[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 180 (Wednesday, October 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7792-S7798]
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 legislative 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, we are now in day 29 of the Democrat
government shutdown, and I say that because it is a Democrat shutdown.
Now, the Democrats are out there publicly saying: Well, these are the
Republicans who are responsible for shutting down the government,
notwithstanding the fact that the House of Representatives has passed a
bill sitting right here; that with five more Democrats, we could pick
up and pass, put on the President's desk, he would sign it into law,
and we could reopen the government.
Those are the simple facts. Those are the indisputable facts.
What it suggests to me, however, when they say that it is the
Republicans' fault or somehow the Republicans are responsible for
shutting the government down, it really defies facts. It defies
history. It defies reality because as everybody who has been around
here knows, we have now voted 13 times--13 times--on that bill sitting
at the desk that would open up the government, put everybody back to
work, and all the pain that is being caused on the American people
would go away. Thirteen times we had that vote.
Interestingly enough, that matches the number of times the Democrats
passed a clean CR when they had the majority the last 4 years under
President Biden. On 13 different occasions--13 different occasions--
they voted for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government.
At the time, they talked about how terrible it is, you know, that the
government should be taken hostage when you have a dispute over other
issues. You have tons of statements. I could spend all day just
repeating the statements the Democrats made over and over and over
again about the importance of funding the government and not taking it
hostage to discuss other issues. The Record is replete with statements
like that coming out of the Democrats.
So 13 times they have voted against funding the government right
here. Thirteen times while they were in the majority, they voted for a
clean continuing resolution. Now, explain that logic to the American
people who are the ones that are experiencing the pain and the
consequence of their shutdown.
I think the American people understand what is going on here. And we
consistently see that, so much so that you even have the
organizations--the unions around the country have come out now. You
have the American Federation of Government Employees, you have the
Teamsters, part of the Air Traffic Controllers Union all have endorsed
a clean funding resolution. That, to me, suggests that it is resonating
with the American people about who is responsible for this government
shutdown.
But don't take my word for who it is, take the Democrats' own words.
If you look at what has been said by some of the Democrat leadership
here just in the last few days since the government actually shut down,
that, of course, is the Democrat leader Senator Schumer, who said:
``Every day gets better for us,'' commenting about the government
shutdown.
My simple observation is, better for whom? For you because you think
you are winning politically? What about the air traffic controllers?
What about the TSA agents? What about the American troops? What about
our Border Patrol agents? What about the people who work in this
building? What about the 40 million Americans who are not going to get
SNAP benefits starting Saturday if the government doesn't open up?
But ``every day gets better,'' according to Senator Schumer.
Then, of course, this last week there was the House Democrat whip who
said:
Of course there will be families that are going to suffer .
. . but it is one of the few leverage times we have.
Of course there are families that are going to suffer. Yes, true, but
it doesn't matter because we have leverage.
Then, of course, we have a third one here, one of our colleagues here
in the Senate, the Senator from Delaware, who said this in an
interview:
Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage and although a
very unpleasant tool to use. . . .
Yes, it is unpleasant, unless you are a Democrat who thinks that this
gives you a moment of leverage.
So lest there be any question about who is responsible for shutting
the government down, make no mistake about it, these guys are the ones
who are out there bragging about it ``getting better for us every
single day,'' or ``we have more leverage now.''
This has gone on long enough. We made it abundantly clear that this
is not about what the Democrats say it is about. It is about the
President in the White House. This is TDS. This is Trump derangement
syndrome on steroids. And they are asking the American people to pay
the price for that.
Thirteen times when Biden was President, they had no issues with
funding the Federal Government with a clean CR. Now, we bring a clean,
nonpartisan CR--no partisan riders, no Republican policies attached,
just funds the government, comes over from the House a month ago now,
we put it here just asking a handful of Democrats to join us because,
as we know, it takes 60 in the Senate. I think most people understand
that.
I mean, they are trying to ignore the fact now that Republicans have
control of Washington. They have the House, the Senate, the White
House. Anybody who follows this knows that in the U.S. Senate, the
rules, the procedures in the Senate by which we operate and are
governed, require a 60-vote threshold. So it takes more than 51.
Meaning, since we have 53 Republicans, it is going to taking take a
handful of Democrats. We have been able to generate 55 votes
consistently now 13 different times for funding the government, opening
up the government, but we need five more.
The question is, Are there five people over there with a backbone,
five courageous Democrats, five Democrats who don't buy this, who don't
believe that they ought to be using the American people as leverage--as
leverage--to try to win a political battle? Are there five Democrats
over there who believe we ought to do what is in the interest of the
American people, the best interest of the air traffic controllers and
the TSA agents and the men and women in uniform and the SNAP recipients
that, starting on Saturday, are going to go without food assistance?
This is not a game. You are playing with real people's lives.
In the Washington world, in the political world, they may think that
they are winning this debate because it gives them leverage, but in the
real world where real people live, people are hurting. People aren't
getting paid. Federal workers aren't getting paid. As of Friday, last
paycheck. Air traffic controllers' paychecks started going away
yesterday.
I am still hopeful. I remain hopeful that there are enough sane
Democrats who are not so afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome
because that is what this is about, fundamentally, nothing more,
nothing less, nothing else. This is about Trump derangement syndrome.
And it has broken out here in a way unlike anything I have seen in my
time here. Disagree with the President, that is fine. Come down here,
make statements, cast votes. Don't take the American people hostage and
make them pay the price because you think that every day this is
getting better for us.
Healthcare
Mr. President, the Democrat leader was on the floor yesterday morning
claiming, once again, Republicans don't want to talk about fixing
healthcare. Let me just say, for the 1,282nd time, that Republicans are
more than happy to have a discussion about healthcare. We should have a
discussion about healthcare because Democrats' signature healthcare law
has done exactly nothing to address the problem of rising healthcare
costs.
[[Page S7793]]
We were promised, of course, that it would. We were, in fact,
promised the Democrats' signature law would fix our entire healthcare
system.
This is a quote:
[A]n historic bill that will finally reform our broken
healthcare system and help millions of our families and small
businesses get the coverage they need at a price they can
afford.
That is from the senior Democrat Senator from Washington speaking of
ObamaCare back in 2009.
Or to quote President Obama himself:
This law will cut costs and make coverage more affordable
for families and small businesses.
``Cut costs and make coverage more affordable for families and small
businesses''--except, of course, it didn't.
And what has been very striking about the last few weeks is that
Democrats are, at least, now admitting that. Oh, yes, they are not
saying it straight out. But every time they talk about Americans facing
a healthcare crisis, they are admitting that their signature healthcare
law failed, that it did not address the problem of high healthcare
costs, and that it did not make healthcare more affordable for hard-
working Americans.
Now, I could go down the list of ObamaCare's broken promises:
If you like your health insurance, you can keep it--not true.
If you like your doctor, you can keep him or her--not true.
Premium costs will go down--not true. It is exactly the opposite. If
you look at 2013 to today, what premium costs have done in the
individual marketplaces and on the exchanges is a line like this.
Suffice it to say, as Democrats are now implicitly admitting,
ObamaCare massively failed in its aims.
Democrats, of course, now want to put a bandaid on a gaping wound by
extending the Biden COVID bonuses. But, of course, extending those
credits will do nothing to fix the underlying problem, which is that
healthcare costs will continue to spiral under ObamaCare. Throwing $350
billion--taxpayer dollars--at the problem in the form of enhanced tax
credits will do nothing to stop ObamaCare premiums from going up by
double digits, because that is what they have been doing. And it will
do nothing to improve healthcare for the majority of Americans, who are
not--not--on ObamaCare health plans, like our seniors, our most
vulnerable citizens, and those who get their coverage through their
employers.
While Democrats are, shall we say, shaky on the facts when it comes
to their dramatic healthcare speeches--while ObamaCare premiums are
increasing, the median plan premium is not, in fact, going to double
next year--it is absolutely true that Democrats have created real
healthcare problems. And as I have said more times than I can count,
Republicans are ready and willing to have a discussion about those
problems and about how we lower costs for hard-working Americans. We
are, in fact, eager to have that discussion.
The President is willing to have Democrats over to discuss it next
week, if they vote to reopen the government, because in the words of
the Democrat leader, back in 2013, ``we are not going to negotiate with
a gun to our heads.'' That is what he said.
This is a serious matter. I know Democrats think you can solve any
problem simply by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it--the
record is pretty clear on that--but you can't. Genuine remedies for the
problem of soaring healthcare costs are not going to be arrived at with
a brief, late-night session, behind closed doors, in the Democrat
leader's office. We need extended, serious bipartisan work, with input
from all Senators, and we need Democrats to reopen the government so
that work can start.
Republicans are brimming over with healthcare ideas, from cost-
sharing reductions to actually lowering health plan costs, to
association health plans, to ways to stopping ObamaCare's spiral of
enriching insurers at the expense of everyday Americans. In fact, we
already took steps to make healthcare more affordable and accessible
when we passed the One Big Beautiful Bill this summer, which expanded
health savings accounts and telehealth for Americans, to say nothing of
investing heavily in rural healthcare and ensuring that our healthcare
entitlement programs were focused on those most in need.
So I say, we are looking forward to having a real discussion with
Democrats. But to quote another Democrat Senator, the junior Democrat
from Connecticut:
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 when the funding of the
Federal Government, and all of the lives that are impacted by
it, hang in the balance.
There are a lot of Americans suffering right now because of the
Democrats' monthlong shutdown, and the suffering increases every day.
It is time--it is past time--for Democrats to reopen the government.
Once they do, Republicans look forward to having some serious
discussions about how to address rising healthcare costs and the
failures of the Democrats' signature healthcare law.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Mr. President, before I close, I would like to mention a bill that
Democrats are reportedly going to attempt to move by unanimous consent
today.
I would just say that, after a month of steadily increasing pain
thanks to the Democrats' shutdown, the Democrats have, apparently,
woken up to the fact that, in 3 days--in 3 days--they are going to be
responsible for SNAP recipients starting to go without food stamps.
So what are the Democrats doing? Are they making plans to end their
shutdown and reopen the government?
Nope. They are going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during
their shutdown.
That is right. The Democrats don't want the bad press of hungry
Americans, but they are also, apparently, unwilling to even contemplate
ending their monthlong shutdown. So they are trying to insulate
themselves with this bill.
Do you know what is not in this bill? Paychecks for our troops,
paychecks for law enforcement officers and Federal firefighters,
paychecks for air traffic controllers, paychecks for other government
workers, funding for rental and housing assistance, funding for small
business loan programs, funding for farm loan programs, funding for
Tribal programs, funding for Head Start, funding for rural development
programs, funding for National Guard training, funding for telehealth
services.
Shall I go on? Because I am happy to.
Every one of those programs I mentioned has either run out of money,
is running out of money, or is otherwise in jeopardy because of the
Democrats' government shutdown. The Democrats' bill would do nothing to
support even one of those programs. Thanks to Democrats, Federal
workers are lining up at food banks. The Democrats' bill is certainly
not going to help them as they struggle to pay the rent or the electric
bill or to make the car payment.
Enough is enough. This bill is a cynical attempt to buy political
cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown
even longer. We are not going to let them pick winners and losers. It
is time to fund everybody, and the bill sitting at the desk right there
does that. We just need five brave Democrats.
If Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC, we have a bill for
them--a clean, nonpartisan CR to fund SNAP, WIC, and the entire Federal
Government--or we can pass the Agricultural appropriations bill the
Democrats have been resisting behind closed doors. That would fund
SNAP, WIC, and our farm and conservation programs, not to mention
ensuring salaries for the people who inspect our food and support our
farmers. I am happy to bring that up right now.
The Democrats have spent a month--a month now--playing with people's
livelihoods because the far-left wing of their party won't let them
accept a clean, nonpartisan CR.
Enough is enough. We are not giving Democrats political cover. If
they want to prevent damage from their shutdown, then they can end
their shutdown. The bill is right there at the desk, and I will call a
vote the minute the Democrats tell me they have enough votes to fund
the government. The ball is really in their court.
Is this what you want the American people to think--that you are
willing
[[Page S7794]]
to give them enormous amounts of pain and adverse consequence so that
you can gain leverage--political leverage?
It is time to end it.
I yield the floor.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.
Government Funding
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we are just 3 days--3 days--away from
open enrollment and 3 days away from the biggest healthcare crisis
America has seen in a generation.
Right now, at this moment, all day today, millions of Americans are
getting sticker shock as the so-called window-shopping period has
begun. American families, as they window shop, are seeing that due to
Republican obstruction, they will end up having to pay tens of
thousands of dollars more each year for healthcare, seeing their
premiums triple, quadruple, or more just to afford a basic need like
health insurance. And what is Donald Trump doing? He is ignoring one
colossal healthcare crisis while manufacturing another: a hunger
crisis.
In a matter of days, SNAP benefits will run out for 42 million
Americans. And let's be very clear. This does not need to happen. This
is on Donald Trump's shoulders. He can immediately provide SNAP
benefits, as every President has done in the past. Every single
President was not so cruel and heartless to hold those hungry children,
hungry elderly, hungry veterans as hostages, but Donald Trump, who is a
cold, heartless individual, only advancing himself, is doing it for the
first time in American history. Never, never before in American
history--not once under a Democratic President or a Republican
President--has SNAP funding lapsed during a shutdown--not even in 2019,
during Trump's last shutdown. In fact, Trump himself funded SNAP
throughout that shutdown.
So this argument that he can't do it, that he doesn't have the money,
that it is not legal is just bull--self-serving, nasty, vicious bull--
to try to take the most needy people in our society, who don't have
food right now--who could be a middle-class person who lost a job,
could be an elderly person who has healthcare costs--and he is saying:
The hell with you. I need you to be my hostage for political purposes
because I don't want to provide healthcare for the American people.
Just weeks ago, Trump's own U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed
in writing that contingency funds--about $6 billion in emergency
reserves--were ``available to fund participant benefits.'' That is not
Democrats saying it; that is the Republican-appointed U.S. Department
of Agriculture saying that $6 billion in emergency reserves were
``available to fund participant benefits.''
But then, suddenly, after USDA said it, Trump ordered the Department
of Agriculture to rip up the contingency plan, literally delete it from
their website--the big lie that they can't do it--and told them not to
use emergency funds--no explanation, no justification; just plain
cruelty from the man who only serves himself.
Donald Trump is picking politics over the lives of hungry kids. He is
weaponizing hunger, turning millions of children, seniors, and veterans
into political pawns to score points in his shutdown fight. Donald
Trump is a vindictive politician and a heartless man, and that is why
he doesn't care about cutting off food aid to hungry kids.
Of course, what he is doing is totally unprecedented. Let's not
forget who it affects. Two-thirds of SNAP recipients are children,
seniors, or people with disabilities. That is who Trump is cutting
off--kids who rely on school meals, seniors on fixed incomes, and
veterans trying to get by. That is why every single President in
history continued SNAP benefits during a shutdown. Instead, what does
Trump do? He is focused on $40 million to bail out Argentina rather
than how to keep SNAP benefits flowing for Americans here at home.
And don't give me the lie that this can't be done legally. Every
single President--Republican, Democrat, and Trump himself in 2019--has
used these funds during shutdowns to keep SNAP running.
Trump's own administration asserted that these emergency funds could
be used to keep SNAP benefits flowing in a shutdown, and the Government
Accountability Office, which is nonpartisan, confirmed it. The USDA can
also use the same transfer authority they used to keep WIC afloat in
October to move money over to SNAP for November. To claim otherwise is
a bald-faced lie.
Republicans are on a crusade to kill SNAP. They tried to do it in
their Big Beautiful Bill. They don't like funding hungry children. They
say to the most needy in society: We don't give a damn about you. In
fact, we will use you as political pawns. Trump and Republicans spent
their entire summer slashing SNAP by a historic $200 billion. Why? To
pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Now they are doubling down, using
the shutdown to further devastate families and leave kids hungry.
But Democrats will not stand by while Trump manufacturers a hunger
crisis. We are ready to work in whatever way to solve this issue. There
is a bill right now from Senator Hawley--a Republican, a conservative
Republican--that could ensure SNAP is funded. It has Republican and
Democratic support. It is a bill I would happily support and vote for.
As soon as Thune lets Hawley put it on the Senate floor, it will pass,
plain and simple.
But that is not the only option, of course. This week, Senate
Democrats, led by my friend Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, will introduce
legislation to fully fund SNAP and WIC--and WIC, going better than
Hawley's bill--to protect hungry kids, pregnant women, veterans, and
working parents.
The bill is simple; it is moral; it is urgent. Ask John Thune why he
won't put it on the floor. He decries the fact that SNAP benefits are
cut off. He knows the money is available. He knows there is broad
Republican support for it. And he doesn't put it on the floor. He is
afraid of Trump. That is it. He knows better.
We Democrats are ready to act. We will push to pass the Lujan bill.
We will vote for the Hawley bill if Thune does the right thing and puts
it on the floor before the weekend, before families lose their
benefits, before holidays turn into a hunger crisis. We are ready to
act.
We are ready to work with anyone, Republicans or Democrats, who is
willing to stop this cruelty, but Senate Republicans--especially Leader
Thune--have to find the courage to stand up to Trump. Right now, they
are frozen, paralyzed by fear, by cynicism, while millions of Americans
wonder how they will feed their families.
So I say to my Republican colleagues: Don't block the Hawley bill.
Put it on the floor, Senator Thune.
Don't block the Lujan bill, which is even better. Don't let politics
outweigh compassion. Let's stop this hunger shutdown. Let's stop this
shutdown. Let's stop the shutdown Republicans caused, using hungry
people as pawns. Let's feed our people, and let's end this hunger
crisis before it begins.
China and Tariffs
Mr. President, now on Trump's Asian trip and tariffs, as we enter the
29th day of the government shutdown, where is Donald Trump?
Gallivanting in Asia. Dancing in Malaysia.
He is preparing now to meet with President Xi of China to strike a
trade deal that will sell out the American people, give away vital
national security tools in exchange for little more than a photo op.
President Trump is about to congratulate himself--patting himself
hard on the back--for cleaning up a mess that he created. Again,
President Trump is about to congratulate himself for cleaning up a mess
that he created. It is amazing what this guy does.
It is the same story with his so-called deal with South Korea. We are
actually worse off because tariffs on Korean imports went from 2
percent now to 15 percent. But Donald Trump created a mess and now
wants credit for pretending like he fixed it.
On China, Donald Trump's trade negotiations with China have been a
failure. His actions have decimated soybean farmers. He has hurt small
businesses. Has he revived any of American manufacturing? No. China is
still flooding global markets with subsidized goods, still stealing
American technologies to undercut U.S. firms and workers. Meanwhile, we
have lost tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs.
This is Trump's MO in foreign policy: He creates a giant mess, and
then he
[[Page S7795]]
wants everyone to praise him when he tries to clean it up and ignore
the damage he has inflicted. He creates the mess, tries to clean it up,
and pats himself on the back when we are no better off--worse off--than
when we started.
In anticipation of today's meeting with Trump and President Xi,
Senate Democrats are demanding that President Trump not negotiate away
America and our allies' national security.
He is using the most advanced semiconductor chips, which China
doesn't have, as a bargaining chip. China is desperate to get these
chips. If Trump gives it away, China will dominate the world of AI in a
few short years, and Americans will pay an awful price.
Where are our China hawks on the Republican side decrying this? Where
are they? Because these chips are vital, and it is American technology
that has produced them, American companies that make them. China is
desperate to get them because it will make them the leader in AI in a
few years--AI, the most dominant technology in the world. And Trump is
willing to give away those crown jewels so he can say he has ``a deal''
and undo the mess that he created with tariffs.
Donald Trump's chip deal is not ``America First'' but China first,
putting China first over the next decade in what is the most crucial
technology facing the world. Americans will regret that move for
generations. Historians will note it as one of the turning points where
America became not the primary power in the world but secondary to
China--all because Trump wants an immediate press hit to say, ``Hey, I
have a deal,'' even though that deal doesn't move us forward at all,
and it cleans up the mess he created.
Now, President Trump's trip to the Asian Continent could have been an
opportunity to make progress with America's vital partners. He could
have used this trip to end his reckless trade war, to stop alienating
our allies, to show strength and unite our allies against the Chinese
Communist Party, and, most importantly, to help Americans struggling
with high costs here at home. But so far, his trip has been a total
dud.
By the end of his trip to Asia, it could be the case that we somehow
have higher tariffs on our neighbor Canada than we do on our biggest
rival China. How on earth does that make sense?
In fact, the biggest news out of this trip is that Donald Trump seems
to finally realize that he can't run for a third term. That just goes
to show you how fruitless this trip has been.
American families are facing enough problems right now, with the
nightmare of open enrollment, the pain of higher groceries, the prices
of everything, from cars, to home appliances, to electricity,
skyrocketing. The last thing they want is to turn on the TV and see
Trump being gifted with a golden crown and then signing a deal with
China that royally screws over Americans.
Trump's trade war has been an utter disaster from the start. It has
been a nightmare for our allies, for our economy, and for our families
who are paying more because of the Trump tariff tax.
I am proud the Senate came together yesterday in a bipartisan vote,
52 to 48, to end Trump's tariffs on Brazil yesterday--the tariffs he
put on Brazil simply because he is angry that the Brazilian Government
is prosecuting a friend of his, a guy who is MAGA just like him. Isn't
that amazing? That is why he put Trump tariffs on Brazil. That is why
Americans are paying more for their cup of coffee in the morning--
because Trump wants to embrace and help a MAGA, rightwing guy who is
being prosecuted by the legitimate Brazilian Government. It is amazing.
This week we will have more resolutions to push back on Trump's trade
war and help stop the bleeding. Our Republican colleagues will have a
choice--a choice: stand with Trump's idiotic, disastrous, and often
juvenilely inspired tariffs or stand with American families and vote to
lower costs for people back home.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). The majority whip.
Government Funding
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today I would like to start with a
quote. Here it is:
It is time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end
this shutdown today.
It goes on to say:
No half measures, and no gamesmanship.
Those are the words from the American Federation of Government
Employees--not FOX News, not the National Review, not the Wall Street
Journal--no. These are the words of the American Federation of
Government Employees.
Let me tell you about the organization. They are the largest union in
America for Federal workers. They were proud promoters, a couple of
weeks ago, of the far left's radical rally. They are a very liberal
group that has sued the Trump administration now more than a dozen
times in the past year. This is a group that endorsed Kamala Harris for
President, and 100 percent of their 2024 campaign war chest went to
Democrats.
Even my friend and colleague who is on the floor right now, Dick
Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, admits:
They're our friends. We take them seriously.
This labor union is one of the Democrats' biggest cheerleaders, and
today they are calling out Democrats for playing politics and holding
hostage the paychecks of over 800,000 Federal workers. If that doesn't
push the Democrats to wake up and reopen the government, it is hard to
tell what will.
We are now in day 29 of the Schumer shutdown, and Democrats have set
a record for the longest full government shutdown in American history.
Union after union are begging the Democrats to open the government. It
is not only this American Federation of Government Employees--oh, no,
it is the head of the Capitol Police union. The head of the Capitol
Police union warns:
The longer the shutdown drags on, the harder it becomes for
my officers.
The President of the Teamsters Union says:
American workers are not bargaining chips. Senators should
stop screwing around and pass the House-passed clean, short
term funding bill.
The head of the National Air Traffic Controllers, their union, warns:
The message is simple: End the shutdown today.
There is no excuse--
The union leader says--
that these hardworking men and women are showing up to do
this job and to not ever know when . . . they're going to get
paid.
These are working Americans, and their paychecks are missing. And at
the same time their paychecks are missing, their bills are mounting,
and the stress that they are suffering is multiplying. The message is
clear: Reopen the government today.
Democrats refuse to listen. Instead, they freely admit it is all
about politics. They are playing a big and dangerous game of politics,
and it is a politics of pain. The minority leader, Schumer, gloated--he
gloated--this month to the press in a sitdown interview with Punchbowl
News. He says:
Every day gets better for us.
I am not sure who the ``us'' is, but it is not the American people.
Then you have the whip in the House on the Democrat side of the
aisle. What did she say? She admitted to FOX News--she said:
Of course there will be families that are going to suffer .
. . but it is one of the few leverage times we have.
That is not somebody that is serious about taking care of people and
making sure we get the government open.
And even my friend and colleague Chris Coons of Delaware, just last
Thursday, told a national television audience on C-SPAN:
Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage.
And he called this shutdown an ``unpleasant tool.'' He has voted 13
times to keep using this ``unpleasant tool'' to keep the government
closed.
Now, those are the words of high-ranking Democrats in both the House
and the Senate, and at the same time, vulnerable mothers and children
are being described as leverage so that Democrats can give free
healthcare to illegal immigrants. That is what they are doing: using
the American people as leverage, as pawns in their big game of
politics. And what are their demands? Healthcare for illegal
immigrants. It is reckless; it is radical; and it is wrong.
This suffering, the unpleasantness, is going to get worse as the
weeks go on
[[Page S7796]]
unless the Democrats vote to reopen the government. Air traffic
controllers missed their first full paychecks yesterday; 1.8 million
Federal workers missed their full paycheck on Friday. This includes
Border Patrol agents, TSA agents. By the end of the week, 42 million
Americans will lose food assistance. The Democrats call that
unpleasantness.
Lines at food banks are already swelling. The New York Times reports
food banks are anticipating an even greater surge in demand. What do
the Democrats call that? Unpleasantness, so they can have leverage.
Families from New Hampshire to Georgia are going to go hungry because
Democrats choose to close the government and refuse to open it. What do
the Democrats call that? Unpleasantness.
Democrats know the President can't legally use emergency funds, to
the tune of $9 billion per month, for food assistance. Democrats have
an option: Vote for a clean continuing resolution and reopen the
government.
Of course, the Schumer shutdown is not only a financial issue; it is
also causing a crisis in national security. This past weekend, one in
six air traffic controllers nationwide--in terms of the locations, the
centers--were understaffed. Since Sunday, nearly 20,000 flights have
been delayed.
What do the Democrats call that? Unpleasantness.
Some Democrats privately say they are not going to budge unless
planes are falling out of the sky. That is their definition of
unpleasantness.
Democrats continue to embrace the politics of pain. Democrats have
chosen leverage over the lives of people in this country. They have
chosen leverage because they want to fight Trump. They should be
feeding our families. They are choosing politics over paychecks.
The American people deserve better. We are not getting it from the
Democrats in this body. Senate Republicans have voted 13 times for a
clean, short-term continuing resolution to reopen the government and
pay every Federal worker, and 13 times Senate Democrats have voted no.
Under Joe Biden, they voted 13 times for the exact same kind of clean
continuing resolution. They voted yes all of those times.
Here is the math everybody in this Chamber understands. It takes 60
votes to reopen the government. Fifty-five Senators have voted to
reopen the government time and time again. That means we need five more
Democrats to end the shutdown.
Republicans are absolutely ready to pay our Nation's workers, to feed
our Nation's families, and to reopen the government. Democrats continue
to vote against this. They seem to be committed to what the House
Democrat whip admits is suffering and what Senator Coons continues to
call unpleasantness.
Democrats need to stop playing this dangerous game of the politics of
pain. They need to reopen the government, and they need to do it today.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority whip.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to clarify several points
raised by my friend and colleague from Wyoming Dr. John Barrasso, my
Senate colleague--and he is my friend. I disagree with him, and I think
several things that he said were incorrect and need to be clarified on
the record.
First, the notion that we are providing health insurance for illegal
immigrants is wrong. Let me tell you why it is wrong. You go back
almost 20 years, I believe, to the Reagan Presidency when we had a
phenomena in the United States that needed to be addressed. People were
showing up at the emergency rooms of hospitals and being turned away.
Some of them were bleeding out in the driveways of hospitals across
America.
We changed the law under President Reagan, and we changed the law to
say that you must admit people coming through the door who need
emergency medical assistance--women who were in labor to deliver a
child, people who were literally bleeding to death.
Do I hear the Senator from Wyoming say that we should be turning
those people away? I hope not. I don't think that is what he really
believes. He understands, as I do, that there are compelling human
situations where you provide assistance. And I thank our hospitals for
doing that.
But to say that we are trying to make sure that we manufacture some
coverage for illegal aliens is to overlook the obvious. We don't want
these hospitals turning away people who are literally in an extreme
situation. I will defend that to the death.
I will just tell you, when President Reagan and others supported
that, it was considered to be bipartisan, common sense, and still is
today.
When it comes to the SNAP program, it is true that one out of eight
Americans counts on SNAP to provide $6 a day for food. A third of those
Americans are children. Another third are disabled. And the other third
are senior citizens. It is a valuable program in my State, where almost
2 million people receive this kind of assistance.
Why are we stopping the decision to fund SNAP?
It is a decision by the White House and the President and the
Republicans in Congress. They have decided that, even though they
posted on the website for this program, just a few weeks ago, that they
had the money to cover it in case of a shutdown, they removed that
language and now say they won't provide food for hungry Americans.
That is not necessary. In fact, there is a way around it. It has been
used before by this President and others, in a shutdown crisis
situation, and should be used again. Let's not bargain this political
decision we are making in Washington on the tables and health of
Americans who receive the SNAP program.
Now, let me say a word about the core issue that is at stake here. We
have a problem we face that we need to correct, and we need to correct
it now because the decision was made in the ``Big Beautiful Trump
Budget Bill'' not to provide tax credits to millions of Americans who
qualify under the Affordable Care Act. Many of them are seeing
increased health insurance premiums that they never anticipated.
Let me give you an example. In my State of Illinois, Cook County is
the largest county and includes the city of Chicago. The average
monthly premium on the Affordable Care Act now is $226--$226 a month.
The projected increase, because of the Republicans' Big Beautiful Bill,
goes from $226 a month to $441 a month--in other words, about $2,500
the individual would pay for health insurance, over and above what they
paid this year. That is an increase of 95 percent.
How is this affecting other States? Let's take one for example, South
Dakota, with a population of about a million people, and 53,000 of them
are covered by the Affordable Care Act. They are facing this kind of
increase to their premiums. I am sure the Senators from South Dakota,
both of them, want to protect their families from health insurance
premiums they can't afford. They don't want people to drop coverage.
In order to protect them, they have to change the law--the ``Big
Beautiful Law,'' as they call it--and provide assistance for people to
pay these health insurance premiums. That is at issue.
Across the United States, some 24 million people are facing this
reality. It is a hardship for them and can be taken care of, and should
be, on a bipartisan basis. The problem is that it isn't just tinkering
at edges that is at stake here with many Republicans. They want to do
away with the Affordable Care Act.
Under the first Trump term, I can still remember when Senator McCain
came through those doors at 2 in the morning and voted no to save the
Affordable Care Act. Trump, in his first Presidency, wanted to get rid
of it, and many Republicans still do.
What is their alternative? They have none. They have no alternative.
They just are angry over this notion of Obamacare and want to see some
other approach to it but can't put it on paper because it won't do the
basics that Obamacare has done, which provides health insurance across
the board to more Americans than ever in our history.
So here is the bottom line. We can take care of the issues that face
us--the government shutdown, as well as making sure that the Affordable
Care Act premiums don't go through the roof--on a bipartisan basis--
that people of good will will agree to do that.
We have spent now a month or longer at this impasse, and it is time
to break
[[Page S7797]]
it. Let's reach an agreement that provides for health insurance
premiums that are affordable. Let's reopen this government, and let's
do it sooner rather than later. As I have said repeatedly, there are
plenty of tables in this building. Let's sit at that table as soon as
the President returns, with the President. Let's have the House of
Representatives--in their 6-week vacation--come back to Washington and
do the business of the people in that Chamber, as well, and let's put
our leaders at the table as well.
This can be done and should be done quickly, as soon as the President
returns from his overseas trip and the House of Representatives can
reconvene, which could be tomorrow. Let's get down to business to do
that.
Immigration
Mr. President, it is hard to explain what is going on in the city of
Chicago and the State of Illinois that I represent. We have a President
who insisted on sending National Guard troops in from Texas--from
Texas. The Governor of Illinois said they are not needed; we have our
own National Guard if we need one.
And, instead, he is sending these troops and waiting for court
approval to spread out across the city of Chicago. At the same time,
ICE--the Department of Homeland Security--is creating a reign of terror
on the city of Chicago. I do not exaggerate.
Why are they in force in Chicago? Because the President has said,
over and over again, that the immigrants are the problem in America.
You have heard the speeches, waving his arms at these rallies, saying:
We have got to stop the rapists, the murderers, the terrorists, the
criminally insane, and the criminal predators who come across our
border from committing all these crimes. So we are going to crack down
on them, in cities who just happened to vote against me in the last
election.
What they have done--what President Trump has done--is send in these
ICE agents who have created this reign of terror. It is hard to
describe what is going on in this great city, when it comes down to
these ICE agents. They have people afraid to leave their homes to go
shopping, to go to church, to go to a restaurant, to meet with their
family, to bring their kids to school. The stories come in, over and
over, of what these ICE agents are doing.
Do you know what happened last Saturday? In their effort to get the
worst of the worst--the criminal elements of the immigrants--these ICE
agents raided a Halloween parade for kids in Old Irving Park. Well,
that is where you are going to find a lot of terrorists, I am sure. I
jest, of course.
We know what happened: Harassment, fear--and they left.
They gathered on the sidewalk outside of the Lutheran church in
Albany Park in Chicago and dropped tier gas canisters. The neighbors
came out, blowing their whistles, and finally they left.
These are men who are wearing masks so they can't be identified. Some
of them are wearing uniforms that have no identification whatsoever.
They travel about in vans with no markings on them, and they are
harassing people in all sorts of ways.
This is not America, and this is not how we fight crime in this
country. Unfortunately, it is the reality of what is happening. But
sometimes, in the worst of times, things emerge which are nothing short
of incredible. It happened yesterday in Chicago.
There is a section of the city of Chicago called Little Village in
Lawndale. Yesterday, several hundred high school students from the
local high school marched down 26th Street in Little Village, in the
east section of Chicago. They were doing that to protest the treatment
that they faced with these ICE agents.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this article from the
Chicago Sun Times be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Chicago Tribune, Oct. 28, 2025]
Students Walk Out of Little Village Schools, Hold March in Protest of
Recent ICE Activity
(By Kate Perez)
Barbers paused haircuts to look out windows and bakers in
aprons peered out doorways along West 26th Street in Little
Village to the sounds of whistles and chants from young
voices echoing down the street.
Since the Trump administration's Operation Midway Blitz
began in September, whistles have been used as warnings that
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is nearby. But on
Tuesday, the whistle-blowing coincided with students carrying
Mexican flags and signs during a staged walkout of local
schools.
In an over 2-mile walk, hundreds of students made their way
from Little Village Lawndale High School to the La Villita or
Little Village Arch, denouncing recent ICE action and
supporting immigrant communities.
Immigration enforcement descended on Little Village last
week, resulting in multiple people being taken into custody.
The sobering effect the arrival of federal officers had on
the community inspired the walkout, student organizer and
Social Justice High School senior Lia Sophia Lopez said.
``They hurt us like they've never hurt us before. They
attacked our community, they surrounded the parks, they
surrounded our school, I've never felt more unsafe in my life
than that day.'' Lopez said. ``We need to protect our
people's peace. We need to protect their freedom and dignity.
Because if we don't, no one else will.''
Lopez and other students organized the walkout, which
included her peers from the four schools on Little Village
Lawndale High School's campus--Multicultural Academy of
Scholarship High School, World Language High School, Greater
Lawndale High School for Social Justice, and Infinity Math,
Science, and Technology High School.
With less than a week of planning. Lopez said she was
pleased with the large turnout and made sure her fellow
students knew the risks of protesting, including the presence
of federal agents, telling them ``they will not stop because
you are children'' and ``they do not care,'' she said.
Still, fear did not stop students accompanied by Chicago
police officers as they moved along the route. Chants of
``say it loud, say it clear immigrants are welcome here,''
and ``the people united, will never be divided'' drew honks
from cars stopped along the marchers' path.
The march through the village drew people to the sidewalks,
cheering and blowing whistles in solidarity with students as
they passed. Others hung out of windows that overlooked the
streets or pressed themselves against storefront windows,
smiling and recording. The community engagement was not lost
on Lopez, who said her ``beautiful, vibrant home'' has gone
quiet amend the recent federal action.
``I've seen so many people come out and smiling and feeling
safe, which is something we haven't felt in months. And
that's what I want. That is all I want,'' Lopez said. ``This
protest was just for us to get peace, to be able to walk down
the street again without being scared, to be able to live
your life.''
For Lopez, protesting was worth whatever potential
consequences. When her peers and family expressed concerns,
she pushed back.
``I said to them, I don't care if I get expelled, I don't
care if I get detained. . . . I will do this for my people,
for my community, because they deserve it,'' Lopez said.
``They deserve people to speak out for them. They deserve
people to show the love and appreciation that they give to us
and to our students, Social Justice and Little Village
Lawndale High School as a whole.''
Mr. DURBIN. It says:
Since the Trump administration's Operation Midway Blitz
began in September, whistles have been used as warnings that
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is nearby. But on
Tuesday, the whistle-blowing--
That was yesterday--
on Tuesday, the whistle-blowing coincided with students
carrying Mexican flags and signs during a staged walkout of
local schools.
Mr. President, this was a peaceful demonstration. I see the
photograph of the parade of these high school students, several hundred
of them. Two of them are carrying a large copy of the wording of the
U.S. Constitution. Others are carrying American flags, some carrying
Mexican flags.
In an over 2-mile walk, hundreds of students [yesterday]
made their way from Little Village Lawndale High School to
the . . . Little Village Arch, denouncing recent ICE action
and supporting immigrant communities.
Immigration enforcement descended on Little Village last
week, resulting in multiple people being taken into custody.
The sobering effect the arrival of federal officers had on
the community inspired the walkout [by these students] . . .
Social Justice High School senior Lia Sofia Lopez said.
And here I am quoting her:
``They hurt us like they've never hurt us before. They
attacked our community, they surrounded the parks, they
surrounded our school. I've never felt more unsafe in my life
than that day,'' Lopez said. ``We need to protect our
people's peace. We need to protect their freedom and dignity.
Because if we don't, no one else will.''
Lopez and other students organized the walkout, which
included her peers from the four schools on Little Village
Lawndale High School's campus.
These students walked peacefully through the community.
[[Page S7798]]
With less than a week of planning, Lopez said she was
pleased with the large turnout and made sure her fellow
students knew the risks of protesting, including the presence
of federal agents, telling them ``they will not stop''--
This is what she told fellow students.
``they will not stop because you are children'' and ``they
do not care,'' she said.
Still, fear did not stop these students yesterday. They were
accompanied by Chicago police officers as they moved along the road.
Chants of ``say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are
welcome here,'' and ``the people united, will never be
divided'' drew honks from cars stopped along the marchers'
path.
The march through the village drew people to the sidewalks,
cheering and blowing whistles in solidarity with [these]
students . . . Others hung out of windows that overlooked the
streets or pressed themselves against storefront windows,
smiling and recording. The community engagement was not lost
on Lopez, who said her ``beautiful, vibrant home'' has gone
quiet amid the recent federal action.
And then she said:
I've seen so many people come out smiling and feeling safe,
which is something we haven't felt [in this area] in months.
And that's what I want. That is all I want,'' Lopez said.
``This protest was just for us to get peace, to be able to
walk down the street again without being scared, to be able
to live your life.''
For Lopez, protesting was worth whatever potential
consequences. When her peers and family expressed concerns,
she pushed back.
She said:
``I said to them, I don't care if I get expelled, I don't
care if I get detained . . . I will do this for my people,
for my community, because they deserve it,'' Lopez said.
``They deserve people to speak out for them. They deserve
people to show the love and appreciation that they give to us
and to our students, Social Justice and Little Village
Lawndale High School as a whole.''
That was an extraordinary amount of courage from a high school
student in the city of Chicago. She knows her parents and many other
families are afraid of what might happen because of the ICE agents that
are roaming through, showing their strength to bust up Halloween
parades, showing their strength to drop tear gas canisters in front of
churches when people come out after services.
This extraordinary show of courage and commitment to our country is
nothing new.
I, 20 years ago, introduced a bill called the DREAM Act. And as I
described this act, it said, if you were brought to this country as a
small child, you should have a chance for a path to citizenship.
I used to tell that story, and then I would wait afterward. And when
I would go out to my car, outside of the hall, there would be young
people waiting for me in the dark, looking in both directions, afraid
that someone would see them, and say: Senator, I am a Dreamer. Thank
you for this legislation.
Though I have never been able to make it law, I am happy to say that
President Obama used his Executive power to create DACA to protect
800,000 of these young people around the country.
Now, this generation of young people is doing what happened next in
the story of the Dream Act. After DACA was created, most of these young
people--despite the advice and warnings of their parents--came out
publicly and said: I am a Dreamer. I want to be part of America's
future.
It was extraordinary courage on their part. Now this generation is
doing the same, marching down 26th Street to say they want an end to
this harassment by ICE officials.
This is not what America is all about. If you are engaged in stopping
the worst of the worst--criminal elements among immigrants--count me
in. But harassing innocent families that have not violated the law is
not the way to do it.
So far, 70 percent or more of those who have been detained by ICE as
part of this venture have no criminal record whatsoever. It is
harassment and terror, plain and simple.
I salute these students in Little Village for the courage that they
showed. I hope that the students across the Chicago area and beyond
will stand in solidarity with them in peaceful protest of the
intimidation that is taking place in Little Village.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be
permitted to speak for up to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall
vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________