[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S445-S447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, as much as President Trump desires it, 
the President is not a king. We are here tonight because, as much as 
President Trump desires it, the law is not a suggestion. We are here 
tonight because President Trump has decided he is a king, that the law 
is a suggestion, and he has decided to betray American families.
  You have heard of the Great Depression, but right now, we are living

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through the ``Great Betrayal''--the story of a man who ran for the 
Presidency, saying he was going to be a champion for families. Then, 
shortly after taking office--just 8 days ago--he proceeds to launch an 
attack on the very core programs that families, parents, children, and 
communities depend on.
  Wow--have you ever seen anything like it? Have you ever seen anything 
like it in your life that someone campaigns for families, and just 
after they are sworn into office, they launch a huge attack on 
America's families?
  That attack is actually illegal because the law--once programs are 
funded, it is the Executive's responsibility to implement those 
programs, not to say, ``Well, I will implement this one but not that 
one,'' or ``I will shut down all the funding for all the programs.'' 
No.
  In fact, we have had that conversation in the past. Let's turn the 
clock back to President Nixon. President Nixon said: You all reached a 
compromise, and you had some programs some of you liked and some 
programs others liked, and you agreed to fund those programs. But do 
you know what? I am only going to fund the ones I like. I am only going 
to distribute the funds for those programs which fit my agenda.
  The courts responded. They said: No, you can't do that. The power of 
the purse sits with Congress. It is Congress that decides what is going 
to be spent on what, and it is the Executive's--the President's--
responsibility to implement that.
  Then Congress said: Do you know what? We will give the President a 
break. If the President wants to roll back a program that has already 
been authorized and funded, he can ask Congress to do it. It is in the 
1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, and it is called 
a rescission.
  The President sends a message out to us and says: Hey, do you know 
what? I don't think we need all the funds for developing that new 
nuclear warhead because it turns out it won't fit on a missile. I would 
like to have those funds rescinded and put back in the Treasury.
  And we have 45 days to act. It is a privileged motion.
  All right. So along comes the ``Great Betrayal'' President, President 
Trump, who campaigned on families and then decided to attack the 
programs for families just 1 week into office, and he says: I don't 
like that rescission structure. I am just going to do what Nixon did. I 
am going to do what the Court said couldn't be done because I don't 
like what the Supreme Court decided previously. I am just going to 
break the law.
  Now, is this, like, out of character for President Trump? Well, 
certainly, just hours after being sworn into office and taking the oath 
to the Constitution of the United States of America, he said: The 14th 
Amendment--the one about, you know, birthright citizenship--I am 
canceling it. Wow. Now, we have two major instances of breaking the 
Constitution with just 8 days into the office. That is quite the 
record.
  The thing is the real victims across this country. My colleagues have 
laid it out so well, the fact that that grant to run the women's 
shelter is locked up. That program to run the childcare center is 
canceled. The grant to keep us at the forefront of the semiconductor 
R&D in Corvallis, OR, is on hold. That medical research is frozen. That 
contract for vaccination programs so we don't end up with an epidemic 
that will hurt children can't be written. That employment program for 
veterans returning from a theater of war ain't happening.
  No, that is crazy. And all these things are affecting our families--
and not just our families, our infrastructure.
  We worked so hard in a bipartisan way to launch the biggest 
infrastructure program since Eisenhower. We did the massive national 
interstate highway system. But do you know what? It was a long time 
ago, so we said: We have to rebuild our bridges; we have to improve our 
mass transit. And we had a very large expenditure trying to bring these 
up to speed.
  You know, in my State, there is a bridge on the interstate between 
Oregon and Washington. It is still a drawbridge. It is like the last 
drawbridge in the United States of America. It has to be replaced, but 
now it is on hold.
  We have another bridge that is under contract or grants to be able to 
be earthquake-resistant because it will play a critical role when the 
big one, the one we always talk about--like, California might fall into 
the sea--when that earthquake that happens roughly every 300 years off 
the coast of the United States on the West Coast--like, we need to have 
a bridge that actually holds up to it. Well, who knows if that is going 
to get built now.
  So not only does this attack families, not only does this obstruct 
and delay infrastructure projects, but it drives up costs.
  I seem to have an echo in my ear about the President saying he wants 
to reduce costs. But, instead, when you slow down projects, the cost of 
materials goes up. What is that? That is called driving up costs.
  So we are here tonight to say this cannot happen. We are here tonight 
to say to our Republican colleagues: This is not about red and blue or 
Republican and Democratic States.
  I talked to a colleague earlier today who said: I am getting all 
kinds of calls from my home. I bet that is true for every one of our 
100 Senators. I know everybody on this side of the aisle has been 
hearing from folks back home saying: We are pretty upset. We are pretty 
worried. What is happening? You know, that portal where we get funding 
from Medicaid or that portal where we get funding for veterans 
benefits--or whatever it is--it is all shut down. I am sure all 100 
Senators have been getting these calls.
  This is an attack by an authoritarian in the executive branch on the 
constitutional powers of Congress.
  You know, when we talk about the branches of government, we talk 
about article I and article II and article III. Article I of the 
Constitution is about Congress, because at the heart of democracy are 
folks who are elected down the hall in the House of Representatives and 
here in the Senate to wrestle with and shape the law. Article II is the 
executive, who executes those laws. Article III are the judges who 
defend the Constitution.
  Well, so here we are, article II, the President, with authoritarian 
impulses, is attacking all of us here, all 100 Senators, all 430 or -5 
or so Members of the House of Representatives, and saying: I want to 
have the power and decide how things get distributed for things that 
have already been enacted. So that is why we are here.
  I must say, it is even worse. It is even worse than simply his attack 
on families in this violation on the Constitution. It is part of a vast 
authoritarian power grab.
  In just the past few days, the inspectors general for Agency after 
Agency have been fired. The inspectors general are the ones who make 
sure the executive branch is behaving according to the law. They do all 
kinds of reports that hold people accountable. They do things that 
determine this program is working, that program is not working, this is 
being done in accordance with the law, this isn't.
  If the inspectors general are not there, there is no one to hold 
people accountable. That is the point of firing them all. That should 
put terror in every one about the lawlessness President Trump intends 
to go forward with.
  I know there are all kinds of other things, all kinds of other 
attacks. For example, all those lawyers in the Department of Justice 
who are assigned to environmental crimes, like when companies have huge 
amounts of asbestos and dump it in the wrong place or huge amounts of 
chemicals that contaminate some groundwater and cause all kinds of 
citizens to have wells that they can't use anymore, or so on and so 
forth--every one of them has been tossed. They got the word. They are 
not there anymore, just within a few days of the start of this 
administration.
  So I thank my colleagues who came here tonight to talk about this.
  The architect of this plan is a man named Russell Vought. Russell 
Vought did the last budget for Trump the first time he served. And then 
he started a nonprofit think tank that worked to develop the basic 
plans for Project 2025. Then he became the architect of Project 2025.
  And it has three main parts. The first part: Attack and tear down 
programs for America's families, the ones that

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help them get on their feet and be able to thrive and move into the 
middle class. The second part is to borrow $2 to $3 trillion from the 
Federal Treasury. And the third part is to do massive tax giveaways to 
the richest Americans.
  He has laid all three of them out. Check it out in Project 2025. He 
came and talked to us all about all these programs, these three steps: 
Savage the programs for families--of course, that wasn't exactly the 
words he used; he just said massive cuts to things like Medicaid, 
massive cuts to things like childcare program. Everybody should be on 
their own, with no foundation to have any assistance getting on their 
feet and being able to move forward--not on healthcare, not on housing, 
not on education, not on childcare, not on anything. Well, that is the 
attack on families. That is the great betrayal.
  He is going to be voted on this Thursday in the Budget Committee. The 
Budget Democrats and our Democratic leader have written and said this 
vote should be delayed. We are in the middle of a constitutional 
crisis. The architect of that crisis is the man to be voted on on 
Thursday. This is wrong. Let's fix this constitutional crisis and then 
continue with the conversation about confirmation of the nominee 
Russell Vought.
  Let's work together, Democrats and Republicans, to defend the 
institutions of our democracy. Let's say no to this sweeping 
authoritarian power grab. Let's defend the Constitution.

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