[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 3, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S741-S747]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HOUSING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ACT--Motion to Proceed
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed H.R. 6644,
which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 343, H.R. 6644, a bill to
increase the supply of housing in America, and for other
purposes.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
Department of Homeland Security
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, my Democrat colleagues are at it again.
They are on their second shutdown in 6 months, and in a few short days,
a lot of government workers will be missing part of their paychecks
again thanks to Senate Democrats.
Well, let's just briefly review the 2026 fiscal year.
At the start of the fiscal year, which is October 1 for the Federal
Government, Democrats shut down the entire government for a staggering
43 days--the longest government shutdown in history--and by the time a
handful of Democrat Senators agreed to end the shutdown, air travel was
in chaos, essential programs had been affected, and many government
employees had turned to loans, credit cards, and food banks to make
ends meet, but even the worst government shutdown in history wasn't
enough for Senate Democrats.
Fast-forward now to January of this year. Democrats and Republicans
in both Houses of Congress had agreed on a final Department of Homeland
Security spending bill that included deescalation training for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as $20 million for body
cameras for ICE officers. But Democrats decided that wasn't enough, so
Republicans and the White House agreed to reopen negotiations. Knowing
that negotiation takes time, we suggested a temporary funding extension
for several weeks, but Democrats insisted on no more than 2 weeks. When
2 weeks, predictably, wasn't enough, especially since Democrats were in
no hurry to put together a legislative proposal, Democrats shut down
the entire Department, and now, a whole lot of Department of Homeland
Security employees are starting to miss pay thanks to Senate Democrats.
That includes TSA agents--the people tasked with the safety of air
travel in this country--as well as Coast Guard civilian employees,
members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who do so much--I
might add--essential disaster response work here at home, and many
others.
Let's be very clear. This isn't a principled stand by Democrats
against Republicans who refuse to negotiate. That is not the case. The
White House has not only made a lot of reforms to ICE procedures on its
own, it has shown a clear willingness to legislate reforms and has made
more than one substantial offer to Democrats. Democrats could have
recognized this and
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chosen to extend DHS funding while negotiations finished up or we could
be considering an agreement right now. Instead, it is becoming
abundantly clear that what Democrats really want is to keep this alive
as a political issue. If Democrats really wanted to put reforms in
place, they would be doing everything they could to get a bill.
Of course, the White House isn't going to sign off on every Democrat
demand--no side gets everything it wants in negotiations--but Democrats
could be on the verge of having substantial reforms signed into law if
they were at all serious about actually implementing solutions, but
they are not. They are interested in politics, not policy, and a whole
lot of essential government employees are suffering as a result, to say
nothing of the essential government work--the work of government--that
is suffering. The deployment of cyber security measures to Federal
Agencies has been delayed. States are having to wait for disaster
reimbursements. FEMA training centers are closed, affecting 45,000
students per week, and the list goes on.
I mentioned the air travel chaos that ensued as a result of
Democrats' first fiscal year 2026 shutdown. Well, the longer this DHS
shutdown drags on, the more likely it is that we will start to have
staffing problems at airport checkpoints, which will lead to
compounding flight delays and other problems.
Now, it shouldn't need saying that it is always a terrible idea to
use the Department of Homeland Security as a political pawn. There are
always threats to the homeland that have to be addressed, and that is
exactly the work that is done by the Department of Homeland Security.
But above all, right now, with an enhanced terror threat from Iran and
Iran-funded terrorist groups, it is vital that we ensure the Department
of Homeland Security is fully funded and fully functioning.
It is 2 more days until the Department of Homeland Security employees
start missing part of their paychecks. I hope that my Democrat
colleagues will finally decide to come to the table and bring their
second shutdown in under 6 months to a close.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The Democratic leader is recognized.
Iran
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it has been 4 days since Donald Trump
launched America into a war that most Americans oppose, most Americans
don't understand, and his own administration can't consistently
explain.
I walked out of yesterday's intelligence briefing even more concerned
than when I walked in because if the case for war were strong, the
story would be consistent and steady. Instead, it changes by the hour.
First, Donald Trump suggested the goal was regime change. He said the
people of Iran should rise up and take back their country.
Then it was about nuclear weapons--the same program he said was
``obliterated'' last summer.
Then, yesterday morning, Pete Hegseth said:
Iran had a conventional gun to our head.
He said:
This is not a so-called regime change war.
Then Secretary Rubio claimed it was about crippling Iran's missiles.
Then it was about crippling Iran's navy. Then Rubio said it was about
what Israel would do and the Iranian response. We heard that this
attack was ``defensive'' in nature; then Rubio says it was
``preemptive.''
Which one is it, Donald Trump? Regime change? Nuclear weapons?
Missiles? An imminent threat to the homeland? Or a preemptive strike to
stop future attacks on the region?
When the rationale for war keeps shifting, the strategy is missing,
and that is because there is no strategy. And when the strategy is
missing, the risk grows. Six American servicemembers are dead. The
conflict is widening. The State Department is telling Americans to
leave the region. Oil prices have already jumped 7 percent in just a
few days.
History teaches us a simple lesson: Wars without a clear objective do
not stay small. They get bigger. They get bloodier. They get longer.
They get more expensive.
This is not a defensive war. This is not a necessary war. This is a
war of choice. The American people do not want another endless war of
choice in the Middle East. They do not want to see our troops fight and
die in a pointless war. Parents don't want to worry about whether or
not their kids will be sent abroad to fight in a conflict Americans
didn't ask for.
The American people want leadership that is focused on lowering costs
here at home because, while this administration debates which
justification to use for the war, American families are debating which
bill to pay. Gas prices are rising again. Electric bills are through
the roof. Groceries are still too high. Housing costs are crushing
middle-class families. Health insurance premiums are rising. The
President should be focused on lowering costs.
Instead of mission creep abroad, we need cost relief here at home.
Instead of shifting rationales for war, we need a clear strategy for
affordability. That is what Americans are asking for, and that is what
Senate Democrats are fighting for.
Affordability
Mr. President, that is why, this week, the Senate is moving long-
overdue housing legislation, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and
I want to thank Senator Warren for her incredible work bringing this
package to fruition.
The ROAD to Housing Act is a good step, but Democrats know it is only
the first step. We have much more work to do to fix the housing
crisis--to restore the promise of homeownership and bring rents down.
Democrats will continue to develop and push additional housing policies
that build on the good work of this bill, including the ideas we laid
out in our housing rollout and in our report on the housing crisis in
January.
But Democrats are not stopping at housing. Later this week, I will
join my colleagues to roll out our food prices legislation. Our bill
will go straight to one of the core problems of the food industry: too
much consolidation in America's food system, especially in meat and
agriculture, where a handful of dominant players squeeze farmers on one
end and squeeze consumers on the other.
Donald Trump acts like affordability is some kind of hoax, but
Democrats understand it is the No. 1 thing people think about when they
are paying the rent, filling up their tank, and especially when pushing
a cart down the grocery aisle. We will keep fighting on this issue
because Americans want us to bring their costs down.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Order of Business
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
recess from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. today and that all time during recess
count postcloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6644.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Iran
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the President of the United States took
decisive action this weekend to keep America and Americans safe. He did
it to stop the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism in the world. He did it
to forge a path to peace in the Middle East.
Operation Epic Fury is one of the boldest military operations in
modern history. I support it fully and without reservation. President
Trump had the courage to do what is right and what needed to be done,
something previous administrations refused to do--absolutely refused.
Operation Epic Fury has one purpose: to protect the American people
from a regime that has spent 47 years at war
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against America--at war trying to destroy us. This is an absolutely
bloodthirsty dictatorship, and blood is on their hands.
I heard the minority leader here on the floor, this morning, make
reference to parents whose sons and daughters serve in the military.
Well, I got an email yesterday from one of those parents, a Gold Star
parent because she lost her son in Iraq in 2008. He was from Wyoming:
SSG Tyler Pickett. She emailed me because I had spoken at his funeral
in 2008. He was a 28-year-old from Saratoga, WY, killed by an IED. And
we know that it was Iran who was supplying those IEDs that killed so
many Americans in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
And what did she say? She said:
I have a request. When you speak to our President, Donald
J. Trump, will you thank him from me and my family.
She said:
I was working when the attack on Iran took place. My
brother texted me and called me. We were cheering, praying,
and continuing to pray for everyone. Once again, thank you,
and God be with you always.
That is a mother who lost her son, who is cheering the action this
past weekend--and it continues today--to protect the American homeland
for which her son lost his life 18 years ago.
For 47 years, Iran has chanted ``Death to America,'' and they have
meant it. Iran has, for years, bankrolled and armed terrorists--
terrorists who have killed thousands of Americans, terrorists who on
October 7, 2023, killed over 1,000 Israelis and Americans in the attack
by Hamas on Israel. Iran has plotted assassinations on American soil
against dissidents, against American officials, and even against
President Trump.
Iran continued to race to build nuclear weapons. Even after the
successful bombing of their nuclear facilities, last year, the Iranians
were not deterred. They said: We are going to go do it again.
And they stockpiled ballistic missiles, which could be used to
deliver a nuclear weapon or just to attack neighbors.
Make no mistake, Iran is not some faraway threat. It is a clear and
present danger to the United States, and this Congress knows it. Every
Democrat knows it.
In the past 96 hours, Iran has launched a wave of missiles and drones
and attacked 11 countries in the region. Think about that. Iran
attacked 11 of their neighboring countries--immediate neighbors. Iran's
indiscriminate attacks prove Iran poses a universal threat. President
Trump gave Iran every opportunity to choose peace. Instead, they chose
delay, they chose deception, and they chose destruction. Iran refused
every diplomatic off-ramp offered, and Iran believed it could once
again run out the clock without consequences.
Iran was wrong. Operation Epic Fury was President Trump's commitment
to protect our Nation.
Today, Ayatollah Khamenei is dead, his senior leadership team is
dead, and his reign of terror is over. Iran's vast missile arsenal is
being dismantled. Its nuclear program is being demolished. Its
tentacles of terror are being severed. America is safer. The world is
safer. This is American peace through strength.
Operation Epic Fury also sends a strong message to America's other
adversaries. Iran's allies and enablers, of course, are China and
Russia. For years, every dollar of Iranian oil and weapon sales
sustained their terrorist regime. The oil and weapons also strengthened
our adversaries. This anti-American axis of aggression is today weaker.
President Trump has reshaped the strategic landscape in the Middle East
and all around the world.
Inside Iran, people are pouring into the streets to celebrate. To the
Iranian people: You have endured decades of repression and brutality.
This is a moment of freedom. America stands with you.
As Operation Epic Fury succeeds in Iran, far-left Democrats in this
Chamber are on a mission, and their mission is to undercut American
peace through strength. This week, Democrats are going to force a vote
on yet another War Powers Resolution. Their War Powers Resolution is
intended to tie the hands of the Commander in Chief as he works to
protect the country.
This administration briefed the Gang of 8 before Operation Epic Fury
began. Every Senator is going to be briefed later this afternoon. The
mission objectives are clear and publicly stated: Destroy Iran's
missile industry; destroy Iran's Navy; destroy Iran's terrorist
network; stop the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror from obtaining
nuclear weapons.
President Trump protected our country. He did it by enforcing a
redline with Iran. This is the opposite of President Obama and the
Democrats. They tried to buy the Ayatollah's friendship. They sent
pallets of cash directly into Iran.
Under the War Powers Act, the President retains authority to conduct
missions like this for up to 60 days. Now is the time for Congress to
support our servicemembers in the combat zone, not undermine them from
this very Chamber.
If Senate Democrats are truly concerned about protecting the American
people, here is what they should do right now, right here, today: Fund
the Department of Homeland Security. They have been holding it up,
shutting it down. Today, the greatest threat to our safety at home
right here is terrorism. We are at heightened alert.
The Department of Homeland Security is on the front line against
terrorism, and the Democrats want to keep it shut.
The Department of Homeland Security protects our airports, our
shores, our cyber networks, our homeland. Democrats have shut down the
Department of Homeland Security, and that shutdown endangers every
single American citizen.
This weekend in Austin, TX, a killer wore a T-shirt with the Iranian
flag and a sweatshirt that read ``Property of Allah.'' The
investigation is ongoing, but the message is clear, now is the time for
us to be on high alert. For the safety of the American people, the
Department of Homeland Security needs to be fully funded. The workers
need to be fully paid, not waiting and hoping to say: Well, will we
ever get paid again, as the Democrats refuse to fund the Department of
Homeland Security.
Republicans stand with the brave men and women who are carrying out
Operation Epic Fury. We pray for their safety in harm's way. We also
pray for the family members who have given their lives in defense of
our freedom, as the email that I have just read from the mother of SSG
Tyler Pickett from Wyoming who lost his life in 2008 near Kirkuk in
Iraq.
Peace through strength always keeps America secure, and as the
majority whip, I am going to do everything possible to defeat Senator
Kaine's resolution that undercuts our peace through strength.
Republicans are going to continue to work for the safety and security
of the American people and of this great country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). The Senator from Massachusetts.
Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, we are facing a dark moment in our
country's history. On Saturday, Donald Trump decided to drag the
American people into a reckless, illegal war with Iran, a war based on
lies, a war launched with no imminent threat to our Nation.
Six U.S. servicemembers are now dead and more badly hurt. A missile
from the United States and Israeli-led bombing campaign reportedly
killed over 150 people at a girls' school in Iran, many of them little
girls, some as young as 7 years old. And now, violence is spreading
across the Middle East, with the threat of that violence bleeding into
the United States.
And for what? For another forever war that the American people do not
want? Our Constitution is clear; only Congress can declare war. That is
because one single person should not have the power to drag our entire
country into a reckless war.
But that is exactly--exactly--what Donald Trump has done. He has
given prepared remarks. He has spoken to the press. Yet, even after
multiple bombing runs and the death of American servicemembers, Donald
Trump cannot give a single clear reason for this war.
Why are we at war? Donald Trump has dozens of reasons and,
ultimately, no reason at all. Worse yet, Donald Trump is dragging
Americans into this war with no plan for how to end it. He
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has no stated objectives, no clear strategies, no way to explain: When
we accomplish this, we will leave. Even the deaths of Americans has not
given Donald Trump pause. Instead, he doubles down.
Every hour, the Trump administration feeds us shifting justifications
for this war; every hour, he contradicts a justification that he used
earlier. Donald Trump said that Iran has restarted its nuclear program,
but Donald Trump's own officials have said that is not true.
Donald Trump claimed that Iran is developing long-range missiles that
will soon be capable of hitting the United States. That directly goes
against what his own government has claimed.
As recently as January, the Trump administration said they would not
engage in any regime change wars. And now, they are calling on the
Iranian people to rise up and change their regime. Khamenei was an
authoritarian dictator who has the blood of Americans on his hands, but
killing one leader does not topple a brutal regime. The next leader
could be just as bad or even worse. And Donald Trump's deceptions keep
right on coming. In June of last year, Trump bombed Iran and claimed
that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been ``completely and
totally obliterated.''
``Completely and totally obliterated.''
And now, Trump is telling the American people that he had to attack
Iran on Saturday because Iran posed an imminent threat based on their
nuclear capabilities. Both of those things cannot be true.
If Donald Trump believes that Iran's nuclear ambitions are a threat,
he had the chance to curb them. In fact, the United States had a deal
that would have prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That was
President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, and Trump ripped up that deal
and got nothing in return.
Instead of doing the hard work of diplomacy to prevent Iran from
getting a nuclear weapon, Trump is lying to Americans while dragging us
into yet another reckless war that is costing American lives.
Already, six U.S. servicemembers have been killed, and others have
been seriously hurt in these attacks. My heart is with these
servicemembers and their loved ones, but Trump just doesn't seem to
care.
In fact, he said he is not ruling out sending United States' ground
troops into Iran. He even said that, while every President says, Well,
there will be no boots on the ground, he doesn't say it. He is proud of
the fact that he is willing to put American lives at risk for this war
of his own choosing. It is truly horrific.
The ripple effects of this violence are even broader. Protesters in
countries across the world are storming U.S. Embassies and threatening
the lives of State Department officials. American citizens living in
the region are now in the middle of a war zone, in danger, and unsure
if they can make it home safely.
And the violence is spreading. Iran has attacked at least nine
countries since the Trump administration and Israel started this war on
Saturday, putting more American servicemembers and more American
civilians abroad at risk and threatening to destabilize the entire
region.
I disagree with Donald Trump, but I understand that he won the 2024
election. But when he ran in 2024, he said repeatedly that he would be
a peace President. He ran on a platform of no more wars. He said he
would be a President to stop wars, not start them, and Americans
believed him.
But now, we face an ugly reality. In the modern era, no American
President has ordered more military strikes against as many different
countries as Donald Trump. None. Donald Trump's disregard for human
life seems to have no bounds.
I want to make one more point here, and it is about something that is
very personal to me. All three of my brothers served in the military.
My oldest brother served off and on in Vietnam for 6 years, running 266
combat missions. I remember the fear our family felt with every late-
night phone call or official-looking letter. Could my brother be hurt?
Could he be dead?
It is still hard to find the words to describe the pain that we put
American families through when we ship a generation off to war. Mamas
are worried sick that their sons or daughters will not make it home. A
new generation of veterans will have to live with the horrors of war,
live with the trauma of witnessing innocent victims of war take their
final breath, live with their own injuries and prolonged recoveries.
The people who will be asked to sacrifice their lives are the
American people. It won't be Donald Trump. It won't be Pete Hegseth. It
will be our sons and daughters, our nieces and nephews, our
grandchildren. Trump is right to note that people die in war. That
happens as surely as night follows day. And that means that the leaders
who send young people to die must take the consequences of this
conflict with the seriousness it deserves, with life-and-death
seriousness.
Instead, Trump and his team seem to be treating war with Iran like a
game, as if Commander in Chief was a costume and Secretary of War is a
fun, pretend title, and the lives lost are just numbers on a board with
the title Operation Epic Fury.
Forty-eight hours after he started this war, Trump finally addressed
the American people and took questions. He spoke to the people who are
worried sick about what this war means for them and what it means for
the people they love.
Instead of offering a plan, however, he talked about renovations to
his gold-encrusted ballroom. It is sickening, and it is time for this
Congress to make him stop.
Here is what we need: First, Donald Trump started this war illegally,
without the consent of Congress, and he cannot be allowed to continue
it. There is too much at stake. Every single Senator must support
Senator Kaine's War Powers Resolution to block this reckless war. This
isn't about politics. This is about life and death for young Americans
who will be called on to serve and for civilians who will end up in
harm's way.
Second, the United States must investigate the bombing of an
elementary school in Iran. Israel claims it was not aware of any
operations in the area by their own IDF, and that raises the question
of whether it was a United States strike and how that happened.
The U.S. military's Central Command has said it needs to look into
the incident. As we regularly do following a catastrophe of this size
with the possible involvement of the U.S. military, we must find out
what happened and hold those responsible to account.
And, third, we need to hold accountable every single Trump
administration official who lied to the American people about this
unconstitutional war. People have a right to the truth from their
government, and nowhere, at no time, is that more crucial than in the
life-and-death decisions surrounding the decision to go to war.
We must hold our elected officials accountable if they don't level
with the people who will be sent to fight and possibly to die. Along
with many of you, I am angry at what this administration is doing. I
feel grief for those killed in the conflict. I feel anguish for the
families at home trying to make sense of why their beloved husbands,
wives, sons, daughters, moms, and dads are sent into a war that no one
can explain.
And I will keep fighting for an end to this war.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Connecticut.
Unanimous Consent Requests--S. 1032
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I just left a hearing involving the
Veterans of Foreign Wars before the Veterans' Committee. In fact, it
was a joint hearing of both the House's and the Senate's Veterans'
Committees, where I am the ranking member.
I informed them that I was coming to the floor of the U.S. Senate to
seek unanimous consent on the Major Richard Star Act, and there was a
spontaneous standing ovation. I dare say that that applause was totally
bipartisan--nonpolitical--because there is no more glaring and
egregious injustice affecting veterans today--our Nation's patriots--
than the fact that 50,000 veterans and servicemembers are forced to
medically retire or to undergo medical separation because of combat-
related injuries and are unable to collect both retirement benefits and
disability compensation. Right now, the men and
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women who are in harm's way in the Middle East may be injured--we hope
not--but there may be casualties. We know that some have already been
injured.
If they retire as a result of those combat injuries with less than 20
years of service--the majority of them have less than 20 years of
service--they will be reduced in their retirement pay, dollar for
dollar, from their VA disability benefits. Let me just repeat: Right
now, combat-injured veterans are getting a dollar-for-dollar reduction
of their military retirement pay from their VA disability benefits. So
if they have to retire because they have been injured in combat, they
sacrifice, dollar for dollar, their retirement pay because of the
disability benefits that they receive. They are entitled to both. They
have earned both. The Nation promised them both. They deserve both.
The Major Richard Star Act will finally provide some justice to those
veterans. It will finally provide these military retirees with their
full disability and Department of Defense retirement benefits, righting
this longstanding injustice.
It is sponsored by 77 of my colleagues in the Senate, including both
Republicans and Democrats. It has similar support in the House of
Representatives. We have never been provided with a vote--yes, a vote.
If it did receive a vote, it would pass overwhelmingly. The simple
request for a vote has been denied. There are a variety of excuses that
have been offered like ``It costs too much.''
Well, as the national commander of the VFW said today, in supporting
this bill, the costs of providing for our veterans are part of the cost
of war. We are in a war right now, real-time, and some of those combat-
injured veterans will be sacrificing their disability or retirement pay
because of this injustice. And then some have characterized the Major
Richard Star Act as providing for double-dipping. Well, our veterans
forced to retire because of combat injures have earned both. We can
afford to right this injustice. Whatever the estimate on the amount of
funding required--and it has varied over the years--it is a pittance
compared to the costs of our national defense--close to a trillion
dollars now. This country can afford to do the right thing by these
combat-injured veterans, and we have a moral imperative to do so.
Veterans who have served more than 20 years already received both the
VA and the DOD payments in whole. Veterans who have served less than 20
years because they are combat injured--frankly, for any reason--deserve
better.
This week and last, thousands of veterans have flown into our
Nation's Capital from every corner of the country to advocate for their
top priorities, and collectively, they are calling on Congress--all of
them--all of the veterans service organizations, all of the groups that
represent our Nation's heroes have told us unequivocally and repeatedly
that correcting this injustice is absolutely necessary. The benefits
they have earned are the benefits they should be receiving right now,
and it will make a huge difference in the lives of all these veterans.
Take, for example, SSG Clayton Smith. He was involuntarily medically
retired after 11 years in the U.S. Army because of his combat-related
injury. He feels that veterans impacted by this offset have upheld
their commitment to serve, but the system fails to recognize its
commitment to him--promises made, promises kept, but in this case, not
kept. In his words:
Passing the Richard Star Act would not only restore
financial fairness, but it would restore confidence among
combat-injured veterans that their sacrifice is recognized
equally.
It would also help veterans like Dan Nevins from Florida. His
military career was ended when an improvised explosive device detonated
beneath his vehicle during his deployment to Iraq in 2004. He is a
bilateral amputee. He has overcome years of recurring infection and
countless surgeries. He says he has no regrets about his service. He
joined to serve his country. He believes it is worth fighting for.
These veterans deserve elected officials who will fight for them and
deliver the benefits they have earned. In the words of Barry Jesinoski,
the DAV's national adjutant and CEO:
Respect without action is meaningless.
A message to my colleagues: Respect without action is meaningless.
Rhetoric without action is meaningless. Words without action are
worthless. So let's put the politics aside and listen to our veterans.
Let's pass the Richard Star Act today.
Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent
that the Committee on Armed Services be discharged and that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1032, the Major Richard
Star Act; 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 an objection?
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. JOHNSON. Reserving the right to object.
Mr. President, first of all, let's--since I have the opportunity: We
all revere and respect those men and women who have served and
sacrificed to defend our liberty. That is completely nonpartisan. We
prove it day in and day out. We prove it by how much money we spend on
veterans' benefits.
So I certainly appreciate the Senator from Connecticut, his advocacy.
I advocate for veterans as well. It is interesting, though, this
unanimous consent request is very similar, if not identical, to the
same unanimous consent request offered on October 9 of 2025 by the
Senator from Connecticut.
At that point in time, responding to it, that unanimous consent, the
Senator from Mississippi--the then- and now-current chair of the Armed
Services Committee--stated, and I quote:
[M]y colleague is asking for an entitlement that does
amount to a double benefit and that we cannot afford. We are
talking between $9 billion and $10 billion on the Department
of Defense authorization act. And we are talking about . . .
a bill, a piece of legislation, that really belongs in
another jurisdiction.
I am assuming he was talking about the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
We cannot possibly add another 9 billion to 10 billion of
entitlement money to this Defense Authorization Act.
And that is the reason that in Democrat majorities and Republican
majorities, House Democrat majorities and Senate Democrat majorities,
and in Democrat administrations, this legislation has never been
accepted because we simply cannot afford it.
The chairman of Armed Services went on to say:
Historically, Congress has provided permanent new benefits
only after we have identified an offset, savings of a similar
amount.
There is no such offset identified in this unanimous consent request.
And when we do not identify offsets, that means $10 billion has come
out of readiness, out of the strength of our military to defend
ourselves during the most dangerous time we have had since World War
II. And with that logic, the chairman of Armed Services, the Senator
from Mississippi, objected to the Senator from Connecticut's unanimous
consent request.
Now, what has changed is we now have a score on this specific bill.
When the Senator from Mississippi was objecting last time, he was
quoting a $9 billion to $10 billion score. We just got the score on
this one. Now, it is $70 billion to $75 billion.
Again, we all revere the finest among us. The men and women of the
military that I know didn't serve and sacrifice oblivious to the fact
that we are mortgaging our children's future. They served and
sacrificed to secure our children's future. So we can't just come down
here and talk about how much we love vets and how we want to support
them. We also have to look at the reality of the situation in dollars
and cents. We are $39 trillion in debt. Over the next decade, it will
be $60 trillion. We have to look at the dollars and cents.
So, again, this unanimous consent request went from an assumed cost
of 10 billion to now 70 billion, which reminds me an awful lot of the
PACT Act, which I voted for and supported. But when that was first
being discussed, it was called the burn pit legislation.
My former chief of staff served in Iraq; he was impacted by it. But I
remember discussions--these were informal. I don't have anything
formally written, but back in early discussions of the burn pit
legislation, we were being told it was going to be $1 billion or $2
billion a year.
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When the House passed their version of the PACT Act, the CBO score
was for $322 billion over 10 years. The Senate got its hands on that
piece of legislation, and the score was $667 billion. The current
window is over $700 billion. That is not chump change. That is
approaching a trillion dollars over 10 years.
Now, again, it is not like we are spending less on veterans, even
though our veteran population is declining. In 2019, we spent $200
billion on veterans' benefits. Again, now, their retirement is through
the Defense Department. This is just benefits for VA. Two hundred
billion dollars, that equates to about $11,500 per veteran. This was
before the pandemic--so $200 billion, $11,500 per vet.
This year, we will spend about $435 billion, so it has more than
doubled, and our cost per vet is up to $28,000 per veteran. Somebody
has got to look at this.
We are $177 billion for veterans' benefits above and beyond what we
spent in 2019, fully inflated for inflation. There is no other account
in the Federal Government that is that out of whack, comparing 2019
fully inflated.
So this is not the way to pass this legislation. The Senator from
Connecticut has all these cosponsors. Fine. Go through the committee
process. Scrutinize this. Take a look at the score, take a look at what
the history of this is. It is not like we are the first Congress that
reveres the members of the military.
For some reason, they differentiate between somebody who has 20 years
of service or less than. Let's look at that. Let's debate it. Let's
bring it through the committee process, regular order. And then if it
has that great support, I might even vote for it.
But let's go through the process to see whether these policies make
sense, whether there truly is double-dipping, whether there is a better
way of handling--by the way, I have been told the Department of War is
looking at this exact issue. They have reverence for the finest among
us as well.
But this is not the way to do this, not by unanimous consent request.
It was objected to in October, and I am going to object to it right
now.
Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am saddened, I am angered, and I am
heartbroken for the veterans across this great country that the Senate
is failing to match their courage and dedication and failing to keep
faith with them. I am heartbroken for a nation that can afford to spend
tens of billions of dollars, as we are doing right now--perhaps
hundreds of billions--in a conflict far away, putting American lives in
harm's way, causing deaths--six, at least, so far--and casualties in
realtime when we are failing to match their bravery with our own. It is
unconscionable. A lot of words, a lot of numbers, a lot of fallback to
Senate procedures, process--meaningless--the words and numbers are
meaningless to veterans who are deprived of benefits they have earned,
benefits they have been promised.
So I regret my colleague's objection to this bill. I believe he is in
a small minority of this body. He has a right to object under our
rules.
But I would like to offer to him a commonsense middle ground. Even if
we don't have unanimous consent to pass the Major Richard Star Act
right now and support our combat-injured veterans, let's agree to a
vote. Give us a vote. That is our job--to vote.
I have a time agreement here that would authorize the Senate to take
a single up-and-down vote on passage of this bill before August, not
precipitously--sometime before August--one vote scheduled by the
majority leader, Senator Thune, at his discretion. It could start and
finish in 45 minutes. It simply guarantees one vote on passage at a 60-
vote, filibuster-proof threshold. That is our rule.
And I would offer, most respectfully, that surely this great body can
afford a half hour or 45 minutes to give our combat-injured veterans a
vote on restoration of their hard-earned benefits.
Let us vote. That is our job. Let us give our veterans an up-or-down
vote on a matter of simple justice: benefits they have been promised.
Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent
that, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation
with the Democratic leader but no later than August 7, 2026, the
Committee on Armed Services be discharged and the Senate proceed to the
immediate consideration of S. 1032; further, that there be up to 2
hours for debate on the bill, equally divided between the two leaders
or their designees, and that upon the use or yielding back of that
time, the bill be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on
passage of the bill, with 60 affirmative votes required for passage,
all without further intervening action or debate and no amendments or
motions in order to the bill prior to the vote on passage.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the
Senator from Connecticut said we need to do our job. I agree. Our job
is to recognize the fact that we are $39 trillion in debt on the back
of $60 trillion, with the Social Security trust fund running out during
that timeframe.
Our job would be, then, to go through the regular order process of
taking this before the committee. If it has such broad bipartisan
support, fine, but, again, similar efforts along these lines have
failed in the past with Democrat majorities in both the House and the
Senate. There is something about this that concerns people. So vet it
out in the committee process. We are trying to bypass that process by
unanimous consent requests. This is not the way to produce good
legislation, not when we are $39 trillion in debt.
So for all the other reasons I mentioned in my previous objection,
Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, we have regular order in the Senate,
and there is regular order in the military. I will have a hard time
looking in the eye of those soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and
Coast Guard members who are in conflict, in harm's way, right now in
the Middle East, defending the national security of this great Nation.
I will have a hard time explaining to them what ``regular order'' means
when they are combat injured and they suffer, dollar for dollar, their
retirement pay because they are receiving disability benefits when they
are injured--right now--in this conflict.
I don't know how I can look them in the eye. I don't know how any
Member of the U.S. Senate can look them in the eye and explain: We
won't vote because of regular order. That is a mockery of democracy,
and it is shameful.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I chair the Senate Committee on Veterans'
Affairs, and my colleague, the ranking member of that committee,
Senator Blumenthal was just here on the Senate floor discussing the
importance of the Major Richard Star Act. That bill is not in the
jurisdiction, at least at this point, of the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs. It is a matter for the Armed Services Committee. But it is one
that is important to veterans across the country.
The issue behind the Richard Star Act is hugely important to veterans
across the country. We saw that today with the joint hearings that we
have annually with the House Veterans' Committee.
The VFW and other veterans service organizations highly prioritize
the Richard Star Act's passage. That act--this legislation--would make
certain that veterans who are medically retired due to combat or
combat-related injuries would receive their earned VA disability
compensation and their full retirement pay without one payment being
reduced because of the other. So, today, there is an offset. The
Richard Star Act would eliminate that offset.
No veteran, in my mind, should have their retirement that they earned
decreased because they also were eligible for disability compensation
due to an injury that they sustained during their military service. So
you earn your retirement by years of service, but then that is
diminished if you have a disability as a result of the service.
While the Richard Star Act, as I indicated, is not within the
jurisdiction of
[[Page S747]]
the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I want to make clear that I
will continue to work with my colleagues in a bicommittee, a bicameral,
and a bipartisan way to make certain we find a path forward for the
passage of this legislation.
The VFW, as I said, just completed their testimony before our joint
committee, and their advocacy and that of other veterans service
organizations have prioritized this piece of legislation for years.
It is widely sponsored by Members of the U.S. Senate, but we have
been at this for about 5 years. And while the vast majority of Senators
support the bill, as evidenced by their sponsorship of the bill, it has
not been considered in a legislative manner sufficient for it to have
moved forward.
I am an original cosponsor of this legislation, and I want to make
certain that combat-injured veterans receive their full benefits. They
upheld their oath. They fulfilled their duty, and the question before
us is whether we will fulfill ours.
I am committed to continuing to work closely with my colleagues on
the Armed Services Committee and with Senators from both sides of the
aisle to find a responsible path forward and a solution that ultimately
leads to the passage of the Major Richard Star Act in the Senate and in
the House of Representatives, and eventually for it to make its way to
the President's desk to become law.
Our Nation's combat-wounded veterans--and we say this particularly at
this point in time, with what is going on in the world, with men and
women from the United States in harm's way. Our Nation's combat-wounded
veterans should not have to continue fighting for benefits they already
earned, and it is time for Congress to act.
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