[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 73 (Thursday, May 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2723-S2726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
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PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY RELATING TO ``REVIEW OF FINAL RULE RECLASSIFICATION
OF MAJOR SOURCES AS AREA SOURCES UNDER SECTION 112 OF THE CLEAN AIR
ACT''
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate will resume
consideration of S.J. Res. 31, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:
A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 31) providing for
congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United
States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental
Protection Agency relating to ``Review of Final Rule
Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under
Section 112 of the Clean Air Act''.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.
National Home Visiting Week
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to thank all of my
colleagues for unanimously passing my bipartisan resolution to
designate a National Home Visiting Week because supporting parents and
children is a topic of importance to all of my colleagues and to this
Senator.
The first few years of a child's life are crucial to their overall
growth and development. In fact, every child deserves a chance to live
up to his or her potential. Providing new and expecting parents with
the skills needed to meet the demands of their children assists in
strengthening families and encourages healthy development.
Evidence-based home visiting programs, like the Federal Maternal,
Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program help improve
developmental outcomes for children and reduce postpartum depression,
child abuse, and neglect.
Families ought to have a strong foundation to thrive. Home visitors
that provide these evidence-based services help families lay this
important foundation.
It is important that we support parents as they raise the next
generation.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The majority leader is recognized.
100th Dakota Relays
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, tomorrow afternoon, runners will take their
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marks for the 100th returning of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays. I have
to say, I look forward to this event every year. It is more than a
track meet. It is one of the hallmarks of sports in South Dakota and an
incredible tradition that is now marking 100 years.
Each year, thousands of high school athletes come from across the
upper Midwest to compete at the Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, SD.
But the Dakota Relays is not about where you are from or how big your
school is; it is about the best competing against the best. And it is a
thrilling 2 days--hurdles, relays, the long jump, javelin, and, of
course, the special event on Friday night that showcases some of the
best runners in the region. Athletes get to compete against other
athletes they won't see during a season or even at their statewide
track meets, and it is incredible to see how hard these high schoolers
work, to see them give it their all, and to see their sportsmanship in
both victory and defeat.
For generations, the Dakota Relays has been the ultimate proving
ground and a tradition shared by many South Dakota families. My own
family's involvement in the relays stretches from the very beginning.
My wife Kimberley's grandfather--the legendary ``Smokey Joe'' Mendel--
ran in one of the first Dakota Relays, and he was the first person to
be inducted into the Dakota Relays Hall of Fame in 1959. My dad coached
a relay team from Murdo--my hometown--that made it to the relays a
couple of different times. Both of my daughters competed in the relays
when they were in high school. In fact, both were gold medalists. I
have a son-in-law who is also a gold medalist at the relays, and my
daughter Brittany's 4 x 800-meter relay team still holds the meet
record that they set back in 2005.
The Dakota Relays has been a highlight of high school athletes'
careers for as long as it has been around. When legendary Washington
High School coach Howard Wood established the relays, he did it to give
student athletes an opportunity to compete at a high level. That first
year featured athletes from nine schools. Today, it is much more than I
think Coach Wood ever would have imagined: 3,000 athletes and 20,000
fans are expected this year; 17 future Olympians have competed in the
Dakota Relays. It is now the longest running high school track meet in
South Dakota and one of the longest running in the entire country.
Even as it has grown, the Dakota Relays still draws its support and
strength from the local community, especially from the volunteers who
work hard to keep the events running smoothly. The relays couldn't run
without these men and women, and I always enjoy the chance to help out
when I can; although, these days, I am helping to move hurdles or
presenting medals now that technology has replaced me as a timer.
Sioux Falls native Terry Nielsen has volunteered in various roles at
the Dakota Relays for almost 50 years.
After all those years, he says:
The success of this meet is based on small town South
Dakota.
I couldn't agree more.
The Dakota Relays represent what I love about South Dakota, about our
small towns, and about the people and values that make our State great.
At the entrance of Howard Wood Field is a plaque that reads, ``Howard
Wood . . . Molder of Youth,'' and I have to say that is what a good
coach does: shapes youth, pushes athletes to do more, to be better, to
think about more than just themselves. Coach Wood believed that
athletics develops character and knowledge that serve athletes in every
stage of life.
He said:
Athletics should teach the following [lessons]: To mind
one's own business; to be a good loser--to lose without
crying; to be a good winner--to win without boasting; to be
nonsolicitous of sympathy; to develop initiative and
cooperation; good sportsmanship, which is none other than the
Golden Rule; a respect for the code; control of the emotional
self; to care for the body. . . . My sincere hope and wish is
that these few points have been grounded.
That was from the founder of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays.
Howard Wood's legacy is alive and well after 100 years at the Dakota
Relays, and as always, I look forward to being there this year to cheer
on our athletes and to be a part of this great South Dakota tradition.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The Democratic leader is recognized.
Trump Administration First 100 Days
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Donald Trump's first 100 days in office
boil down to one word: ``failure.''
Yesterday, we learned that the U.S. economy shrank--actually shrank--
in the first quarter of 2025. It is his first quarter in office, and
the economy shrinks. It was the worst single quarter the economy has
seen since the time of the pandemic.
And what does Donald Trump have to say about this? Does he admit his
mistakes? Does he take responsibility, like any leader should do? Of
course not. Donald Trump has said it is Joe Biden's fault the economy
is shrinking today. He said it will be Joe Biden's fault if the GDP is
bad again in the next quarter.
In Donald Trump's alternate universe, when things go wrong, it is
always someone else's fault. It is just appalling.
It is no surprise why Donald Trump's polls are slipping. He starts a
trade war with no plan at all and then tells families they will just
have to settle for higher prices. He tells parents they will have to
accept fewer and more expensive gifts for their kids for Christmas.
Leave it to Donald Trump to act like a Grinch in the middle of spring.
Fewer choices, higher prices--that is the Trump economy in a nutshell.
But Donald Trump has not acted alone. Republicans in the Senate and
the House own his mess too. It is not just that Republicans are silent;
they are complicit in Donald Trump's failures.
Last night, Senate Republicans had a chance to stop Donald Trump's
tariffs here on the Senate floor. They said no. They chose to side with
the tariffs instead. They chose to side with high prices for
Americans--$4,000 more a year. They chose to side with Donald Trump
over siding with the American consumer, who is paying more than $4,000
a year. So Republicans now own Donald Trump's tariffs.
Let me repeat. Republicans own Donald Trump's tariffs.
Don't complain about him. Don't go knocking at the White House door,
saying: Get rid of him. You are going along, and you voted to go along.
If Republicans wanted to stop these tariffs, they certainly could.
They have the power. Many of them know privately it is the right thing
to do, but they are too scared to cross Donald Trump. So instead of
siding with the American consumer, they side with him and enable his
destructive behavior.
But it is not just tariffs--oh, no. Republicans are behind every
failure of Donald Trump. They are his enablers, his collaborators, his
coconspirators. We all know they could undo Trump's failing policies if
they wanted to, but they sit on their hands and in so many cases are
complicit.
Republicans are complicit in Donald Trump's push for tax cuts for
billionaires. They are complicit in putting Medicaid funding on the
chopping block. They are complicit in adding $52 trillion to the
national debt. They are complicit as DOGE sabotages the Social Security
Administration. They are complicit in the leadership failures at the
Pentagon. And they will be complicit should the economy slip into a
wholly unnecessary recession, God forbid.
In just 100 days of Donald Trump, polls show Americans are getting
fed up. They are fed up with the chaos, they are fed up with the
lawlessness, and they are fed up with Donald Trump siding with the
special few over them. And the longer the Republicans enable Donald
Trump's reckless behavior, the American people are going to get fed up
with Republican majorities as well.
Tariffs
Mr. President, now on tariffs and retailers. Even Donald Trump admits
that prices are going up because of his
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trade war. Companies ranging from Procter & Gamble, to Target, to
adidas, to Best Buy, to AutoZone all warn--all warn--that a global
trade war means that Americans will pay more for their products. Even
if some companies try to hold off for a little while, eventually, the
dam is going to break. The result? The average household will pay an
extra $4,700 a year. That is a lot of money for an average family.
I urge national retailers to be transparent to their customers. If
national retailers raise prices on their products, they should list out
exactly how much their price increases are connected to tariffs. They
should break it down so consumers know.
Companies itemizing the cost of tariffs for their customers is not
``hostile'' or ``political''; it is being honest with consumers. And it
is easy to do. I have talked to businesspeople all over my State and
even the country. They know how much the costs are increasing because
of tariffs. They simply have to let consumers know as well.
Electric and gas companies already itemize each surcharge and fee in
each utility bill. Airline companies on their tickets list out fuel
costs, security fees, and base fares. Why shouldn't they and all
companies do the same for this new increased cost from tariffs?
Retailers have reportedly already explained to the Trump
administration the impact of tariffs on their products. Well, consumers
deserve the same courtesy. Itemize the price of tariffs, break down the
costs so people can see, and maybe that will cause enough people to put
pressure on Republican Senators and Congressmen and on the White House
to get rid of these ridiculous tariffs across the world. And it will
serve the interests of the retailers as well because if the tariffs go
away, their prices will go back down.
Americans deserve to know who is picking their pockets. I call on
retailers to disclose to consumers how much tariffs are increasing the
prices of their products, and they should do so as soon as possible.
Nomination of Frank Bisignano
Mr. President, on the Bisignano nomination, today, Senate Republicans
will vote to advance Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security
Administration.
Frank Bisignano has an ominous reputation: He is Mr. Slash and Burn.
Bisignano equals slash and burn when it comes to companies and now when
it comes to the Social Security Administration. Everywhere he goes,
every company he has been part of, he slashes and burns. So I can't
think of a worst Agency for Mr. Slash-and-Burn Bisignano to lead than
the Social Security Administration.
Every single Republican who votes yes on Bisignano is voting yes to
ax Social Security.
The Social Security Administration is already in chaos. Knowing how
popular it is, the Trump administration doesn't say outright they want
to kill it. Instead, they want to strangle it--fewer offices, fewer
people in the offices, trying to take away phone lines, trying to take
away email--strangle it because they know it is too popular to say they
are going to kill it directly.
But already, because of their actions--because of the Trump
administration, DOGE, Musk--the Social Security Administration is
already in chaos. People's benefits are already in danger of being
delayed. Wait times over the phones are getting longer. Field offices
are shutting down. Employees are getting fired. Staffing is at a 50-
year low. Chaos. And the last place you need it is at the Social
Security Administration.
DOGE says--Musk says they want to get rid of waste. There is no waste
here. Social Security is one of the leanest operations there is. But
they just want to kill it and probably eventually privatize it. The
hard-right wing, which hates all government, wants to take this crown
jewel that Americans have and love--Social Security--and privatize it?
That is what some of them what to do, if you read some of these
academic papers. No way. We are going to fight that tooth and nail, and
we will stop that.
Republicans have a choice when it comes to this nominee. To confirm
him is to be complicit in dismantling Social Security. They should vote
against moving forward today.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I just heard the minority leader talk
about the first 100 days under President Trump.
When I talk to the people at home in Wyoming about the successes of
this Trump administration, the first 100 days, compared to what I heard
from the minority leader, it is a difference between night and day.
Specifically, the people of Wyoming are delighted with the job
President Trump has been doing and especially on the issue of the
southern border, because for 4 years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris told
us, told all of America, and told all of the world they could do
nothing to fix the southern border crisis. They swore nothing could
have stopped the 10 million illegal immigrants who flooded into the
country. It took President Trump to prove them wrong.
Of all of President Trump's 100-day accomplishments, fixing the Biden
border crisis shines the brightest of all. Seal the border; stop the
invasion of illegal immigrants--President Trump promised to do it at
campaign stops all around the country, and he delivered quickly.
Today, we have the most secure border on record. The southern border
has now been closed down tight.
Illegal border crossings are down by over 94 percent since President
Trump took office. The Border Patrol agents feel free to do their job
once again, and they are now doing it with pride. Their service and
their sacrifice are once again respected--not how it was in the Biden
administration. The Border Patrol chief says that morale is ``going
through the roof.'' They are able to do their job.
Even CBS News captured the dramatic turnaround. This is CBS News:
[T]ypically, when we go to the border, we see at least one
group of people who are trying to cross into the U.S.
illegally. We did not see a single migrant.
CBS News.
Let's contrast that to what we saw with Joe Biden. It is staggering.
Think about it. In December of 2023, with the Biden administration,
Biden's open border policies allowed up to 14,000 illegal immigrants
coming across our border on a daily basis. Today, we are down to less
than 7,000 in a whole month. They had nearly twice that amount in a
single day in the Biden administration.
This is the result of President Trump in the White House. Illegal
immigrants caught at the border face swift removal--not like it was
before. In President Trump's first 100 days, only 9 illegal immigrants
were released into America--9, period--9. Last year, during that same
period, more than 184,000 illegal immigrants were released into the
United States.
We didn't need new laws; we needed a new President. And we got one
100 days ago--a President with guts, a President with vision, and a
President with a backbone, something we needed desperately and now
have.
How did President Trump do it? Well, he ripped up the Democrats' open
invitation that said to illegal immigrants from around the world: Come
to America.
No more free healthcare. No more free debit cards. No more free cell
phones. No more free hotel rooms. No more free plane tickets. No more
catch-and-release. That is how you get the job done. President Trump
dismantled Joe Biden's parole program abuses--and they were abuses. He
replaced catch-and-release with detain-and-deport. He launched
deportations at the border and in the country.
He labeled the cartels--those are those evil traffickers of drugs and
of people. He labeled them, as he should have, as foreign terrorist
organizations. The world heard the message loud and clear. Illegal
immigrants, they turned around and they went home.
One Venezuelan illegal immigrant put it this way: I am just going
back, he said, because with Donald Trump it is going to be too hard.
That is right; it is too hard to come to this country now illegally.
And the American people, and certainly the people in my home State in
Wyoming, say that is the way it ought to be. When illegal immigrants
know they can't sneak in and then stay, they won't come. Detain-and-
deport deters the flow of illegal immigrants.
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Now we need to mirror that same success inside America. President
Trump is off to a strong start there as well. His strategic and
historic deportation campaign, the largest in our history, is making
our streets safer, and communities know it. The criminals that
President Trump is expelling are the worst of the worst. They are the
murderers, the drug dealers, the gang members, the human traffickers.
They are gone. In 100 days, 66,000 deportations have been carried
out. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of illegal immigrants,
of the criminals, have already outpaced all of 2024 under Joe Biden.
Republicans in this body, in Congress--in the House and in the Senate--
are moving forward to get law enforcement the resources they need to
finish the job, and that includes $175 billion for border security that
we have passed here in the Senate. We will finish the wall. We will
boost Border Patrol. We will strengthen ICE, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, and expand detention capacity.
The people in my home State are thrilled that President Trump is
enforcing the law and restoring order. Now, the Democrats, on the other
hand, they are not thrilled; they are furious. They don't like it. They
like open borders.
Democrats in Congress are racing to El Salvador to defend an MS-13
gang member--or, as one of the media calls him, the Maryland man. A
Member of this body led the charge.
In 2023, that Member's constituent Rachel Morin--she was a mother of
five--was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant. He did not speak
out, that same Member who rushed to El Salvador. No. He didn't meet
with her family. No. He refused.
You talk about a situation that the American people understand: the
difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Rush to El
Salvador but won't talk to the family of a young woman, a mother of
five, murdered.
That is the mindset of the Democrats: Open the borders. Let them come
in. Let them kill. Let them rape.
It is astonishing.
Rush to El Salvador to fight for a gang member. And that Senator said
he wasn't going to quit fighting until that thug is back in America.
So let me ask my colleagues a question: Does that make America safer?
Let's remember who the Democrats are fighting for. This is a man who
had no right to be here--here illegally; a man who has a lawful removal
order; a verified member of MS-13, according to an immigration judge--
not according to me; according to an immigration judge--a human
trafficker, a man whose wife filed two restraining orders against him,
a man who beat his wife, who threatened to kill her and who bragged
``nobody can do anything'' to him. That is who the Democrats are
fighting for.
We are fighting for our safe communities. That is what we need here.
They are not defending fairness--Democrats are not. They are shielding
illegal immigrant criminals from justice, and it is wrong. Democrats
choose rapists and killers over American families harmed by their
policies.
Why? It seems that they want the illegal immigration invasion to
continue. Republicans are different. Our party is committed to
protecting American families. We stand for law and order. Our mission
is to restore safety for the American people--security for the American
people and safety for our communities.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Hawaii.
Vaccine Placebo Testing
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, yesterday, the Health Secretary, RFK, Jr.,
announced that the Department would subject all new vaccines--including
vaccines for children and vaccines for well-researched diseases like
measles and polio--to placebo testing.
So what does that mean? It means that they would take a bunch of
kids, divide them into two groups and give some of the kids the vaccine
for rubella and mumps or polio; and then they would take the other half
and give them a placebo--a dummy vaccine that doesn't work; it is not
supposed to work; and then they would study how the kids fare, to let
the disease process continue.
Let me tell you something about my father. My father was the only
doctor on the record for the first couple of years after the Tuskegee
experiments on African-American men in which they withheld lifesaving
medicine from hundreds of African-American men, believing that they
were expendable, to ``observe the disease process.''
What they are contemplating--and I don't know how serious this is,
but what they are contemplating is that at scale with children. I am
hoping that the Department clarifies today that is not what they meant;
that is fake news. But as of now, they are contemplating populationwide
experiments on children to see how the disease process progresses.
There should be 100 U.S. Senators opposed to that, and I pray that
they back off of this by the end of the day.
H.J. Res. 75
Mr. President, the Trump environmental agenda revolves around one
thing and one thing only: How do we make fossil fuel companies even
richer while raising costs for everybody else?
You know, people voted for Trump for all kinds of reasons, but I
don't know anybody who voted for Trump hoping that their kids and their
neighbors would be more exposed to the most toxic pollutants like
mercury and lead that cause cancer, cause brain damage, and cause birth
defects. But through their continued rollback of fundamental
environmental protections, that is what we are about to do in 10
minutes.
For decades, these regulations have made our communities safer and
healthier. You can step outside or have your kids play at the park
without worrying about the air being polluted by harmful toxins. There
is no reason that we should trust polluters chasing profits to
responsibly self-regulate.
There are lots of problems in the government and there are even some
regulations that don't make any sense, but the Clean Air Act, the Clean
Water Act, it has been very, very successful over the many, many
decades. And what the Republicans are moving forward with today is a
rollback of the thing that has protected our kids, our family members,
and our community members just to make sure--this isn't even a climate
thing--that you are not breathing in the kinds of toxic chemicals that
cause brain damage and cause cancer.
Protecting our communities is one of the most basic jobs of a U.S.
Senator, and this resolution does the opposite. For that very simple
reason, I urge my colleagues to vote against it.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we start the vote now.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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