[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 125 (Tuesday, July 22, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4515-S4518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
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MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND RELATED AGENCIES
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3944, which the
clerk will report.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 121, H.R. 3944, a bill
making appropriations for military construction, the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other
purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Tribute to Becky Koenig
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to recognize an Iowa
teacher who this very week is making the last trip of her almost 40-
year teaching career bringing students to Washington, DC.
Becky Koenig has been an exceptional educator, coach, and mentor, as
well as being very beloved by her students. Becky has made a lasting
impact on students and their families in the communities of Sumner, IA;
Forest City, IA; Lake Park, IA; and Spencer, IA.
Becky's contributions to the lives of so many Iowans will be
remembered and felt long after her well-deserved retirement.
Outside of school hours, Becky has devoted 38 years to coaching
speech. In fact, she has played a very major role in a remarkable Iowa
record. The large-group speech program at Spencer has been able to send
at least one group to the Iowa All-State Festival every single year of
the competition's 50-year existence.
Although Becky will leave the classroom behind, the deep connections
she has built with her students will leave a lasting legacy in each of
their lives.
Through her passion and energy, she has shaped the minds of many
students. Iowa has been lucky to have an educator like Becky.
Most of us remember at least one teacher that inspired us to get
where we are today. Becky has been that teacher for countless Iowa
students.
I am pleased to join her fellow teachers, students, and all Iowans to
say thank you to Becky Koenig for her exceptional career.
We wish you all the very best in retirement, and, of course, we thank
you for your service.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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 PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The majority leader is recognized.
GENIUS Act
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, on Friday, President Trump signed the first
major digital assets bill in American history into law. The GENIUS Act
opens the door for digital assets to come into the mainstream, and it
sets us up for sustained American leadership and financial innovation.
Thanks to the work of Senators Lummis and Hagerty and Chairman Tim
Scott, the GENIUS Act will help, as President Trump said, make America
the crypto capital of the world.
The GENIUS Act creates a first of its kind regulatory framework for
stablecoins, an important part of the digital asset ecosystem. Now,
$250 billion in stablecoins is in circulation today, up 22 percent just
this year. On an average day, around $100 billion in transactions is
executed using
[[Page S4516]]
stablecoins, and the vast majority of those stablecoins are backed by
the U.S. dollar.
Stablecoins have an important role to play in payments. While digital
asset advocates generally believe in holding Bitcoin because of its
price fluctuations and growth in value over the last several years,
stablecoins offer both the speed and security of the blockchain and the
stability and usability of a dollar bill.
And since most stablecoins are backed by the dollar, this represents
an opportunity to strengthen the dollar and, by extension, the economy.
When it comes to digital assets, in many ways, the future is already
here. The question is whether we welcome that future. The GENIUS Act
offers an emphatic ``yes'' to that question.
After years of stablecoins operating in a legal gray zone, the GENIUS
Act finally lays out a clear regulatory framework. That includes
consumer protections so Americans can trust who they are doing business
with when they purchase stablecoins. The bill's light touch and
tailored standards will provide consumers with confidence, while
promoting continued innovation right here in the United States. And its
enforcement provisions offer clarity to stablecoin issuers and ensure
accountability for violations.
The GENIUS Act also protects against bad actors using stablecoins for
malicious purposes. It holds stablecoin issuers to the same standard as
other financial institutions, subject to the Bank Secrecy Act. That
means issuers will need to monitor and report suspicious activity,
comply with U.S. sanctions, and block transactions that violate State
and Federal law.
What is at stake here became clear last week when the Wall Street
Journal reported that China seems to be concerned about stablecoin
solidifying dollar dominance in the global financial system, spurred in
no small part by the GENIUS Act. It is clear that the GENIUS Act is
already helping our country secure American leadership in this
important space. We want stablecoins to be made in America. We want
digital assets to take root and to flourish in our country. We want
America to lead in financial innovation, and the GENIUS Act will help
us get there.
It won't be the last word on digital assets, though. There is still
much more work to be done in this space, including on market structure.
Senators Lummis, Hagerty, and Scott are once again leading on this
issue, releasing the Senate's market structure framework today, and I
thank them for their important work.
And I want to say that the next steps on digital assets should look
to the GENIUS Act as a model, both for its light touch and pro-
innovation approach and for the bipartisanship that characterized the
process.
Digital assets are the future, and we are going to continue working
to make sure that that future is American made.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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 PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The Democratic leader is recognized.
Appropriations
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will take a
procedural vote on the MILCON-VA funding bill. The Senate version of
this legislation took some important steps to reverse a number of the
awful cuts posed by DOGE and Russell Vought, particularly cuts against
our Nation's veterans--people who served us, who risked their lives for
us--and they want to cut their healthcare and cut what the VA does for
them. That is a bad thing, and I am glad this bill undoes a lot of
that.
It is also, for now, a positive thing that the Senate version's
funding number is significantly higher than the House's. That is thanks
to the push Democrats made in committee, and I thank my colleagues for
their work to date.
But we will see how the floor process evolves here on the floor.
Given Republicans' recent actions undermining bipartisan
appropriations, nothing is guaranteed. Senate Democrats will meet today
at our weekly caucus lunch to discuss today's vote.
As recently as yesterday, though, I heard my friend the Republican
leader come to the floor and talk about the need for bipartisanship in
appropriations, and I heard him take issue with Democratic criticisms
against the approach Republicans have taken over the last few months.
Look, we all would like to see bipartisanship. It has been a
tradition in this Senate until that evaporated over the last decade.
But Leader Thune is sort of talking out of both sides of his mouth. On
the one hand, Thune says he wants bipartisanship. On the other, he is
pushing rescissions packages here on the floor. He is allowing party-
line votes to reverse bipartisan funding agreements.
Well, you can't have it both ways. What he is doing with rescissions
is the opposite of bipartisanship because rescissions packages totally
renege on agreements both sides reached on funding.
When Donald Trump and Russell Vought insist on rescissions, and an
obeisant Republican Congress goes along, even though many of them knows
it is wrong, it makes the spending process totally partisan.
So the leader's words and his actions are a complete contradiction.
He can't have it both ways.
If Leader Thune hopes to see bipartisanship, he should tend to his
own garden first and convince his Republican colleagues and the White
House that bipartisanship is the way to go to do what is best for the
American people.
Republicans sold their rescissions package as cutting wasteful
spending, but we all know that it is not that at all; that it was about
giving Donald Trump what he wanted and using partisan means to get it
all done.
Meanwhile, we know that Russell Vought and Donald Trump want Congress
to green-light yet another rescissions package for the near future.
Russell Vought even says--openly--that the appropriation process should
be ``less bipartisan.''
Frankly, right now, the biggest obstacle to a good-faith, bipartisan
funding process is coming from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and
from Republicans all too eager to give Donald Trump and Russell Vought
whatever they want.
And, of course, Republicans, not even a month ago, pushed Trump's
``Big Ugly Betrayal'' on a completely partisan vote, passing
devastating cuts to Medicaid, to healthcare, to good-paying jobs,
especially in rural communities, all to fund tax breaks for
billionaires. And they did it by breaking the norms of the Senate, by
inventing fake math, by defying the concerns of even their own Members
to get it done. That kind of legislative stunt only makes it harder--
harder--for bipartisanship to take root.
We will see how our Republican colleagues choose to proceed this
week. They can either keep doing Donald Trump and Russell Vought's
bidding or work with Democrats on funding priorities that will serve
the American people well. They can't do both. They can't have it both
ways.
Nomination of Emil J. Bove III
Mr. President, now, on Mr. Bove, we all know that Donald Trump has a
history of pushing shockingly unqualified and politically motivated
nominees to the Federal bench. But, today, Leader Thune will seek to
file cloture on perhaps Donald Trump's worst--worst--judicial nominee
to date, Emil Bove.
One look at Mr. Bove and you know he is bad, bad news. He is someone
hostile to the rule of law, hostile to democratic norms, but
religiously obedient to Donald Trump.
And Republicans aren't applying so much as a whisper of scrutiny. The
Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee, in fact, cut off debate on
Mr. Bove and refused to let Democrats speak or ask questions during Mr.
Bove's hearing.
Let me take a moment to explain why this nominee is uniquely unfit,
which the American people must hear, even though the Republican
Judiciary Committee didn't want them to.
Mr. Bove's entire career has been built on one thing--one thing:
fealty to Donald Trump. He made his name handling Donald Trump's dirty
laundry. He handled Donald Trump's dirty laundry, first, as his
personal attorney and,
[[Page S4517]]
then, as his hit man at the Justice Department. He defended Donald
Trump when he was charged with inciting an insurrection on January 6,
on mishandling classified documents and on falsifying business records,
and more.
That got him a promotion to a senior role at DOJ. There, Mr. Bove
weaponized the Department to carry out political retributions against
people Donald Trump considered his enemies, with a complete disregard
for free speech and due process. He punished FBI agents investigating
the January 6 insurrection and fired prosecutors working on criminal
charges for the January 6 rioters. He reportedly told DOJ lawyers to
ignore court orders and even deliberately mislead judges.
Let me say that again. Bove, a man seeking to become a circuit court
judge, himself, has reportedly told DOJ lawyers to deliberately mislead
judges. That, if true, is disqualifying--end of story. Nobody who is
ever suspected of misleading judges should even be considered for
judgeships themselves, without first getting to the facts. Yet
Republicans are trying to rush him through the process.
It is no wonder that over 75 former State and Federal judges,
nominated by Democratic and Republican Presidents, joined together--
joined together, Democrats and Republicans--to oppose Mr. Bove's
nomination.
If Senate Republicans allow Mr. Bove to pass through this Chamber
without a thorough examination, they will cause profound damage to this
institution as a check on the executive.
Our judges should always be held to the highest ethical standards and
should be individuals that can be trusted to apply the law impartially,
even if we may not all agree on every one of their opinions.
Mr. Bove, however, is the extreme of the extreme of the extreme. He
is not a jurist but, rather, a Trumpian henchman. His past shows he
seeks not to be impartial but rather to settle scores. All of the
accusations against him suggest he holds deep hostility against the
very bench he will soon be considered for. To even consider someone
like this for the circuit court is a dark, disturbing proposition.
I very strongly oppose his nomination.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Lummis). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum
call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Appropriations
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, today, I come to the floor to tell the
body that, for the first time in years, the Senate is going to begin
the appropriations process in the right way. The right way is on time.
The right way is here in public. And the right way is with bipartisan
support.
Now, that may seem routine, and it would be expected to be routine.
But here in the U.S. Senate, that hasn't been routine for a long time
because, for years, the appropriations process has been broken.
We just heard the minority leader, Senator Schumer, come to the floor
and say this process has become more partisan, as he said, only in the
recent weeks. Let me remind the minority leader of his own actions to
undermine the appropriations process.
Last year, 11 of 12 funding bills passed the Senate Appropriations
Committee. They were passed through regular order in the committee.
They had strong bipartisan support. Many actually were unanimous. Yet
not a single one of the appropriations bills that were overwhelmingly
agreed upon reached this floor of the U.S. Senate--not a one. Why?
Because the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, blocked each and every one
of them from coming to this floor. He let these 11 bipartisan
appropriation bills die at that desk right there.
As the majority leader at the time, Senator Schumer had the power to
bring each and every one of these bills to the floor of the U.S.
Senate, and he refused. Day after day--for 100 days, over 200 days--he
absolutely refused. He unilaterally shut down the appropriations
process, and now he and other Democrats are threatening to shut down
the government of the country.
Both Republicans and Democrats are fully aware of how broken the
appropriations process has become. The Senate is meant to be, as has
been described, the greatest deliberative body in the world. Yet over
the last 4 years, the Senate had become a graveyard for consensus
during the Biden administration and with Chuck Schumer as majority
leader. The Senate Republicans are now here to correct that.
The Republicans believe in a Senate that debates and amends and then
votes. We believe in regular order, not top-down control. That is why,
today, Republicans are bringing our first appropriations bill to the
floor. The bill funds veterans' healthcare. It strengthens military
readiness. It improves housing for servicemembers as well as for their
families. The bill went through the committee process. It passed 26 to
3. That is overwhelmingly bipartisan. This is one of several funding
bills that earned nearly unanimous support in the Appropriations
Committee. Now it deserves bipartisan support on the floor of the U.S.
Senate.
This bill to fund veterans' healthcare and military readiness and
housing should unite us. It shouldn't divide us. This is an opportunity
to return to real governing after years of Democrat-imposed
dysfunction. This is how we restore the trust in this institution and
the faith in the work that we do here. When the Senate does its job,
the American people are better off. The appropriations process is how
Congress fulfills our basic everyday legislative duty--the duty of
controlling the power of the purse. It forces accountability, and it
forces transparency that had been blocked in the past by the minority
leader. It requires Congress to look closely at every taxpayer dollar
being spent, and we should. We have an opportunity and an obligation to
do that.
This process helps Congress fund what really matters to the American
people. It means securing the border; it means strengthening our
national security; and it means protecting the most vulnerable among
us. It is the best tool that Congress has to rein in reckless, runaway
Washington spending. That is what Republicans are doing--
accountability, transparency, openness, letting people see the truth.
If Democrats walk away from this process again--and it sounds like
Chuck Schumer is trying to decide if he is going to allow his Members
to even vote on some of these things--and if they want to do it simply
to protect wasteful Washington spending, they will be the ones
sabotaging the Senate and shutting down the government.
It won't be the first time. It will be another Schumer shutdown. A
Schumer shutdown would punish hard-working families. A Schumer shutdown
certainly hurts seniors who rely on Social Security. A Schumer shutdown
hurts our military and the families who live paycheck to paycheck. And
a Schumer shutdown forces Border Patrol agents to work without pay. The
American people should not be forced to pay the price for the games of
the Democrat Party.
To my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee who worked in good
faith this last year only to see their hard work buried by petty
politics, this is an opportunity for us to do better.
Republicans are committed to restoring regular order, transparency,
and trust. We are doing the work of the American people here, and the
question is: Will Senate Democrats join us, or will they once again
drag this country into another Schumer shutdown?
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be
permitted to complete my remarks before we proceed to the vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, today, the Senate has the opportunity
to begin the consideration of an appropriations bill that is vital to
those now
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serving in our military as well as those who have served--our veterans.
I urge my colleagues to support cloture on the motion to proceed to
the fiscal year 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and
Related Agencies Appropriations bill when we vote this afternoon. This
bill addresses key military infrastructure needs, including housing
improvements for military families, and it takes care of our Nation's
veterans, to whom we owe an enormous debt--a debt that can never be
fully repaid.
I am the daughter of a World War II veteran, who was wounded twice in
the Battle of the Bulge and who earned two Purple Hearts and a Bronze
Star. I know, from my father's service and from his example, how deep
our gratitude should be to our veterans.
I want to commend the subcommittee chairman Senator Boozman and the
ranking member Senator Ossoff for their cooperative work on this
important bill.
In a moment, I will describe some of the major aspects of this
appropriations bill, but, first, I would like to share a few thoughts
on how we have arrived at this point.
When Vice Chair Murray and I took the helm of the Appropriations
Committee last Congress, we committed to working together to get our
committee back to the business of writing bills and advancing them
through regular order so that each and every Senator could have a voice
on the Senate floor in offering amendments, debating the bills, and
voting on them. This is a fundamental responsibility of Congress.
I want to express my gratitude to the Senate majority leader Senator
Thune for giving us the opportunity to bring the first of the fiscal
year 2026 appropriations bills to the Senate floor.
I would note that this is something that did not happen last year
under Democratic control of the Senate despite our Appropriations
Committee working so hard and reporting 11 of the 12 fiscal year 2025
appropriations bills; but not a single one was brought to the Senate
floor by the Democratic leader.
Now, there is no doubt that this is a challenging legislative
environment. We are currently operating under a yearlong continuing
resolution. The delays in completing the fiscal year 2025 process and
the fact that we are in the first year of a new administration has
contributed to a late and incomplete budget request from OMB. In the
face of these challenges, the members of the Appropriations Committee
have worked so hard--for months--in analyzing the President's budget
request, holding dozens of hearings, reviewing the enormous number of
requests and inputs from other Senators, getting input from outside
groups that were affected, and drafting legislation. So far, our
committee has reported 4 of the 12 annual appropriations bills, and we
have another two on the agenda for this Thursday.
I would point out to the Presiding Officer and to everyone who is
listening that each of these bills reported to date has been approved
by overwhelming bipartisan support, reflecting the collaborative
approach taken by the Appropriations Committee.
Turning now to the bill at hand, last week, our committee reported,
by a vote of 26 to 3, the House-passed Military Construction and
Veterans Affairs funding bill with a Senate substitute amendment. The
Senate's version includes vital resources to support our
servicemembers. It also invests in critical military infrastructure.
For example, it includes funding for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in
Kittery, ME--a pillar of our defense infrastructure that maintains and
modernizes our Navy's submarine fleet. It invests in the Air National
Guard's air refueling wing in Bangor, ME, known as the MAINEiacs, which
delivers essential aerial refueling support to military operations
around the globe. These are just two of the many examples of how this
bill helps to sustain key defense installations in Maine and across the
country.
The bill also includes funding to ensure that our veterans receive
the care and the benefits that they have earned through their service
to our country. Millions of Americans wear the honorable title of
``veteran,'' and I am proud that our great State of Maine has one of
the highest percentages of veterans in the entire country. This bill
includes funding for the VA healthcare system, including Maine's only
VA hospital, Togus. It includes investments to improve mental health
care, such as veterans' suicide and homelessness prevention programs.
It includes support for family caregivers--something that former
Senator Elizabeth Dole has worked so hard on--and it expands care for
rural veterans.
I am also proud that my hometown of Caribou, ME, was the location of
the VA's very first community-based outpatient clinic, known as a CBOC,
allowing veterans to receive care much closer to their homes. This
model was so successful that today the VA operates more than 750 of
these CBOCs across the country. The Senate measure also funds important
veterans' benefits, such as disability pensions, the GI bill, and
employment training programs.
I know from my colleagues that the Senate's substitute amendment was
put together with input from 89 Senators who submitted a total of 989
requests.
I see my colleague the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee on
the Senate floor. I am sure he can relate to these numbers.
My point is, this is not a bill that simply reflects the views of the
members of the Appropriations Committee. The members of this committee
went through 989 requests from 89 Senators in drafting this
legislation. So it clearly reflects the input of our colleagues, just
as it should.
Before I close, I would like to thank Vice Chair Murray for her
leadership and commitment to an appropriations process that works.
I am hopeful that cloture will be invoked today to allow us to
proceed to consideration of the Military Construction and Veterans
Affairs funding bill. Discussions are underway on whether to add to
this vehicle the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, which was
approved with only one dissenting vote, and the Agriculture, FDA, and
Related Agencies appropriations bill, which received unanimous support
when our committee reported those bills earlier this month. I will have
comments on those other bills at a later time. Another possible
addition is the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which was also reported
last week from our committee.
Finally, I would note that the responsibility of the purse is vested
in Congress through article I, section 9, clause 7 of our great
Constitution. That clause dictates that ``no Money shall be drawn from
the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.'' The
appropriations process is one of the key ways--it is the key way that
Congress carries out this significant constitutional responsibility. We
must not abdicate our constitutional responsibility for the purse.
I ask my colleagues for their support.
I yield the floor.
____________________