[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S489-S490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I think it is fair to say that none of 
us expected a week ago to be here on the floor at this moment, talking 
about a massive, across-the-board freeze on Federal funding. I don't 
think either of us, on either side of the aisle, expected to be here on 
this topic.
  We are in no ordinary time. The chaos and confusion are 
extraordinary. And it is the result of one man: Donald Trump. It is 
part of a calculated strategy: confusion and chaos; a blizzard of 
illegal actions; a hiring freeze that violates the law; a firing of 
inspectors general that abridges the statute; a freeze on funding that 
crosses the line because it violates the Impoundment Control Act, which 
has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court despite Donald Trump's 
contention that it is unconstitutional; and it also violates the 
Constitution.
  It is a seizure of power--namely, the power of the purse--that 
Congress intended never to surrender. It was given by the Founders as a 
check on Presidential power. The checks and balances of our system 
operate to create a system that prevents tyranny. And, unfortunately, 
this country is veering and careening toward tyranny.
  So we are here to say we will not obey in advance. One of the lessons 
of ``Totalitarianism in the 20th Century,'' one of the ``Twenty Lessons 
from the Twentieth Century'' that Professor Tim Snyder has instructed 
us to take from that awful period in world history is: Do not obey in 
advance; do not yield what the tyrant wants in advance of his demanding 
it. Stand up, speak out, stop it.
  That is why we are here. And the American people rose up in the last 
24 hours because of the chaos and confusion of this funding freeze they 
saw in their everyday lives. They saw it in the domestic shelters that 
were imperiled, in the homeless places that would go

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without funding, at the food banks, at the community health centers, at 
daycare places, in schools, in hospitals. In every place where everyday 
Americans depend on vital services for their ordinary lives, they were 
seeing their worlds upended.
  And the Trump administration responded to that outcry. They pulled 
back from the precipice of a total breakdown in order. They came back 
from the cliff. They walked back the illegal order to freeze that 
funding.
  But--make no mistake--they did it once, and they can do it again. In 
fact, after the one-line order that walked back that funding freeze, 
the President's Press Secretary said: Well, the funding freeze is still 
in effect.
  These whiplash reversals are themselves damaging the country. 
Organizations can't meet payrolls. They can't plan budgets. They can't 
assign their staff. They can't pay for the machines that do the road 
reconstruction and bridge repair. They can't run railroads when they 
don't know that Amtrak is going to be funded. And so the doubt, 
uncertainty, breeding anxiety and fear and anger are also damaging the 
country.
  They did it once, and they can do it again. And it looks like they 
already have, because the purpose here is theft. Let's call it what it 
is. Donald Trump is stealing from the community health centers and 
domestic violence shelters to finance tax cuts for billionaires. He is 
looting those kinds of public services so that there is money to pay 
for those tax cuts benefiting his billionaire friends and family.
  And Americans have to see that fact for what it is--the plain truth, 
unpleasant as it may be, unpalatable morally, and illegal under our 
Constitution.
  He doesn't have the power to just stop spending under an 
appropriation bill passed by Congress and signed by the President. It 
may not have been signed by this President, but that fact makes no 
difference. It is the law. That spending appropriation is the law of 
the land. The President has no right to seize the power of the purse 
under the Constitution and violate that law.
  Now, if the order had remained in effect, as it was originally 
intended, it almost certainly would have been enjoined by the courts. I 
certainly hope so. The initial administrative stay indicates the court 
was certainly concerned about it, and the combination of irreparable 
harm and likely prevailing on the merits, I think would have led that 
court in the District of Columbia to hold that a temporary injunction 
at least was appropriate.
  But the fact is we then may have a President who disobeys a court 
order. We are in uncharted territory. It is truly a crisis for our 
democracy.
  And I want to thank the American people for that outcry that led to 
the reversal but also to alert the American people that we are far from 
done.
  And I want to appeal to my Republican colleagues. In fact, I want to 
appeal to Republicans in Connecticut, people who think of themselves as 
a member or a supporter of the Republican Party and Republican 
candidates. This fight is yours, too, because those domestic shelters 
and community health centers and all the facilities, all the groups, 
all the individuals affected by this massive funding freeze, they are 
in red States as well as blue States. The block grants that are 
suspended, they are in red States and in blue States. The firefighter 
equipment that will be held back--red States as well as blue States. 
The subsidies for housing and the benefits and care for veterans--red 
States and blue States.

  This fight is yours, not just ours on this side of the aisle. And my 
Republican colleagues, I am absolutely sure, are hearing from their 
constituents about how difficult and daunting these last 24 hours have 
been after the announcement of this freeze because I know I have 
fielded calls from all across the State of Connecticut--from those food 
bank programs, health and nutrition assistance programs, Head Start and 
childcare programs, housing programs, veterans programs, energy 
assistance programs, and many more.
  And it has impacts beyond what you would think are obvious. Just 
Monday, I met with farmers who suffered from flooding and hailstorms 
earlier this year--last year. And under the end-of-session continuing 
resolution that we passed, disaster relief was provided across the 
country for farmers and for others. And those farmers celebrated, along 
with us, Members of the congressional delegation, the fact that they 
were receiving millions of dollars to help them recover from the 
floods. Well, now that money is uncertain--when it will arrive and even 
whether it will be available.
  Connecticut Head Start was unable to access payments. President 
Trump's order jeopardized childcare and early childhood education for 
5,000 families. Domestic violence shelters, survivors with nowhere else 
to go, were forced to return to their homes where there were abusers. 
This funding freeze has terrifying and likely implications not just for 
Connecticut but all over the country.
  And in the midst of winter, the LIHEAP program, Low Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program, a critical program that provides energy 
assistance to low-income individuals and households, is also in 
jeopardy. One hundred thousand households in Connecticut rely on LIHEAP 
to meet their home energy needs. Uncertainty about this Federal funding 
leaves them more vulnerable than ever.
  Like my colleagues, I could go on. But my colleagues are joining us 
on the floor, and I just want to end on this note. I mentioned that 
this funding freeze is part of a calculated strategy to steal from the 
domestic violence shelters and childcare and Head Start and all the 
other services funded under these programs and make that money 
available for tax cuts to the billionaire friends and family of Donald 
Trump.
  But what is also part of the strategy is a blizzard of orders, a 
deluge of illegalities, one of them being the firing of inspectors 
general. And if there is one thing we need right now in our Federal 
Government, it is transparency; it is the watchdogs who demand 
accountability and stop waste and fraud and abuse. Firing inspectors 
general, the independent watchdogs and bulwarks against corruption, is 
a profoundly important sign of where this President wants to take the 
country.
  The Veterans' Inspector General, Mike Missal, has recovered billions 
of dollars for the VA. Firing him and eliminating his independent 
oversight is a betrayal of trust to our veterans, as well as a 
violation of law, because none of these inspectors general was fired 
with the requisite 30-day notice to Congress and with a statement of 
reasons and rationale that is required under the law.
  If the President is really committed to finding waste in government, 
why is he firing the watchdogs who are the ones who root it out? And 
today's or earlier this week's firing makes clear that the President is 
lacking in that commitment.
  We are here because we are determined to fight, and we are determined 
also to continue to support the American people in this outcry against 
lawlessness and recklessness that so imperils hard-working, everyday 
Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.

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