[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S439-S440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I think this is my first time with you 
presiding, so it is good to see you.
  This power grab--this attempted power grab--that took place today in 
flagrant disregard for our separation of powers has a home not in the 
Constitution but in Project 2025.
  The American people hate Project 2025, so Donald Trump spent his 
campaign trying to distance himself from Project 2025, but then he put 
one of the authors of Project 2025 in charge of the Office of 
Management and Budget, who is, as we saw in the Budget hearing, out of 
one side of his mouth saying ``Oh, President Trump doesn't have 
anything to do with 2025; he disavowed it'' and, as President Trump's 
appointee to OMB, is merrily implementing Project 2025.
  This is exactly aligned with the Project 2025 playbook that Americans 
rejected so much that Trump had to lie and pretend he rejected it too, 
in addition to being unconstitutional. That is not just an allegation 
any longer; a court today here in the District of Columbia found it to 
be unconstitutional and has ordered a stop to this pause.
  That is a relief because for people in my State, today was a scary 
day.
  Medicaid was stopped. The portal to the Medicaid system that the 
State reaches into was closed. People say: What is Medicaid? Medicaid 
is how a great many American seniors pay for their nursing homes. If 
you are shutting down Medicaid for your jollies, what you are doing is 
threatening the security of elderly folks living in nursing homes for 
whom Medicaid pays the bill.
  We have in Rhode Island and in other States gone through very 
significant addiction crises. Addiction recovery is very often paid for 
through Medicaid. So when you shut down Medicaid and close the portal, 
you are threatening people who are bravely fighting their way through 
their addiction, trying to get well and better, and suddenly President 
Trump is cutting the legs out from under them by closing the Medicaid 
portal and threatening Medicaid.
  Mr. President, 300,000 Rhode Islanders get supported by the Medicaid 
system, so this sent a lot of fear through a lot of people. I know 
there are people in the Trump administration who enjoy that. They get 
their kicks out of creating fear and having people--you know, cruelty 
is their pastime. But this is getting a little carried away.
  Firefighters and police officers--I spoke this morning to the Major 
County Sheriffs' Association, and they immediately raised the concern: 
What about my HIDTA grants?
  Those of who have been in law enforcement know what a HIDTA grant is. 
For firefighters, it is the AFG grant--the assistance to firefighters 
grant--with which they buy safety equipment, breathing apparatus, and 
new fire engines and vehicles.
  So all of that panic because this rash and unconstitutional decision 
was made.
  Kids in school often are supported by Federal programs. Head Start is 
a particularly good one. We had a very well-loved mayor of our capital 
city, Providence, RI, who started in Head Start and became the mayor of 
our capital city. Head Start is a wonderful program. Why would you want 
to threaten all of those children?
  Sojourner House is a domestic violence support entity and shelter in 
Rhode Island that supports women when they come out of an abusive 
relationship and need a place to find immediate safety and try to put 
their lives together. It is supported by Federal grants that President 
Trump tried to shut down today. It is astonishing.
  There is $33 million in small business loans out in Rhode Island with 
a big question mark by them because of today's bad behavior.
  It is the community health centers. People had doctor's appointments 
and people were going in for minor procedures and treatments, and 
suddenly there is a cloud over the ability to fund the community health 
centers.
  This is just wild, extreme, and dangerous stuff.
  I will take my lawyer role for a minute. Talk about 
unconstitutional--the Constitution provides a method for the President 
to veto legislation he doesn't like. That veto method does not include 
not--being the President, coming in in a whole new administration, 
having missed completely the opportunity to do a proper veto or for 
Congress to override, and doing this unilateral thing, which is not 
only forbidden by the separation of powers and the veto rule but also 
by law Congress passed regarding so-called impoundments. So it is 
flagrantly, flagrantly illegal.
  I will close by saying that it is also a threat of corruption. Every 
time you

[[Page S440]]

look at the Trump administration, you have to lift up the hood and look 
for where the corruption thread is. We are going to see corruption like 
you have never seen before out of this administration. And the 
corruption thread here is that you close all these things down, and 
then you pick the ones you like for the people who are your big donors, 
for the companies that gave you big bucks, for the special interests 
who put you in office, for the political allies who serve you, and you 
let them have their money freed up while everybody else's is frozen.
  Do you think that is imaginary? It is exactly what the Trump 
administration did with the tariffs in his last term of office. You 
could go into a secret little line, and if you knew the right people, 
you could get a waiver.
  There is an absolute avenue to corruption in this. Thank God the 
courts shut it down. This was a bad moment. It is not over. I hope my 
Republican colleagues will rise to the occasion because this is a basic 
attack on our Constitution, and it is a basic attack on the legislative 
branch of government.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.

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