[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 27, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S281-S287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 302,
H.R. 7148.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 302, H.R. 7148, a bill
making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Tax Filing Season
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, yesterday marked the start of the 2026
tax filing season. This year, taxpayers can expect to see some of the
largest tax refunds in history. That, of course, is thanks to our
enactment of the legislation called the Working Families Tax Cut Act.
That act prevented the largest tax increase in the Nation's history.
These tax cuts paved the way for economic growth and will deliver
substantial savings to hard-working families.
Congress made several provisions from the 2017 tax law permanent.
This includes keeping lower individual marginal tax rates, upholding
the 20-percent deduction for qualified business income, and restoring
full expensing for research and development and capital expenditures.
It also maintains the expanded standard deduction and the doubling of
the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000.
The tax bill also includes new tax relief measures. This includes an
additional $200 boost for the child tax credit, along with indexing
that tax credit for inflation. Seniors benefit from an additional
$6,000 deduction per qualified individual. Moreover, hard-working
middle-class Americans can deduct their overtime pay and tips for the
very first time, leaving more money in their pockets.
So I come to the floor to state these facts but, more importantly, to
encourage Iowans to file their tax returns sooner rather than later to
see the impact on their family's economic status that the Working
Families Tax Cut has for them.
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.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.
Shooting of Alex Pretti
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the Senate gavels into session with the
conscience of this Nation shaken to its core. Last Saturday, in the Eat
Street district of Minneapolis, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and
killed by a Border Patrol agent after he was trying to help a woman
thrown to the ground by Federal officers.
The many videos of Alex's death circulating online are grisly. They
are horrifying. They appear to show Alex was shot 10 times in less than
5 seconds. They show he held nothing more than a cell phone in his
hand. If we trust our own eyes and ears, instead of Trump
administration propaganda, it is pretty clear that Alex was murdered in
broad daylight.
The grief and anger his parents must feel right now must be
staggering. He was a decent young man, an intensive care nurse at the
VA, who dedicated his life to helping others.
In fact, the morning after Alex Pretti was killed, I was at a
doctor's appointment, and, as it turned out, my doctor's assistant was
from Minneapolis. She knew Alex Pretti. She said he was just the
kindest, gentlest soul you would ever meet, not a bad bone in his body.
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Alex Pretti did not deserve to die; nor did Renee Good deserve to die
2 weeks ago, shot in her own car, mere minutes after dropping her kid
off at school.
Enough is enough, and that is what America is saying from one end of
this country to the other.
What ICE and CBP are doing in Minneapolis and other cities around the
country is not border security and certainly not law and order. What
ICE is doing is lawless disorder. What ICE is doing is state-sanctioned
thuggery, and it must be stopped.
ICE must leave Minnesota today--not tomorrow, not next week, but
today.
There were reports that the President is thinking about a reduction
in force. A reduction isn't good enough. President Trump should act now
to completely withdraw ICE and immediately turn down the temperature.
Americans support law enforcement. Americans support commonsense
border security. But America does not support ICE terrorizing our
communities.
Look at this picture. This is the kind of picture we are seeing more
and more in American cities when ICE descends upon them: Federal agents
shooting at and threatening protesters, black ICE SUVs roaming the
streets, and agents barging into homes without warrants; ICE encircling
schools with riot gear and using kids as bait and terrorizing our
communities to the point that people are afraid to go to work, to
church, to shop for groceries.
This madness, this terror must stop. The American people--Democrat,
Republican, Independent--demand that the chaos and lawlessness of ICE
be severely reined in. This week, the Senate will step into the breach.
In a few days, the Senate will consider a package of six funding
bills sent to us recently by the House, and five of those bills are
ready to go and should quickly pass. I will say more about that in a
moment.
But in the wake of ICE's abuses and the administration's
recklessness, the Senate must not pass the DHS budget as currently
written, and it must be reworked to rein in and overhaul ICE to ensure
the public's safety.
The fix should come from Congress. The public can't trust the
administration to do the right thing on its own, and Republicans and
Democrats must work together to make that happen.
In the meantime, I will vote no on any legislation that funds ICE
until it is reined in and overhauled, and Senate Democrats are
overwhelmingly united on this issue.
ICE should meet the same basic standards of accountability and due
process that any law enforcement Agency is asked to meet.
Now, separately, to finish the appropriations process, Leader Thune
should split the funding bills and move forward with the five that
already have broad support from both parties. If Leader Thune agrees to
split the bills, just as Speaker Johnson split them in the House, and
puts the five on the floor, I am confident they will sail--sail--
through the Chamber, and we will have funded 96 percent of the Federal
Government.
But if Leader Thune insists on holding a vote on DHS legislation that
he knows will not pass, then he will guarantee another unnecessary
government shutdown this Friday, and the shutdown will be on Leader
Thune's shoulders.
Leader Thune's choice is very simple: Move the five bills that are
ready and fund 96 percent of the government, while we work to improve
the DHS bill--the Homeland Security bill--or Thune can trigger a
shutdown by forcing a vote on a bill everyone knows cannot pass at this
moment, the combined bill that contains DHS. The ball is in Leader
Thune's court. He must quickly move to prevent a shutdown.
Now, in the meantime--in the meantime--the heads of ICE, CBP, and
USCIS should all testify before the Senate as soon as possible. We must
not wait for hearings weeks from now. The American people demand truth
and accountability right now. I am glad that Republicans like Senator
Paul have said likewise.
But we must also be candid: It is bone-chilling that, in the
aftermath of the killings in Minneapolis, some of the Trump
administration's top officials have chosen to blatantly lie to the
American people, like full-fledged authoritarians.
Stephen Miller raced to Twitter to call Alex Pretti a ``would-be
assassin'' who ``tried to murder federal law enforcement.'' If you
watched footage of the killing, you would know this is an outlandish,
shocking, and totally dishonest and despicable thing to say.
Meanwhile, Gregory Bovino, Donald Trump's top Border Patrol officer,
also claimed, without a shred of evidence, that Pretti ``wanted to do
maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.''
And then, of course, there is Kristi Noem. Merely hours after
Pretti's death, Noem claimed--again, without so much as a morsel of
evidence--that he had committed ``an act of domestic terrorism'' and
wanted to ``perpetuate violence.''
Do you know what the reaction of these Trump officials--too many of
them--seems to be when something terrible happens? To lie about it--
that is their immediate reaction--not to find the truth, not to express
any sympathy to those who are dead, but to lie, lie, lie. It is
despicable. It is so un-American. It is so different than what we have
seen in so many previous administrations. Lies, all of it, just
blatant, sickening lies--and that is what these administration
officials almost automatically turn to when there is difficulty and
there is trouble.
Kristi Noem is a liar. She is vicious. She is also incompetent.
Donald Trump must fire her at once before another American is killed
under her watch.
So I will say it again: It is bone-chilling that Donald Trump's goons
will so eagerly and almost lazily lie right to the public's face--right
to the public's face.
And where is the accountability from Donald Trump? He said nothing to
call out the nastiness and lies from Noem and Miller. It seems he
almost prefers to have serial liars in his administration than honest
people.
The kind of dishonesty we see from Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller is
the bread and butter of authoritarian regimes, and it is dangerous,
dangerous territory for our country. When a government tells its
people, ``Ignore what your eyes see, and forget what your ears hear;
just listen to us instead,'' then, for all practical purposes, it is
not trying to act like a government in a democracy. This is how
dictatorships operate, and we are seeing the signs right in front of
us, here in America.
The right answer, of course, is to meet the lies with truth. Here in
the Senate, the American people deserve to hear that truth under oath
when Kristi Noem and other administration officials testify as soon as
possible.
And across America, the people must keep defending the truth. They
should keep showing up lawfully and documenting abuses by ICE. They
must continue to protest peacefully and nonviolently, to exercise their
rights to free speech and free assembly, to protect their communities
from the abuses of this thuggish government.
It may feel to many like the flame of democracy is flickering into
extinction before our eyes, and there is no way to fight back. That is
wrong. The good people of Minneapolis--and of so many cities around the
country--have shown the answer to authoritarianism: Hold firm, tell the
truth, look out for one another, organize, protest. And when the time
comes, exercise your greatest power of all: Go to the ballot box and
vote. Vote, and vote out the liars.
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. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Waiving Quorum Call
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the
mandatory quorum call with respect to the motion to proceed to Calendar
No. 300, S. 3627.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Minnesota
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I begin, I want to take a moment to
talk about the situation in Minnesota.
[[Page S283]]
The death of Alex Pretti was a tragedy, and there should be a full
and impartial investigation into the shooting. I am glad that the
President is sending Tom Homan to Minnesota, and I hope that his
arrival will help restore order to the situation.
I also hope that recent tragedies have inspired some soul-searching
among those who have participated in or encouraged abuse toward ICE
officers and other law enforcement officers. It is deeply disturbing
that we have had public officials essentially encouraging harassment of
officers simply trying to do their duty.
Appropriations
Mr. President, funding for a substantial portion of the government
runs out this week. We are on the clock to pass the remaining fiscal
year 2026 appropriations bills. Productive talks are ongoing, and I
urge my Democrat colleagues to continue their engagement and find a
path forward that will avoid a needless shutdown and not jeopardize
full funding for key Agencies like FEMA and the Coast Guard. We need to
fund these and other essential Agencies and finish our 2026
appropriations work now.
March for Life
Mr. President, on Friday, tens of thousands of individuals filled the
streets of DC and marched up to the Capitol Building. They came from
every background and from every corner of the country--high school
students, college students, church groups, individuals, families--
united by one mission: to testify to the truth that every human being,
no matter how small or vulnerable, is of infinite value, created in the
image and likeness of God, and endowed by the Creator with certain
inalienable rights--chief among them, the right to life.
Abortion statistics are grim--roughly a million babies being killed
by abortion every year. So many lives lost. So much love lost. But the
March for Life is an occasion for hope. It is a powerful reminder that
life has many defenders and that in every place in this country, there
are men and women and young people standing up for moms and new babies.
Of course, the March for Life, as big and important as it is, is just
one small facet of the pro-life movement, which works every day to
offer help and hope to moms in need. In 2024, for example, pregnancy
resource centers around the country provided more than $452 million in
total medical care, support and education services, and material goods
to moms and their families.
Here in Congress, it is vital that we do our part to support moms and
protect babies. I am very proud that with the Working Families Tax Cut,
Congress enacted the first pro-life law in decades. Thanks to
Republicans' landmark legislation, this year, some of the Nation's
largest abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, are
prohibited from receiving Federal Medicaid funding. Organizations that
have turned the killing of babies into a business are cut off.
Later this afternoon, we will be taking up legislation to ensure that
pregnant college students are aware of and able to access the support
they need to carry their babies and parent while continuing their
education.
The Pregnant Students' Rights Act, introduced by Senator Ashley
Moody, requires colleges and universities to ensure that all students
are informed of the protections and accommodations available to them
should they become pregnant--such as modified class schedules, excused
absences, physical accommodations, and more. No student should ever
have to feel that she needs to choose between keeping her baby or
completing her education.
The legislation will help ensure pregnant college students are aware
that support is available to them in their local communities and on
their campuses, both while they are pregnant and after giving birth.
I would like to think that this bill would get 100 votes here in the
U.S. Senate. The pro-abortion movement and the Democrat Party have long
claimed to be for choice. Well, what better way to ensure that women
actually have a choice than by making sure that they are aware of the
resources available to them. This bill does nothing to restrict
abortion. It doesn't even mention abortion. It simply ensures that
women know about the support and accommodations available to them and
that they have information about how to file a title IX complaint
should they face discrimination.
This bill should have unanimous support. Yet we fully expect that, by
and large, the Democrat Party will oppose this legislation. That is
right. The Democrat Party will vote against legislation designed to do
nothing more than inform women of the resources available to them and
of their rights under title IX.
Why? Well, that is a good question.
Why does the Democrat Party oppose making sure women are informed
about the support available to them? For that matter, why has the
Democrat Party opposed legislation to ensure that babies born alive
during an abortion are protected or why did they remove safety
requirements around chemical abortions--requirements designed to ensure
that at least the mother, if not the baby, was protected?
Well, it is because they are afraid. They are afraid, if they support
even the tiniest, most commonsense measure to ensure safety around
abortion or protect babies or even just ensure pregnant college
students know of the resources available to them, that they will
somehow, inadvertently, point to the truth that they are so desperate
to hide--the fact that an unborn child is just as much a human being as
you or I because, after all, Democrats are fighting an uphill battle.
We know science. We have ultrasounds. We know very, very well that
that unborn child waving her hands or sucking her thumb on the sonogram
screen is a human being, and every one of us knows, at the core of our
being, that human beings deserve to be protected. Abortion requires us
to suppress our natural instincts. It requires us to close our eyes,
stick our fingers in our ears, and pretend that the human being we see
on the ultrasound, moving her fingers and kicking her feet, is nothing
more than a clump of cells that we can sacrifice at will.
So I understand the Democrats are scared, and they should be scared
because, when it comes to abortion, they have built their house upon
sand, and sooner or later, that sand will crumble. Sooner or later, the
truth will win. Life will win.
I want to thank everyone who marched for life here in DC on Friday,
and I unite my work and my prayers to theirs in that the day may soon
come when every baby born and unborn is guaranteed the right to life
and the full protection of our laws.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The remarks of Mrs. Hyde-Smith pertaining to the introduction of S.
3697 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
Pregnant Students' Rights Act
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, today, we are also voting on another
important effort to protect pregnant moms: Senator Moody's Pregnant
Students' Rights Act. This bill would empower young women in college by
ensuring that they are supported throughout pregnancy to continue their
higher education.
Earning a degree is just one of the many ways a mother can prepare
herself to be a strong role model for her children, and any mother
would tell you that few things are more motivating than learning that
you are about to become one. We should remove every obstacle that
stands in the way of that motivation, and the Pregnant Students' Rights
Act aims to help clear the path to success.
I look forward to standing with my pro-life colleagues to send a
clear message to expectant mothers across the country: We support you
at every stage of life, and you are deeply admired for your drive to
become the best role models for your children.
I yield the floor.
March for Life
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate life. Last week,
our Nation's Capital saw thousands who traveled here to march in the
53rd annual March for Life. My team was
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proud to host many Alabamians who were here and thank them for their
dedication to the life movement.
The theme--``Life is a Gift''--reminded me about how valuable our
advocacy is in protecting our most vulnerable and supporting families.
You see, for me, second to the salvation provided to me through my Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, being a wife and a mom is the most important
thing in my life. You can't quite explain it. There is something about
being a parent: the first cry, the first step, then being able to help
them navigate big decisions.
And while it is so crucial and having a strong father and strong
families helps us have strong individuals, there is something special
about being a momma--feeling that first kick; realizing that you have a
human, made in God's image, that you are humbled to get to help bring
into this world. That is something that I hope for every woman, and it
is a reason that I am so dedicated to making sure that we protect women
and children along that journey.
Supporting moms is important because, as beautiful a blessing that it
is, there are times it can be challenging. So making sure women have
the support in prenatal, postpartum, and early childhood development
ages, and supporting families along the way are critically important to
making sure that every child is able to live their American dream. That
is why I was so proud to introduce the MOMS Act and continue to look
for ways to build consensus around it and actually get it across the
finish line. It stands for ``More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed.''
I think we have to remember how valuable life is, both inside and
outside of the womb. We have to do everything that we can to create a
culture of life, to make sure that the most vulnerable among us are
fought for, and that we provide a voice to the voiceless. As we look
for that culture of life and the values that allow us to achieve that,
I would hope that we could stand together today in strengthening
families and be able to reflect the very best of who we are as a
country.
So as we continue to bring attention to this--not just today but
every day throughout the year--let's all be able to coalesce on how
important life is. I certainly know what an impact it has had on me.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Iowa.
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, last Friday, thousands of Americans and
many Iowans braved nearly freezing temperatures to join this year's
March for Life. I stand united with them in a simple truth: Life is a
gift worth protecting.
This isn't just a political belief for me; it is deeply personal.
When I first became a mother and more recently a grandmother, holding
my daughter and my grandson in my arms and watching them grow will
always be cherished moments for me.
I want to protect and preserve this same experience for young mothers
everywhere, which is why I am thankful for the folks who gather year
after year at the March for Life to call for action on behalf of those
who cannot speak for themselves--the unborn.
For years, I worked alongside their mission and called on the Supreme
Court to protect the constitutional right to life. On June 24, 2022,
the Supreme Court answered, returning these decisions to voters on a
State-by-State basis.
Several States, including my home State of Iowa, led by Governor
Reynolds, took a strong stance and protected babies from the moment
doctors detect a fetal heartbeat.
Unfortunately, the number of abortions across the country has
generally increased since 2022. Another sad truth is that I must use
the word ``generally.'' There is not a single, complete set of abortion
data publicly reported for all 50 States. No one is keeping count. The
sanctity of life in our Nation deserves better. My Ensuring Accurate
and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act will require all 50 States to
be transparent about the number of abortions. This way, we can ensure
no life is ever ignored, hidden, or forgotten.
On this solemn note, one thing is clear: Our work on behalf of the
unborn is far from over. As I continue to protect and preserve the
life-changing experience of becoming a mother, I want mothers and
families to know they are supported in pregnancy and beyond, no matter
their situation. For these families and the folks who help them grow, I
am doing my part in the Senate by increasing access to affordable,
high-quality childcare so working parents can rest assured their little
ones are well cared for.
As I continue to fight for the most vulnerable, I am proud to support
the Life at Conception Act to explicitly recognize and protect an
unborn child's right to life. Each and every one of us was given this
incredible gift. When we honor the dignity of every human being, we
give them the chance to become loving sons and daughters, neighbors and
leaders.
As we work toward a nation where every life is protected, every
family is supported, and we can all say with confidence that life is a
gift worth protecting, I hope that every American will join me in the
fight for the inalienable right to life.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, this past Friday, thousands of Americans,
young and old, marched peacefully to call attention to the sanctity and
inherent value of each life. Their advocacy and passion drive our work
on Capitol Hill to protect women and unborn children.
I am a doctor, and I learned in medical school that a child's life
begins in the womb. Abortion ends that life.
Medically, morally, there is no difference in the value of a child,
whether she is in her mother's arm or her mother's womb. And as a
doctor, I learned the first rule is to do no harm. Chemical abortion
drugs are designed to do harm, to eliminate the life of the unborn
child, and, at times, to do harm to the child's mother.
That is why as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee, I focused our first hearing of 2026 on the dangers
of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone. Women, families, and unborn
children deserve that we do so. I thank Louisiana attorney general Liz
Murrill and Dr. Monique Wubbenhorst for sharing the real-life impact
abortion drugs have on women and their unborn children. Their
testimonies confirm the need to restore the previous in-person dosing
requirements that the Biden administration recklessly removed.
Chemical abortion drugs are not safe, run-of-the-mill drugs. You
shouldn't be able to order them without undergoing a proper medical
examination and screening--screening--not just to see the stage of the
pregnancy but to make sure that the person who is going to receive the
drug is not being coerced to take the drug.
Let's first speak about potential side effects. One study showed that
9 in 10 women who take a chemical abortion drug describe their pain as
moderate to severe. Half say it was worse than expected. Another study
found that 1 in 10 women undergoing mifepristone abortions experience
serious adverse events, including hemorrhage, adverse bleeding, sepsis,
or infection. Now, that sounds so medical, but this is not about
statistics or about how doctors speak; it is about women with real
stories.
Without the in-person dispensing requirement, pregnant women across
the country, including my State of Louisiana, are at risk of being
coerced into having an abortion against their will.
Attorney General Murrill testified about a 16-year-old girl from
Louisiana who was planning to have a gender reveal party, and instead
her mother forced her to take the abortion pill. And instead of a
gender reveal party, she ended up in the emergency room with
complications from taking the medicine.
The pill she took was prescribed by a doctor in New York. Now, it
violates Louisiana's law that would not have allowed the doctor from
New York to prescribe this, but the doctor in New York did not know the
age of the fetus within the woman's womb.
And she certainly didn't have the opportunity to ask her: Do you
really want to take this? If she had asked the young girl, the young
lady: Do you really want to take this, she would have found out that
she didn't; that it was her mother getting the pill for her,
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and her mother was coercing her to take the medicine.
Now, pregnant women in Louisiana and across the country, again,
receive these drugs through the mail, often from somebody out of their
State who never does an ultrasound to see the stage of the pregnancy.
And this is reckless. The medicine is only approved to be taken within
the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. One reason why--I am not an
obstetrician--one reason why though is that as the fetus grows inside
the womb, at some point the fetus is too large to pass safely through
the opening of the womb.
The FDA has not reviewed the safety risk of taking it after 10 weeks.
Women now are taking it, in the testimony we had, at week 20. This
becomes a safety risk for the mother if she cannot pass the fetus, the
child stays in her womb, and she is at risk of infection, at risk of,
again, going to the emergency room and finding out that she is
otherwise sick.
By the way, I am a gastroenterologist, but my colleague Dr. Marshall,
who is an obstetrician, is also on the HELP Committee. And he pointed
out that many women are inaccurately describing how far along their
pregnancy is. If you ask a woman, when was your last menstrual cycle,
that should date how many weeks she is pregnant. But Dr. Marshall, an
obstetrician with decades of clinical practice, will say that it is
inexact, and the standard of care is to calculate the gestational age
of the child by doing an ultrasound. When the woman knows that the
child is further along, she will find out that the child actually has a
heartbeat and could live outside the womb, and some will reconsider, on
their own volition, whether or not they want to have the abortion. This
is why the in-person visit to the doctor is so important.
Now, in some cases, these drugs are being mailed from outside of the
United States. We don't know what is in them. They are not labeled in
compliance with FDA guidelines, and, again, there is no patient-doctor
relationship where the pregnant woman can seek needed followup care for
the serious adverse events.
So let's be clear, if the chemical abortion drug were any other
medicine, coming from an unknown country with unknown ingredients,
being prescribed by an out-of-state doctor who does not see the
patient--it is being taken off label, not in line with FDA guidelines,
and sometimes the patient, well-documented, is being coerced into
taking it--there should be bipartisan outrage. So why is this drug,
this condition any different?
How did we get here to the point where abortion pills can be ordered
online, mailed, taken with no medical supervision or safeguards with
coercion? Think of the girls, the women in abusive relationships, or
those who are being trafficked whose voices have been silenced.
Now, I was just in an airplane bathroom and, you know, noticing
things in the bathroom, and I noticed the sign there: ``Call this
number if you are being trafficked.''
It understood that a young person being taken to a Super Bowl--
because oftentimes young people being trafficked are brought to a big
event like a Super Bowl--it is happening right now--are going to be on
an airplane, and it tells them speak to the flight attendant or call
this number if you are being trafficked.
And it struck me that we will put a sign in an airplane bathroom--and
thank goodness for Southwest Airlines doing that--we will put a sign in
a bathroom to inform the young lady of the risk of being trafficked and
how to get out of it. But at the same time, we don't do anything about
the pimp who might be getting the pill, forcing her to take it to end a
pregnancy that resulted from her being trafficked. Shouldn't we tell
her the truth of a chemical abortion?
Now, as chairman of the HELP Committee, I strongly urge Secretary
Robert Kennedy and Commissioner Makary to complete the review of
mifepristone that they both promised that they would complete during
their confirmation hearings.
They both said they would complete it. It has not been completed.
Many other things of much less seriousness and much less priority have
been completed but not this. And when we are asked, we are told it is
in the by-and-by. This should be completed now, not as being prescribed
as the FDA said it is being prescribed or should be prescribed, but it
is being prescribed in real life, after week 10, long after the FDA has
approved for its use.
Republican members of my committee and many other Senators expect an
answer. At an absolute minimum, the previous in-person safeguards
should be restored immediately by the Trump administration. We should
go back to the way it was in Trump 1 where, if you are going to get
this medication, you must see a doctor and allow that evaluation to
occur.
And by the way, this is not just Republicans saying this. A recent
poll found that 71 percent of Americans, including 67 percent who self-
identify as pro-choice, support requiring a doctor's visit for the
chemical abortion drug to be prescribed.
We should be supporting women with the resources they need to have a
happy, healthy pregnancy, and we need to be informing them of the
complications that they can have from taking this medicine. And the
least we should do is require an in-person visit so that the patient
can be evaluated by her doctor so that the doctor can determine that,
one, it is safe for the pregnancy, even if you are pro-choice, safe for
the woman to take the drug, even if it is not safe for the child, and
that the woman is not being coerced to take it. That should be the
stance of a pro-life administration.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Pregnant Students' Rights Act
Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise today in opposition to S. 3627, the
so-called Pregnant Students' Rights Act.
But before I begin, I want to take a moment to honor Alex Pretti and
Renee Good, who were horrifically killed by DHS officers in a tragic
demonstration of the lawlessness of this regime.
While my Republican colleagues refuse to address this regime's
rampant lawlessness in so many instances, they still find the time to
propose yet another ideologically driven bill, this bill, that belies
the bill's title.
Let me be clear, pregnant and parenting students deserve real support
and real protections during a challenging time in their lives.
Democrats have long supported policies to provide that kind of support.
This bill does not, meaningfully, help pregnant students nor does it
protect their rights. It is yet another step in a broader war on
reproductive rights and reproductive freedoms, this time, by
threatening funding loss for colleges and universities that do not
comply. This bill would require colleges and universities to distribute
information to all students about carrying a pregnancy to term and
caring for a child after birth, but it intentionally excludes
information about the full range of reproductive healthcare options,
including contraception and abortion, even where those options are
legal.
That is not protecting pregnant students' rights; that is government-
mandated bias. Pregnant students who are legal adults do not need
politicians deciding which facts they are allowed to know. They need
accurate, medically sound information so they can make informed
decisions about what is best for their bodies, their families, and
their futures.
While Republicans claim that this bill is about protecting students,
the reality is that this bill does nothing to actually expand
protections for students. This bill creates no new rights beyond what
is already provided under title IX. It offers no guarantees of medical
leave, flexible course work, lactation accommodations, childcare
assistance, housing support, or financial aid protections.
In other words, this bill does nothing to address the real barriers
pregnant and parenting students face every day. We know those barriers
are real and serious. More than 4 million college students in this
country are parents. Many are working full time while enrolled. Many
face food insecurity, housing insecurity, homelessness.
Student parents, particularly women, single parents, students of
color, and LGBTQ+ students are less likely to graduate--not because of
a lack of ability but because they don't have access to the support
they need. At the same time that the Republicans bring this
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bill--this hollow bill--to the floor, they are gutting the Department
of Education, slashing staff at the Office of Civil Rights, and
weakening enforcement of title IX, the law that already protects
pregnant and parenting students from discrimination.
As written, this bill would threaten the funding the universities
rely on, funds that have been under attack by this regime.
Already the Trump regime has withheld or canceled billions--
billions--in grants or other funds for colleges and universities, and
now with this bill, they are threatening the further loss of funds for
our colleges and universities.
You know, when does this all stop?
So they are doing this because they want incomplete information to be
given to all students attending the universities and colleges by not
providing the students the entire range of reproductive options, and
that is because this isn't actually about protecting students; it is
about advancing Republicans' war on reproductive rights.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans have
worked tirelessly to deny people access to abortion care and spread
fear and confusion and shame to those who seek reproductive care. By
intentionally withholding medically accurate information from students
at a moment when access is already under attack, this bill would only
further undermine access to reproductive care.
If Republicans truly wanted to help students make informed decisions
and prevent unintended pregnancies, they would support evidence-based
policies that expand access to medically accurate information, not
limit this kind of information.
Policies like the Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act,
legislation that I introduced that would expand comprehensive,
medically accurate sex education and ensure young people have the
complete range of information needed to make responsible decisions
about their health and their futures, are what real support looks
like--not censorship, not gaslighting, not ideological mandates.
By withholding comprehensive, accurate information from students, my
Republican colleagues' bill would deny students the dignity of making
informed healthcare decisions for themselves, and it would force
colleges to push biased, incomplete information to all of their
students regardless of whether they want to or not.
So once again, this regime is extorting colleges to do what they--the
regime--force them to do. This bill does nothing to protect the rights
of students. It treats students as political pawns, endangering their
health and well-being to advance Republicans' extreme, anti-abortion
agenda; therefore, I urge my colleagues to vote no on advancing S. 3627
and instead join us in advancing the protections that pregnant and
parenting students actually need to thrive.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
Mrs. MOODY. Mr. President, it is an honor to stand on the Senate
floor today and speak in support of my Pregnant Students' Rights Act.
Today, I am proud to continue this important work to protect the most
vulnerable among us and to support young mothers by urging my
colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, to vote in favor of this
important legislation.
Navigating college can be challenging for any young student but
especially for pregnant women. Unfortunately, many feel pressured when
they become pregnant to either end their pregnancies or risk academic
failure.
No woman should ever have to choose between continuing classes or
continuing her pregnancy. College and university young women who become
pregnant should be informed of all of the resources available to them
to help them carry their pregnancy to term, whether that is modified
class schedules, excused absences, or other accommodations.
This is commonsense legislation that ensures young women know their
rights as pregnant college students and have the support they need to
stay in school and support their baby.
Far too often, young women are made to feel that having a baby as a
student will be the end of their academic career. This is absolutely
not true.
With this bill, we are sending the message that women are supported
and set up to succeed in school and raise a healthy baby. Through this
bill, universities will now have to inform pregnant students of their
rights and protections. It also instructs universities to tell students
how to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education if there
is a title IX violation.
No matter where you are politically--Republican or Democrat, pro-life
or pro-choice--one thing I think we can all agree on is that the more
information for women making life-changing decisions, the better.
For these reasons, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
vote in favor of my Pregnant Students' Rights Act to support young
mothers and protect life.
I yield the floor.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, today we consider S. 3627.
This legislation would limit the information students receive about
their healthcare and family planning options. No one disagrees that
pregnant and parenting students should have access to care and
necessary accommodations.
But this legislation explicitly and intentionally excludes
information on the entire range of healthcare available to students,
including contraception and abortion care. Students should have access
to information regarding all comprehensive healthcare choices,
including pregnancy and postpartum care, contraception, and abortion
care, so they can make their own decisions.
This bill does not create any new rights or supports that students do
not already have; it simply limits what information would be available
to them. Instead of focusing on limiting healthcare options for the
American people, Republicans should focus on providing real supports
for families, like comprehensive maternity and postpartum care and
access to affordable childcare.
Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled
rollcall vote begin immediately.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Cloture Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before
the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 300, S. 3627, a bill to require
institutions of higher education to disseminate information
on the rights of, and accommodations and resources for,
pregnant students, and for other purposes.
John Thune, Ashley B. Moody, John Barrasso, Mike Crapo,
James Lankford, Jon A. Husted, James E. Risch, Pete
Ricketts, Roger Marshall, John Hoeven, Cindy Hyde-
Smith, Bernie Moreno, Shelley Moore Capito, Jim
Justice, Rick Scott of Florida, John Boozman, Steve
Daines.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
motion to proceed to Calendar No. 300, S. 3627, a bill to require
institutions of higher education to disseminate information on the
rights of, and accommodations and resources for, pregnant students, and
for other purposes, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from Tennessee
(Mr. Hagerty), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice), the
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), the Senator from Idaho (Mr.
Risch), and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Hagerty), would have voted ``Yea'' and the Senator from Mississippi
(Mr. Wicker) would have voted ``Yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Fetterman) and the Senator from
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Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 47, nays 45, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 12 Leg.]
YEAS--47
Banks
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Britt
Budd
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Curtis
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hawley
Hoeven
Husted
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
McCormick
Moody
Moran
Moreno
Mullin
Murkowski
Paul
Ricketts
Rounds
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sheehy
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Young
NAYS--45
Alsobrooks
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt Rochester
Booker
Cantwell
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Gallego
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
Kim
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schiff
Schumer
Shaheen
Slotkin
Smith
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--8
Capito
Fetterman
Hagerty
Justice
Kennedy
Risch
Warnock
Wicker
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 47, the nays are
45.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted
in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to.
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Cloture Motion
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
The cloture motion having been presented under rule XXII, the Chair
directs the clerk to read the motion.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 302, H.R. 7148, a bill making further
consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2026, and for other purposes.
John Thune, Chuck Grassley, Ted Budd, Tom Cotton, Cindy
Hyde-Smith, Katie Boyd Britt, John R. Curtis, John
Cornyn, Bernie Moreno, Tommy Tuberville, Roger
Marshall, David McCormick, Jerry Moran, Markwayne
Mullin, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Tim Sheehy, Susan
M. Collins.
____________________