Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 178 (Monday, October 27, 2025)

[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 178 (Monday, October 27, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7744-S7751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

LEGISLATIVE SESSION

______

CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS AND EXTENSIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 168, H.R.
5371.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:

Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 168, H.R. 5371, a bill
making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal
year 2026, and for other purposes.

Government Funding

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, ``There is a time and a place to debate
healthcare, just like there is a time and place to debate energy policy
and immigration and education--but not''--not--``when the funding of
the federal government, and all the lives that are impacted by it, hang
in the balance.''

There is a time and a place to debate healthcare . . . but
not when the funding of the federal government, and all the
lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance.

Those are not my words; those are the words of the junior Democrat
Senator from Connecticut back in 2013.

There is a time and a place to debate healthcare . . . but
not when the funding of the federal government, and all the
lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance.

These words were once emblematic of the Democrat position here in the
Senate. Democrats once passionately opposed shutdowns--or so they
said--in large part because of the impact they would have on American
citizens and American workers.
Now? Well, now, government workers and every other American affected
by this shutdown have become nothing more than pawns in the Democrats'
political games.
On Friday, Federal workers missed their entire paychecks. The next
paycheck for our troops--for our troops, Mr. President--is in jeopardy.
And more than 40 million Americans could lose access to food stamps if
the shutdown continues--40 million. Yet none of it seems to matter to
Senate Democrats. The party that once decried the impact of shutdowns
on Americans in need is now apparently content to see 40 million
Americans go without food.
The senior Democrat Senator from Vermont was on TV the other day, and
one of the hosts suggested that Members of Congress should refuse to
take their paychecks during a shutdown. And what did the senior
Democrat Senator from Vermont say? He said some Members of Congress
couldn't afford to go without pay. That is right. Some Members of
Congress couldn't afford to go without pay. Does he think that other
Americans can?

The junior Democrat Senator from Arizona told NBC News during the
beginning of the shutdown that he couldn't afford to miss his paycheck.
That was his quote:

I'm not wealthy, and I have three kids. I would basically
be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child
support. So it is not feasible, not gonna happen.

What on Earth does he think is happening to Federal workers and other
Americans out of work because of the Democrat shutdown? Does he think
they don't have mortgage payments, rent payments, school expenses,
electric bills? If some Members of Congress can't afford to miss a
paycheck, how much more is that true for the many workers making a lot
less than Members of Congress pull down?
The junior Democrat Senator from Minnesota stated she would not be
forgoing her pay because she is continuing to work--because she is
continuing to work.
Do Democrats even hear themselves?
She does realize, right, that a lot of other people are continuing to
work and have been working without pay now for 4 weeks, thanks to her
actions and those of her Democrat colleagues? How many of those workers
are going to miss their rent payments or mortgage payments before
Democrats are satisfied?
``Shutdowns aren't victimless crimes,'' the senior Democrat from
Virginia said--less than a year ago, I might add.
Mr. President, Democrats' victims are piling up, and Democrats don't
look likely to spare anyone anytime soon. In fact, they are freely
admitting it. The second ranking Democrat in the House of
Representatives said recently:

Of course there will be families who are going to suffer. .
. . But it is one of the few leverage times we have.

``But it is one of the few leverage times we have.''
I guess the Americans currently lining up at food banks can comfort
themselves with the knowledge that they are being sacrificed to advance
Democrats' political goals.
If you ask Democrats the reason for the 180-degree flip in their
views on shutdowns, if you challenge them to explain their hypocrisy, I
suspect you wouldn't get much of an answer. I suspect that, at best,
Democrats would bleat something about how this shutdown is a special
case--right?
A special case--it is always a special case with the Democrats. A
historic blockade of Presidential nominees--well, that was a special
case. Ignore anything that you ever said about shutdowns right here on
the floor of the Senate--well, this is a special case.
I will tell you what is actually special about this case. What is
special about this case is the Democrats' far-left base demanded a
showdown with President Trump, and Democrats have abandoned every
principle that they possess relating to shutdowns to give it to their
base.
While some Democrats may be privately uncomfortable about all the
damage a 4-week shutdown is doing, so far, they are too scared of their
base to do anything about it.
Democrats claim that this shutdown is about addressing the expiring
Obamacare subsidies. That is not what this is really about. If this
were really what this is about, the Democrats would be voting to reopen
the government so that we could actually engage in a serious discussion
about rising healthcare costs and how Obamacare has failed to address
them. But they are not because, at the end of the day, Democrats don't
want a solution; they want a political issue.
And if countless hard-working Americans are sacrificed in the
process?

Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer.
. . . But it is one of the few leverage times we have.

Apparently, that is just fine with the Democrats here in the Senate.
Mr. President, we will be voting once again, this week, to reopen the
government--to reopen the government, restore hard-working Americans'
paychecks, protect nutrition programs, support critical services like
air traffic control, and that list goes on and on and on. And Democrats
will have a 13th chance to vote on a clean, nonpartisan funding bill
that will reopen the government. All we need are five Democrats to join
the three who are with us already, and we could have the government
open in a matter of hours.
It is that simple. The solution is sitting right at that desk. The
bill that passed the House a month ago is sitting at this desk and has
been now for a month. We have repeatedly called it up and asked us to
vote on it. Every time, we get 55 Senators voting for it. Everybody
knows the rules. The Senate requires 60. But that bill, with five
courageous Democrats stepping forward in helping us pass it, could be
on the President's desk, signed into law, and this government reopens.
It could happen today. It could happen this afternoon. Let's just hope
that somewhere those courageous Democrats exist.

Shutdowns, even partial ones, are as devastating as they
are stupid.

That was what the senior Democrat from Virginia said just last year.
So how do you justify what you are doing now?
It is up to them, Mr. President. We can do it, and we can do it
today.
I yield the floor.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.

[[Page S7745]]

Government Funding

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, open enrollment is 5 days away. Starting
this Saturday, tens of millions of Americans face the specter of
financial crisis, all while Donald Trump is dancing on the tarmac in
Malaysia.
Donald Trump may be having a nice time abroad, but people here at
home are dreading--dreading--open enrollment. Insurance plans that cost
$300 or $400 a month will suddenly cost $2,000 a month or more because
Republicans prefer to shut the government down over working with
Democrats to extend the ACA tax credits. Consequently, the average ACA
plan is set to more than double--double--starting next year. The
average 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year will soon have to pay
an extra $22,000 or more just to have health insurance. Imagine the
specter. The devastation will be felt across the country even by
Americans with private insurance. They are not exempt. Their insurance
is going up quite a bit too. The rate of people without insurance will
spike by the millions. More people will get sick. More people will lose
coverage. More people will go bankrupt. More people will die from
preventable illness.
Americans have never seen healthcare like this, the one that is about
to begin on Saturday, and Donald Trump is nowhere to be found.
Americans are going to sit at their kitchen tables on Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, and say: How the heck can we pay these bills? What are we going
to do without health insurance? What if our kids get sick? What if we
get sick? And there is Donald Trump overseas not even paying attention
to this crisis.
Instead of sitting down with Leader Jeffries and me, Trump skipped
town for his second foreign trip in less than a month. Open enrollment
is just days away, and Trump's message to the American people facing
financial disaster is: Greetings from Malaysia.
Here is what the President needs to do: He should negotiate with
Democrats to reopen the government and end the ACA crisis right away.
The President should stop focusing on foreign escapades, on ballrooms,
on bailouts for Argentina, and start focusing on negotiating with
Democrats to lower people's healthcare costs, but Donald Trump isn't
taking this crisis seriously still as millions of Americans are just
frightened--tens of millions--about what will happen.
Trump continues to use the American people as pawns. This weekend, we
learned that the Trump administration, for instance, ordered the USDA,
the Department of Agriculture, not to tap into emergency funds to keep
SNAP benefits--food benefits--flowing to the States. The very same
administration that sent $40 million to Argentina at the drop of a hat
to help Trump's MAGA ally is now telling hungry families in America
they can't have nutrition funding.
What gall. The administration's decision to let SNAP freeze is
callous, is cynical, and entirely unnecessary.
Donald Trump says there is no money to pay hungry kids, but he is
spending $40 billion to bail out Argentina, $300 billion on his vanity
ballroom, $172 million on two luxury jets for Kristi Noem, hundreds of
millions for outfitting his foreign jet but nothing, nothing, nothing
to help hungry kids.
What warped priorities. What a bubble this President lives in--apart,
away, and not caring about the trauma the American people are facing
when it comes to healthcare.
Let's be very clear: The administration is making an intentional
choice not to fund SNAP this weekend. The emergency funding is there,
but the administration is just choosing not to use it. And for those
who say the money can't be moved around so easily, that is a load of
bunk. If the administration can cough up $40 billion for Argentina,
they can find money for SNAP by this Saturday. This administration that
all year long has trampled over the rule of law and illegally impounded
funds left and right suddenly says the law won't let them fund SNAP to
feed hungry kids? Give me a break.
Even Republicans privately know that Donald Trump's SNAP ploy is
outrageously cynical. Here is what one House Republican said on the
issue:

I find it hard to believe a Department with so many slush
funds can't find the money for a month of SNAP benefits.

That is a quote from a House Republican.
So make no mistake, Donald Trump is manufacturing a SNAP crisis
instead of working with Democrats to reopen the government and end the
healthcare crisis, which is very, very real for tens of millions of
American families because, after all, what Democrats are pushing for is
the same thing that the American people want. Americans want to see
their healthcare premiums go down. Americans want to see the government
reopen. They don't want to have to pay an extra $20,000 a year just to
have health insurance. We Democrats want to solve this crisis right
away. Lowering healthcare is not a crazy demand. It is not some
leftwing pipedream, which it seems the Senate Republican leader wants
people to believe. It is, rather, just common sense.
Most Americans, even MAGA voters, agree, as 55 percent of those who
voted for Trump want to see the ACA credits extended, but Donald Trump
and his Republican colleagues in the Senate and even more so in the
House, are nowhere--nowhere--to be found. So the choice to keep the
government open or to keep the government closed is entirely in Donald
Trump's and Republicans' hands.
Time is short, and Americans are on the brink of a crisis that could
send millions and millions of families into financial disaster. Donald
Trump and Republicans, meanwhile, are not even here in Washington to
deal with the crisis heading straight toward us.
I yield the floor.
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. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Immigration

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, the Catholic cardinal and
archbishop of Washington, DC, gave a homily on the occasion of the
annual celebration to honor and support immigrants. He made special
note of what is currently happening across America, what he called an
unprecedented assault upon millions of immigrant men and women and
families in our midst.
He said:

This campaign [by this administration against immigrants]
relies on fear and terror at its core, for the government
knows that it cannot succeed in its efforts except by
bringing new dimensions of fear and terror to our nation's
history and life. ``Its goal is simple,'' the cardinal said,
``to rob undocumented immigrants of any real peace in
their lives so that in misery they will `self-deport.' ''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this homily be printed in
the Record in its entirety.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

[From the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington, DC, Sept.
28, 2025]

Homily: Mass for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees

(Given by Robert Cardinal McElroy, Archbishop of Washington)

For the past one hundred ten years, Mass has been
celebrated throughout our country to honor and support
immigrants and refugees who have come to our nation as part
of that stream of men and women from every land who have
built up the United States into a great nation. But this year
is different from the one hundred ten years that have
preceded it. For this year we are confronting--both as a
nation and as a Church--an unprecedented assault upon
millions of immigrant men and women and families in our
midst.
Our first obligation as a Church is to embrace in a
sustained, unwavering, prophetic and compassionate way the
immigrants who are suffering so deeply because of the
oppression they are facing. Our Catholic community here in
Washington has witnessed many people of deep faith, integrity
and compassion who have been swept up and deported in the
crackdown which has been unleashed in our nation. A profound
ministry of consolation, justice and support must be the
hallmark of our spiritual and pastoral care at this moment,
and I thank all of the parishes, priests and faith leaders in
our community who have taken up this ministry, so many of
whom are present today.
For the undocumented community of our Archdiocese, your
daily witness of faith and family, hard work and sacrifice,
compassion and love is a profound reflection of the deepest
virtues of our faith and the most noble aspirations of our
nation. The theme of today's procession is hope amidst
adversity,

[[Page S7746]]

and in these days of deep suffering you give us an example of
transforming hope and a resiliency that is founded upon the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, whose cross symbolizes at its core
suffering amidst injustice, and the recognition that in our
moments of deepest hardship, our God stands with us.
We are witnessing a comprehensive governmental assault
designed to produce fear and terror among millions of men and
women who have through their presence in our nation been
nurturing precisely the religious, cultural, communitarian
and familial bonds that are most frayed and most valuable at
this moment in our country's history. This assault seeks to
make life unbearable for undocumented immigrants. It is
willing to tear families apart, separating grieving mothers
from their children, and fathers from the sons and daughters
who are the center of their lives. It embraces as collateral
damage the horrific emotional suffering that is being thrust
on children who were born here, but now face the terrible
choice of losing their parents or leaving the only country
that they have ever known.
Catholic social teaching states that every nation has the
right to effectively control its own borders and provide
security. Thus, efforts to secure our borders and deport
those undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes
constitute legitimate national goals. At times, our
government asserts that these goals constitute the essence
and scope of its immigration enforcement efforts, and if that
were true Catholic teaching would raise no objection.
But the reality we are facing here in the Archdiocese of
Washington and across our country is far different. For our
government is engaged in--by its own admission and by the
tumultuous enforcement actions it has launched--a
comprehensive campaign to uproot millions of families and
hard-working men and women who have come to our country
seeking a better life that includes contributing to building
up the best elements of our culture and society. This
campaign relies on fear and terror at its core, for the
government knows that it cannot succeed in its efforts except
by bringing new dimensions of fear and terror to our nation's
history and life. Its goal is simple and unitary: to rob
undocumented immigrants of any real peace in their lives so
that in misery they will ``self-deport''.
What is the moral foundation for the government in
undertaking such a comprehensive campaign of fear, in
uprooting ten million people from their homes and expelling
them from our country? The government says the answer is
simple and determinative: they broke a law when they entered
or chose to stay in the United States.
But today's Gospel proposes a far different measure for
determining whether ten million men and women and children
and families who have lived alongside us for decades should
face terror and expulsion: are they our neighbors?
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is the greatest parable
that Jesus gave to the formation of our moral lives and our
understanding of bonds of community and sacrifice and embrace
in this world. The most striking element of the Parable is
not that the Samaritan took notice of the man who had been
robbed, or that he was willing to sacrifice on his behalf or
that he placed his own life at risk by stopping in a very
dangerous location to see if help was needed. No, the most
striking element of the Parable is that the Samaritan was
willing to reject the norms of society which said that
because of his birth and status he had no obligation to the
victim, who was a Jew. The piercing insight and glory of the
Samaritan was that he rejected the narrowness and myopia of
the law to understand that the victim he was passing by was
truly his neighbor and that both God and the moral law
obligated him to treat him as neighbor.
In the very same way, for us as believers and citizens, our
obligation regarding undocumented women and men is to ask
ourselves: Are they truly our neighbor? Is the mother who
sacrifices in every dimension of her life to nurture children
who will live rightly, productively and caringly our
neighbor? Is the man being deported despite the fact that he
has three sons who serve in the marines because of the values
he taught them our neighbor? Is the woman who works to
provide home care for our sick and elderly parents our
neighbor? Is the young adult who came here as a child and
loves this nation as the only country he has ever known our
neighbor? Is the undocumented woman who contributes
tirelessly to our parish, caring for the church, leading the
daily rosary our neighbor?
In the Gospel today Jesus demands that the central
perspective we must bring to understanding the moral
legitimacy of the campaign of fear and deportation being
waged in our country today springs from the bonds of
community that have come to tie us together as neighbors, not
the question of whether sometime in their past individuals
broke a law by entering or remaining in the United States.
It is this perspective that must form our stance and action
as people of faith. As a Church we must console and
peacefully stand in solidarity with the undocumented men and
women whose lives are being upended by the government's
campaign of fear and terror. Courage and sacrifice must be
the hallmark of our actions at this moment of historic and
deliberate suffering being visited upon people living truly
good lives that are a credit to our nation. As citizens, we
must not be silent as this profound injustice is carried out
in our name. The priest and the Levite in today's Gospel are
a stark reminder that in the face of suffering, we so often
choose to pass on by--sometimes out of indifference,
sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of a general reluctance
to become involved.
But Jesus rejected this indifference, this fear, this
reluctance. His telling last words in the Gospel allow only
one option. Which of these in your opinion was neighbor to
the robber's victim? In understanding and facing the
oppression of undocumented men and women in our midst, we can
only have one response: I was, Lord, because I saw in them
your face.
Mr. DURBIN. A few days ago, some Jewish rabbis in the Chicagoland
area sent a letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times on the same
immigration crisis. They wrote:

These rabbis wrote--

ICE has disappeared people, used tear gas in residential
neighborhoods and shot at least two residents with live
rounds, one fatally.
At Broadview, agents fired rubber bullets on demonstrators,
including clergy members. In South Shore, ICE and Border
Patrol staged an overnight raid on an apartment building,
dragging families from their beds, separating children from
parents and leaving them handcuffed outdoors for hours.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this letter to the editor
from the Jewish rabbis in Chicago be printed in its entirety in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

[From the Chicago Sun Times, Oct. 26, 2025]

Jewish Clergy Raise Alarms on ICE, Border Patrol Tactics

(By Letters to the Editor)

On behalf of Jewish clergy serving communities across
Chicago and Illinois, we write in opposition to the
escalating campaign of fear and repression carried out by
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in our city and
suburbs.
In recent weeks, ICE has disappeared people, used tear gas
in residential neighborhoods and shot at least two residents
with live rounds, one fatally.
At Broadview, agents fired rubber bullets on demonstrators,
including clergy members. In South Shore, ICE and Border
Patrol staged an overnight raid on an apartment building,
dragging families from their beds, separating children from
parents and leaving them handcuffed outdoors for hours.
These tactics are spreading fear across Illinois.
It is our patriotic and sacred duty to uphold just
immigration policies and protect our vulnerable neighbors.
Many of us descend from people who fled state-sponsored
terror, when paramilitary forces patrolled their
neighborhoods. Our history teaches that safety does not come
from repression but from connection--from showing up for our
neighbors and refusing to be silent when state power targets
a community.
We must use every tool at our disposal to ensure a just and
compassionate immigration system. A broad coalition of
community organizations, led by the Illinois Coalition for
Immigrant and Refugee Rights, is urging lawmakers in
Springfield to pass the Safety and Action for Liberation
Together package, which would:
Bar civil arrests by ICE and other law enforcement at state
courthouses,
Protect patients and staff from law enforcement actions
inside hospitals,
Expand Safe Schools protections to early childhood and
higher education spaces,
Give Illinois residents the right to sue federal agencies
for unlawful arrests and detentions.
We call on the Illinois General Assembly to pass this
legislation and on people of all faiths to stand together to
protect our communities and uphold human dignity.
Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., Chicago Lawn
Rabbi Isaac Serotta, Highland Park
Rabbi Jessie Wainer, Lombard
Rabbi Shoshanah Conover, Lake View

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I make a point now, since the arrival of
the military from President Trump into the Chicago area, to go home
each weekend and visit the neighborhoods that are under assault from
the ICE agents.
I did that last weekend. I visited a suburb of Chicago known as
Elgin, IL. People have heard of it, I am sure. It is the sixth largest
city in our State.
The mayor, Dave Kaptain, is a true bipartisan man. It is no surprise
that he has been mayor for almost 12 years. He is a good mayor and a
good person. We met in his office and talked about what is going on.
Elgin was one of the first targets of President Trump and ICE. They
sent in the agents in the early morning hours,

[[Page S7747]]

along with Secretary Noem of the Department of Homeland Security. They
broke down a door to a home, raided it by removing the family and
accusing one of the occupants of being undocumented. There was no
allegation made that these people were dangerous criminals, nor was
there any question that they are the ``worst of the worst,'' in Donald
Trump's words.
Do you remember how many times he gave speeches at his rallies
talking about these people who are now being disappeared by ICE?
Remember how he referred to them--rapists, murderers, terrorists,
sexual predators, criminally insane?
It turns out that of all of the people who were arrested, detained,
and disappeared by ICE, 70 percent of those have no criminal record
whatsoever.
So what is actually happening? The cardinal from the District of
Columbia and the Jewish rabbis know, and we all know. It is a reign of
terror--a reign of terror from this administration--not to make America
safer but to make sure that people who weren't born here leave.
But, unfortunately, if you are a student of history, you know that is
the story of America: immigrants who came to this country seeking
freedom and opportunity and making this a great nation. My family tells
that story, and I am sure most of the people listening to my voice can
tell the same story. But what is going on now is a reign of terror.
I went to a section of Chicago known as Little Village. Little
Village is primarily Mexican American. It is a great community--miles
and miles of shops and stores and restaurants.
When I visited with them on Friday, they were largely empty. One
fellow at the grocery store told me 50 percent of the customers have
disappeared. Why? Because they are afraid. They are afraid to leave
their homes. For what? To be arrested, to be detained, to disappear.
Oftentimes, we are asked to try to find someone who has been detained
and get little or no cooperation from the Federal Agencies. These are
the tactics of dictators in faraway countries, not American due
process, but that is the reality of what we are facing.
I asked the mayor of Elgin what he thought about the population--the
Hispanic population--in his town.
He said: Senator, 50 percent of the people in my city of Elgin are
Hispanic. Many of them are immigrants. They make for a great community.
We just had a beautiful festival, with 10,000 people showing up. It has
been a tradition in Elgin for a long time, and one we are proud of.
He made a point of telling me that they are changing the ordinances
in Elgin so as to make those who are protected by DACA eligible to
apply to be firefighters and policemen. The one for policemen has been
on the books for a while. Now they have expanded it to firefighters,
and they have a long line of people interested--immigrants who are
prepared to risk their lives to keep their community safe.
That, I think, is a great story of a great town, and I am proud to
represent them.
But we cannot be proud of the tactics that are being used by ICE and
by the Department of Homeland Security. If you are going after serious
criminals, ``the worst of the worst''--the litany that is often given
by President Trump in his rallies--count me in. I will be part of that.
But to terrorize people in their homes, to make them afraid to go to
church, afraid to go to the market, afraid to go to a restaurant, is
not what this country is about.
There is only one parallel in history that I can think of that has
occurred in my lifetime, and that, of course, would be the internment
of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. It was a
discriminatory policy in the midst of a war that took these people from
their homes and their businesses and held them in camps scattered
around the West of the United States.
We look back on that, years later, and say: That was a terrible
mistake. That is not what America is all about.
I was a Member of the House of Representatives when the U.S.
Government, under President Clinton, issued a formal apology to
Japanese Americans for that policy.
Sadly, we are building up another occurrence in the United States
with the actions of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, when
it comes to Hispanic Americans. Profiling is part of the process, and
it is a disgrace that it is. That is the reality of what we face in
Chicago, and that is the reality of what they are going to face in
other States to come.

It is time for not only the clergy to speak up but the people who
care to speak up, who believe in human life and the value of it and who
believe that people need to be treated with respect.

Russia

Mr. President, on an unrelated issue, over the weekend, we witnessed
another brutal Russian onslaught against Ukraine--a scene brazenly
repeated after overtures made to Russian President Putin to end the
war.
I do not begrudge President Trump for trying to engage with Putin. I
have met with my fair share of autocrats in my political career. But
Putin is not serious about negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. He
is not driven by real estate or personal financial motivations but by
deep personal grievances and twisted readings of history and nostalgia
for the Soviet Empire--so much so that Putin has been willing to
slaughter thousands of innocent Ukrainians, kidnap children, and send
more than a million Russians to become war casualties in pursuit of his
myopia.
We should also be under no illusions that this is just a Russian
assault on Ukraine. It is an assault against the United States' values,
and it is an assault against NATO and its allies.
Last week, again, Russia entered NATO airspace--this time, in
Lithuania. The move followed years of increasingly provocative Russian
incursions. And Russian planes have entered the Alaskan Air Defense
Identification Zone at least nine times this year.
I welcome President Trump's recent decision to tighten sanctions on
Russia. He can and should take further steps to increase military and
economic pressure on Putin, and we in Congress should finally pass
sanctions legislation, which has 80 cosponsors from both political
parties, and we should do it soon.

Healthcare

Mr. President, on an unrelated topic, today, my constituents in
Illinois will begin to receive letters from health insurance companies
outlining the prices for next year's health insurance premiums. For
many Illinois families, these letters will inform them that their
premium costs will double.
Do you want to know why we are in a government shutdown? It is
because of that letter that is being sent around by insurance companies
to residents of Illinois and many other States this week. They are
going to learn, unfortunately, that the cost of their health insurance,
in many instances, is going to double--$1,000 or more for each one of
these recipients--all because congressional Republicans have chosen to
allow the Affordable Care Act's enhanced tax credits to expire.
These credits have helped millions of people in every State, but the
Republicans want to get rid of them. They want American families to
have to pay more for health insurance.
Last week, I sent a letter to the health insurance companies in
Illinois, asking them what it will mean to lose these tax credits.
Major health insurers, like Blue Cross Blue Shield and United, told me
that the expiration of these tax credits will be a disaster.
In Illinois, these tax credits lower premiums by an average of more
than $500 a month--$6,000 a year. Families who are struggling to try to
pay electric and utility bills, struggling to pay grocery expenses, now
face up to $6,000 a year more for the same health insurance they
enjoyed this year.
When Illinoisans go online at getcoveredillinois.gov, today, to check
their health insurance premiums for next year, they are going to see
two devastating things: First, nearly 400,000 Illinoisans will have to
grapple with the reality that they may no longer receive the premium
assistance they received this year. These losses could reach hundreds
to thousands of dollars a month, depending on the family size. Second,
they will see that, across our State, health insurance premiums are
going up approximately 30 percent next year, fueled by these expiring
tax credits and the ``Big Beautiful Trump Budget Bill.''

[[Page S7748]]

It is a double hit--loss of the enhanced tax credits and underlying
costs skyrocketing--all because the Republicans in Congress refuse to
sit down with us now--now--and fix this problem.
Listen to what Melanie from Elmhurst shared with me. She said:

I receive a $379 monthly tax credit . . . without the tax
credit [my insurance] is unaffordable, plain and simple.

She is not alone. She is 1 of 100,000 people in my State and more
than 4 million nationwide who stand to lose their health coverage
because of this Republican decision.
Democrats tried to address the expiration of these credits this year,
but the Republicans have refused to cooperate. Now is the time to get
it done for families. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, whether
they vote or not, should have access to health insurance.
If you are looking for leadership from the White House, we have to
hope that the President will return from his trip and take up this
cause.
I hope that the House of Representatives will actually come to the
Capitol for the first time in 4 or 5 weeks. Their presence is long
overdue.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Britt). The Senator from Alaska.

Government Funding

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, we are in day 27 of a government
shutdown--27 days where the government is shut down--and yet we are
here. You are presiding. We have pages on the floor. There are people
in the Gallery. There are people coming and going. We have Capitol Hill
police that are in the area. And it just kind of feels like business as
usual. We are going to have committee hearings this week. We are going
to be voting on judges and some CRAs. And it just kind of feels like
business as usual, and yet it is so not business as usual. We are
pretending that everything is OK. We are pretending that people are not
being impacted by this shutdown.
I am looking at the people that are here recording this, that will be
working to process this Record. None of them are getting paid.
The Capitol Hill police that I visit with on a daily basis outside
and inside are not getting paid. And they share with me that: Well, I
still had to drive in. I have a 40-minute drive to get here, so I have
to fill up my car. I have kids at home that are young kids, and they go
to childcare.
This is a Capitol Hill police officer saying this. And he says: So I
still have to pay the childcare provider even though I have to come in
and I am not getting paid. So my expenses are not going away.
Yet every single one of them says: I am not complaining. I am not
complaining. I have signed up for this. This is my mission, and I will
be here.
They are proud to be here. But what is wrong is that their families
are stressed. I was talking with one Capitol Hill police officer on
Thursday of last week, and he says: Every day, I go home and my wife
says, ``So, did they open it up? Are we going to be paid?'' And he
said: I tell her ``Nope, no progress today.''
So we are starting to feel that, because people who would otherwise
just be saying ``I signed up for this. I am not going to complain. I am
just going to do what I am going to do''--we are starting to feel this
in real time, and it is having an impact not only financially but, I
fear, from a mental health perspective.
We had a call come in just--well, actually today. This is a person
who was calling from Fairbanks, and she said: It is getting chilly in
Fairbanks. I woke up to a bill for heating oil of nearly $2,500.
Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a problem for me, but I am a
Federal employee. I love my job, but it has been very frustrating to
have constant threats of shutdowns and RIFs looming over my head. I
work hard. I am so tired of being labeled as one who is not working
hard. I would first like to propose that Congress doesn't get paid
while we aren't getting paid and maybe take fewer long weekends.
Well, I would let her know that, for many of us--I don't know about
the occupant of the Chair, but for many of us, we have deferred our
pay. It is not right that our staffs should not get paid and yet we get
paid.
But she raises a good point. She says that maybe we in Congress
should take fewer long weekends. I think she is right. I think she is
right. We left here Thursday afternoon. Members are just now coming
back. We will have our first vote here at 5:30.
In the meantime, people have done important stuff. We have important
jobs. We go home, we do important things, and maybe we are able to
carve out a little time to be with our families as well and try to have
some of that balance.
But, for some, they still had to come in this weekend. Some of those
Capitol Hill police officers still had to come in this weekend to keep
this place moving. Some of the folks who are here to provide services
to the building still had to come in this weekend, and they weren't
getting paid.
So I think the suggestion about us maybe taking fewer long weekends
is something not only that we should consider, but I am going to
challenge this body. I have a long commute home, folks, and I am not
begrudging that, but I don't think that we should be going home and
just behaving as if this was another week in the U.S. Senate--not when
we have a government shutdown.
There is so much--so much--that is coming at us like a freight train.
Little kids are excited because Friday is going to be Halloween, but
let me tell you, the scary costumes on Halloween night are not going to
be the scariest things; it is going to be what is delivered, what is
left on the doorstep the next morning, November 1, when it then becomes
officially official that SNAP payments will not be processed, will not
be available for the many, many--66,000 in Alaska--who rely on those
food benefits. The WIC payments to the women, infants, and children--
those, too, will be impacted. It is a reality for us that we are seeing
an impact across our society in ways that are not only scary but
overwhelming for some.
We had a pretty, pretty tough week and a half with a major disaster.
Thank you to the President for declaring that Presidential disaster
following ex-Typhoon Halong. But I can tell you that those who are
reliant on SNAP benefits are increasingly stressed because of what they
have just gone through with displacement within their homes. And now it
is across the whole State.
Our food banks are stressed. We were stressed going into the
beginning of winter already. We keep in close touch with our food
banks, and what I am hearing is that we are already seeing the lines at
the food banks growing longer. And what is hard to see is to know how
many military families are part of those lines now.
Madam President, this is simply--this is simply not right. And we may
or may not have what we call rifle-shot votes this week that will--
maybe we will take up again the bill that would pay all the Federal
workers. Maybe there will be a way that the military, who has been paid
up until the end of this month--that we will be able to make that next
pay increment. I certainly hope so. And not just our military but our
U.S. Coast Guard and those that are in law enforcement. Maybe there is
going to be a vote that would allow us to pay our U.S. Capitol Police.
I have signed on to that bipartisan measure. And maybe there is going
to be a vote for us to pay out the SNAP benefits. I have signed on to
that legislation as well. Maybe but maybe not.

Again, if we do take the rifle-shot approach, who else are we leaving
behind? What have we done for the men and women who are making sure
that when we go through those airports--the TSA--you have gone through
the TSA. What have we done to make sure that our air traffic
controllers that are keeping us safe in the skies--that their wives
aren't yelling at them at the end of a long, stressful day and saying:
When is this going to end?
So we have to figure this out. And I know that we have our positions,
and if people don't know what the Republican positions are and the
Democrat positions are, they haven't been listening to this discussion
for the past 27 days. We know what it is. We have got to come together,
which means we have got to talk to one another. And it can't be about
Republicans winning and Democrats losing or Democrats winning and
Republicans losing because

[[Page S7749]]

right now--right now--those that are losing are the American people,
those who are calling us up and saying Social Security hasn't released
her survivor's benefits after her husband's death. The inquiry is
placed on hold. Sorry. You are just going to have to wait.
A fellow in Petersburg was told that his telehealth appointment with
his cardiologist was canceled because of the lapse in authorization of
telehealth benefits. So they basically said: If you want to keep this
appointment, you are going to have to fly to Seattle. Those of you that
know Alaska know that Petersburg and Seattle are not connected by a
road, and it is not cheap.
A couple in Anchorage said that they have been waiting on an approval
from the FDA on a compassionate use exception for a medication to treat
stage IV ovarian cancer, and now they are told: Just hold on. Hold on.
The government is not operational right now.
We have a lot in our maritime community, and in order for them to be
lawfully out on the water, they need to have a license renewed through
the new merchant mariner credentialing. That is on hold.
We have a housing situation in Sitka, and we have an Army Corps
permit for the housing authority that has been delayed. We can't figure
that one out.
We are talking to people who have been trying to get an SBA loan--a
local business owner in downtown.
The school district in Sleetmute has been waiting to get the impact
aid emergency construction dollars so that they can repair this roof
that is literally falling down on top of the kids in the back of the
school there.
They are told: Well, there is nobody here to take your call. There is
nobody here to take your call because the government is not open.
So for those who think that this is not that big of a deal, they need
to start asking people--not only people who are Federal employees, not
only people who are SNAP recipients; they need to be asking people
about just some of the day-to-day, matter-of-fact things that happen
when you have a small business or you are trying to get your fishing
vessel out in the water. Real Alaskans are being impacted, and real
Alabamans are being impacted.
Americans are being impacted when we don't do our job. And maybe this
idea of ``We don't go home this weekend until we resolve this''--maybe
it doesn't work. Maybe we just look at one another and say: I am not
even going to talk to you. Maybe we just continue on with multiple
rounds of the same vote that we have been taking for the past 27 days
and see if we get a different result.
Now, some say that is the definition of insanity. I don't know. I
don't know. But what I do know is that when we leave and we assume that
things are fine or we send that message that things are fine because we
have just gone home and it is just business as usual here, then people
whose lives are really being impacted right now--they think we don't
get it.
We do get it. We need to act to end this shutdown, and I am going to
call on all of my colleagues to stay here until we get it done.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.

Hezbollah

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, the name ``Hezbollah'' has become
increasingly familiar in recent years to Americans as one of Iran's
main proxy groups committed to the destruction of Israel and even the
United States.
Beyond the horrific bombings of the U.S. Embassy and marine barracks
in Beirut, Lebanon, in the 1980s, many of us now associate the name
with Iran, of course, which has been the principal financial supporter
of Hezbollah, to the tune of 70 to 90 percent of its budget. In return,
Hezbollah acts as one of Iran's proxies in the so-called Axis of
Resistance.
We all know that Hezbollah is one of the terror groups in the Middle
East, responsible for numerous violent attacks over the past several
decades. But lesser known is their influence in the Americas--
specifically in Latin America. Perhaps lesser known is the broad extent
of Hezbollah's activities in the Western Hemisphere, which includes
illicit drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises. Hezbollah uses
these activities to generate cash to help finance terrorism back home
in the Middle East.
So while many in the West are focused on Iran's proxy terrorism
around the world, we cannot afford to ignore our own backyard.
Last week, I chaired a hearing for the Senate Caucus on International
Narcotics Control to examine the role that terrorist networks played in
creating the drug crisis that we face here in the United States, which
has taken hundreds of thousands of lives over recent years. In this
hearing, expert witnesses testified about Hezbollah's activities in
Central America and in South America and how they have strengthened
drug cartels and other criminal organizations that are actively
trafficking drugs into our country across the southern border.
This illicit drug trafficking in Latin America is one of Hezbollah's
primary sources of income used to finance terrorism, as I said earlier.
As we learned at the hearing, now more than ever, Hezbollah will be
looking to increase its cash flow and revenue from drug trafficking and
other illegal activities in Latin America as they seek to rebuild from
Israel's impressive campaign to rid the world of this terrorist threat.
We learned that Hezbollah takes advantage of free-trade zones in
Central America, where they can carry out their illegal operations
under minimal law enforcement and oversight. Then there is the
triborder region between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, long known to
be a hotbed of terrorist financing because it has a minimal law
enforcement footprint and is a hub for commerce. It is a black market
for all sorts of illicit activities, from drug trafficking, to arms
trafficking, to identity theft, and even to real estate schemes.
Hezbollah, when it comes to its fundraising, like many, many criminal
organizations, is commodity-agnostic, meaning they will do anything for
money.
The border of these three countries, known as the triborder region,
is isolated and hard to monitor, making it possible for easy transit
between them. It boosts a robust network of roads that connect the area
to major cities as well as international airports. These attributes,
paired with high levels of corruption and lack of good governance,
create the perfect petri dish for both licit and illicit trade to
flourish.
It was in this region in 2008 where the U.S.'s Operation Titan
arrested upwards of 130 suspects and seized roughly $23 million
associated with a joint operation between Hezbollah and Colombian
cartels that were engaged in cocaine smuggling and money laundering.
This operation uncovered about 700,000 wiretapped conversations
revealing drug cartels' association with--working hand in glove with
Hezbollah--700,000 wiretapped conversations tying these drug cartels to
this terrorist organization.
For example, one key cartel leader was known as Taliban and was given
permission to freely import drugs and launder cash into Lebanon in
exchange for a 12-percent tax on his proceeds paid to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah's operations extend to other free-trade zones, like
Margarita Island in Venezuela and Maicao in Colombia. It was in Maicao
were Ali Mohamad Saleh, a designated Hezbollah facilitator, led a
``support cell'' that raised money for the broader Hezbollah network.
His activities included transporting money from Colombia to Hezbollah
in Lebanon through Venezuela.
The Venezuelan Government has openly embraced this illicit commerce
and these criminal organizations. At last week's hearing, one of our
witnesses described the regime of President Maduro as ``a key enabler
of Hezbollah's malign activity in the Western Hemisphere.''
From providing passports to Hezbollah operatives, allowing them to
travel more freely, to creating transportation pipelines, to
intelligence collaboration, Venezuela has developed a partnership with
Iran and Hezbollah, allowing them to finance their terror operations
around the world while they engage in illicit money laundering and the
transportation of drugs and other illegal activities in the Americas.
The U.S. Treasury Department has uncovered key evidence that the
Maduro regime and Iran are collaborating at the state level. For
example in 2020, Adel El Zabayar, a former Venezuelan official and
political ally of

[[Page S7750]]

Nicolas Maduro, was indicted in the Southern District of New York for
facilitating cocaine and weapons trafficking between his own government
and Hezbollah. A Venezuelan businessman was also found to have provided
resources to Hezbollah, including ideological and military training and
networks for illicit trafficking of drugs and weapons.
Notwithstanding the impressive work of the U.N.'s intelligence
community, Maduro has not exactly been secretive about who his friends
and who his enemies are. In 2022, Maduro openly bragged about his
``exemplary relationship'' and ``increasing cooperation'' with Iran in
an interview where he said:

All of us who fight against colonialism, all of us who
fight to decolonize our minds and our people, are part of the
Axis of Resistance that stands against the methods of
imperialists for imposing hegemony on the world.

Now, if you didn't know that this was the President of Venezuela
speaking, you might have mistaken the quote from a leader of Iran or
some other state sponsor of terrorism or you might have mistaken it for
one of America's elite universities or a slogan from one of the pro-
Hamas clubs protesting on Columbia's campus, for example, last spring,
who pride themselves in resisting ``western colonialism.'' Well,
obviously, they are all drinking the same Kool-Aid.
In addition to aiding and abetting Hezbollah, Maduro has been
criminally indicted based on his leadership of the Cartel of the Suns--
probably one of the least known cartels. Better known are the Mexican
cartels. But Cartel of the Suns is actually headed up by Nicolas
Maduro, the President of Venezuela, and it includes a network of
Venezuelan military officials, including the army, navy, air force, and
the Bolivarian National Guard.
Named for the insignias that Venezuelan military officials wear on
their uniforms, the Cartel of the Suns--or the ``Cartel de los
Soles''--is involved in everything from gasoline smuggling to illegal
mining, drug trafficking, and a whole raft of other illegal activities
in Central and South and North America.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Cartel of the Suns this
past July for its materiel support of Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa
Cartel in their illegal drug and criminal activity here in the United
States.
This gives you an idea of how interconnected these networks are that
seek to undermine our country and to threaten our people--not just in
America but also our friends and allies in Central and South America.
This is a network that chants threats to Israel--``Death to Israel''--
and also chants ``Death to America.''
We have known for a long time that much of the fentanyl trafficked
through our southern border was manufactured using Chinese precursor
chemicals. We also know that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have
been working in concert for a long time to undermine the West. So it is
no surprise that Maduro's despotic regime in Venezuela aspires to join
that list as part of the Axis of Resistance. We should not be shocked
when our enemies work together.
The crisis of drug trafficking and human trafficking and other crimes
in the hands of international criminal networks that the Biden
administration ignored at the southern border is another scheme that
our enemies have devised to harm the United States. The Biden
administration was asleep at the switch--and that is being kind--when
it came to the threat of a porous southern border and their open border
policies, allowing criminal networks, along with their poison, to be
freely transported into the United States and take tens of thousands of
lives and help enrich our adversaries in Iran and Hezbollah.
The deaths in America resulting from drug overdose and the violent
crime that our people are suffering is not an accident; it is directly
connected to this axis of resistance.
And while it may be easy to think we can ignore these terrorists in
the Middle East because, well, there is an ocean between us and them,
the fact of the matter is, there is not. They are operating right here
in our own backyard.
Iran's proxy terrorist operations have contributed to and profited
from the instability and corruption in South America that has led to a
mass migration crisis in South America and Mexico, which has flooded
our southern border with unprecedented numbers of illegal crossings
during the Biden administration. This phenomenon, paired with the
strengthening of the criminal cartels in Latin America, has led to much
more criminal activities here in the United States, where street gangs
distribute the drugs exported from these countries to America, to our
border, then to be distributed across the United States to the
detriment of the American people.
So the reason this hearing was so important is because we need to
connect the dots. We need to make sure we understand the nature of the
threat to our way of life, and it is not just about over there; it is
about right here in our backyard that our enemies are collaborating and
threatening the safety and security of the American people.
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.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Artificial Intelligence

Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I come to the Senate today to address
my recent oversight relating to our Nation's Federal courts and to
share some of my recent findings.
This month, I sent letters to a pair of Federal judges regarding
their suspected use of artificial intelligence in published court
orders. The two judges issued orders that were wrought with serious,
inexplicable errors that were of great concern to the litigants, to the
public, and to me.
One judge, sitting in the southern district of Mississippi, issued an
order that named plaintiffs and defendants who were not even a party to
the case. It misquoted statutory text. It erroneously cited evidence
that didn't exist in the record, and it referred to sworn declarations
by people who had not appeared anywhere in the case.
I have never seen or heard of anything like this from any Federal
court. The other judge sitting in the district of New Jersey issued an
order with fake quotes and misstatements about case law. The order even
falsely attributed quotations to the defendants that apparently were
never made, errors like I just described are unfathomable.
Both judges' errors are obviously reckless and unacceptable, but, in
fact, it gets worse. When these flagrant mistakes were brought to the
courts' attention by counsel in the cases, both judges attempted to
minimize their faults. One even referred to the errors as ``clerical.''
Both judges removed their orders from the docket and the public
record without even any explanation. This lack of transparency is
breathtaking, and the judges' refusal to accept responsibility for
their actions eroded public confidence in the competency and fairness
of the Federal judiciary.
When litigants or their attorneys misuse artificial intelligence like
this and file sloppy briefs with incorrect citations and falsehoods,
they are rightly held accountable.
Just recently, we have seen attorneys sanctioned, attorneys fined,
removed from their cases, and even referred for professional discipline
and disbarment for this kind of conduct.
Well, that is how attorneys are handling it when they misuse or do
the wrong thing. In fact, in a case assigned to one of these judges, a
magistrate judge publicly chastised a counsel for using artificial
intelligence in a brief.
Now, apparently some judges think accountability runs only one way,
but we all know they are wrong. As the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
recently explained, ``The use of AI or other technology does not excuse
carelessness or failure to follow professional standards.''
That is true for every officer of a Federal court, attorney, and
judge alike.
Now, to their credit, finally, these two judges responded to my
letters and explained that they are taking measures to ensure that
these incidents never happen again.
Each acknowledges that the errors in their orders arose from the
misuse of

[[Page S7751]]

artificial intelligence by staff in their Chambers. One judge blamed a
law student intern and the other blamed a law clerk for generating the
errors. This helps explain how it happened, but ultimately how it
happened that way does not matter.
A lawyer can't excuse an error-ridden brief by blaming a paralegal or
junior associate, attorneys' names go on their filings, just as judges'
names go on their orders. The judges issue orders in their own name
that determine the rights of the parties before them.
The buck stops at the judges. It is bad enough that the Federal court
order could misstate or pervert the law to the degree that we saw it in
these two judges, but I am concerned that these now-public blunders
arose in cases represented by sophisticated parties who had the
resources and the legal talent to push back and make sure that their
clients got justice.
So at the same time, through these errors that I have pointed out, we
have to fear that people without resources--that if the same thing
happened to an indigent party or a pro se litigant--the truth may never
have come to light. I cannot and will not stand for that. All litigants
are owed a fair shake in the court.
Our Federal courts must hold themselves to the highest of standards.
Our Constitution depends on it. Justice requires it. Americans deserve
better from their judges.
Now, to be clear, I appreciate these two judges finally accepting
responsibility for what went on in their jurisdiction, and I believe
them when they say that they are deploying measures to prevent the same
mistakes from happening again. But this should be a lesson, not just
for these two judges but for the entire bench and the bar.
Artificial intelligence is a powerful and potentially dangerous
resource. Although it may have some role in preliminary legal research,
it cannot and must not be a substitute for legal judgment.
The Senate confirms Federal judges. We don't confirm computer
software to perform the duties mandated under article III.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to
safeguarding litigants' rights and ensuring that every party in Federal
court receives fair treatment and careful review by article III judges.
I call on every judge in America to take this issue seriously and
formalize measures to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence in
their chambers.
I also call upon the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and
also the Judicial Conference to quickly develop decisive and meaningful
guidance on the use of artificial intelligence by our judiciary.
In the wake of my oversight, Judge Cronan, in the Southern District
of New York, implemented a rule in his courtroom to ensure the accuracy
of filings. He requires attorneys to disclose any artificial
intelligence use and to certify that he or she ``personally reviewed
the filings for accuracy.'' I applaud him for taking this issue
seriously, and I encourage other members of the bench to consider
similar rules and to hold themselves to the same standard as they
require of litigants in the court.
I am hopeful that these two unfortunate episodes by the two judges
that I referred to will serve as a wake-up call across the Federal
judiciary. But if it isn't, I am here today to give a warning: I am
watching. All of Congress is now watching. If this issue doesn't get
fixed by the judiciary, we will step in to protect the rights of the
American litigants using powers available to Congress under the
Constitution.
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.
Mr. PAUL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. PAUL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
previously scheduled vote occur immediately.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

____________________