[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 164 (Monday, October 6, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6944-S6951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative 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for the quorum call be rescinded.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.
Government Funding
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today is the sixth day--the sixth day--of
Donald Trump's government shutdown. Senate Democrats returned to
Washington ready to negotiate. We are ready to work with Republicans to
reopen the government and end the healthcare crisis that faces tens of
millions of Americans.
But it takes two sides to have a negotiation. We need the Senate
Republicans and the House Republicans and the President to come to the
table. And, meanwhile, Donald Trump and Speaker Johnson seem to be on
another planet.
Instead of trying to solve this shutdown crisis, Donald Trump spent
the weekend golfing and posting memes and deepfakes on the internet. He
seems to think this shutdown is some big joke.
He is wrong. People will lose their paychecks; seniors will see
Social Security support services slow down; there will be chaos for
travelers. This shutdown is all on Donald Trump's shoulders, and
Americans agree, according to the polls.
Poll after poll after poll, from CBS to the Washington Post, to
Marist, to Morning Consult, and many others, consistently showed that
the public sees the President as most responsible for the shutdown. He
is in charge. His party holds majorities across the government.
So Americans naturally and correctly believe the burden is on him to
fix this mess. Speaker Johnson, meanwhile, has canceled yet another
week of session for the House. Why? Because the Speaker knows House
Republicans are bitterly divided on healthcare. He knows a large chunk
of his conference doesn't want to fix people's premiums at all--the
rightwing MAGA folks.
Meanwhile, some of his less-extreme Members feel a necessity to fix
this mess. The Speaker knows these divisions in his conference are
serious and deep.
So what does the Speaker do with these divisions in his conference,
almost irreconcilable? He ducks. He chooses the politically expedient
way out. He keeps the Congress out of session for weeks at a time,
passes to the Senate a partisan bill with no Democratic input.
That is not leadership. That is derelict.
[[Page S6945]]
Even today, the Speaker said that we can deal with the ACA crisis
sometime later. He said: Wait, kick the can down the road, to postpone
any negotiation until the very last minute.
Speaker Johnson--I ask him the question--why the wait? Why not solve
this crisis now?
If you are not ready to solve it now, how do we know you are going to
solve it 45 days from now, when you won't even do it now, and the same
reasons that hold you back now will exist then?
Insurers are waiting around to set rates for next year. They are
doing it right now, not 3 months from now.
Delay has always been Speaker Johnson's MO. Speaker Johnson has
survived by kicking the can down the road on every major issue under
his speakership, promising everyone that the thing they wanted is just
around the corner.
He did it repeatedly with the Freedom Caucus, for instance, and he is
doing the same thing now with healthcare. If Speaker Johnson is serious
about lowering costs and protecting the healthcare of the American
people, why wait?
Most of America, when Johnson says ``later,'' they know he means
``never.''
Democrats want to deal with the healthcare problem now. A recent poll
by KFF shows that 80 percent of Americans want to extend the ACA tax
credits, including 60 percent of MAGA Republicans. That is where the
people are.
A CBS poll also found that 75 percent of Americans don't think the
administration is focused enough on lowering costs.
Well, lowering healthcare premiums would be one of the very best ways
to lower costs because those costs are going through the roof. Many
estimates show the average American will pay a thousand dollars more
for healthcare.
Listen to this. If you are a 55-year-old couple who makes $80,000 a
year, your premiums could go up $25,000 a year. How is anyone going to
deal with that issue? Why is Johnson waiting?
But yet again, Speaker Johnson and MAGA Republicans continue to lie
and change the subject. Donald Trump does the same thing. The Speaker
today, once again, lied--that the Democrats' proposal would provide
healthcare benefits to undocumented immigrants. He even cited page
number and section within our proposal that he says supposedly proves
the point.
Of course, our proposal doesn't say that, as the Sunday show talk
commentators Johnson sat down with this weekend pointed out, and he had
no real rebuttal. Saying that the Democrats' proposal provides health
insurance to undocumented immigrants is, plain and simple, a blatant
lie. It was a lie yesterday. It is a lie today. It will be a lie
tomorrow.
Nothing in our proposal, not even the page the Speaker keeps citing,
changes that, as fact-checkers have repeatedly pointed out--independent
fact-checkers, not Democrats, not Republicans, just experts.
Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid, Medicare, or
ACA credits under current law or under the Democratic continuing
resolution proposal. It has been the law for decades.
Instead, here is what Democrats want to do. We want to reverse the
devastating cuts to American healthcare that Republicans passed in
their ``Big Ugly Bill.'' We want to extend the ACA tax credits that
lower costs for eligible Americans. These are the plain facts.
But Speaker Johnson and Republicans don't want to deal with the
facts. They don't want to talk about healthcare because they know the
American people are appalled by their healthcare policies. So, instead,
they lie and change the subject. And Speaker Johnson and the House
Republicans would rather duck out of town than come into session and do
their jobs.
You know, when Leader Jeffries and I met with the President, he, of
all people, seemed to at least somewhat appreciate the immense harm of
letting these ACA credits expire. Of course, we had to walk the
President through it first because it seemed he had no clue of the
crisis before our meeting.
But, frankly, what should happen now is this. The President should
lean on Speaker Johnson to relent on his extreme refusal to negotiate.
It is not a sustainable position for the Speaker to literally shut the
entire House down and not do anything to solve this crisis.
Again, why wait? Democrats are ready to solve this now. We urge
Donald Trump to get Speaker Johnson and our Republican colleagues to
come to the table with Leader Jeffries and me to negotiate and address
this problem and fix it once and for all.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, it is very obvious that Democrats are
losing the Schumer shutdown. Even their media allies are turning
against them.
Here is an editorial from today's Washington Post. The headline is
``The shutdown conversation no one wants.''
The Washington Post editorial board, today, wrote this:
Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to extend
the covid-era insurance subsidies without proposing any way
to pay for it.
They go on to say:
The Congressional Budget Office estimates this will cost
$350 billion over the next decade.
Now, that is the Washington Post talking, not Republicans. So it is
no surprise that Democrats are avoiding this conversation.
Obamacare is broken. Obamacare is a failure. And now Democrats are
holding the American people hostage to prop it up.
The Biden bonus COVID payments are a bait and switch. Democrats
created them in 2021, but they did it as a temporary COVID program.
They extended them temporarily to 2022. They set an end date from this
year, when they extended them once again.
Now, these same Democrats are demanding that they become permanent,
at a cost of $350 billion. It is unacceptable. This is a system that is
riddled with waste, with fraud, abuse, and corruption.
Big insurance companies are rewarded with direct payments from the
Federal Government to the insurance companies. Hard-working taxpayers
are left holding the bill. In many of these policies, there are no
premiums, no deductibles, no income limit, no accountability. Even
families making a half million dollars a year, they still qualify for
these Biden bonus COVID payments.
This is reckless, permanent new spending. The American people can't
afford it. The American people know it. And even the Washington Post
knows it and has reported on it today.
Democrats lost the election. They have lost their media allies, and
now they have lost the argument.
On a related matter, here we are on day six of the Schumer shutdown.
Senate Democrats have now voted four separate times to keep our
government closed. Radical Democrats are shutting down the government
with an outlandish list of demands, and the Presiding Officer has seen
them. Included in that list is giving free healthcare to illegal
immigrants.
When the interests of Americans and illegal immigrants collide,
Democrats always seek to benefit the latter at the expense of the
former. Think back to the last Democrat primary for President, back in
June of 2019, when they were having a big debate on live television.
There were so many candidates that they actually had to do it on two
separate nights to get them all on the stage.
Every running candidate for President was asked in that one debate if
their platform would give free healthcare to illegal immigrants. Every
single Democrat candidate on the debate stage that night raised their
hand and said yes. Every one of them promised to give free healthcare
to illegal immigrants.
Senator Bernie Sanders was on the stage that night; he raised his
hand. Senator Gillibrand of New York was on the stage that night; she
raised her hand. Yes, free healthcare to illegal immigrants.
Those are current Members of the U.S. Senate who voted to shut the
government down. They voted four times in the last 6 days.
And it is more than talk. When Democrats get power, that is exactly
what they are going to do.
Look at California. In 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom expanded State-
sponsored healthcare to illegal immigrants. He actually bragged about
it. So there is no hiding from this.
[[Page S6946]]
One year later, the Los Angeles Times reported that, by doing this,
costs had tripled. It was a headline dated March 13 of this year. It
says:
Cost of undocumented healthcare in California is billions
over estimates--
They go on to say--
pressuring Democrats to consider cuts.
Instead of $3 billion a year, the California healthcare system costs
taxpayers $9.5 billion, by providing healthcare to illegal immigrants.
California financed its healthcare for illegal immigrants through a
money laundering scheme aimed at the Federal Government. They used it
to increase the State's Medicaid payments from the Federal Government
directly to the State of California. This is money vacuumed away from
hard-working Americans and from the vulnerable people in this country,
our friends and neighbors, who need Medicaid the most. What did
California do with it? They used it for illegal immigrants, not for
U.S. citizens.
President Joe Biden and the Democrats--they went even further.
Apparently, they weren't liberal enough in doing that. Joe Biden
created multiple illegal parole programs when he was President. It was
a blatant attempt at amnesty by the sleight of hand. Parole is supposed
to be rare, it is supposed to be temporary, and it is supposed to be
case by case. And I am talking about the flood of illegal immigrants
that have come into this country across our southern border. People saw
them on television. Joe Biden abused Presidential parole authority and
turned our law on its head.
Democrats made noncitizens who were paroled eligible for free
healthcare. Look no further than the illegal immigrant who murdered 22-
year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia. He crossed the border
illegally in 2022. The Biden administration released him into our
country instead of removing him. The Biden administration paroled him
for what they claimed were ``urgent humanitarian reasons of significant
public benefit.'' And then he murdered a nursing student. Joe Biden
made Laken Riley's killer eligible for taxpayer-funded healthcare.
Democrats even promised free healthcare as an enticement to attract
illegal immigrants to our southern border. It was a magnet.
Well, Democrats have now shut down the government. Why? To defend a
system where Laken Riley's killer can get taxpayer-funded, free
healthcare. That is who they are. Those are their beliefs. That is
their commitment--not to the American people but to the illegal
immigrants.
Well, Republicans closed the loophole. Our working-families tax cuts
put in place strong eligibility verification requirements. So that
person can't qualify anymore or anyone like him. It also ended the
gimmicks that allowed California to fund healthcare for illegal
immigrants through higher Federal Medicaid payments, the way they
syphon money from the Federal Government into California to pay for
illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, what we have seen is that President Trump and Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem rightfully terminated all of these Joe
Biden categorical parole programs. He should have never let them in in
the first place. Now we have terminated it.
The Supreme Court was called into play in an action here. The Supreme
Court upheld this decision by the Trump administration after several
rounds of leftwing lawfare.
President Trump is securing our border. He is putting American
citizens first, not illegal immigrants. That is the difference between
our parties. Democrats want to undo all of that. That is why they are
holding the Nation hostage by shutting down the government. That is
what this fight is all about.
Let's be clear. By shutting down the government, Democrats are
putting illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens--ahead of our
veterans, ahead of our military, ahead of our seniors, ahead of our
children. It is reckless, it is radical, and it is wrong. It is time
for it to end.
So today, the Senate is going to vote for a fifth time on our
bipartisan continuing resolution, and we want to reopen government. It
passed the House with bipartisan support. The Senate this evening will
have a simple choice once again: vote to reopen the government and put
America first and Americans first or vote with Senator Schumer to put
illegal immigrants ahead of the American people.
Voting with Chuck Schumer tonight will keep the government closed.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Britt). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Immigration Raids
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, on Friday, in the midst of a Republican-
led government shutdown, President Trump revealed his priorities. It
isn't to protect the healthcare, the health insurance of millions of
Americans who are about to lose their insurance or see premiums
skyrocket. No, that is not it.
The President's priority is to deploy militarized immigration agents
and National Guard troops to more American cities. Why? Purely for
political theater and to advance his extreme agenda.
In the early morning hours of Tuesday last week, while this
government barreled toward a shutdown, President Donald Trump launched
a military law enforcement assault on the city of Chicago. In the
city's Southside neighborhood, hundreds--hundreds--of Federal agents,
many hiding their faces with masks, rappelled from Black Hawk
helicopters, darted out of disguised moving trucks, armed with
military-grade weapons, to descend on a targeted apartment building in
the city of Chicago. They swarmed through the building, knocking down
doors, tearing up homes.
It appears these agents knew nothing in advance about the residents
whose homes they were destroying. In fact, in the dead of night,
Federal agents reportedly started checking on the residents as they
brought them out of the building, residents that included American
citizens and children. They checked on them to see if maybe they had an
outstanding warrant for their arrest or were undocumented.
Picture this, if you will: You are with your family in an apartment
building, a helicopter lands on the roof, Federal agents with masks on
batter down your doors, drag you and your children out of their beds
into the street, and start an interrogation as to whether there is any
undocumented person present.
America.
Many were yanked from their homes and their beds and detained
shirtless and without clothing. Some were detained using zip ties,
including children. Here is what one witness of the events said:
Kids were crying. People were screaming. They looked very
distraught. I was out there crying when I saw the little girl
coming around the corner, because they were bringing the kids
down, too. [They] had them zip tied [together].
In the middle of the night in the city of Chicago, an assault on an
apartment building in America. The witness continued:
One of [the agents] laughed [out loud]. He said ``f*** them
kids.''
Four U.S. citizen kids with undocumented parents were separated from
their parents who were taken into custody.
Secretary Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security posted to
social media a highly produced video of the raid--her version of the
story--because that is all this is to them, a promotional video,
political theater. But the human toll has been immense.
What if it were your child yanked out of his bed in the middle of the
night, hands zip-tied behind him, brought down with few, if any,
clothes on, standing in the street, while all this is happening,
watching his parents be arrested in America?
In another case, ICE agents fired a pepper ball into CBS Chicago
reporter Asal Rezaei's car. What was her crime? Driving by the
Broadview ICE facility to report on the protests there. It is known in
the Constitution as freedom of the press. It doesn't seem to impress
Kristi Noem.
I have long fought for humane reforms on our immigration system on a
[[Page S6947]]
bipartisan basis and evidence-based ways to reduce crimes in our city.
If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or
lowering crime in our communities, I am all in. But sending in
militarized Federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to
terrorize Chicago or any American community in any State is not the
American way.
These actions have accomplished, I believe, the President's true
intention here: spreading fear in America, especially among immigrant
communities.
And he has been very successful. I go to these communities virtually
every weekend when I return to Illinois. I meet with the people who
live there. They are scared to death, people who have been here for
years, no criminal record, no reason to be removed, working and paying
taxes are afraid to shop and afraid to go to church.
Last week, on the floor, I warned about this, and I have for some
time now. The President's decision to unleash military personnel
against the city of Chicago and American communities is another pillar
in his master plan to weaponize the Federal Government against those he
views as ``the enemy within.'' Where did that phrase come from? From
the mouth of the President of the United States speaking to the
military leaders of the United States. He told them to be fearful of
``the enemy within'' and to use American cities as their training
ground.
Think of that. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller
ranted to law enforcement agents on the eve of their Memphis deployment
that they were, ``unleashed.'' Stephen Miller's word, ``unleashed.''
Does that sound like law and order? Does that sound like the rule of
law? ``Unleashed.''
In addition to Memphis and Chicago, this President has targeted
cities like Los Angeles and Portland, reckless immigration raids,
unnecessary deployment of military power over the objection of State
and local officials. I fear these disturbing developments are the
latest indicators that we are on a slippery slope into control by the
Trump regime.
The President is attempting to overturn the Department of Justice,
the FBI, ICE, and the military into his own personal police force. This
not only erodes trust between communities and the people tasked with
protecting them, it is an existential threat to civil liberty, the rule
of law, and the core of values of who we are as Americans.
This is what is at stake. This is a defining moment we are in. In
times like these, you have a choice. You can stand up and speak out or
you can be silent or maybe you can cheer. It is your choice as
Americans. But think about if it were your family in the middle of the
night, people crashing through the doors yanking you and your children
out of bed into the street, arresting people.
Remember what the goal was when we got started with this? The
President made it very clear. We were after undocumented people,
illegal people in the United States who were rapists, murderers,
terrorists, criminally insane, and child predators. The President was
very explicit. These are the people we are going after. We will tell
you their names as we arrest them.
So what percentage of those that have been arrested with this mass
deportation detained by ICE, what percentage of them have a criminal
record? Fewer than 30 percent. By a 2-to-1 margin, innocent people are
being dragged into this in the middle of the night in the city of
Chicago in an apartment building. Children are being treated like pawns
in the Trump political game.
Today, Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit to block
the administration's unconstitutional attempt to deploy troops in
Illinois.
I join with all of my Democratic colleagues in the Illinois
delegation who are calling on the President to immediately rescind this
unnecessary and dangerous deployment of the military to Illinois.
I have spoken personally to the Governor of our State, JB Pritzker,
several times this weekend amidst this development. He did not ask for
the National Guard troops to be sent in from Texas or anyplace. There
is no need for it to either protect Federal facilities or to protect
the people living in the city of Chicago.
I am going to continue speaking out as the ranking member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, and I appeal to my Republican colleagues
who are watching this in silence: It could be you. You could have an
opportunity soon for the President to send in troops.
It is not likely as much from the Republican side, as very few of
their communities have been targeted, but if you happen to live in a
State that didn't vote for Donald Trump, buckle up. He is coming down
on you, whether it is California, Oregon, or Illinois.
I will close with this: At that Tuesday morning raid, videos taken at
the scene showed detained immigrants being held in an adjacent parking
lot across the street. A woman is seen and heard calling out in broken
Spanish:
I will always love you.
Where is the humanity in tearing families apart?
If there is a dangerous person, for God's sake, put him in a separate
category, but families who are doing their best to get by and struggle,
who work and pay taxes, and who have children who are citizens of the
United States should never be treated like this in America.
In an interview recently, Secretary Noem was quoted as saying:
This country is a country of laws. If you don't like the
laws, go change them. We are enforcing them.
She said:
That is sending a message to the whole world.
The Secretary is right. The administration certainly sent a message
in Chicago on Tuesday night--a shameful message and one that shouldn't
be part of American history.
Terrorizing families with midnight raids and troops in our streets is
writing a shameful chapter in our Nation's history. This is going to
make America great again?
President Trump is not intent on fighting crime; he is intent on
spreading fear. In doing so, he is destroying the values which define
us as Americans.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Government Funding
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, it has been 6 days since Senate
Democrats have shut down the Federal Government. They have done this by
blocking a clean continuing resolution, as it is called around here, a
stopgap spending bill that would take us to November 21 to provide
enough time to try to work out appropriations bills for full-year
funding, which are highly preferable to simply operating on autopilot,
as a continuing resolution would do.
This has already passed the House of Representatives, so all we need
to do to reopen the government is to have five Democrats--five
Democrats--join three other Democrats and Republicans to vote to reopen
the government--not forever but for the next 9 weeks or so.
Let's not forget that it was partisan antics on their part that
brought us to where we are today. We have now voted not just once but
four times on the House-passed, clean government funding bill. While
three Democrats have seen the light, as I said earlier, and have joined
Republicans in voting for a clean continuing resolution, they have
routinely done this in the past. When President Biden was in office and
when Chuck Schumer was the majority leader, we voted for, I think, 13
separate continuing resolutions, but so far, they have refused to do so
out of pure spite and partisanship.
Government shutdowns have, unfortunately, become far too common in
Washington, but I think it is important to take a minute to consider
the impact--the real-world impact--on our constituents back home.
Since Texas is obviously one of the largest States in the country, it
will suffer an outsized impact.
The Lone Star State is home to about 130,000 Federal civilian
employees. This number includes 33,000 who work with the Veterans
Health Administration. These are the folks who serve our veterans, whom
we are dutybound and obligated--morally obligated--to support. But
33,000 of them will be negatively impacted by this shutdown. They
already have been.
Almost 18,000 of this total number work for U.S. Customs and Border
Protection. These are the folks who stop illegal drugs from entering
into the
[[Page S6948]]
country and make sure that illegal aliens don't make their way into the
country, as we have seen during the last 4 years.
Close to 6,000 Texans work for the Transportation Security
Administration, the folks you encounter at airports and various
different ports that help manage the flow of travelers going to and
from security screenings before they board flights.
Finally, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas has 3,000
employees but is expected to furlough about 70 percent of them due to
the lapse in Federal funding.
What happens to these Federal employees during a government shutdown?
Well, the most dramatic thing that happens to them is they don't get
paid. Even those who are deemed essential and who have to work, they
work without pay, just as those who are furloughed go without pay.
Before I came to the floor, I looked up a statistic, and I think it
sounds about right, but 6 of out of 10 Americans live paycheck to
paycheck. While it may be OK for Members of Congress--particularly
wealthy Members of Congress, who don't have to worry about living
paycheck to paycheck--to miss a paycheck is catastrophic to many, many
Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, who don't have adequate
savings to help them weather a government shutdown.
While each of these categories receives backpay once the government
is reopened, they cannot receive a paycheck during the shutdown. This
is extraordinarily unfair to these government employees, who, through
no fault of their own, are being denied the pay that they have earned.
This will have a particularly serious impact on our military and
Department of Homeland Security personnel, many of whom have been
designated as ``excepted''--or we used to say that some were essential
employees. But they have to stay on the job, in other words. But they
don't get paid either.
Texas has 15 Active-Duty military installations, where personnel are
required to continue reporting to duty throughout this shutdown. These
Active-Duty personnel will not be paid, again, until a final funding
deal is reached. And right now, we don't know how long this is going to
go on.
I know most of us come to the floor and express our gratitude--our
profound gratitude--to our men and women in uniform, and their
families, who serve our country and keep us safe, but this strikes me
as a very bad way to say thank you to them by saying: Yes, you have to
continue to work, but, no, you are not going to be paid.
Senate Democrats, apparently, have made that calculation. This is how
they thank them, by cutting off their pay, denying them their
livelihood, and holding them hostage over petty, partisan demands.
In addition to Active-Duty military personnel, I mentioned Customs
and Border Protection. All of them are expected to continue reporting
for duty, day in and day out, during a government shutdown.
To our Border Patrol agents, who bore the brunt of Biden's open
border policies, working hundreds of hours in some of the harshest of
conditions, and who have processed millions of illegal aliens flooding
into the United States, courtesy of President Biden, now we are telling
them--or at least Senate Democrats are telling them: You are not going
to get paid. This is how they have chosen to reward these patriotic men
and women who keep our borders secure, shutting down the government and
denying them their paychecks.
And why do Senate Democrats think this is so important? Well, they
have told us what their demands are, what the ransom is that they are
demanding. They want us to wipe out a $50 billion rural hospital
stabilization fund that was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Many of us represent rural States that have large rural areas, and
access to healthcare is a big, big problem. We have tried to address
that problem by providing a significant fund--this rural hospital
stabilization fund--to help address those concerns. But Democrats want
to take that away.
We also said in the One Big Beautiful Bill that no money can go to
provide healthcare for illegal aliens. Access to free government
services is one of the magnets that draw people to come to our country
in the first place. This is one of the so-called pull factors that the
Border Patrol talks about. And we said no more--no more free healthcare
for illegal aliens, which is a magnet for people to enter the country
the wrong way, not the right way. Democrats want to restore that free
healthcare to illegal aliens as part of their demands for reopening the
government.
This is simply unconscionable, but it is also profoundly dumb.
Shutting down the government solves nothing. We have seen this movie
before. And what happens, when you reopen the government, is the same
problems, the same issues that caused you to shut down the government
are there staring you in the face. So these shutdowns solve nothing.
I don't know how Senate Democrats can continue voting against a clean
government funding bill, like they themselves have previously supported
on a routine basis, knowing that the men and women who keep them and us
safe are working for free, without a paycheck, for no other reason than
that Senate Democrats refuse to give up on their partisan pipe dreams.
FEMA employees--the Federal Emergency Management Agency--who are
first responders in the case of a natural disaster, are also expected
to continue to be working without pay, during hurricane season, no
less.
In addition, law enforcement and emergency personnel in a government
shutdown affect all Americans, one way or another. It affects travel.
It affects access to public lands.
TSA workers and air traffic controllers have to keep working. These
are the people who make sure our airlines operate safely and on time.
But they have to work without pay.
The hiring and training of any new air traffic controllers, which we
know is a real problem and an important issue, all of that will stop
during the time the Federal Government is shut down--no new hiring of
new personnel to help make our air traffic safe.
All of this is because Senate Democrats can't work in a bipartisan
manner to keep the government open, even for a few weeks.
The government shutdown also impacts our national parks and Federal
lands. Texas boasts 3.2 million acres of federally operated public
lands, including Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National
Park, and Padre Island National Seashore. National parks face a partial
shutdown, meaning that some areas, such as open-air sites, will remain
open to the public. But buildings that require staffing, like museums,
will have to close.
My constituents--roughly 32 million Americans--like all Americans,
have to pay the price because of this completely unnecessary government
shutdown and the outrageous demands Democrats are making to reopen. All
of this lies squarely at their feet.
I was reflecting over the weekend, after the last time we voted to
reopen the government and the Democrats voted no, how this must reflect
on the United States in the eyes of the world. I think most countries
and most people around the world look at the United States as sort of
that city on the hill, the place where they would like to live or at
least visit because we have the largest, most successfully functioning
democracy in the world, with high standards of living, the opportunity
for people to work hard, provide for their family, start a business,
and achieve their dreams. It is profoundly embarrassing--I think it
should be embarrassing--to all Members of Congress that we simply
cannot get our act together enough to fund the government for the next
few weeks while these negotiations over long-term appropriations bills
are occurring.
This kind of dysfunction is completely unworthy of what has been
known--what used to be known--as the world's greatest deliberative
body.
The unfortunate reality is it doesn't have to be this way. Many of
our Democratic friends, from time to time, talked about various things
being a threat to democracy. Well, being unable to pass a bill to fund
the government to keep the lights on and keep government employees
paid, that strikes me as a threat to our democracy.
Senate Democrats long preached the virtues of bipartisanship,
especially when it comes to avoiding government shutdowns. And in the
past, they have wagged their finger. We have seen it all on social
media and on cable TV. They
[[Page S6949]]
have said shutdowns are ``idiocy.'' That is what the Democratic leader
said on TV, years ago, when the shoe was on the other foot. He said it
is ``idiocy.'' I agree with him. It was idiocy then, and it is idiocy
now.
The American people may not understand the ins and outs of what goes
on here, but what they can smell from a mile away is hypocrisy. And
that is all this is, sheer hypocrisy.
All our colleagues need to do, when we vote here shortly, is to vote
for a clean continuing resolution. All of this can be reversed, and we
can get back to working together to try to solve some of the issues
that I know they care about as well.
We all care about access to healthcare. That is one of the items that
we have to address, certainly, before the end of the year, with the
expiration of certain subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. We are
happy to have that conversation, and we will have that conversation,
but not while the government is shut down.
The good news is--well, let me back up and say the bad news is the
government is shut down. The good news is that could end today, this
afternoon.
Democrats have an opportunity to vote with Republicans to pass a
clean continuing resolution, as they have done many times in the past.
So I hope we can all join arms and say: Let's put an end to this
nonsense and pass this legislation on what will now be the fifth
opportunity.
The American people are counting on us, and we shouldn't let them
down.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
Trump Administration
Mr. KIM. Madam President, I asked people back home in New Jersey how
they have felt about this moment in our country. What I have heard
falls into this category: They have said that they feel like things are
spinning out of control, that every day feels like a new crisis, every
day the anxiety grows deeper, and every day it seems like we move
further from a solution.
And in order to find a solution to this moment, we need to understand
the problem. The problem that we face and that I want to talk about
with you today is that we have a government that has been hijacked at
the highest levels by people who act like mob bosses.
Now, again, I am from Jersey. We know a thing or two about mob
bosses.
But I want to be clear. This isn't pulling off a Lufthansa heist or
having members of your crew getting lost in the Pine Barrens. This is
about a Trump administration that is using the same tactics we have
seen time and time again in movies and in real life: extortion,
corruption, intimidation, and violence--all of these things that have
become hallmarks of the Trump Presidency.
I bring them up today, 6 days into a government shutdown, because
this is what the Trump administration is focused on. The Trump
administration is not focused on lowering your costs. If they were,
they would be here at the Capitol today, working to find a way to lower
healthcare costs, as we are about to see them spike for millions of
Americans, potentially kicking large numbers off their coverage who
can't afford it.
The Trump administration is not focused on creating jobs or creating
economic opportunities. If they were, they would be here in both the
Senate and the House today, working to make sure that we are investing
in the kinds of things only government can provide, things that make us
more competitive, more innovative, more prosperous.
And the Trump administration is certainly not focused on keeping you
and your family safer. If they were, they would be here at the Capitol
today, in both Chambers, working to get our troops paid or to address
the real challenges at home and abroad that threaten our security.
Instead, this administration and leaders here in this Capitol have
shut down this government so they can focus on the things that they
want: to use government to further corruption so that they can funnel
money to their billionaire donors, to use government as a tool to
extort the American people to bend to their will, to weaponize
government to intimidate Americans through violence who dare oppose
their actions by even just speaking up.
Corruption, extortion, and intimidation through violence--this is how
the Trump administration wants to use your government against you.
Now, like every great mob movie, it is not just about the boss who
plays a critical role. For every Don Corleone, there is a Tom Hagen and
a Luca Brasi. Donald Trump plays the role of the mob boss, but it is
his henchmen who are really running the show.
Russell Vought and Stephen Miller are not public servants. Public
servants work to serve the public. They work toward the public good.
Russ Vought and Stephen Miller are straight out of Scorsese. These two
men are running an operation on corruption, extortion, and intimidation
that would make Al Capone jealous.
Let's start with Russ Vought. Russ Vought's entire existence, his
reason for being, is to cut every program the American people could
possibly rely on so that the billionaires who fund his work can get
another tax cut. Money goes to him; money goes back to them; none of it
goes to you--pure corruption.
But it is not enough for Russ Vought to just funnel billions to his
backers. He has to take from you just to remind you of his power, just
to bring you to heel. That is why, last week, he announced that he was
freezing $18 billion for critical infrastructure projects in New York
and New Jersey. One of them is the Hudson Tunnel Project, which is
critical to our region's economy. In fact, when I asked Secretary Duffy
about this at his confirmation hearing, he said it was a project of
national importance, critical for our Nation, not just our region. It
is essential to our pursuit to bring infrastructure into the 21st
century, and it supports tens of thousands of jobs. But Russell Vought
decided to freeze that money out of nothing but political retribution.
He decided to freeze this money because he thinks he can punish the
people of New Jersey for demanding the government actually work for
them, for demanding that we actually work to lower costs.
It doesn't just stop at New Jersey. He froze billions of dollars for
transit projects in Chicago and more than $8 billion in Department of
Energy projects in States across the country, just because those States
voted for Democrats in the last election. He didn't try to stop those
exact types of projects in States that voted for Donald Trump in the
last election.
Russell Vought acts like a mob boss because he thinks he can use his
levers of government to funnel money to his friends and take away your
services when you have gotten out of line.
Last week, I went to New Jersey for a day and heard from my
constituents about how they are seeing this shutdown, and one woman
said something that really stuck out to me. I asked her: If you had a
chance to be able to say one thing to Donald Trump and these Republican
negotiators, what would it be?
This was an independent voter. She said: I would want to tell them
that it is our money; it is the American people's money, not Trump's
personal bank account.
She is absolutely right. This isn't Russell Vought's money to take
away whenever he pleases. We have seen him do that through something
called rescissions, something that completely ignores the framework our
Founding Fathers put in place nearly 250 years ago that Congress--on
behalf of you, the people--decides how your money is spent and when
that decision is made on behalf of you--your will--your money can't be
overturned and taken away simply because a single bureaucratic mob boss
decides to exercise his power.
It is not just taking money away. We need to remember that this isn't
Russ Vought's money to use as a tool to extort his imagined enemies
into following his orders. We need to remember that this is your money.
It is your government, and it should work for you.
But right now the Trump administration isn't working for you. It is
working to grow and consolidate its own power.
That brings us to our second mob boss, Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller
thinks he is the enforcer. He thinks it is his job to defeat Donald
Trump's enemies. And again, like Russell Vought, he doesn't seem to see
himself as a public servant. He is not even here to
[[Page S6950]]
make your family safer or to protect your country. Let's look at how
Stephen Miller operates as a mob boss.
Stephen Miller and this administration have taken the issue of our
broken immigration system, and instead of working to actually fix it,
they have used it as an excuse to rapidly militarize parts of our
government and deploy them against our own people, in our own cities,
in our own towns.
It starts with going after criminals, people who should actually be
sought after and detained, but that is not where it stops. We have seen
thousands of American servicemembers sent into American cities. We have
as many Americans in uniform here in Washington, DC, as we do in Iraq.
We have seen American weapons of war, including Blackhawk helicopters,
used against Americans in places like Chicago, and we have seen Miller
and other members of this administration effectively call anyone who
simply disagrees with them terrorists, including the Democratic Party,
while calling for the use of ``state power'' to ``dismantle'' them.
Now, I want to reflect on that phrase for a moment, ``state power.''
Stephen Miller isn't talking about using the power of our government to
make your lives better or work for you. He is not talking about using
it to make your neighborhoods safer. He is talking about using it
against you if you get out of line. He is talking about using it
against anyone who disagrees with this administration, for anyone who
stands in their way.
We know that because Donald Trump has basically told us. He told a
room of all of his Nation's top military officials--seemingly convened
only to show he had the power to do so--that they had to prepare for a
``war from within.'' He told the leaders of the most powerful military
in the history of the world to prepare to battle the ``enemy from
within.'' That means Americans at home. And, again, we know that
because Donald Trump has said it. In the same convening, he said he
wants to use American cities as ``training grounds'' for the military.
American cities--places where we live, where we go to work, where we
bring our kids to school--that is where Donald Trump wants to exercise
power over you.
We have the finest military in the world. The purpose of that
military is to defend our Constitution, to defend the American people,
to deter our enemies and be prepared to fight them if necessary. The
American people are not that enemy, and deploying our military in
America's streets weakens our readiness to defend against real threats.
Donald Trump and Stephen Miller and this administration will keep
finding new excuses to seize power and threaten to use it against you.
In the words of a Federal judge, one that Trump appointed, ours ``is a
nation of constitutional law, not martial law,'' and the actions of the
Trump administration ``risk blurring the line between civil and
military federal power--to the detriment of this nation.''
We are seeing this administration launch military strikes against
individuals from Venezuela with no legal authorization or
justification. We are seeing this administration--Mr. Miller,
specifically--call legal decisions that he doesn't like ``an organized
terrorist attack.''
We are seeing this administration use intimidation and violence as
tools not to make us safer, as if that was ever acceptable, but to make
us submit. At the end of the day, that is this administration's aim:
submission. Like every mob boss, they want you to kiss the ring. They
want your loyalty--but not just that; they want your fealty.
And the thing they don't understand is that Americans don't bend the
knee; we don't kiss the ring; we don't pledge loyalty to a boss.
This is the people's government. It is not a tool for corruption. It
is not a tool for extortion. It is not a tool for intimidation and
violence. It is a tool for growing opportunity and prosperity. It is a
tool for providing security and freedom. And it is a tool for everyone,
not just the bosses.
So, yes, we need to work to reopen our government, and in doing so,
we need to make sure that people don't drown under a wave of rising
healthcare costs. But we can't lose sight that this isn't the only
fight we have got in front of us. President Trump has handed power to
Russ Vought and Stephen Miller, and they have used that power to take
away your opportunities, your security, and your freedoms.
When we reopen the government, we need to fight to make sure it is
working for you, the American people, who deserve that better than to
live under the thumb of mob bosses. We are going to fight every day to
make sure that you can.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Tariffs
Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, for all ag producers, the word
``tariff'' makes us nervous, but earlier this year, I took a step back
to look at the bigger economic picture, and I became one of the first
Members of Congress to support the administration's effort to level the
playing field on trade.
I have said many times that the administration deserves time to
secure strong trade deals that benefit Americans; however, the reality
is this: Farmers are targeted by other countries, like China. I have
seen it firsthand back home in Nebraska.
Producers of corn, soybeans, and other top commodities are under
crushing pressure. Rising input costs and uncertainty have driven farm
finances to levels reminiscent of the 1980s crisis, which bankrupted
thousands and hollowed out our rural communities.
Since 2020, seed costs have jumped 18 percent, fuel and oil are up 32
percent, fertilizer has spiked 37 percent, and interest expenses have
surged an alarming 73 percent.
Our soybean producers are projected to lose about $100 an acre this
year. On top of that, storage costs for soybeans and corn have risen
steeply. For everybody, this is crippling, and it is happening during
one of the largest harvests in memory.
Time is running out, and we need to turn this around. We need a
strong and positive set of actions. Ensuring our farmers can weather
tough economic times must be a national priority.
It is clear that farm aid is needed at this time. Congress has taken
some steps toward this goal. We passed $10 billion in farm aid last
December, and we included a major boost for producers in July's
reconciliation law. However, that money is not going to reach any
farmers until next fall, and producers need to have relief right now.
But here is the challenge: We also need lasting, long-term solutions
that help provide stability and real opportunity for ag producers. That
is why one of the fastest ways we can deliver results is by unlocking
year-round access to E15--a clean, American-made biofuel. Permanent
nationwide access would increase corn demand by 2.5 billion bushels a
year. It would lower gas prices for families, and it would drive new
revenue into rural communities.
President Trump's day one order to promote E15 through his national
energy emergency declaration--that was a strong start, but temporary
fixes don't cut it. That is why I reintroduced my Nationwide Consumer
and Fuel Retailer Choice Act earlier this year.
When I first introduced this bill nearly a decade ago, it felt like
an uphill climb. Well, today, momentum is finally on our side. We have
strong bipartisan support. We have new industry partners, including
members of the oil and refining sector, who are at the table.
This is a key piece of Republicans' plan to lower energy costs, to
strengthen American production, and to give consumers more choices at
the pump.
Trade--well, that is the other half of the equation. Former President
Biden's lack of a clear trade agenda left America with a $49 billion
trade deficit, undercutting farmers in Nebraska and all across this
country.
President Trump, you can help reverse that deficit by holding China
accountable and ensuring American-grown soybeans have access to global
markets--a lifeline for farmers facing losses this harvest season.
President Trump has already made progress on this trade front. Take
beef. Australia has sold nearly $29 billion worth of beef to U.S.
consumers, while American ranchers have been locked out of their
market. Do you know how much beef--American beef--Australia bought?
Zero.
[[Page S6951]]
Now we need the same kind of breakthrough by opening up the market
for soybeans and corn and every other American crop.
At the end of the day, farmers and ranchers want programs that work,
and we want markets to sell our products. Simply put: We just want a
fair shot.
By securing strong trade deals and building new markets through year-
round E15, we can revitalize the farm economy, we can bolster U.S.
energy security, and we can ensure that America's producers can keep
feeding and fueling this Nation for generations to come.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Order of Procedure
Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in
order for the two leaders to enter motions to reconsider without being
on the prevailing side with respect to the cloture votes on the motion
to proceed to S. 2882 and H.R. 5371; further, that mandatory quorum
calls with respect to S. 2882, H.R. 5371, and the en bloc nominations
provided for under the provisions of S. Res. 412 be waived.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. FISCHER. I yield the floor.
____________________