything. trump's approach is going to drive up prices and costs for american families, businesses, and farmers in the process. he doesn't, in -- he does it, in my view, because he and his billionaire friends aren't going to feel the impacts, and they don't care about the millions of americans who will. these higher costs essentially add up to a trump tax on everything from food to clothes and cars, and i use those words, senator shaheen, specifically. these policies end up being a trump tax. and to those who voted for

donald trump because they wanted lower prices and a fairer economy, sure seems to me that these policies are a betrayal. the shaheen bill that we're trying to pass today would rein in some of donald trump's worst impulses and clarify that the laws on the books were never meant to be a blank check for the president to abuse tariffs by using them as a punishment against any country that kind of, sort of hurts his feelings. a number of our republican colleagues have supported the shaheen proposal in the past because putting a check on the president's power to land us in trade wars should not be, as my colleague has said, should not be partisan or controversial. it is shaheen common sense. i with a tonight thank her for an excellent bill, for her leadership that i have watched from my vantage point on the finance committee, and i urge my

colleagues when we can get this bill back on the floor for unanimous consent, i hope it will be met with the a resounding, bipartisan showing of support, and i luke forward to working -- and i look forward to working with her until that day comes to be. and with that, madam president, and with that, madam president,

i'm looking for during the

president discuss his accomplishments so far and outlined his vision for our country. president trump may have been in office for matter of weeks but he's built considerable record of success. chief among the successes is been doing to confront illegal immigration and restore order to our southern border. over the weekend it emerged there were just 8490 encounters approximately at our southern border for the entire month of february. at least a 25 year low. that's a stunning turnaround. put that number in perspective under president biden the border patrol sometimes saw that number in a single day. it's incredible what president trump is accomplished in six weeks. i haven't mentioned how this administration has been making our communities safer by arresting and deporting criminals here illegally. they've taken a lot of dangerous people off of our streets it all

goes to show what's possible when you have a president committed to protecting our border and our nation's security. that's not all the president has accomplished during his first six weeks in office. among other things he's been laying the groundwork for unleashing american energy. while democrats may not like to admit it the united states is rapidly heading toward an energy crisis where we simply don't have a supply to meet the demand. as "washington post" noted last march and i quote vast swaths of the united states art risk of running short of power as electricity hungry data centers and clean technology factories proliferate around the country leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation's power grid, end quote. that's a serious situation. instead of taking steps to

increase her energy supply the biden administration pushed us further toward crisis with measures designed to restrict conventional energy development and force americans to adopt electric cars putting a vast new burden on our electric grid. fortunately president trump recognizes the situation we are facing. he has already demonstrated its meant to increasing our nation's supply and promoting a source or i should say a secure affordable energy future. i look forward to hearing from him as he discusses the work he's been doing tonight. here in the senate we have been working to support president trump's agenda first and foremost by getting his cabinet placed on prep report we can from 20 of the president's 22 nominees, substantially faster pace of confirmation than in any of the three previous administrations. in addition to cabinet nomination we have been laying the groundwork for making the tax cuts we passed during the

first trump administration permanent as well as delivering a transformational investment to our border national energy security. and, of course, we're working to overturn burdensome biden administration migrations using the congressional review act. we are taking up two two roa french on americans financial freedom. first we will vote on senator cruz resolution to stop the by administration digital asset broke a rule which puts at risk the privacy and security of tens of millions of americans who trade digital assets. this rule can mean forfeiting american leadership and financial innovation by giving the advantage to foreign companies that do not have to comply with the rule. and driving innovation overseas. later this week we will vote on senator ricketts resolution for an expansion of consumer financial protection bureau or cfpb. the biden administration made a last-ditch effort to increase

government supervision of non-bank payment apps by expanding the cpb authority. but these types of apps are already regulated. and they account for just 1% of cpb consumer complaints in 2023. why add another layer of bureaucracy? democrats can't help but see innovation as an opportunity for regulation. all told the biden administration saddle americans with 1.8 trillion in regulatory burdens. that's a big weight on the economy. and on crucial industries like american energy. we will continue our work to alleviate these burdens. mr. president, the biden s left our nation facing a lot of challenges but we are turning the page on the biden administration's failed policies and i firmly believe there is a brighter future ahead. i look forward to hearing from

president trump tonight as he outlines his vision for american greatness. mr. president, iu the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. >> so mr. president, tonight dom trump will address the nation before a joint session of congress. this will be the fifth time donald trump speaks from the house chamber and by now the american people know just what to expect. they can expect donald trump to launch a a delusion of mistrus and falsehoods but tonight we won't hear one piece from donald trump about his broken promise to bring inflation down on day one. we won't hear one syllable about have donald trump policies are making inflation and the costs to average american families worse. so this morning let's start here. let's start about that here starting with tariffs. last night for the first time in decades the president of the united states imposed 25% tariffs on nearly all goods coming from canada and mexico.

what does this mean for the american people? what do his tariff been for the american people? they are going to pay more everyday costs are about to become more expensive. it means according to the ceo of target, to take one example, consumers could see higher prices within days. this is a something six months out. that includes everything, price of gas, groceries, cars, cheese, dairy products, coffee, even chocolate. american farmers are going to pay more, will pay more for fertilizer which means food prices go up. new furniture will become more expensive as candidate is a major supplier of lumber. refrigerators, washers, microwaves, laptops, smartphones, clothing, shoes, all will likely see increases. hold onto your hat, mr. and mrs. when you bring it all together coffee average u.s. household

could see $2000 in increased expenses a year. that's a conservative estimate. let me repeat that. the average american family, $2000 more out of their pockets, their hard-earned dollars that are struggling to stretch and now another added increase all the didn't have to happen because donald trump is imposing taxes, tariffs on canada and mexico. it's been clear that in the past when applied intelligent tears can be useful tool. against adversaries that engage in unfair trade practices that harm american workers. tariff against china years ago are one example of this. but the situation today is completely different. it makes no sense to start a trade war with america's closest trade partners because they casualty of that trade war will be consumers and american households. so let's get it straight. donald trump's tariffs are a tax

on working americans to the tune of $2000 or more a year. year. why are you doing this? why are they doing this? he says fentanyl but less than 1% of the findlay comes into the country comes from canada. it's one of the ways they can close that budget hole when they take huge tax breaks for billionaires. this is another place, another place, where donald trump and republicans are raising your costs so they can cut taxes for billionaires it's unbelievable. i don't think this is going to be seen very possibly by the american people. now let's talk about one month in to the trump administration. on his first day in office donald trump promised a golden age was coming over the horizon. but when donald trump speaks tonight his promise of a goldman age will feel like ancient

history. so this morning let's talk about donald trump's many broken promises. as a candidate donald trump promised when i went i would immediately bring prices down starting on day one. he said grocery prices will come tumbling down he said when he gets elected. instead, what's happened? inflation has gone not down but up. gas prices were 2% up from the previous month to chicken, pork, beef are more expensive, eggs teaching% than last month. what is donald trump solution to all of this? the secretary of agriculture said yesterday americans should buy the own chickens to lay their own eggs. is he serious? this is agriculture secretary? americans should buy the own chickens to their own eggs? who are they kidding? as a candidate donald trump also said boat trump and her incomes will soar, your net worth. now to be here if you're

1 billion or he's telling the truth. but if you're not rich, donald trump and republican signature legislation is to cut medicaid and social security and other programs by hundreds of billions of dollars in order to pay for tax breaks for the billionaires club. let's look at another claim by donald trump. that yet next economic boom will begin the instant donald trump has won four more years come back to school, he said. the next economic boom will be in the instant donald j. trump has won more years. well, let's look at what's actually happened. last month consumer confidence took its biggest nosedive in years. retail sales dropped unexpectedly by .5%. unemployment filings hit their highest level since last fall. the s&p 5001 of trump's favorite measuring sticks has erased all the gains this year and now donald trump has started a trade war with our closest trading partners.

that is not what an economic boom looks like. this is economic anemia created by donald trump's own policies. i could go on because they're so many people being hurt and such policies and such foolishness. donald trump promised to take care of veterans come yet doge tried to find hundreds of critical staff from the v.a. including crisis hotline staff and funding for cancer treatment and housing costs are up, electricity bills are up. if there's any goldman age to be had under donald trump the goldman age for lawlessness, it's a goldman age for billionaires and their club. it is not a goldman age for americans who work hard every day and on a slide to make ends meet. but i doubt we'll or any of that from donald trump tonight. finally, i'm proud to welcome the seven new yorkers to do nice joint meetings of congress. these new yorkers are examples

some of the very people who donald trump promised to help but who he has left behind. first i'm honored to welcome emma larson, a 12-year-old middle school students from what i than with a rare genetic disease which has been treated thanks to nih funding research. she was -- spina muscle atrophy as a one euro. at the time there was no cure her parents were anguished but thanks to research at them in the age funded lab in new york emma received a breakthrough drug that changed her prognosis. her story shows what an h funding is life-saving and we should stand up against efforts to slash funding. imagine slashing funding to nih which helps people like emma live so you can give a tax break to billionaires who are already doing very well, thank you? i'm also proud to a welcome alyssa helmand, a disabled army

veteran recently fired from the v.a. in lockport new york in western new york. she served honorably in afghanistan and was diagnosed with a rare cancer associate with toxic burn pit exposure. even while receiving treatment she went to work him she wanted to serve her fellow veterans. she got a job at the buffalo va. but guess what. last week she found herself locked out of her computer and later found out doge eliminated her position. this woman served in afghanistan, got burn pit serving her country to work in the veterans administration to help other veterans. all of a sudden no word, no notice, locked out of her computer and found that doge eliminated her position is that the goldman age? for whom? she is one of 2500 va employees

who were fired by doge. putting the care of our nation's veterans at risk. tonight i also welcome tiffany from rome, new york, who worked at the usda office in syracuse and was fired from her job helping rural farmers and businesses across upstate new york. she is just one of meeting usda employees fired with no notice despite years of service leaving farmers across america wondering who's left to help them. these people work hard. there was nothing against them. they didn't get a notice saying you didn't do this, this, this. you can approve this weird that way. they were just fired. it's cruel, it's heartless, it's a nasty, it's lacking knowledge and fact-based, and it hurts america. in this case farmers. i'm also proud to welcome you o make medicaid recipient, jessica martinez and ms. garcia. jessica and anna are both cancer

survivors who depend medicaid to afford the medication and received treatment. and finally it is truly my honor to welcome -- mother of -- and father of -- as we all know now omar and uk were tragically murdered by vicious hamas thugs right on october 7 the day of the massacre, the invasion of visual. in the case of omar it wasn't until a year later they learned he was murdered by hamas on october 7. how cruel. hamas let them worry. i met with him numerous times. is her son alive, , dead? is he wanted? viciousness of hamas, the viciousness. as ft. usher he was taken hostage in tragically murdered by hamas on the board of gaza

october seventh. after months for fighting for his return, his family learned he was also murdered that terrible day. this is the depths of hamas is cruel to get for months to acknowledge that omar and etai had been murdered. they kept the families in anguish, in the dark. what a horrible feeling, to wonder if your child is alive or dead. and hamas knowing it dangles cruelty, that possibility maybe they are alive when they were to. the families wonder over and over again our children live? are the dead? and, of course, tragically their worst fears happened. what omar and etai families have endured is the on comprehension. i'm inspired by their perseverance, by the resolve to keep calling for the safe return of remaining hostages even

though their loved ones are gone. and for the return of the bodies of their loved ones, which is essential by jewish law. there's no time to waste. i continue working for as long as it takes to finally bring every last hostage and the remains of the hostages the longer with us home at last. it's an honor to welcome all my guests to the capital. >> mr. president, tonight president trump will take the podium and he will have a joint address to congress and clearly to the nation. just heard the minority leader of the senate come to the floor and talk about president trump's promises. let me talk about those promises, , promises made, promises kept by president trump. he's only been in the office now for seven weeks and he is a very strong record of accomplishment in those seven weeks. what did he promised he would do? he said he would cut wasteful washington spending.

that's a promise that he's kept. what we're seeing is the most comprehensive audit of federal spending of money in history. this administration already and just be short weeks as identified $55 billion of savings. president trump promised to secure the border. he's kept that promise as well. immediately begin deporting criminal illegal immigrants. they are here in the country illegally and they were criminals, heinous crimes. were talk about murderers, rapists, drug dealers. the word got out around the world. illegal border crossings in february dropped to an all-time low. president trump said he would unleash american energy. he has kept that promise as well. day one president trump declared a national energy emergency. this is going to unlock

america's full energy potential. he withdrew from the paris climate accord, did it was before but joe biden put us back in. what we saw in the biden administration is they applied handcuffs to american energy producer in production. president trump promised to protect women you to speak in sports we've seen the return to

common sense in the united states senate. we are determined to get america back on track. there is no time to waste. one measure of our rapid start is the story pace with which we been able to confirm members of president trump's cabinet. republicans have confirmed 20, 20 members of trump's cabinet. we confirmed his education secretary last evening. so compare to previous presidents this is remarkable pace. more confirmations than president obama found that he had at this point in in 2009e confirmations and president biden had in 2021. it surpasses the timeline of any president in recent history. president trump's nominees are strong, smart, they've history of success and if history is

going to continue now that they are members of the cabinet. our successes had a direct impact on president trump's agenda. with his team in place president trump has been able to execute effectively and efficiently. the senate is acting decisively to secure the border. within days of taking office senate republicans best the laken riley act. the laken riley act visiting isd after a young nursing student from georgia. she was murdered by an illegal immigrant. she was just out for a jog. we named the bill in her honor. the laken riley act saves american lives. it requires illegal immigrant criminals to be deported. it was bipartisan legislation. democrats been with us to pass this legislation and is now the law of the land. the laken riley act sends a clear message. the tragedy like this can never be allowed to happen again in the united states of america. that the era of open borders is

over. senate republicans mean business. after years of crises we are now securing the border. the numbers tell the story. we are deporting illegal immigrant criminals on a daily basis. we are working with the house of representatives on our shared agenda there when delivering on the promises that we made to the american people. we are going to secure the border, restore peace through strength, unleashing american energy and we're going to stop the democrats oncoming freight train of a $4 trillion tax increase. democrats oppose all of these things. they want to raise american public taxes by $4 trillion. mr. president, we are going to stop that. president trump is only 43 days in this office, to assist or presidency, an incredible comeback victory, the comeback king as a calling from his

ability to win this election. 312 electoral votes. votes. everyone at about ground states. and this president hasn't wasted a second, a minute, an hour or a day in office because he knows how important it is to act quickly and is doing that. he's solving the urgent problems that are facing our nation. it's what the american people expect in this what the american people are seeing. the president is working with the house and the senate all of us working together to get america back on track and we're going to deliver what the american people asked for, safety and prosperity for the people of this great country. thank you, mr. president. i fueled the floor. -- i yield the floor. .

[cheering] >> thank you, madam chair and thank you to all of you joining us today. we want to make sure it's very clear. you, mr. president. tragically and totally unnecessariliy what we are seeing in realtime is an assault on the veterans of america. it's an assault that is part of a campaign by elon musk, who's been empowered by president trump, supposedly to eliminate waste in our federal government. instead of eliminating waste, elon musk is laying waste to the department of veterans affairs, and it is unfolding in real time

with real-life impacts on our veterans. not only is he firing veterans at the v.a., many of the 2400 already terminated are veterans, one-third of them, but across agencies in the united states government, where 30,000 members of the federal workforce have been indiscriminately terminated. 30% of them are veterans as well, almost 50% of everybody in the department of defense who has been fired, they're veterans. and they may be probationary employees, promoted to a position where they are in probationary status, because they've done such a great job, they're being fired. younger members of the federal work workforce, there for up to two years. the future of our civil service, they're fired.

and so many of them are veterans who have worn the uniform, served and sacrificed and want to continue to benefit the country with the skills and dedication that they've demonstrated as members of our united states armed forces. public service has long been a preferred path for military affiliated populations, whether in our local police force or as emergency medical personnel, joining the federal workforce has enabled them to continue serving our country while offering competitive wages, benefits, and much-needed stability for them as veterans, and tremendous benefits for taxp taxpayers. and now, what elon musk is doing, relying on his tech bros and his algorithm and his a.i.

formulas, is to cut across the board, leaving those veterans as disposable trash or roadkill in his campaign to eliminate waste. well, let me tell you, elon musk, if you were serious about eliminating waste, you won't have fired the inspectors general of these agencies, who are the watchdogs. they have records of eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse. exhibit a., michael missel, inspector general of the v.a., hired and appointed first by president obama, he served under president trump for four years, then under president biden. he has ruffled feathers of republican and democratic administrations, because he's uncovered waste and fraud in a very bipartisan way, and he regards his job as bipartisan.

he would be the one to eliminate waste, not with a meat axe, but with a scalpel. i wish my colleagues had been in the hearing today, joint hearing of the house and senate veterans' affairs committee, to hear commander al liphart of the veterans of foreign wars, the vfw, a really heroic vietnam vet van, injured there -- vietnam veteran, injured there, shrapnel in his arm. as he told us, the surgeon removed the shrapnel piece by piece, didn't cut off his arm. that's the approach that we need, as he said, in eliminating waste. not cutting off arms or legs, but removing the waste carefully, deliberately,

cautiously. among the illegally terminated, and i should stress illegally terminated, 2400 v.a. employees, many of them veterans themselves, members of the guard or reserves now, caregivers, military spouses. in the dod, many of them, 45% former veterans. and the overall impact will be disastrous on the 640,000 veterans who are public servants. musk and trump have already upended the lives of so many, the thousands of veterans, ca casually discarded, illegally fired without notice or justif justification, all for cheap head

headlines. the impacts in real life are undeniable, and stories from news newspapers, from broadcast media, from all kinds of outlets tell the story of those real-life impacts. but i know my colleagues are hearing from their constituents about the mental health services that are delayed, about the surgeries that can't be provided, about the veterans crisis line, serving veterans who may be taking their own lives, all reduced. these real-life impacts are undeniable, and we're talking about the people who make sure that veterans have transportation to those appointments, who assist with benefits claims, who ensure that

the v.a. hospitals are maintained, and that they are safe, who clean operating rooms and sterilize instruments in between procedures. it may not be the surgeon who's fi fired, but the surgeon walking into the operating room needs a staff and a team to assist him, needs the housekeeping staff to make sure that it's clean. these people have dedicated their careers to serving veterans and their nation, and all have been indiscriminately and illegally terminated. these short headlines tell a story, and so does this visual, from springfield, massachusetts. due to abrupt and unplanned staff shortages, we are not able to greet you at this time. if you have a scheduled appointment, your counselor will be out to get you in time of your appointment.

if you are here for any other reason, please call and leave a message, and a staff member will return your call. we apologize, we apologize for any inconvenience and impact on your care. donald trump and elon musk owe veterans an apology. right now, elon musk is giving veterans the middle finger. veterans won't stand for it. and so, mr. president, i'm introducing a resolution today and asking that we approve it, to uphold the contract, to uphold the promise, to uphold the commitment we make to our veterans when they raise their right hand and promise to serve and sacrifice, even at the risk of dying. i'm joined by senators hirono,

slotkin, lujan, murray, durbin, whitehouse, warnock, klobuchar, shaheen, kaine, rosen, cortez masto, alsobrooks, kelly, warren, hassan, schiff, baltimore win, duckworth, gal gallego, wyden, merkley, padilla, schatz and hickenlooper in this effort. i wish, i really wish it were bipartisan, because veterans' issues have been bipartisan. i've worked with veterans, including the chairman, whom i roo he spect -- whom i respect, senator moran on these issues. this resolution acknowledges that veterans who make up less than 7% of americans, but approximately 30% of public service, have been really d disrespected and disserved in

just these weeks, with such destructive and repugnant effect on them, on veterans they serve, and on american values. our nation and they deserve better. and so, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 105, which is at the desk. further, that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there an objection? mr. moran: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: reserving the right to object. in my conversations with kansans, i frequently point to the senate committee on veterans affairs as proof we can still work together, that unitsy is

attainable, and that -- that unity is attainable and we're able to set aside partisan differences and frustrations to find a way to work together to put our nation's veterans first, because they did that for us when they put on the uniform and took a vow to defend and protect our country. the senate has to work together with the administration, with the secretary of the department of veterans affairs, veterans service organizations, and the broad veteran community across the country. this resolution divides the country and administration and makes it more difficult for us to find consensus. we should work together. we should work together to determine what is the right kind of workforce at the v.a., a workforce that enables the department to better care for veterans. approving this resolution drives a wedge between this body, this senate, this congress, and the executive branch. and i don't see how that helps veterans.

additionally, this resolution was designed to lock in at the v.a. the status quo as of january 19. i don't know if any of my colleagues believe that the v.a. was doing everything just right prior to this administration. i commit today to all my colleagues to work with them to make certain the v.a. retains an effective workforce that can deliver our promises to veterans. but we will only achieve that by working together and working with the department of veterans affairs to find the desirable outcomes. we need more information and we need to be working together to achieve that. mr. president, therefore i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from connecticut mr. blumenthal: mr. president, first let me say i am hopeful that we can work together. if the chairman of the v.a.

committee is willing to do it, try to arrive at language that calls for the rehiring of these veterans, rescinding the layoffs, and i must say we're joined today by a number of guests of my colleagues as well as myself, veterans who have been terminated. they are with us today. they're going to be with us tonight at the address offered by president trump. i am more than happy to work on this resolution if there is a way to make it bipartisan, but the basic principle that we owe our veterans that contract and commitment and that we need to bring them back so that these kinds of consequences can be avoided i think is fundamental to the effort today because we know more than 50 patient appointments were canceled at a v.a. facility just this past

week because they can't hire staff needed to care for those veterans. we know that in the first round of terminations, the secretary terminated nine crisis employees, hired some back and then he fired more. and we know a pregnant spouse of a disabled veteran who was hired under the military spouse appointing authority was material natured. we know a 25-year marine corps veteran with a 100% service connected disability rating and 15 years of service was terminated. we know a v.a. researcher working on treatments for substance use disorders among veterans was terminated. we know the cybersecurity lead for the v.a. website, the digital hub that connects veterans with their benefits and holds seen tif personal -- sensitive personal data was terminated. these kinds of impacts -- and

i've mentioned just a tiny fraction of all of them -- are ongoing, they're real, they're urgent and i'm more than happy to work on the language of this resolution. but the goal is indisputable and unavoidable. i'm going to turn now to some of my colleagues would have joined me today i thank them for doing so. first senator whitehouse, if i may yield to him, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. first let me thank senator blumenthal for this effort. it really matters, even if it fails, it matters to our veterans to know that we tried, to know that we did not leave them out there at the mercy of elon musk and his little musk rats that have been running around through all of our government agencies, breaking agencies, violating court orders, prowling through your

data, americans, prowling through your data. and of course firing veterans. no president has fired more veterans than donald trump just in his first few weeks in office. and what it's doing to the v.a. and to services for veterans is deeply wrong and deeply unfortunate. in rhode island we have our providence v.a. health center, which is a first class operation. our veterans love it. it is well run. it has all sorts of new services and facilities that senator reed and i have worked to make sure got to the hospital. we also -- it has nearly 2500 employees. it's a big operation. and we also have the providence v.a. benefits office which is such a good benefits office that if a program is being rolled out and not working some place, they

call in the providence benefits office to try to get it working. if they're about to roll out a new program and they want to beta test it, they go to the providence benefits office because they're good at what they do. and i can't think of anything that makes them more proud than the customers whom they serve. they love the folks they work for. and so to go through this group and slash and burn without the least logic or care from like these little tech bro musk rat types who have never served, have no idea what they're doing but are just taking delight in moving fast and breaking things to use the tech bro talk. it's fine if you're a tech bro

but when you're dealing with people's lives, running out fast, not knowing what you're doing and breaking stuff, sounds like something from thing one and thing two from cat in the hat. this is not the way veterans should be treated. i'll mention just two while i'm here. we -- there's a rhode islander who works for our veterans crisis line. it's the hotline that veterans can call into when they are having an acute crisis of some kind. perhaps even feeling suicidal. this is not easy work. when that phone goes, you've got to be on and you've got to be expert. you've got to understand how to support the people who are calling in. you have to understand how to get them to the services they need. it is a life and death matter. and this individual was fired.

and then rehired a few days later or at least told they were reinstated just a few days later. but with all the scrambling going on at the v.a., the v.a. has not reissued work credentials and they still to not have a return-to-work date for the improper firing that never should have happened and then was rescinded but now doesn't have a proper end to the termination. it is administrative malpractice and it is stupid and it is wrong. we've got another rhode islander who worked at the local vet center also abruptly and unjustifiably terminated. now, as i said, it really means a lot to these people to be working for veterans.

and they really put their hearts into it and they really want to do a very good job. and they actually get rated on whether or not they are in fact doing a good job. and this individual received outstanding performance ratings. it wasn't just that they threw their heart and soul into their work. their peers reviewed them. their supervisors reviewed them and said that they were outstanding performers at their work. and so a letter comes to them saying that they were terminated due to poor performance. well, among other things that was a lie. because they weren't poor performers. they were excellent performers. when you lie to people who are working for veterans just so you can fire them, that's a pretty loathsome way to go about

serving veterans. and it's certainly a loathsome way to treat the people who dedicate their lives to taking care of veterans. if you want to go find the people who have poor performance and fire them, go find the people who have poor performance and fire them. but don't just random accuse high performers of poor performance, lie to them about their performance, and fire them. it is a really offensive state of affairs. and it means now that vet center calls are being routed out to colorado in a different time zone. rhode island is a little bit like connecticut is a small state. connecticut is a little bigger. and we have our own character and we have our own nature and we have our own often way of speaking. and it matters when you pick up the phone to call the vet center that you're not talking to

somebody several time zones away in colorado, particularly not because the phone isn't being answered because a high performer worker was lied to about their performance and wrongly fired. there's really no excuse for that. so i want to say to the folks at the providence benefits office, thank you, god bless you. we admire and respect what you do. we recognize that the entire v.a. organization has treated you as particularly expert and able, and the work that you do to make sure that our vets get the benefits that they're due is first class. thank you for what you do. we are grateful. and i apologize that this president and this whatever he is and his little musk rats are doing this kind of damage to the institution that you so proudly serve. to the folks at the providence

v.a. hospital, god bless you and thank you. you do great work. i deal with veterans all the time. our veterans love our hospital. they're proud of our hospital. they think it's well run. they think they're well treated. the services are good. you can even get rides there. there's good parking. i mean, this hospital runs the way you would want a veterans hospital to run. so keep those little musk rats out of rhode island. don't dan the services to our veterans -- damage the services to our veterans. i hope that as the chairman said we can come together and fix this. but it's hard to hear about how we should come together when nobody came together from muskland and those little musk rats didn't check in with anybody before they went in to break stuff at these agencies. it's a little late for togetherness when there's been none in terms of defending the work that these wonderful people do. with that i'll yield the floor.

mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut blumenthal we're going to be joined by others of my colleagues, but i want to follow senator whitehouse's very eloquent remarks by just making a couple of quick points. you know, tonight the president is going to speak to members of both the house and the senate. and he's going to make a lot of claims. many of them untethered in any way to the facts. but if he does nothing else, what i'd like to see him do is show some respect for our veterans. he's called them suckers and losers. they've been called swamp creatures or deep staters by members of this administration. and part of the mind - set here

that is responsible for this tiring is disrespect for our veterans. now, two of my sons are veterans. one a marine corps first lieutenant who served in afghanistan. another a navy seal. they value the v.a. americans see how the v.a. helps our veterans. when the president speaks tonight, i want him to look at the guests we've brought, not only my guest, michael missile, former inspector general of the v.a., but also u.s. air force veteran with more than 30 years of military service who retired from a lifetime of dedicated service to his country in november and immediately rededicated himself to serving

his fellow veterans at the department of veterans affairs. he started work on january 13. he was illegally terminated barely one month later. he's the sole winner of his family. and tony reece, a disabled army veteran until he was illegally terminated, he worked at the v.a. benefits administration to assist veterans with their benefits claims. he was cut just ten days before his probationary untether. ended. he was serving in his dream job. these veterans and other courageous members of the armed forces will be with us tonight. they will be speaking out, they will be sharing their stories, they are not faceless bureaucrats, they are not losers. they're hardworking public servants who have willing

sacrificed everything for their country, willing to give even their lives and have rededicated themselves to continue their service now that their military time is complete. i want to yield to my colleague from michigan, senator peters, who himself, is a veteran and a great colleague and friend of ours. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: mr. president, i rise today to speak in opposition to the mass termination of veterans that is taking place all across our federal government. i was proud to serve more than a decade in the u.s. navy reserve where i rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. and during this time i had the absolute privilege to work with some of the most patriotic, hardworking and inspiring individuals that i have ever

met. i know first hand that veterans are a vital source of talent to our workforce. so let's just think for a moment. let's just think about the qualities that make a valuable employee. leadership, work ethic, problem solving abilities, and, of course, integrity. these are not just abstract qualities, they are tangible assets that veterans bring to our businesses, our communities and to our government. they are qualities that drive innovation, they boost product activity -- product activity. employing our veterans when they transition to civilian life is not just a responsibility, it is a smart business decision, and that's why the federal government has long taken advantage of this absolutely remarkable tall he enter pool.

veterans now make up roughly 30% of our federal workforce, or more than 640,000 veterans in the civil service. and i rise today to express my absolute outrage over the indiscriminate firings of over 6,000 of these veterans from the v.a. to the defense department to the treasury department. at the v.a., where veterans' input is particularly critical to shaping policies that support our nation's robust veterans' population, elon musk and doge have fired more than 600 veteran employees. they are a part of more than 2,400 individuals fired all across the v.a. i've heard from numerous veterans and v.a. workers in michigan who are absolutely devastated and confused why this

administration would turn their back on them like this. my staff worked for a veteran -- for the v.a. for nearly 30 years. last year he was moved to a new role within the v.a. and was promoted to supervisor shortly thereafter. no surprise because he had never received less than an excellent performance review over 30 years. but -- but because they were relatively new to that specific role, he was swept up in the widespread firings both within the v.a. and across government of all probationary employees. they were one of many veterans fired abruptly without cause, without reason. in another case, a veteran with eight years of active duty service in the air force was fired from the v.a. in michigan after receiving an outstanding performance review.

his promotion -- probationary period was set to expire last week, just 12 days after he was let go. these cuts, mr. president, are not based on fact, they're not based on logic. they are just cruel. and our country will not be better off. and as a result of these mass layoffs, americans can expect longer wait times to receive important documents like passports and social security benefits, fewer food safety inspections and higher risk during air travel. these are americans who put their lives on the line to defend this country. they took up a job to continue to serve the people of this country. they represent the very best of our nation and we need them in our federal workforce. and i am calling today on the administration to reinstate these veteran employees

immediately. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kelly: mr. president, we made a sacred promise to our veterans that after their service, they would get the care and support that they earned. that promise did not come with an expiration date. and as a combat veteran myself, i take this responsibility personally on behalf of arizona's more than 500,000 veterans and veterans across the country. but with these mass firings of staff at the v.a., president trump and elon musk are breaking that promise.

in the last month, thousands of v.a. employees, people who care for our nation's veterans were fired with no warning, no phone call, no meeting. just an e-mail telling them that they no longer had a job. that they were no longer wanted. and, mr. president, these aren't just nameless, faceless bureaucrats. these are americans who signed up to serve our country by taking care of veterans. they deserve to be treated with respect. these are the people on the front lines of veterans' care and services and they were fired

without even a thought. we could all agree that the v.a. can do a better job, but aimlessly firing thousands of people will do nothing to help speed up veterans' health care -- nothing. it will just make accessing care more difficult. secretary collins and the v.a. claim that these were -- and i'm going to quote him -- nonmission-critical jobs. well, that is simply not true. in arizona, we've seen v.a. workers and the families who rely on the v.a. impacted in a real way. like brandy and david who shared their story with the arizona family news and are both

veterans themselves who became loan specialists to help fellow veterans navigate financial hardships and avoid homelessness. before they were fired, each of them was handling 1,500 cases. each of those cases represents one veteran who needs help. how much longer will it take veterans in need to get answers? another arizona family reached out to my office afraid to speak out publicly because of fear of retaliation. the husband is a doctor at the tucson v.a. he treats patients with lung disease. but last week -- last week he got an e-mail, not a meeting, no

conversation, just an e-mail telling him to resign. is that who secretary collins calls not mission critical? his wife now fears that her job could be next. they have two young kids, and now they're being forced to rethink everything because this administration -- this administration kicked them to the curb. donald trump claims to care about veterans but then turns around and fires the very people whose jobs it is to ensure that veterans get the care that they need, the care that they earned from serving our nation, from keeping us safe. these are real people.

these terminations, they're not just numbers on a spread sheet. they're real people who execute a mission serving veterans. and these layoffs, these layoffs are going to mean longer wait times for appointments, fewer options for mental health care, fewer options for pain management, more delays in processing benefits. is this really where elon musk and donald trump want to save a buck? off the backs of veterans who have risked everything for us? mr. president, this is not how the united states should treat our veterans. that's why i stand here today as a veteran myself with senator blumenthal and our colleagues to

support this resolution. let's get the folks back to work serving our veterans. the work they do, mr. president, it is mission critical. veterans in arizona and across the country are counting on them and they are counting on us. thank you, and i yield the floor. mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: i'm going to close this colloquy first of all by thanking my colleagues for coming, like senator kelly who served and senator peters and everyone who joined in this resolution, senator gallego and

others who have served this country, senator slotkin, senator peters, who was here, and others, but we don't have to be veterans to appreciate what members of our military do for our country. my own service in the united states marine corps reserve pales in comparison to many of theirs and many who have appeared before the veterans committee over these past seven, ten days, many of them decrying these kinds of cuts. again, these are real people afbted -- affected in real ways, unnecessarily harmed. and these headlines speak

volumes about how they have been hurt. doge finds zero fraud waste or abuse, just new ways to harm veterans. veterans fired in federal layoffs say they were, quote, stabbed in the back. these are just a scattering of the kinds of real life stories that bring us to the floor today. i plead with the president, please make this resolution unnecessary. do the right thing, but if you don't, i ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, join us from that other side of the aisle, join us in decrying these cuts, the freezes, the firings, the term nations. they are -- terminations. they are illegal and immoral.

and we will move forward. we will continue to fight because american values are at stake. thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor.

mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. last november the american people returned president donald trump to the oval office with a mandate to restore common sense in government. and in many ways, this common sense was most needed on the issue of protecting women and girls. after four years where president biden waged a war on women's sports, the message from voters was clear -- no more biological men competing in women's athletics. no more stolen records and

medals, and no more invasions of privacy, humiliation and harm for our nation's incredible female athletes. to be certain, president trump hasn't delivered on the amendment. on inauguration day, the president issued an executive order that affirms the federal government's position that there are only two sexes -- male and female. this is a position grounded in biological reality, not gender ideology. last month the president also signed an executive order that bans biological males from competing in women's sports. it was an honor to join president trump at the signing ceremony, along with the brave young women and girls who have spoken out for fairness, safety, equal opportunity, including one of those female athletes,

tennessee's riley gaines. the terms of the order are simple -- if you allow men to compete in women's athlete i cans -- athletics, you will lose your federal funding. to no one's surprise, the order is getting results. right after president trump signed it, the ncaa, which oversees more than 530,000 student athletes, announced that it would comply with the order. for more than a decade, the nation's largest athletic association allowed men to compete in women's events. it will be a top priority of mine to ensure that this injustice never happens again and that the ncaa will fully adhere to the executive order. while the vast majority of states are complying, there are

some states -- blue states -- like california and maine that are vowing to fight president trump over the order. the message they are sending is clear -- democrats are willing to risk millions in federal funding for schools to uphold their radical far-left ideology that claims there are no differences between men and women. the american people know better, and so do the more than three million female high school and college athletes who deserve every single opportunity to succeed. they work hard, they train hard, they set their goals, they compete and they work to succeed. to celebrate all of these incredible accomplishments from these three million high school

and college athletes, i am asking for unanimous consent for my resolution to establish october 10, the 10th month, 10th day recognized by the roman numerals xx, like the female sex chrome -- chromosone. to recognize the accomplishments of three million high school and college female athletes. in addition to celebrating female athletes, this resolution calls on sports-governing bodies across the country to protect women and girls in sports. there is absolutely zero reason for senate democrats to oppose this resolution, and here is the reason why. we have a "new york times"-ipsos

poll that tells the story on this. 79% of the americanpeople, including 67% of democrats, want to make certain that female sports are for girls and women. those numbers -- 67% of democrats, 79% of all americans -- say they are with us. they want to protect women and girls in sports. they want to make certain that they have the right to compete, the right to train, the right to do team-building and the right to succeed and be recognized for it. so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on commerce, science,

and transportation be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 21. further, that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there an objection? mr. murphy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: mr. president, reserving the right to object, so, as i understand it, this bill -- this resolution seeks to establish an american girls in sports day, and obviously that sounds like a really good idea. until you read the resolution and yolize that this resolution actually has virtually nothing to do with the history and the current reality of girls playing sports. and instead it's just another attempt by republicans to pretend that the biggest threat to this country is transgender

kids or gay kids or drag shows. republicans don't want to talk about rising costs, rising grocery prices, rising gas costs. they don't want to talk about the crate at thing reputation of america in the world. they don't want to talk about the fact that the stock market is crashing because of the disaster economic policies of this president. no, as urics it's transyender -- no, as usual, it's tran gender kids and drag shows that are causing all the problems in earthquake in. how do i know that this bill is not an at thatten honest attempt to celebrate girls in sports in first, if you really cared about girls in sports, you'd know that we already have a national day. it's february 7. it is called national women and girls in sports day. it was signed into law 40 years ago by president reagan. the sponsors of this resolution were so eager to shame transgender kids that they didn't even check to see if there was already a day.

now, folks, you can say, well, democrats objected to an american girls in sports day. that's like bringing a resolution before the floor to declare june 27 christmas and when democrats object, democrats are anti-christmas. second, if this bill was really about girls in sports, it would celebrate girls in sports. but this resolution isn't about that. the resolution, if you read it, is just about this one issue -- transgender athletes. and frankly that's an insult to the thousands of girls who do play sports. 99% of them are never going to compete against a transgender athletism i'm not saying this isn't an issue that's worth spend ing a little bit of time on. a female athlete is more likely to be killed by a falling object than to lose a competition to a biological male. if this resolution was really

about celebrating girls in sports instead of just trying to bully and shame transgender kids, then maybe somewhere in the resolution it might talk about patsy mink, who successfully championed the passage of title ix. maybe it would mention iconic women athletes like billy jean king. maybe it would talk about the sports teams that put women's sports on the senate stage like the u.s. women's soccer team. maybe it would tell the story of how over the last 50 years we've gone from 300,000 girls in high school sports to 3.4 million today. but it doesn't do any of that. the text of this resolution isn't about the history of girls and women entering high school and college sports. it's not a celebration of those

iconic teams and athletes. instead, this resolution is just a tactic, another one, to scare and mislead the public and to bully vulnerable kids and that's the reason why i'm on the floor once again to object. mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: mr. president, i find my colleague's comments so very interesting, and i think it would have been -- it would have served him well, mr. president, to actually read the resolution. so i'm going to read part of it so that my colleagues know what this does. because it does talk about celebrating these athletes. and here you go, whereas athletic participation has an important, positive impact on young girls, improving their physical health, self-confidence, and discipline.

women have been responsible for some of the greatest athletic feats in the sports history of the united states, from the olympic games to professional competition. he wanted to make certain that some of these greats, like pat summit, our lady vols, are recognized. absolutely. that is what we are doing. whereas female athletes have served as inspirations for generations of women and girls. and then we talk about title ix. we talk about the fundamental biological differences between men and women that put women at a competitive disadvantage in sports and jeopardize their safety during competition. and 79% of the american people agree with this. and then we go through -- since

2003, men have displaced women and girls from over 950 championship titles, medals, scholarships and records that should have -- that they should have rightly won, including at least 28 women's sports titles in volleyball, swimming, mountain biking, weight lifting and cycling. and we look at the policies that have been enacted to protect women and the imperative to make certain that they are athletically protected. and then setting out october 10 as the day that would be american girls in sports day. and continuing to recognize that year after year. now, my colleague from

connecticut probably knows that this issue of protecting women and girls in sports is very, very popular in connecticut. one of connecticut's biggest track stars is conrad high school senior there, a male-to-female athlete who holds the state's top 2023-2024 in the girls high jump, long jump, triple jump according to athletic.net. you look, and there are two individuals, two boys who identify as female, they competed on a connecticut high school track team from 2017 to 2020. and there were -- and i want to be sure we look at what this

does to girls who are trying to compete. and this is why this issue is so popular. here are the stats. there are 93 times when a girl was denied an individual or relay championship because of these two male athletes who were competing as females. 93 times. a girl who had trained, who had worked out, who sought to win, to represent her team, they were de denied, denied because two boys that were competing as females, 93 times. 52 times when a girl was denied the advancement to a championship meet.

now think about that. we all have children. we know the heartbreak when someone has trained and trained and trained not just for days or weeks or months, but for years. and they're denied the ability to move forward because there is a boy competing in a female category. 39 times when a girl p was denied an opportunity to advance to finals. 17 times when a girl was denied an all new england honor. 11 times when a girl lost a meet record. and 23 girls -- 23 -- were denied a connecticut state open team championship. in other words, allowing these two boys to compete as females and compete against girls denied girls opportunities and awards 235 times.

that is one state. so i would remind my colleagues they are on the wrong side of this issue. 79% of the american people say it is wrong for men to compete in women's athletics. 67% of democrats say it is wrong to have men compete in women's athletics. it is lost opportunity, it is lost recognition, it is lost success for women. whatever happened to people on the left that supported women's rights, women's safety, supported title 9? obviously they have thrown it to the wayside.

thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following interns and law clerk in my office be granted floor privileges until may 5, 2025. mr. john markoff jr. mr. jean-paul dusett. alexandra grace davis. and maura elaine sleehy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i want to talk for a few moments about income t tax filing season. i realize, mr. president of the senate, that you would probably prefer to be condemned to

hearing o.j. jokes for the rest of eternity than to hear my talk about federal income tax filing, but it's important for my people in louisiana because we have a new deduction for people who have uninsured losses. uninsured losses from natural disasters. it's really important in my state because many of my people have suffered damages for which they did not receive insurance payments from hurricanes laura, delta, ida and francine. we passed this new deduction, mr. president, in december. it's called the federal disaster tax relief act, and what it does is the following. it changes the law. it now says that if you, if you're a victim of a natural disaster like a hurricane, and

you have a loss that's not paid for by your insurance, you can now deduct off your income tax dollar for dollar any property damage, uninsured property damage in excess of $500. why is that important? well, under the old rules, mr. president, you were limited in your deduction. you could only deduct your uninsured property losses that were in excess of 10% of your adjusted gross income. and i know that sounds complicated, and it is kind of complicated. but rather than belaboring the point, the bottom line is this. l as a result of this bill that we all worked on and we passed, you can now deduct more. and this is the first time people will be able to to do

this. so let me say it again. if you had an uninsured property l loss, you can now deduct any of that loss above $500. this also applies in addition to the standard deduction. so if you take the standard deduction, as most americans do, you can take this additional deduction on top of it. i'd also like to point out, mr. president, to all americans, but especially to my people back home in louisiana, that this tax deduction is retroactive. it goes all the way back to 2020. so that means that going back to 2020, if you had uninsured losses, you can now deduct them if they exceed $500. and i know folks are thinking,

well, i already filed my income taxes for 2021 and 2022 and 2023. you can file an amended return. it's very simple to do. you just file an amended return that says there's been a change in the law, and i'm entitled to have this higher deduction, and, therefore, the federal government owes me money. and, therefore, please send me my check. so i wanted to make sure that americans knew about this new tax provision that we passed. the second thing i want to talk about, mr. president, is the subject that some people want to avoid, but i don't and the american people don't. it's on the minds of every american. that's high prices and other issues that are important that we're talking about. male athletes in women's sports,

that's important. immigration, that's important. national security, we're talking about that. that's important. the middle east, ukraine. and i could go on. but the single-most important issue that moms and dads worry about in america today when they lie down to sleep at night and can't is inflation, high prices. i don't want to dwell on the past, but president biden's administration was an inflation machine. we saw inflation get as high at one point as 10%. what's that mean? it means that prices were going up every day, every month at the rate of 10% annualized.

bidenomics in most people's minds became paying more to live worse, meaning inflation just was gutting the american people like a fish. and it happened because of all this breathtaking amount of money that president biden's administration spent. trillions of dollars. the american rescue plan, the chips act, inflation reduction act. they injected trillions of dollars into the economy. frankly, as we're finding out now, most of it in wasteful spending that caused too many dollars to chase too few goods. and unless you're master class dumb, you know that every single time that leads to inflation. thanks to the efforts of the federal reserve, inflation came down. it went down from 10% to today it's between 2% and 3%,

depending on whose numbers you believe. and that's good. i'm happy it happened. that's called disinflation. when inflation goes from 10% to 3%, that means prices are still rising, but they're just not rising as quickly as they were, and that's a good thing. but it doesn't lower prices. it doesn't mean that we're having, we have now lower prices. they just aren't as high as they would have been if we hadn't tried to control inflation. that's called disinflation. deflation is when prices actually go down. deflation is when prices actually go down. and what the american people are wondering every single day, as they sell blood plasma to go to the grocery store is when am i going to get some relief from these high prices.

and we do need to provide them relief. i want to talk about three ways that we are in the process of trying to reduce those prices that my democratic colleagues caused. i don't mean to pick on all my democratic colleagues, but as i've said before, mr. president, i like breakfast food and straight answers, and no economist in america believes that this inflation happened as a result of happenstance. it happened because of the breathtaking amount of money that president biden spent. there are three things that we're doing to try to get these prices down. number one, reduce spending. you see it every single day from president trump. he said he was going to audit federal spending, and that's exactly what he's doing. now there's some people that are mad. there are people that are very mad at president trump and mr.

musk and others for discovering all this waste. the people who are mad don't seem to be mad at the people who caused the waste. they're mad at the president and mr. musk for finding the waste. i find that a little bit ironic. but the point is we're trying to reduce spending, and you're going to see it in our reconciliation bill that we're going to pass, as you know, mr. president. you're going to see it in our budget if we ever pass one. we're trying to reduce spending because our debt is $36 trillion. and it's going up at the rate of $7 million a minute. i've been talking five minutes maybe, it rose $35 million while i was talking. so we're trying to reduce government spending to get this debt down, but also to reduce high prices. why does it matter?

because the less money that government spends, the less stimulative government is on the private sector. and when government spends money, there's a finite amount of money. when government spends money, it's money that we're spending instead of the private sector to create jobs to increase wages. so the first thing we're doing, the new administration and the new congress, is to try to reduce spending. and if that's successful, that will lower prices. number two, deregulation. the federal government wants to regulate every breath we take -- every breath we take. i wish you could see all of the federal regulations. if you stacked them right here -- if you stacked every single federal regulation right here, you could probably stand on that thing and paint the

ceiling. it's just amazing. and each one of these regulations has a cost. the cost of all of our regulations today is in excess of $2 trillion, not billion, not million -- $2 trillion. what does that mean? that means when a business produces a product or delivers a service and it has to comply with a meaningless, narly federal regulation, which costs money, that extra expense is added to the cost of the product of the service. duh. i mean businesses have to it stay in -- have to stay in business, they can't eat the costs, and so they pass it on and that leads to higher prices. the second thing we're doing,

we're working on it every day, it hasn't been talked a lot about, we passed some on the floor of the senate, we're deregulating. we're getting rid of these excess regulations whose costs are better than their benefit. i think the president said that he's got a new rule that if you're a democracy and you want to promulgate a few rule, you can do it, but you have to get rid of ten others. if we do that successfully, it will reduce prices. the first thing we're doing is cutting speck to get down -- cutting down high prices of the third thing we are doing on, we've got to grow this economy. i mentioned the high spending and the debt that's led to higher prices. think about this, since 2019,

five years ago, the american population's increased 2%. the federal budget has increased 55%. 2% population increase, federal spending's up 55%. that's just the fact. the numbers are the numbers. i know we've had some inflation, we haven't had 55% worth of inflation. that's just a fact. and every dollar that the federal government spends is a dollar that business people don't have to invest. why is that important? because they invest, they grow their business, they add more jobs, the business becomes more profitable and wages rise. so our -- the third way we're attacking these high prices is by trying to stimulate the economy to increase wages so

that we actually can grow out of these high prices so that people will have more money to spend when they buy a car or go to the grocery store. we're not going to do that with tepid gdp growth. if you go back to 20 -- 2010, what, 15 years now? america has experienced average gross domestic product growth, that means how much your economy is growing, as you know mr. president, average gdp growth of a little over 2%. that's not going to get it. that's not going to get it. in fact, now when we -- when we have 2.5% gdp growth weeks get -- growth, we get so excited so happy that we want to have aing toa party -- toga party.

2.5% will not get it. in order to getting out of these high prices, we will have to increase gdp growth to at least 3%. that used to be normal for america. that used to be very doable and normal for america. how are we going to do that? we are going to do that through the tax code, mr. president. we have about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts -- those tax cuts are expiring here very shortly and we're going to extend them. if we don't, it will be an effective tax increase by $4.5 trillion. that will send our growth down, not up. we're also going to change some other provisions of the tax code and in doing so we're not going

to add to our deficit, we're going to match those -- those tax decreases with spending savings so that we do not add to the national debt. and that's what we're doing on inflation. and i didn't want this to be lost in translation because of all the other important things we're talking about. we're well aware that high prices are gutting the american people like a fish, but by reducing spending, by deregulating the economy and by designing a tax code that looks like somebody designed it on purpose, we're going to get those high prices down. .3. mr. president, speaking of saving money, i've talked a little bit about -- about public

radio and public television in america, the corporation for public broadcasting, npr, pbs, these are public tv and radio stations. the american people spend about a half billion dollars a year, give it directly to public tv, they give it to the corporation for public broadcasting, the corporation for public broadcasting, picks its favorite tv stations and radio stations and gives the money to them and the local tv stations and radio stations buy programming from npr and pbs which is loosely affiliated with the corporation for public broadcasting. and there was a time when it was necessary because we only had three tv stations and a few radio stations and people in rural areas depended on the government for their media. those days are long gone, as we

know. we now have a breathtaking array of ways to get information, everything from podcasts to facebook to twitter, to google news to cable tv to streaming. we no longer need to spend half a billion dollars a year -- or half a trillion dollars a year. we've spent $14.5 billion since we started funding public radio and tv stations. we don't subsidize cnn. if somebody proposed to, i would vote against it. we don't subsidize fox news. if somebody introduced a bill to subsidize fox news, i would vote against it. why are we subs sizing -- subsidizing these radio and television stations? they need to compete with everybody else. the final point i want to make,

mr. president, the audience for public radio and public television is declining. let me say that again. the audience for public television and public radio which your taxpayers pay for, is declining. people used to tune into pbs and nrp and the corporation for public bias -- public broadcasting, freudian slip, because those stations played it right straight down the middle, but they don't anymore. they are very, very biassed in their reporting. we all know that. i mean, all you have to do it listen to them. now, this is america. you're entitled -- i despise opinion journalism, but it's

constitutional under the first amendment you can say what you want within reason, and i support that. you're not free if you can't say what you think, so i don't want you to misconstrue what i'm saying, mr. president. these local stations that are getting money from the taxpayers have every right to report what they want, but they don't have a right to do it and offer a jaundice point of view using taxpayer dollars. that's my point. and as i've done in the past, i wanted to read a few more headlines. this is the kind of reporting that's being done today with your tax money on -- on npr, national public radio, and pbs. i'll start with npr. here's one of the headlines at

npr. arguments that transathletes have an unfair advantage lack evidence to support. that's opinion journalism. here's another headline from npr. a brief history of how racism shaped interstate highways. i did not know our interstate highways were racist. i thought they were concrete. but not according to the npr. here's another npr headline. trump embodies nearly aspect of a racist, author says. another, the nation confronting trump's coded racism. another, is trump's call for law and order a coded racial message? as i said, these are your tax dollars at work. sexism is out in the open in the

2016 campaign. that may have been inevitable. that's another headline. is trump really that racist? another headline. another headline, front line traces the -- i'm sorry. front line traces the ambition and revenge driving scoutus scoutus, justice thomas. npr is reporting that justice thomas is motivated by revenge. what can the white house do to confront the narrative around biden's ability? it wasn't a narrative. i mean i don't -- i don't hate anybody -- and i'm sorry this was the case, but president biden had neurodegenerative disease.

it wasn't a narrative. it was just a fact. i'm sorry, but it was just a fact. last headline from npr reads, scientists start to tease out the subtler ways racism hurts health. your tax dollars at work. i don't want to just pick on npr. here are a couple that you saw on -- that you saw on television, pbs, paid for with your tax dollars. first headline, talking to young children about race and racism. another headline -- how america's history of racism connection to divisions today. another headline from pbs -- the hidden racism of young white americans. your tax dollars. another headline -- ap fact

check -- trump seeds race am us in with covid falsehood. another headline -- biden trumpets economic gains but struggles to get credit. another headline from pbs -- the other olympians, transgender athletes in the nazi area. come on. give me a break. i mean, gag me with a spoon. and the final headline i will read, debunking common months about gender-affirming care for youth. let me say it again, mr. president. these television stations and radio stations that are getting money from the federal government, your tax dollars have -- they have every right under the first amendment to say these things. they do.

and -- and i support the first amendment, but they don't have an inalienable right to report these things using opinion journalism that no -- no fair-finded american can -- fair-minded american can construe anything other than one point of view with your tax dollars. and i'm goingto try to stop sub media, not just pbs and not just npr, but any form of media that somehow is getting federal taxpayer dollars. it's not right, it's not fair. i have a bill to do that, and we're also going to pursue it through reconciliation. and i think president trump and mr. musk regular going to pursue it on their own, and i think that's a very good thing. and with that, mr. president, i thank you for your time and

attention, and i i suggest the absence of a quorum. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. warren: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without

objection. ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. today's vote to proceed on this congressional review act resolution should be renamed the elon musk get out of jail free card. this resolution gives elon musk the ability to launch his x money site without worrying about breaking the law and getting caught. of course, this is also a get out of jail free card for others, like apple pay and google pay and other online platforms that handle people's money, and there is a good reason to oppose it. this bill is another example of how republicans in congress, in congress junction with president trump and elon musk and the white house, are sticking it to families and middle-class consumers all over america and declaring it open season for fraudsters. in fact, just a few hours ago, trump and elon dropped the

agency's lawsuit against zelle and the big banks that own sczelle for failing to stop consumers from getting scammed out of nearly a billion dollars on their app. now republicans are trying to roll back the cfpb's ability to stop americans from getting scammed on apps like venmo and cashapp and making it easier for unelected billionaire elon musk to cheat american consumers and line his own pockets. here is the back story, musk bought twitter, lost buckets of money, then decided he could recover and make more money by setting up a new financial services arm called x money. now, in ordinary times, he could do that, but the cfpb would be responsible for enforcing consumer financial laws for x money. it would also be authorized to

examine the books and records to prevent illegal practices and make sure consumers are getting a fair shake. but co-president musk doesn't want that, and donald trump and senate republicans are willing to do elon's bidding. and that is what brings us here today. they want to roll back a rule, called the larger participant rule, that was put in place to protect consumers from abuses on these apps, and to ensure that these apps are being monitored for following the law, just like banks get monitored for doing the same kinds of things. the rules protect consumers' privacy when they use digital wallets, like apple pay or google pay. the rules also help companies get their money back when they get defrauded on paypal or cash app or venmo. frankly, the rule is great for consumers. it cracks down on tens of

millions of dollars of fraud, fraud that has surged in recent years. it protects consumers' privacy, ensuring that apps are not taking your private spending data and selling it to anybody who comes along. it helps prevent debanking, a problem that my colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle have spent a lot of time talking about. the cfpb rule protects consumers' peer-to-peer accounts from being closed or frozen without notice or justification. it prevents these apps from unfairly depriving consumers of funds that they need to be able to buy stuff. three-quarters of all americans have used these peer-to-peer apples, and millions of americans have had the sad experience of getting ripped off on peer-to-peer payments like venmo and cashapp and paypal.

now, if you think that you are dealing with a legitimate person on the other side, and then the next thing you know your money is gone and you're left without any recourse, that is wrong, and it's even worse if it happens because a payment app isn't meeting its basic responsibilities of preventing fraud on its own platform. the cfpb rule helps protect those millions of americans who use payment apps, making sure both their personal data and their money are safe. this is a rule that is good for consumers, but it is not good for billionaires who have figured out how to make money by defrauding those consumers. look, it is a very familiar story now. president trump and the republicans are on the side of the billionaires. they are acting to help out their pals, elon, jeff, and

mark, hardworking people who just want their payment apps to work and don't want to get cheated as part of the deal railroad the ones who will -- are the ones who will lose. never mind this is the agency that works so hard for the little guy. never mind that the cfpb has returned more than $21 billion directly to american consumers who were cheated. never mind that elon musk and donald trump are trying to kill this rule and they are trying to kill the entire agency. musk and republicans in congress railroad moving quickly to take the financial cop off the beat. they are hoping that people across this country won't notice or that people are so distracted and overwhelmed by everything else that is going on that they won't try to stop them. but your eyes are not fooling you.

it is happening in plain sight. ahead of donald trump's speech tonight at the capitol, republicans are voting to hurt millions of american consumers. why? just to protect elon musk's business ventures from a financial cop on the beat that would make sure that he follows the law. i hope the american public is paying attention tonight. i hope my republican colleagues are paying attention here in the senate as well. it is not too late for them to reconsider this vote. make no mistake, elon musk locked the cfpb staff out of the building to protect his own payment app boondoggle. and now he wants congress to block this rule to legalize his boondoggle. and next week republicans intend to mark up legislation that would clear the decks for elon

to issue x money as his own stable coin, without guardrails to protect consumers, to protect national security, or to protect the financial stability of our entire country. the line between right and wrong is clear. on one side senate democrats standing up for americans who just don't want to get cheated when they use a financial app. and on the other side we've got con men, rip-off artists, elon musk, and big tech billionaires. which side will our senate republicans choose? thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor, and i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

he has already built a considerable record of success. among those is the work he has been doing to confront legal immigration and restore order to

our southern border. over the weekend it emerged that 450 counters approximately. for the entire month of february at least a 25-year-old low. that is a stunning turnaround. putting that number in perspective sometimes they saw that in a single day. it is incredible what president trump has accomplished in just six weeks. i have not even mentioned how the administration has been making our communities safer here illegally. just at six weeks they have taken a lot of dangerous people off of our streets. when you have a president committed to protecting our border.

among every things he has also been laying the groundwork for unleashing american energy. rapidly handing toward an energy simply do not have the supply to meet the demand a. a washington post noting last march and i quote vast swaths of the united states are at risk for electricity for data centers for the factors proliferate leaving utilities grasping or credible plans to expand the power grid. that is a pretty serious situation, mr. president. instead of taking steps to increase our supply they pushed us further towards crisis. with measures designed to restrict conventional energy development of force americans to adopt of the 1.3 million complaints last year involved these payment systems.

these payment companies, these payment system companies, actually are already being regulated at the state or federal level. in other words, this 11th-hour regulation the biden administration rushed through is pointless. the biden-harris rule is a regulation in search of a problem. it's a rule without a reason. furthermore, the cost analysis that they did, an audit by the cbp would only cost $25,000. now, having come from the business sector myself, that probably is the first day of outside attorney's fees at $25,000. it's wildly off the mark. this one-size-fits-all solution in search of a problem expands the consumer financial protection bureau's authority. unnecessarily. i would argue this was a way

unintended by argue. they were supposed to be looking over the financial sectors regarding to banking, not the nonbanking systems. the cfpb also failed -- much how the biden epa and obama before that tried to expand the epa's authority under the waters of the u.s. rule. this is as expansion of the cfpb's authority which is beyond of what we want it allow them. i'm proud to be able to lead the pushback with the congressional review act to stop this unnecessary rule. i'm also honored to work with my fellow nebraskan congressman mike flood who is leading the same effort over in the house. this is an opportunity for us to ease the regulatory burden, the -- of the previous -- the previous administration put upon the american people. thank you to leader thune for bringing this resolution to the floor for a vote. i urge my colleagues in the senate to vote yes to overturn

and stop this unnecessary rule that is expanding the authority of the consumer financial protection bureau unnecessarily and despite the intent of congress, cfpb's overregulation of consumer applications must stop. we can do it here. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

. . . by now the american people know just what to expect. they can expect donald trump to launch mixed truths and false hooks but tonight we will hear one peep from donald trump about his broken promise to bring inflation down on day one. only hearing one syllable about how donald trump's policies and

inflation in the cost of the pay is worse. so this morning let's start here starting the terrorists. last night for the first time in decades hosting 25% tariffs on nearly all goods coming from canada and mexico. what does this mean for the american people. what does it mean for the american people? they will pay more. every day costs are about to become more expensive. it means according to the ceo of target to take one example, consumers could see higher prices within days. this is not something six months out. that includes everything. price of gas, produce, cars, cheese, dairy products, coffee, even chocolate. american farmers will pay more for fertilizer. which means food prices go up.

new furniture will become more expensive as canada is a major supplier of lumber. refrigerators, washers, microwaves, laptops, smart phones, clothing, shoes, all likely seeing increases. hold onto your hat, mr. missus america, when you bring it all together, the average u.s. household goods exceed $2000 in increased expenses a year. that is a conservative estimate. let me repeat that. the african-american family $2000 more out of their pockets. their hard earned dollars that they are struggling to stretch and now another added increase that did not have to happen because donald trump is imposing tariffs on canada and mexico. it is been clear that in the past when applied intelligently precisely tariffs can be a useful tool against adversaries that engage in unfair trade practices that harm american

workers. the tariffs against china years ago are one example of this. but the situation today is completely different. it makes no sense to start a trade war with america's closest trade partners because the casualty of that trade war will be consumers in american households. so, let's get it straight. donald trump's tariffs are a tax on working americans to the tune of $2000 or more year. why are they doing this? why are they doing this? well, fentanyl less than 1% comes from canada. it is one of the ways they can close that budget hole when they take huge tax breaks for billionaires. this is another place, another place where donald trump and the republicans are raising your costs so they can cut taxes for billionaires. unbelievable. i don't think this is going to be seen very positively by the

american people. now, let's talk about one month into the trump administration. on the first day in office, donald trump promised a golden age coming over the horizon. when donald trump speaks tonight , his promise of a golden age will feel like ancient history. so, this morning, let's talk about donald trump's many broken promises. as a candidate donald trump promised when i win i will immediately bring prices down starting on day one. he said grocery prices will come tumbling down he said when he gets elected. instead, what is happened? inflation is gone not down, but up. gas prices 2% up from the previous month. chicken, pork, beef, all more expensive. eggs 50% higher than last month. what is donald trump solution to all of this? the secretary of agriculture said yesterday american should just buy their own chickens for

the own age. this is the agriculture secretary. who are they kidding. as a candidate donald trump also said boat trump and your incomes will soar. your incomes will skyrocket. now to be fair if your billionaire you will feel the truth. if you are not rich it is to cut medicaid and social security and other programs by hundreds of billions of dollars. in order to pay for tax breaks for the billionaires club. let's look at another claim by donald trump. the next economic boom will begin the instant donald trump is 14 more years. that is his call. the next economic boom will begin donald trump bidding -- winning four more years. let's look at what is actually happening. last month consumer confidence

took its biggest nosedive in years. retail sales dropped unexpectedly by .5%. unemployment filings hit their highest level since last fall. the s&p 5001 of donald trump's favorite measuring sticks has erased all the gains this year. now donald trump has started a trade war with our closest trading partners. that is not what an economic boom looks like. this is economic anemia. i could go on because there's so many people being hurt in such policies of such foolishness. donald trump promised to take care of veterans yet doge tried to fire hundreds of critical staffers from the va including crisis hotline staff and funding for cancer treatments. housing costs are. electricity bills are. if there is any golden age to be had under donald trump it is a golden age for lawlessness.

it is a golden age for billionaires and their club. it is not a golden age for americans who work hard every day and live an honest life and make endsfi meet. i doubt we will hear any of that from donald trump tonight. finally, i am proud to welcome seven new yorkers to tonight's joint meetings of congress. these new yorkers are examples of some of the very people who donald trump promised to help but who he has left behind. first, i am honored to welcome emma larson a 12-year-old middle school student from long island with a rare genetic disease which has been treated thanks to nih funding research that sense microcosm of the that sense cryptorevolution which is unleashing innovation and economic growth and indeed personal liberty. i think of my home state of texas when it comes to cryptocurrencies. texas is blood pressuring an

oasis for bitcoin and for cryptocurrency worldwide. in texas we have abundant low-cost energy. and as the energy capital of the world, texas has both the 'expertise and the ethos of texas. the lone star state was founded by a bunch of wildcatters who were guys with fourth grade educations who began drilling holes in the ground. and one after the other, they became the richest men on earth. that's texas, the spirit of texas, and that is the spirit of crypto as well. so what is the rule that congress is in the process of repealing? at its core, defi was designed to allow individuals to freely buy, sell, and exchange digital assets without reliance on

third-party intermediaries. it is ironic, therefore, that in the final hours of the biden administration, the irs finalized a new rule attacking america's cryptocurrency industry. and more specifically defi. under the gross proceeds reporting by brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales -- that's a mouthful -- the biden administration expanded the definition of, quote, broker to include the software developers who create defi software, protocols, technology, and so on. they defined coders, computer programmers as brokers. the irs rule is untenable on its face. these software developers, they never touch the cryptocurrency

being exchanged. defi interfaces are neutral technological tools, not financial intermediaries. they do not facilitate transactions. the internet, the infrastructure and jobs act could not have been intended for software developers to be classified as financial intermediaries for the simple reason their software never holds or controls user funds. in fact, mr. president, the rule is not just ironic, but it's incoherent. the software these developers are creating is designed to facilitate crypto exchanges between two individuals without a third party in between. would we have here is software developers, not brokers, developing software to facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges without brokers. that's the entire point. if left in place, this rule

would undermine innovation by turning developers into brokers and through reporting requirements that are incredibly onerous for crypto start-ups to meet. those developers would inevitably go overseas instead. if we were to allow this rule to stand, we would be handing china the opportunity to tighten its grip on the digital asset industry, stifling innovation, economic freedom, and financial sovereignty. in that sense, this issue isn't just about crypto. it's about stopping unchecked federal overreach. the federal government can do a lot of damage to cryptoif the government -- crypto if the government screws it up. the requirements in turn would risk the privacy of millions of americans because software dovers would -- developers would be required to collect the

personal information and pass it on to the irs. just for emphasis, mr. president, this rule would compel defi developers, people who are creating cutting edge technology to enhance the privacy of americans, to collect, to store, and to report personal identifying information of tens of millions of americans. and then hand it over to the irs. an agency with a long and well documented history of mishandling sensitive taxpayer information. these are ser serious privacy and surveillance risks. just last year, a former irs contractor was sentenced to five years in prison for disclosing thousands of tax returns and return information for

high-ranking government officials and related entities and individuals. these private taxpayer files were stolen and subsequently leaked to the press. indeed, defy is a powerful technology because it undermines bureaucrat control over american citizens. the foundation of financial freedom has the right to engage in financial transactions without unnecessary government interference. the american people should be free to spend their money the wait they see fit. -- the way they see fit. far too often we're increasingly seeing and hearing the opposite. threats to individual freedom enforced through financial control. banks are denying services to americans because of their political belief or their line of work. we saw it first under obama with operation choke point. and we saw it again, tragically, under the biden administration.

these actions aren't just abuses of power. they strike at the very foundation of a free society. defy isn't controlled by washington bureaucrats. indeed, by design, it can't be. that's one of the many things i love about it. defy's noncustodial technology let citizens hold and spend their own money securely without needing permission from some government-backed institution. it's no wonder the chinese communist party hates cryptoin general and defy in particular. china has already banned crypto within its borders. central governments hate that and of course the chinese government is one of the most dystopian, authoritarian regimes in the world. and so they've made cryptocurrency transactions he

will legal because they view that's transactions, they rightly view those transactions as threats to their authoritarian power. so, yes, every time we create a new oco system use -- ecosystem using something like defi, that's a ecosystem that china abuses to threat. that's why we must make sure americans have access to this technology. we should make sure it thrives right here in the united states. there's been a lot of talk on both sides of the aisle about supporting cryptocurrency. we now have an opportunity to deliver results for the american people. earlier this afternoon we cast the initial vote on moving to proceed to the cra to repeal this rule, and i have to say i was incredibly heartened that 70 senators voted together in support of my legislation, 18

democrat senators crossed the aisle and voted in support of repealing this ridiculous and abusive rule. that's a powerful statement. it's a powerful statement to bitcoin and crypto that congress is not going to let -- i thank the 18 democratic senators. i urge even more come join us. i will say as an interesting note, if you look at a list of the senators that voted with us, it is almost every single democrat senator under the age of 60. there is a clear delineating line, and i think there is a reason for that. let's stand on the side of innovation. let's stand on the side of jobs. let's stand on the side of prosperity. let's stand on the side of freedom. let's foster innovation, cut

government overreach and unleash the full potential of the american economy. let's rescind this rule and let's unleash the future. i yield the floor. i yield back all time on calendar number 11, s.j. res. 3. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. the clerk read the title of the joint release for the third time. the clerk: calendar number 11, s.j. res. 3, joint resolution approving for a joint disapproval. the presiding officer: the question occurs on passage of the joint resolution. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis.

what we are seeing real-time to default on the veterans of america. it's an assault that is part of a campaign by elon musk who has been empowered by president trump totally to eliminate waste in our federal government. instead of eliminating waste elon musk is laying waste to the department of veterans affairs

and it is unfolding in real time and with the real-life impact on our veterans. not only is he firing veterans at the va, many of the 2400 already terminated our veterans one third of them but across agencies in the united states government where 30,000 members of the federal workforce have been indiscriminately terminated , 30% of them are veterans as well turned almost 50% of everybody in the department of defense who has been fired, they are veterans and they may be probationary employees, promoted to a position where they are in that status because they done such a great job. they are being fired. younger members of the federal workforce who are there for up to two years for the future of our civil servants are fired in

so many of them are veterans who have worn the uniform, served and sacrificed and want to continue to benefit the country with the skills and dedication that they have demonstrated as members of our united states armed forces. public service has long been a preferred path for military affiliated populations whether in our local police force or as emergency medical personnel joining the federal workforce to continue serving our country while fostering competitive wages, benefits and much-needed stability for them is veterans and tremendous benefits for taxpayers. and now what elon musk is doing relying on his tech boroughs and

his algorithms and his ai formulas is to cut across-the-board leaving no veterans at a -- for roadkill. in his campaign to eliminate waste. let me tell you elon musk is serious about eliminating waste you would not have fired the inspectors general of these agencies who are the watchdogs. they have a record of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. exhibit a michael mikel the inspector general of the va hired and appointed first by president obama deserved under president trump for four years and then under president biden. he has ruffled feathers of republican and a met -- democratic administrations because he has uncovered waste and fraud in a very bipartisan

way and regards his job as bipartisan. he would be the one to eliminate waste not with a meat axe but with a scalpel. i wish my colleagues would have been in the hearing today the joint hearing of the house and senate veterans affairs committee to hear commander l. live part of the veterans of foreign wars the cfw, a really heroic vietnam veteran, injured there shrapnel in his arm and as he told us the surgeon removed the shrapnel piece by piece and didn't cut off his arm. that's the approach that we need in eliminating waste not cutting off arms or legs. removing the waste carefully

deliberately cautiously. among the illegally terminated and i should stress illegally terminated 2400 va employees many of them veterans themselves and members of the guard or reserve now caregivers, military spouse. in the cod many of them 45% former veterans and the overall impact will be disastrous on the 640,000 veterans who are public servants. musk and trump have already up-ended the lives of so many. the thousands of veterans casually discarded, illegally fired without notice or justification. all for headlines.

the impact in real life are undeniable and stories from newspapers, from broadcast, from all kinds of outlets tells the story of those real-life impacts of my colleagues are hearing from their constituents about the mental health services that are delayed, about the surgeries that can be provided, about the veterans crisis line, serving veterans who may be taking their own lives all reduced. these real-life impacts are undeniable and we are talking about the people who make sure that veterans have transportation to assist with

benefits claims to ensure that the va hospitals are maintained and that they are safe to clean operating rooms and sterilize them between procedures. it may not be the surgeon who was fired but the surgeon walking into the operating room meet the staff and the team to assist them and need housekeeping staff to make sure it's clean. these people have dedicated their careers to serving veterans and all have been indiscriminately and illegally terminated. these short headlines tell the story and so does the this visual in springfield massachusetts. due to abrupt and unplanned staff cuts we are not able to redo at this time that we have a scheduled appointment your

counselor will get you at the time of your appointment. if you are here for any other reason please leave a message in a staff member will return your call. we apologize for any inconvenience on your care. donald trump and elon musk overturned an apology. elon musk is giving veterans the middle finger. veterans won't stand for it. and so mr. president i'm introducing a resolution today and asking that we approve it. to uphold the contract to uphold the promise to uphold that commitment we made to our veterans when they raised their right hand and promised to serve and sacrifice even at the risk

of dying. i'm joined by senators karomo watkins lujan maria durbin whitehouse warnock klobuchar shaheen rosengart says masto also break kelly warren schiff baldwin beckwourth diego sanders booker wyden merkley padilla heinrich schatz and hickenlooper in this effort. i wish, i really wish it were not because veterans issues have been bipartisan. i've worked with veterans including the chairman whom i respect senator moran on these issues. this resolution acknowledges veterans make up less than 7% of americans. approximately 30% of public servants have been disrespected.

in just these weeks with such destructive and effects on them, on veterans they serve and don american values. our nation and they deserve better and so i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to thekl consideration of s. re. 105 which is at the desk further that the resolution be agreed to the preamble be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider the considered made and laid upon the table with no immediate action or debate. >> the censure from kansas. >> of reserving the right to object. in my conversations with kansans they frequently point to the senate committee on veterans affairs is proof we can still

work together in unity is attainable that we are able to set aside our their partisan differences and frustrations to find a way to work together to put our nation's veterans first because they did that for us in uniform and took a vow to defend and protect america. the senate has to work together with the administration and the secretary of the department of veterans affairs to veterans veteran service organizations and the broad community across the country that this resolution divides the congress and administration makes it more difficult for us to find consensus. we should work together, we should work together to determine what is the right kind of workforce, workforce to enable the department to better care for veterans. approving this resolution drives away the senate, this congress and the executive branch. i don't see how that helps

veterans. additionally this resolution was designed to lock in the field the status quo of january 19. i don't know if any of my colleagues are doing everything just right prior to visit fenestration. i commit today to all my colleagues to work with them to make certain the va contains a effective for workforce that delivers our promises to veterans. we will only achieve that by working together and working with the department of veterans affairs to find desirable outcomes. we need more information and we need to be working together to achieve that. mr. president therefore i object. >> the objections heard. the senator from connecticut. >> that mr. president first let me say i am hopeful that we can work together.

if the chairman of the va committee is willing to do it to try to arrive at language that calls for the rehiring of these veterans resending the layoffs and i must say we are joined today by a number of guests and my colleagues as well as myself veterans who have been terminated. bear with us today and they will be with us tonight at the address offered by president trump. i am more than happy to work on this resolution if there is a way to make it bipartisan but the basic principals that we owe our veterans and that commitment that we need to bring them back so that these kinds of consequences can be avoided i think is fundamental to the effort today. because we know more than 58

patient appointments canceled a va facility just this week because the event have the staff to care for them. secretary collins terminated nine crisis line employees and hire them to come back to many fired more. we know a pregnant spouse of the disabled veteran who retired under the military authority was terminated and a 25 year rain corps veteran with a 100% connected disability rate in 15 years of service was terminated. we as is now a va researcher working on treatments for substance use disorder among veterans was terminated in cybersecurity for the va web site the digital -- with their veterans and hold sensitive data was terminated. these kinds of impacts just the

tiny fractions of all of them are ongoing and they are real and urgent and i'm more than happy to work on the language of this bridge is -- resolution but the goal is indisputable and unavoidable. i'm going to turn to some of my colleagues who joined me today and i thank them and first senator whitehouse. i will yield to him mr. president. >> that the senator from rhode island. and thank you mr. president verse may thank senator blumenthal for his effort. it really matters. it matters to know that we tried into no we did not leave him out there at the mercy of elon musk and his muskrats that have been running around through all of our government agencies breaking agencies violating court orders prowling through data of

americans your data in the course firing veterans. no president has fired more veterans than his first few weeks in office. and what it is doing to the va into services for veterans is equally wrong and equally unfortunate. in rhode island we have our providence be a help center which is a first class operation of. veterans love it and it's well-run and has all sorts of new services and facilities and senator reed and i have worked to make sure and it has nearly 2500 employees. we also have va benefits office which is such a good benefits

office if the program is being rolled out and not working somewhere that the provenance senate to get it working and that they are about to rollout a new program and they want to beta test it to they go to the benefits office because they are good at what they do and i can't think of anything that makes them more proud than customers. they love the folks they work for. so to go through this group and/and burn what is the least logic for care from these tech roe muskrat types who have never served and have no idea what they are doing but are just taking delight in moving fast and breaking things to use the tech tech roe talk and that's

fine if you are a roe in playing around with equipment or. when you are dealing with people's lives running around se thing one and thing two from the cap my hat. this is not the responsible way in which veteran should be treated. i'll mention just two while i'm here. there's a rhode island or who works for our veterans crisis line. the hotline that veterans can call into when they are having an acute crisis perhaps even feeling suicidal. this is not easy work. when that phone goes you've got to be on and you've got to be expert in you've got to understand how to support the people who are calling in an enough to understand how to get them to the services they need. it's a life-and-death matter in this individual was fired.

and then rehired the few days later apparently being told they were reinstated to few days later but with all the scrambling going on at the va to va has not reissued war credentials and they still do not have a return to work date for the improper firing that never should have happened and then was rescinded but now doesn't have a proper end to the termination. it is administrative law practice and it is and it is wrong. we have got another role in their -- roland rhode island or that worked at the vet center who was terminated. as i said it really means

allowed to these people to be working for veterans and they really put their hearts into it and they want to do a very good job. and they actually get. on whether or not they are in fact doing a good job and this individual received outstanding performance ratings. it wasn't just that they threw their heart and soul into their work, their peers review them and their supervisors review them and said they were outstanding performers at their work and so a letter comes to them saying they were terminated due to poor performance. among other things that was a lie back because they weren't poor performers. they were excellent performers. would you live now to people who are working for veterans so you can fire them that's a pretty

way to go about serving veterans and it certainly a way to treat the people who dedicate their lives to taking care of veterans. if you want to find the people who have poor performance and fire them go find people who have poor performance and fire them but don't just randomly choose high performers lion to about the performance and fire them. it is a really offensive state of affairs and now that center calls are being in a different timezone. rhode island a little bit like connecticut is a small state in connecticut is a little bit bigger and we have our own nature and the effort on often way of speaking and this matters when you pick up the phone to call the vet center if you are

not talking to someone several timezones away in colorado particularly not because the bonus of being answered because a high-performing worker was lied to about their performance in wrongly fired. there's really no excuse for that so i want to say to the folks thank you and god bless you and we admire and respect what you do. we recognize the entire va organization has treated you as particularly expert and the work that you do to make sure that our feds get the benefits of bayer do is first class. thank you for what you do. we are grateful and i apologize that this president and this whatever he is in this little muskrats are doing this kind of damage to the institution that you so proudly serve.

folks at the providence va hospital god bless you and thank you. you do great work. our veterans love our hospitals. we are proud of our hospital. they think it's well-run and they think they are well treated services are good to get rides there and there is good parking. i mean this hospital runs the way you would want the veterans hospital to run. so keep those muskrats out of rhodell island don't damage the services to our veterans and i hope as the chairman said we can come together and fix this but it's hard to hear about how we should come together when nobody came together from musk gland and those muskrats didn't check in with anyone before they went to break stuff that these agencies. it's a little late for togetherness when there has been none in terms of defending the

work that these wonderful people do and with that i yield the floor. >> mr. president. the senator from connecticut. >> we will be joined by there's a bike college but i want to follow senator whitehouse's eloquent points. the president will speak to members of the house and the senate and he could make a lot of claims many of them untethered in any way to the facts. if he does nothing else but i would like to see him do show is show some respect for our veterans. he is called them suckers and losers by this administration and part of the mindset here

that is responsible for these firings is that disrespect for our veterans. two of my sons are veterans and one is a marine corp first lieutenant who served in afghanistan. another, a navy s.e.a.l.. they value the va. americans are seeing how the va helps our veterans and when the president speaks tonight i wanted to look at the guests that we have brought, not only my guest michael mickle the former inspector general of the va but also u.s. air force veterans with more than 30 years of military service who retired from a lifetime of dedicated service to his country in

november and immediately re-dedicated himself to serving his fellow veterans at the department of veterans affairs. he started work on june the 13th and he was illegally terminated barely one month later. he is the sole breadwinner of his family and tony of disabled army vet, until he was illegally terminated he worked at the va benefits administration with veterans with their benefits claims. he was cut in 10 days before his probationary period ended. he was serving. these veterans and other courageous former members of our armed forces are going to be with us tonight and they will be state -- speaking out and sharing their stories and they are not faced with bureaucrats and they are not and they aren't they are hard-working public servants who have willingly

sacrificed everything for this country willing to give even their lives and now have rededicated themselves to continue their service now the paramilitary time is complete. i want to yield to my colleague from michigan senator peters who himself is a veteran and a great colleague and friend of ours. the senator from michigan. send mr. president i rise today to speak in opposition to the mass termination of veterans that is taking place all across our federal government. i was proud to serve more than a decade with the u.s. navy reserve where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander and during this time i had the absolute privilege to work with some of the most patriotic hard-working and inspiring

individuals that i have ever met. i know first-hand that veterans are a vital source of tell it to our workforce so let's just think for a moment but think about the quality that makes a valuable employee. leadership, work ethic problem solving abilities and of course integrity. these are not just staff qualities they are tangible assets that veterans bring to our business is our communities and to our government. they are qualities that boost productivity and foster a culture of excellence. employing a nation's veterans when they transition to civilian life is not just a responsibility, it is a smart business decision. that's why the federal government has long taken advantage of this absolutely

remarkable talent. veterans now make up roughly 30% of the federal workforce or more than 640,000 veterans in civil service. i rise to express my absolute outrage over the indiscriminate firings of nearly 6000 of these veterans from the va to the defense department to the treasury department. that is the va where veterans input is particularly critical to shaping policies that support our nation of the veteran population. elon musk and doge have fired more than 600 veterans employees. they are part of more than 2400 individuals fired all across the va. i've heard from numerous veterans of va workers in michigan who are absolutely devastated and confused by why this administration would turn their backs on them.

my staff met with a veteran who has worked for the va in michigan for nearly 30 years. last year he was moved to a new role within the va and was promoted and promoted to supervisor shortly thereafter and no surprise because he had never received less than an excellent performance review over 30 years. but, because they were relatively new to that specific role, he was swept up in the widespread firing of the va and across government default probationary employees. they were one of many veterans fired abruptly without cause, without reason. in another case of veteran had eight years of active duty service in the air force and was fired from the va in michigan after receiving an outstanding performance review.

his promotion -- his probationary period was set to expire last week, just 12 days after he was let go. these cuts mr. president are not based on facts and they are based on logic. they are just. and our country will not be better off. as a result of these mass layoffs americans can expect longer wait times to receive important documents like passports and social security benefits, fewer food safety inspections and higher risks during air travel. these are americans who put their lives on the line to defend this country. they took up the job to continue to serve the people of this country. they represent the very best of our nation and we need them in our federal workforce. i'm calling today on the administration to reinstate

these veteran employees immediately. student mr. president. >> the senator from arizona. send mr.'s -- mr. president we made a solemn promise to these veterans that after their service they would get the care of the support that they have earned. that promise did not come with an expiration date. and as a combat veteran myself i take this responsibility personally on behalf of arizona's more than 500,000 veterans and veterans across the country. with these mass firings of the staff at the va president trump and elon musk are breaking that

promise. in the last month thousands of va employees, people who care for our nation's veterans were fired with no warning, no phonecall, no meeting, just an e-mail telling them that they no longer had a job that they were no longer wanted. mr. president these aren't just nameless faceless bureaucrats, these are americans who signed up to serve our country by taking care of veterans. they deserve to be treated with respect. these are the people on the frontlines of veteran care and

services and they were fired without even a thought. we can all agree that the va can do a better job than aimlessly firing thousands of people will do nothing to help speed up veterans health care. nothing. it will just make accessing care more difficult. secretary collins and the va claim that these were and i'm going to quote him not mission-critical jobs. while that is simply not true. in arizona we have seen va workers and their families who rely on the va impacted in a real way. like brady and david who shared their story with arizona family

news and they are both veterans themselves, who became loan specialists to help fellow veterans navigate financial hardship and avoid homelessness. before they were fired each of them was handling 1500 cases. each of those cases represents one veteran who needs help. how much longer will it take veterans who need to get answers quick said of arizona family reached out to my office afraid to speak out publicly because of fear of retaliation. the husband is a doctor at the tucson va but he treats patients with lung disease. last week last week he got an e-mail not a meeting no

conversation just an e-mail telling him to resign. is that who secretary collins calls not mission-critical? his wife now fears that her job could be next. they have two young kids and now they are being forced to rethink everything because this administration, this administration kicked them to the curb. donald trump claims to care about veterans but then turns around and fires the very people whose job it is to ensure that veterans get the care that they need, the care that they earned for serving our nation. from keeping us safe.

these are real people. these terminations are just numbers on a spreadsheet. they are real people who execute a mission serving veterans. and these layoffs, these layoffs are going to mean longer wait times for appointments, fewer options for mental health care, fewer options for pain management, more delays in processing benefits. is this really where it won musk and donald trump want to save a buck? off the backs of veterans who have risked everything for us? mr. president this is not how the united states should treat our veterans. that's why i stand here today as a veteran myself with senator

blumenthal and their colleagues to support this resolution. let's get the folks back to work serving our veterans. the work they do mr. president is mission-critical. veterans in arizona and across the country are counting on them and they are counting on us. thank you and i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> the senator from kansas. >> them going to close the colloquy by thanking my colic especially veterans like senator kelly who served for decades and senator peters and all the veterans who joined in this resolution senators gallego and

others who have served this country senator slotkin's senator peters who was here and others but we don't have that the veterans to appreciate what members of our military do for our country. my own service in the united states during core pales in comparison to many affairs and many who of the for the veterans committee over these past seven to 10 days and many of them decrying these kinds of cuts again these are real people affected in real ways unnecessarily harmed and these

headlines speak volumes about how they have been hurt. doge finds the -- zero fraud waste or abuse and just new ways to harm veterans. veterans fired and federal layoffs that they were quote stabbed in the back. these are a scattering of the kinds of real-life stories that bring us to the floor today. i plead with the president please make this resolution unnecessary. do the right thing. if you don't pay off my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us from that other side of the aisle, join us in decrying these cuts, the freezes, the firings the determinations that they are illegal and. and we will move forward and we

will continue to fight them because american values art stake. thank you mr. president and i yield the floor. mr. risch, aye.

mr. van hollen, no. women's caucus 96 drawn and historic number this year. and you know what? we are here to say women cannot afford drum. the cost is too much in terms of money lives and safety. we cannot afford to have 40% of the newborn infants at risk of

conversations because they are pregnant mommies lost medicaid coverage and we can afford to increase cost of groceries gas and housing when he decides to declare war on our allies canada and mexico. we cannot afford his killing or reproductive health care rights taking away our decisions to make a family when we choose. we cannot afford the discrimination. we cannot afford the discrimination he is unleashing against women everywhere. cutting women's health and slashing programs to combat violence against women. these are not these programs affect over half of our population. respect women.

discrimination and violence against women should be condemned by everyone. republicans and democrats alike. we cannot afford to increase childcare costs when you cut head start in the department of education. we cannot afford to take care of our grandmothers and their parents when they cut the programs to pay for their nursing home care from cradle to old age. this man in the republican agendas that must -- devastating for america's women. we want. we will do well to know we stand in power and we stand in opposition. we want to remind everyone that it only takes three, it only takes three members of the republicans in the house of representatives who are willing to show up at a town hall who are willing to answer and

willing to stand with their constituents and not with these cuts that affect women. stand with your women constituents stand with your women voters, we are. stand with women. so i'm going to turn the program over right now to my amazing -- because we have lots of voices of protest about what trump is doing to the women of america across america. [applause] and thank you madam chair and thank you to all of you for joining us today. we want to make sure our message is very clear. women cannot afford these policies and women cannot afford this presidency. i want to thank all the members of democratic women's conference for being here and for joining us in having such a strong showing of what it means to stand up for the american women. my name is amelia and i

represent the 13th congressional district of ohio and you heard from chair hernandez we cannot afford donald trump's policies. we always talk about how we are willing to with anyone anywhere anytime in the case is still true but as we have heard over and over and over again the cuts are going to be dramatic and their impacts are going to give women -- hit women the hardest but for example last week there was a house republican budget resolution that demanded 880 billion-dollar cuts to the energy in commerce committee and i like to remind people right now $880 billion you see how many zeros and, as you end up writing. that means there must be cuts to the medicaid program for the medicaid program. make sure that women, pregnant women, children, the disabled and our grandmothers have access

to the health care they need when they need it the most. and for example in my district of ohio's 13th congressional district medicaid coverage -- covers over 40% of the birth in our district, 46% of the births and let us not forget about we love the babies of the women who deliver those babies are also under medicaid. in ohio's 13th congressional district more than 200,000 people on medicaid are at risk of losing their health care because of the republican budget resolution. this is 83,000 children in nearly 18,000 seniors and while a majority of the people in my district voted for the president they did not vote to get their grandmothers kicked out of the nursing home. i would be remiss if i did not say for how medicaid coverage is obviously huge issue if we care about the health care that people are able to access or not

access in my district the largest employer or health care system. the majority leader. mr. thune: mr. president, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 25. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of homeland security, troy edgar of california to be deputy secretary. mr. thune: mr. president, i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of troy edgar to be deputy secretary of homeland security, signed by 17 senators as followed. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i move to proceed to

legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. thune: mr. president, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 29. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of labor, laurie chavez-deremer of oregon to be secretary. mr. thune: mr. president, i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate request on the nomination of laurie chavez-deremer of oregon to be secretary of labor, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. thune: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. thune: i move to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331, a bill to amend the controlled substances act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, and for other purposes. mr. thune: i send a motion to the desk with a motion to proceed. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331, a bill to amend the controlled substances act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i move to proceed to calendar number

20, s.j. res. 28. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 20, s.j. res. 28, disapproving the rules submitted by the euro of consumer financial -- by the bureau of financial protection relating to defining the larger participants of a market for digital payment applications. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso.

i want to thank everyone for coming in as you can see and want to mention the senators

that are here are leader senator schumer is with us, thank you and senator blumenthal as well as senator lujan senator merkley senator kim and you are a minnesota farmer. senator cantwell was with us and senator bennett and senator welsh and senator kaine senator warner is here and right over here. or virginia and maryland centers were hit by this hard in their i want to tell you three things and then we are going to let our guests speak and that is at the state of the union chaos is up corruption is up and costs are up and this is affecting people, real people not just people in this building and we think it's time for people in this building to listen to the people out there that are getting hit by the trump administration's decisions.

for a change we aren't speaking. we are letting our constituents speak to him was that they are the ones living desperate this. i'm going to turn it over to senator welch and allison. and thank you for having and allison hope with the vermont sugar makers association. vermont makes 51% of the less maple syrup and we have canadian partners across the border. we make 77% of u.s. maple syrup and in the united states is 23% for the past 20 years vermont production rates have grown 500% and a 25% canadian tariff on maple equipment most of which comes across the border because that's where most maple syrup is made on the canadian imports that come into vermont will have a staggering effect to not only our agricultural farmers.

foresters and they keep a low large swath of the lawn for us did. i think our canadian counterparts are huge part of our trade. u.s. can't all thei. maple syrup in the united states so we bring into vermont and other areas of theos united states syrup and wn that price goes up that affects the shelf price in those larger contracts landed in vermont canadian maple syrup those contracts changed at cents on the dollars dollar so the end result of that will be a potential stagnation of production in vermont and also a loss of potential space -- shelf space. and thank you senator klobuchar and the other senators in the staffer bring attention to the

minnesota farmers union but i have farmed all my life and i assist my son in his farming operation. i grew up helping my father. right now the margins, farming their soft uncertainty. their high input prices and low commodity prices. president trump in his first term had the terror for that he started in 2018 and at that time it hit primarily china which is large soybean buyer the united states. we have not recovered from it and we never will. that incentivize argentines and brazilians farmers to -- and their makers are going to lay idle. if some of those came out of the marine corp that creates more problems for claimants as we go to the future. it's frustrating to hear it

again putting on the terrace again. last night the president said he made a comment about putting tariffs and the farmers will be prepared to sell more domestically for the united states we are lucky we have productive farmland. we have good farms and we have good livestock operations. we raise more than we can consume domestically. the president says we are going to sell more domestically but who are you going to sell it to? the buyers are not there. we are facing so much uncertainty now we as farmers had to deal with the weather which is a big uncertainty and we don't need uncertainty from our united states government. it's also destroying a relationship on trading partners along the gulf not only mexico

and china but he's talking about the eu and retaliatory tariffs. where does it stop? to go tit-for-tat and how much more damage is going to be done? the president -- this is the farmers livelihood here. this is not a game. >> thanks gary. melissa. hi my name is melissa and give me a second to put this on my phone really quick. i joined the army in april of 2001 when i was 17 between my junior and senior year of high school. shortly after returning from basic training and entering my senior year september 11 happened. boy was i filled with pride to serve this country. i was immediately mobilized

after graduation to afghanistan in january 2003. they returned in june of 2004. it became a government contractor with halliburton and i continued my service in afghanistan until 2008 working in aviation operations. that's when i decided to return home to new york to start a family and get a college degree. i graduated magnum cum laude from the university began working in 2013. in 2017 i became very ill. i was too sick to work and in late 2010 i was diagnosed with a very rare adrenal cancer probably caused by toxic exposure. finding out i was permanently and totally disabled was dressing for me. i've always worked since i was 14. i always knew that i wanted to go back to work. i took several years to treat my cancer had regained my health.

december 2023 i applied to work at the va education department as a file clerk. in january of this year my production was 200% my quality evaluations were one of their%. i worked until this last tuesday when my boss and myself were not even notified about my layoff. i was just locked out of my computer. i gave up my social security disability payments to return to work for less than $500 a month. my story is not unique. many disabled veterans for newly-hired by the d.a.. i'm here to ask people to support disabled veterans working for the federal government. federal jobs for some of the few that will accommodate our disabilities. we need these jobs for a purpose. we need them to connect with our battle buddies and to support veterans as they get the benefits they so justly deserve. in my opinion supporting veterans should not be a political issue.

every american who enjoys the freedom and is thankful to veterans for their sacrifices should be in support of their employment. i'm asking for the dignity of employment and accommodations for disabilities caused by our service. thank you. [applause] >> good evening everybody. i'm here to put a face on a story behind nih funding and how it's helped emma tremendously. a year and a half he was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy the number one genetic cause of death in infants. at the time of her diagnosis there was no treatment, there was nothing.

there was nothing we could do at the time. a few weeks later a mutual friends we found out the scientist was working on a drug for this specific disease. we went to go see him, spoke about it for the first time and there was hope. nih funding helps fund a child. at two years old she was in the trial for the drug he was working on. in 2016 it was the first treatment for sma. in 2018 new york added to the newborn screening and it's all 52 states test for it. the babies get this medication right away present dramatic changes the course. it was a breakthrough drug. these kids now are breathing on

their own, walking on their own and i know it's bittersweet for her because she was a little late to it but i tell her she was a part of something special. we are just here to put a face on how important nih funding is how it's helped her, how anything extra we can do for her for studying research and development is imperative. we understand some >> has to give somewhere but when you have a result especially something like this a miracle drug that's actually saving lives is something to reconsider and it's important enough to keep thinking about funding going. thank you. [applause] >> i think katie is next.

hello my name is kate anderson. i worked at the making up a curb and new mexico have incredible pleasure getting of getting to serve the state of new mexico in many ways. we have a number of concerns about what has been happening with the federal funding freeze in particular is causal of chaos. our partners work with other 500 partners across the state to get food into the hands of people everywhere in every corner of our state and there's much confusion confusion about that for the last concerns for some of those programs that they wouldn't be able to continue to function and serve their community. we also have allowed people calling concerned that they wouldn't continue to receive benefits. the reality is the budget reconciliations on the table right now are going to have a massive and terrific effect on as well as americans.

the whole entire country will feel it. up to 40,000 could be impacted by the changes in benefits and right now people get roughly $6 a day in benefits enough the upper limits. we are talking about rolling out back what does that mean for the hundreds of thousands of children and seniors in new mexico? people in our country deserve to be able to thrive and they deserve to be able to raise their families without concern about where they will get their next meal. thank you for having me. [applause] thank you. i'm a cancer surgeon and researcher and i'm here to plead against the proposals to cut

indirect costs from an average of 50% to 15%. that's the money for funds that the institutions that house these researchers pay for all of their infrastructure and make no mistake about it, it will drastically hault if not hault the amazing medical research that the state conducted and will greatly dissuade these young people and these ph.d.s who forgo wealth and fame and go there for discovery and to help human flourishing. it's a whole generation of researchers. and it would be unfortunate now because we are standing because of the project at the hallmark

of the cornucopia unbelievable amounts of things that will be coming in terms of medical advances and yes maybe we need to make some cuts that i would plead with the surgeon's scalpel and not a sledgehammer. make no mistake about it the advances inld medical research will continue. we are the envy of the world in biomedical research. we won't be if this kind of thing happens. research will continue and we will be taking a backseat. i'm pleading that we think carefully about the history of unbelievable research, grants

and don't take a chainsaw and cut down the whole tree. it's very hard to go back. thank you. [applause] >> ashley. everyone. how are you guys today? can you tell what i used to do, interpretation. i like talking to people. my name is senator warner can you hear me? thank you so much for letting me tell a bit of my story. that's my -- as i said i'm ashley and i reside in fredericksburg, virginia. i was one of the 1000 national park rangers that were fired during february 14.

i'm not unique in terms of being a wonderful human being that was dedicated to this park. formerly for 15 years i was a teacher. i worked two jobs. i really wanted to pursue national park service full-time and then i got it and it was like winning the lotto. it's rare and hard to get into. i have made it and it happened to me and was taken from me. i had exemplary reviews from my direct supervisors. my service with the federal government my evaluations have been excellent and the same with my colleagues and i wanted to show my -- bear with me today and these are three of the people that used to work in fredericksburg spotsylvania.

they were fired from there but we know each other. i know three people a freelance and maddie hull is a here today but they are with me in. thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to talk and to talk to about my beautiful city which is being deeply affected by these cuts and the economy and it's part of the reason there's a downtown fredericksburg with tourism dollars but i have walked around all of those stores in the area. they are businesses have been cut in half. it doesn't just affect me, my friends thousands of other park rangers that affects my community. it's a magical place in you all should go. i'm a fredericksburg person through and through. that is my home. i love it so, so much.

i'm so grateful senator warner who has immediately been an extremely kind human being and reached out to me it and made me feel like a person. a thousand other people don't have voices right now. i'm somebody because they freaked out and made me a person. we have dreams to have these jobs and it's a labor of love. i know i'm talking too much and thank you so much for letting me talk. [applause] and cutting the medicaid program will hurt millions and millions

of lives. as we grow caregiving is hard work. we can have jobs. if you want to save money keep them in their homes. save money by keeping medicaid in investing in american people. give me liberty or give me death. you have medicaid -- without medicaid people will die and it's that simple. [applause]

>> good afternoon. my name is as isabella and i'm in olympia and an army veteran and until recently served as a national forest in oregon. i'm dedicated my life to serving this country and what we stand for. liberty and justice. that's the country i signed up to represent as an olympic athlete to protect as a soldier and to serve as the west for service officer. like the thousands of other federal workers i was recently fired from my position due to an alleged failure to perform and determination that my continued service was not in the public's interest. from me to october of 2024 and worked all but two days during one of the nations most intense fire seasons.

i sacrificed sleep, personal time and holidays to ensure the public had timely, accurate and lifesaving information. i poured everything i had into my job because i knew what was at stake. lives, homes in the future of the places we love. my story is not unique. nationwide thousands of federal workers who were illegally fired make the same sacrifices to get the job done. we have given her all. i have given my all time and time again for my country. where is the justice in what is happening to civil servants nationwide? now is the time for all americans across every state and political party to speak up for the kind of country want to be, the country i signed up to protect and serve were reworked towards liberty and justice for

all. thank you all for listening and senator merkley and all of you for giving me the opportunity to speak. [applause] a good afternoon. i'm michael a proud native of the great state of connecticut and a former inspector general for the department of veterans affairs. on friday night january 24 i was one of 17 inspectors general who was fired. inspector general said played a critical role to improve the government. inspector general's fight fraud waste and abuse bring efficiency and effectiveness to government hold leaders accountable and promote transparency. at the va while i was the ig sense 2016 we issued over 2500 reports made 10,000

recommendations on how to improve and had a monetary impact the $45 billion. we may be a better for veterans and their families to make sure that they receive the benefits and services they so richly deserve and i thank the veterans who are here today. my concern is that by firing the inspectors general without robert notice and without giving a detailed case specific reasons that the law requires is going to kill independent and nonpartisan oversight and i worry about the impact it's going to have on our government. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon event. my name is jamie and i'm here to

represent the thousands of u.s. forest service employees who have been terminated in recent weeks for performance-based reasons. i'm also here to advocate for the importance that the continued stewardship and protection of america's treasured public lands. i got my start in public land management is a a 19 to forest service firefighter from the great state of oregon. i studied environmental science at stanford university and have devoted my career to land management issues, recreation management and the stewardship of our public lands. i recently took a job with the u.s. forest service to serve my community, to steward our treasured landscape and to serve the american people. but the huge reason why wanted to join the federal civil service is to stand alongside the incredible employees of the united states for service, particularly at the national

forest in colorado where i was very proud to serve but when i was terminated from my position i was told i was fired effective immediately on sunday afternoon on president's day weekend. and i was told it was for my performance. i like others have mentioned had an exemplary performance record and i've the last few weeks talking with the many others wearing who were in my shoes. this has wide reaching effects and real hard-working dedicated americans. they are not wasteful and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. some of my colleagues have recently moved across the country to take their dream jobs. one of them was an apparent who found out that they had been terminated shortly after returning from family leave. these are real faces who are being told that their work is not in the public interest and they are not doing a good job. our federal employees particularly those that support

us or some of the most dedicated creative passionate intelligent people i know. they continue to show a particularly at the forest service day after day despite constant cuts in staffing and funding to help our mountain communities in colorado thrives. i'm also deeply concerned about the future of the beloved recreational experiences on our public lands the river national forest is the most visited national forest in the country come to a treasured landscape such as j.d. laken trappers like and what this comes down to to me is the human experience. so many coloradans use the natural -- national force to cope with the harsh realities of daily life. what it comes down to is what memories are going to be lost if no one is there to steward that land. we are at risk of losing a fundamental aspect of what makes

america america and our treasured public lands. so to all not just the forest service employees but to all the terminated civil servants out there just no i know lot of you feel alone right now and i think that's intentional. your work is important, you are exemplary at doing it in you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. my name is jason came i'm live in fairfax virginia and i served in the united states army. while attached to a special forces group a transport personnel equipment and supplies in and out of the country. after the army was given the opportunity to continue serving my country for the faa as the executive assistant to the director himself. when 67 lives or claimed in a

tragic event such as the one that occurred recently followed by reports of hundreds of layoffs is not reassuring for those who rely on us. which is why so many people question the safety of our airspace. however in the wake of the recent events are ministers and decided to move forward with the firing of hundreds of faa employees including myself. i was actually considered an essential employee who is expected to report to work even in the event of a government shutdown. while the united states of america has the safest airspace in the world that doesn't come by chance. it is from the hard-working and dedicated employees at the faa. that like to strongly encourage art to stop the cuts at the faa to help rebuild the confidence back into the american people and to preserve an already

struggling workforce. cutting cost should never come at the expense of safety especially when it comes to the system we all rely on. thank you. [applause] >> our last guest we will give her a second here. when we are done, the gas we are not doing a traditional q&a but i want to remind everyone these are guests of the senators that are going to be watching president trump and that expect more from america. takeover, tell your story. sent thank you so much and the

special shout out to senator duckworth. i'm honored to be her guest tonight and this is the first time head start in our 60 years have been invited to the state of the union or to join a trust to congress to leave it to our senator duckworth for that. thank you. i am laurie and i'm proud to serve as executive director of the lanai head start association where we support thousands of children and families across the great state of illinois. head start just so you know head start provides a safe and nurturing environment where children can thrive and it empowers parents to pursue meaningful employment to support their families and could it to our economy and i think this is what makes the head start model so powerful is that we work with children and families together. it's not in isolation of each other.

.. not being paid. >> and self the staff has been ago, children have not been able to access our classrooms because of not been able to hire the staff and some providers have come to the or two to recover until they contacted their funding. so here in illinois month navigating these challenges and ensuring the bureaucratic hurdle do not undermine their families and staff are placed in a program everyday of every year.

there will be due is critical to remain committed to working with senator duckworth to champion the rights of our children and families that they deserve and thank you for this opportunity. [applause] [applause] durbin, no.

[speaking in native tongue] and congresswoman and i have the great joy and honor every tear in the democratic women's 96 from historic number this year. >> gate. >> you know what, we are here to say women cannot afford trump, he cost us too much in terms of money, health and lives and safety. we cannot afford to have 40 percent of the newborn infants at risk of health complications because we lost medicaid coverage and we cannot afford the increased cost of

groceries and gas housing when trump decided to declare war on our allies. canada and mexico. we cannot afford him stealing her reproductive health and rice weight our decision to make a family when we choose and how we choose. we cannot afford the discrimination we cannot afford discrimination is unleashing against women everywhere from firing admirals and coast guard getting women's health and slashing programs to combat violence against women. these are not woke programs come these programs are affecting over half of our population. respect women. discrimination and violence against women should be condemned by everyone

republicans and democrats alike. we cannot afford increase childcare because when he got head start education or afford to give her grandmothers and her parents when they cut the programs the paper the nursing home care predict from cradle to old age, this man in the republican agenda is devastating for americans women it we want that road to know we stand in protest and in power and we stand in opposition summa. [applause] >> we wondering and remind everyone that it only takes three members of the republicans in the house of representatives, who are willing to show up at temple to answer the answer during who are willing to stand with the constituents now these horrible cuts, that affect women everywhere send with your women

constituents and voters and we are. >> stand with women and so i'm going to turn the program over right now, to my amazing vice chair because we have a lot of voices protest about what trump is doing to the women of america across america. [applause] [applause] >> thank you to all of you for joining us today because we want to make sure our message is very clear. we cannot afford these policies and women cannot afford the presidency and want to think all of the members carcass for being here for joining us having such a strong showing what it means to stand up for the american women i million and ohio 13 congressional district, as you heard from the chair fernandez,

we cannot afford donald trump's policy printed now we always talk about how your willing to work with anybody anywhere anytime, and is still true, but as we have heard, over and over and over again together going to be dramatic and the impacts are going to be hit women the hardest and for example, there was a house republican budget resolution, demanded an 880 billion-dollar cut energy and commerce and i would like to remind the people that right now $880 billion, depends upon how many, she right that means it must be cuts to medicaid program to make sure women pregnant women and children and disabled our grandmothers have access to the healthcare they need when they needed the most and for example in my district ohio 13

congressional district medicaid covers over the birds in our district 40 percent of the birds does not forget about we love the babies the women who delivered to those babies are also offered coverage under medicaid in ohio congressional district within 200,000 people on medicaid, risk of losing the healthcare because the republican budget resolution pretty this is he 3000 children nearly 18000 seniors, journeymen people voted for the president, they do not vote to get the grandmothers kicked out of the nursing homes i would be remiss if i do not say what medicaid coverage is obviously a huge issue we care about the healthcare the people are able to access or not access, my district, the largest employer, our healthcare system.

they are being paid by the medicaid program to help employ doctors and nurses and food-service individuals and sanitary and said these jobs will be online if the $880 billion cut. the clerk: 20, s.j. res. disapproval u proving of the l rule schmitted by the bup row of consumer financial protection related to consumer payment applications. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask consent that the senate recess until 8:20 p.m. today and proceed as a body to the hall of the house of representatives for the joint session of congress provided under the provisions of h. con res. 11. that upon dissolution of the joint session, the senate stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on wednesday, march 5. that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their

use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the senate resume consideration of calendar number 20, s.j. res. 28. further, that if cloture is invoked on the blanche nomination, all time be expired at 3:45 p.m. and the senate vote on confirmation, and following confirmation of the blanche nomination, the senate proceed to legislative session and resume consideration of s.j. res. 28, and that all time be expired and the senate vote on passage of the joint resolution. finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: for the information of all senators, senators should expect one vote at 11:00 a.m. on cloture on the blanche nomination and two votes at 3:45 p.m., confirmation of the blanche nomination, and passage of s.j. res. 28, senator ricketts' digital consumer payments cra. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask

amy: u.s. senate is considering legislation to rea biden administration financial rules on the agenda in the week the loving is a respected to give a couple prede trump's nominationsor labor secretary deputyttorney general and live coverage incident is here on "c-span2". ♪ ♪♪ >> tonight, c-span's covered under coverage a president trump's nursing congress and the first address of the second term listen to month since taking office in season is live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern the preview of the evening from capitol hill, the president speech which begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern and western impressed respond to the present speech your causing his reaction on social media over on "c-span2" you can also watch the simulcast of the evening's

coverage followed by reactions from lawmakers, live from capitol hill watch president trump's address to congress, five tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span are simulcast live on "c-span2", when he's been out mobile video app also online cspan.org, cspan your bringing you your democracy >> is the heartbeat democracy was c-span's voices, hear from you ahead of president trump's address to congress are sing what you would hear from the president during the speech. >> i'm clay for marilyn i hope president trump talks about two things the first thing in my opinion, our relationship russian i will be texas number since his russian especially given the recent meetings with zelinski that turned into a shouting match also address the

concerns of the people be laid off seemingly by an elected person this is not running the government efficiency clearly is from texas i would like eagerly present talk about what is going to do to the deficit mckay i'm from oklahoma and the president to address what is going on with the war when it will be result. >> my name is. [inaudible]. and i would love to hear the president talk about finances, business, they got me. >> him to talk about the economy and have faith in a nations border, the future as far as the war in ukraine where he sees the