[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 37 (Wednesday, February 25, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S664-S665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3746

  Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I rise today to propose a very simple bill 
that I think most Americans can understand. It has a very simple basic 
principle: If you are on any type of government aid, you are restricted 
from sending money overseas. It is pretty straightforward. We want to 
help American citizens who are in need, but if they are in need, why 
would they need to send money overseas?
  I would say this: A nation's strength lies in its people's ability to 
sustain themselves and their countrymen first. To divert public 
benevolence overseas weakens the bonds of union at home, inviting 
dependence where independence should prevail. We cannot allow the 
fruits of American labor meant to nourish our own be scattered to 
foreign soils. True charity begins with securing the liberties and 
livelihoods of our fellow citizens.
  Government aid is a ladder for the American worker to climb from 
poverty to prosperity. To send it beyond our borders is to weaken that 
ladder, denying our people the fruits of their own toil and the promise 
of a more perfect Union.
  We have framed laws to protect our citizens from poverty's grasp, 
ensuring homes, livelihoods, and security for Americans. Diverting 
those resources overseas betrays that compact, for our progress is 
measured by providing for those who have little within our own shores.
  And, finally, I would say this, Mr. President: Welfare should lift 
Americans up, not fund foreign dependencies. When those in public aid 
send money overseas, it is a sign the system is broken, trapping people 
in poverty while draining our Nation's hard-earned resources from those 
who need it at home the most.
  So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further 
consideration of S. 3746 and the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third 
time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this 
legislation prohibits any individual--senior citizens, people with 
disabilities, our veterans, refugees, and the poorest of the poor--from 
sending money to friends or family overseas for any reason. That 
prohibition includes American citizens as well. So if you are a veteran 
who served our country and who counts on your VA benefits, you had 
better not provide any financial support to your grandmother living 
abroad or, under this legislation, you could be fined $100,000.
  The legislation comes straight from a very cruel playbook: First, 
target public programs that provide a lifeline to low- and middle-
income people; second, smear the recipients of this help by 
characterizing them as fraudsters; and third, use the exaggerated 
claims as a pretext to slash funding. That was the playbook at the 
heart of the Republicans' major legislation, which made the biggest 
ever cuts to healthcare and food assistance in the history of America.
  Why were those awful cuts made that are causing hospitals to shutter 
their labor and delivery units and slash staff? To fund the ICE surge 
that has led to untrained Federal agents roaming the streets of 
America's communities, committing violence with impunity.
  That major legislation also lavished tax breaks onto the ultrawealthy 
while doing nothing to crack down on the billions that wealthy tax 
cheats don't pay their fair share with each year.
  This legislation represents a dark heart--a dark heart of the 
Republican agenda: Scapegoat those who don't have a voice while letting 
the wealthy and well connected get off the hook.
  If my colleagues on the other side really were worried about money 
leaving the United States, I can tell you, as the ranking Democrat on 
the Finance Committee, they can look at their own tax laws that 
encourage giant corporations to ship jobs and factories overseas. They 
ought to figure out why the Trump economy is driving investors and 
their dollars away from America and into foreign markets.
  It would be an understatement to say this legislation is a solution 
in search of a problem. This legislation is obviously some kind of 
messaging bill that would challenge the very foundations of what draws 
people from all over the world to America--the chance to imagine and 
create a better life for themselves and their families.
  For those reasons, I object.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. MORENO. To my colleague from Oregon, who I don't really know 
well, let me say this. As somebody that actually came to this country 
from a foreign land legally, I find it decently insulting that you 
would paint a picture of immigrants coming here to be dependent on the 
government. Let me just tell you, the exact opposite is true.

  But that is actually the playbook of the Democratic Party--smearing 
with racist undertones immigrants, thinking that the only reason we 
would ever come to America is to be dependent on government.
  Let me just be clear to the Americans out there who want to 
understand what is actually happening in DC, because I have only been 
here 13 months. My colleague has been here for 30 years. When you have 
been here for 30 years in Washington, DC, you think it is perfectly 
normal for government to provide aid to those in need and then have 
those people send that money overseas. To them, that is normal.
  And in terms of your comment, to my colleague from Oregon, that we 
are shipping jobs overseas or incentivizing companies to send jobs 
overseas, welcome to the Republican Party's position on tariffs. I am 
happy to see, finally, that we have a Democrat who is willing to 
embrace tariffs, because we are sick and tired of seeing our jobs 
shipped overseas.
  So I am disappointed that we couldn't agree on a basic premise, that 
U.S. taxpayer dollars intended to help our citizens should stay within 
our shores. That should highlight why, yesterday, the Democrat Members 
of both Houses could not stand up when President Trump asked a simple 
question: Is it the first duty of an elected official to defend and 
protect American citizens?
  And you were there, Mr. President. Not a single Democrat could stand 
up.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Since my colleague is talking about my family's 
background, you might be interested to know that my parents fled the 
Nazis in the thirties. Not all got out. And we were especially proud of 
my two parents, who weren't at all interested in coming to America for 
any benefits, as my colleague is suggesting; they persuaded themselves 
that they should be in our Army. My dad was one of the famous Ritchie 
Boys, renowned for their service to the country, writing the propaganda 
pamphlets we dropped on the Nazis. So my colleague is way off base with 
his comments about my family.
  Finally, you might want to do some checking. When I first read this, 
I thought maybe my colleague and his staff just didn't get the text 
written correctly because the people who are really upset now are the 
veterans, people who wore the uniform of the United States, who my 
colleague is putting in a hardship situation, according to staff.
  I just wanted to make sure the record was correct.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. MORENO. I will remind the Senator: I in no way disparaged your 
family. I didn't even mention your family. What I did mention is that 
you made the point that we are harming immigrants who come here who 
might be dependent on social safety net programs and sending that money 
back overseas.
  And I came here from another country--not my parents. I came here. I 
wasn't born in this country. I came here to seek the American dream, 
and I am honored every day to be here--although, on a day like today, 
not so much, because it is grossly disappointing that the Democrat 
Party that I once knew, a party of the working class, is not willing to 
make a very

[[Page S665]]

simple statement: When we help American citizens, we expect that money 
to stay in this country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.