[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 163 (Friday, October 3, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6922-S6923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Freezing Grants

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am sure that you can agree, having been 
involved in public service for a large part of your life, that 
sometimes it takes a long time to make an idea a reality. That has 
happened many times to me in my public career and, certainly, in my 
home State.
  In 1969, 56 years ago, former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley proposed 
extending the Red Line of the Chicago

[[Page S6923]]

Transit Authority, and yet, still, to this day, residents of the Far 
South Side of Chicago don't have that transit option, at least not as 
they should.
  Transportation can make or break not only employment but attending 
school, even making it to a doctor's appointment. For decades, 
residents of the Far South Side viewed this extension as just 
politicians talking.
  That changed this past January, when the Federal Transit 
Administration officially obligated $1.9 billion in Federal funding for 
this crucial extension. After waiting over 50 years, it was finally 
going to be a reality. This project will expand transit access to 
100,000 people. It will be an economic boost for the city and create 
tens of thousands of jobs for working families.
  However, guess what: today, a news flash from the Trump 
administration. We received news that the OMB Director, Russell Vought, 
and the U.S. Department of Transportation have decided to illegally 
freeze $2 billion in grants for Chicago, including the obligated grant 
for the expansion, and risk decades worth of effort.
  This is in addition to the $7.5 billion in Department of Energy 
grants Director Vought canceled yesterday, including 33 projects 
totaling almost $700 million in Illinois.
  So why would this administration decide to target thousands of 
working families when it comes to their electric bills and when it 
comes to transportation? Because President Donald Trump wants to punish 
States like Illinois and the people who live there because they didn't 
vote for him in the last election.
  This is petty. It is unfair. It is wrong.
  These vindictive actions will cost Illinoisans jobs. Many of them 
will lose their employment. And it is going to raise the cost of 
electricity across the country.
  Freezing funds for these projects is a blatant abuse of power by a 
President and an administration that would rather settle petty personal 
scores than actually help people.
  OMB should immediately release any freeze on these funds, and I will 
do anything I can, with Senator Duckworth, to hold this administration 
accountable for its decisions, which continue to hurt working families.


                  Nomination of Stanley Woodward, Jr.

  Mr. President, on a separate subject, the upcoming vote on more than 
100 nominees is exactly what I feared would happen when Senate 
Republicans violated Senate rules to fast-track nominees. This has 
opened the door to rushing through more extreme nominees who have one 
qualification for office: They are blindly loyal to President Trump.
  That extends to a man named Stanley Woodward, the nominee to be the 
No. 3 official at the Department of Justice.
  Let me make this clear: Mr. Woodward is not even close to qualified. 
He has never--never--worked at the Justice Department before this 
administration. What he has done is show his loyalty to Donald Trump by 
representing Trump associates for their roles in thwarting 
investigations into the President.
  As Associate Attorney General, Mr. Woodward would oversee some of 
DOJ's most critical programs, including the Office of Justice Programs 
and the Civil Rights Division. As senior adviser to Attorney General 
Bondi, Mr. Woodward has already been involved in gutting these offices.
  The Trump administration has terminated hundreds of millions of 
dollars in grants administered by the Office of Justice Programs that 
support State and local law enforcement. The Trump administration also 
has gutted the Civil Rights Division, which has been known for years as 
the ``crown jewel'' of the Justice Department.
  About 70 percent of the Division's attorneys have been forced out--70 
percent--and many, many staff have been diverted away from crucial 
efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans, so long as they 
sign up for the mass deportations of the President.
  Mr. Woodward also overruled Antitrust Division officials to 
personally negotiate a settlement with lobbyists in DOJ's challenge to 
Hewlett Packard's $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The 
acquisition resulted in two firms controlling more than 70 percent of 
the wireless network market, a market duopoly.
  To Trump administration political appointees in the Antitrust 
Division who objected to this settlement, what happened to them? They 
were forced out of office. One of them said of the settlement:

       [C]orrupt lobbyists with no relevant expertise are 
     perverting actual law enforcement through money, power, 
     relationships, and influence. . . . Stanley Woodward 
     perverted justice and acted inconsistent with the rule of law 
     [in this deal].

  I asked Attorney General Bondi about Mr. Woodward's involvement in 
the scandal. Crickets. No response. Nothing to say.
  It is wrong to fast-track unqualified, unfit nominees whose only goal 
is to advance a political agenda at the expense of the American people. 
Previous Associate Attorney General nominees have received a rollcall 
vote on the floor of the Senate and committee, of course.
  Take President Biden's nominee for this position, Vanita Gupta. In 
2021, Republicans tried to filibuster her nomination in committee and 
then tried to shut down committee business before we voted.
  On the floor, Republicans forced extra procedural votes to slow down 
our confirmation. Despite my frustration at the time with Republican 
colleagues for obstructing a highly qualified and experienced nominee 
to serve as Associate Attorney General, I never sought to short-circuit 
the constitutional responsibility of Members in the Senate of advice 
and consent.
  Now when the shoe is on the other foot, Republicans are intent on 
taking away yet another core duty of the Senate in deference to 
President Trump. I hope they remember this moment when they resume 
their minority positions in the future.
  I urge my colleagues to vote no on these nominations.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.