[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 104 (Monday, June 22, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2977-S2981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
21ST CENTURY ROAD TO HOUSING ACT--Resumed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 6644, which
the clerk will report.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:
House message to accompany H.R. 6644, a bill to increase
the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes.
Pending:
Thune motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate
amendment to the bill, with Thune (for Scott (SC)/Warren)
Amendment No. 5823 (to the House amendment to the Senate
amendment), in the nature of a substitute.
Thune Amendment No. 5824 (to Amendment No. 5823), to change
the enactment date.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Iran
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, 1 week in June, 4 in July, 3 in
September--that is the number of weeks the Senate is in session between
now and the election. A lot of people think a lot of things need to be
done between now and the election, and I agree with that.
But those weeks I just named add up to about 21 days that the Senate
is going to be in session; a lot of work to be done in 21 days. I can
think of one I am interested in--E15, for the agricultural economy of
Iowa.
Another Senator spoke to me about the necessity of getting some
control of college athletes in legislation that is pending and doing
that before the beginning of the college football season.
So I hope my colleagues will think about that there is not a whole
lot of time left and use it very efficiently.
Last week, President Trump signed a deal to end the hostilities
between the United States and Iran. That deal could be called a
memorandum of understanding, as it is so named, or you could look at it
as a letter of intent.
Let's remember what Operation Epic Fury was all about: preventing the
Iranian regime, which has chanted ``Death to America'' for 47 years,
from having a nuclear weapon.
``Death to America'' is death to Americans. We have seen it as the
alert threat is up. If you had the secure briefings that I have had,
you would be very thoughtful about what can come from Tehran to affect
Americans.
We have seen it, two people shot in Austin, TX, by a person that had
``Allah is great'' on his sweatshirt, and we saw it, two bombs thrown
in Brooklyn that didn't go off that would have killed a lot of people.
So with the peace agreement at hand, the devil is in the details.
While key details are set to be finalized within 60 days, Congress will
and must keep a very close eye to ensure that Iran is held accountable
every step of the way.
Accountability starts with facts, because we have heard these absurd
claims from opponents of the Iranian war, suggesting that Iran has
never been better off. The facts don't back that claim up.
Under President Trump's direction, America's military has put a
massive dent in Iran's nuclear program, military arsenals, and its
energy and transportation infrastructure.
What is more, Iran's economy is buckling with hyperinflation. The
United States naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz cost Iran up to
$500 million per day, and by early May, Iran lost $4.8 billion in oil
revenue.
In May, inflation in Iran reached 77 percent, and the cost of basic
goods in Iran has risen as much as 400 percent in a year.
[[Page S2978]]
The currency in Iran has also plummeted to historically low levels.
In late April, their currency hit a record low of 1.8 million to the
dollar and remained at historically low levels.
Now you put all that together, and the picture is pretty clear. That
is not a thriving nation; it is a nation facing total collapse. And
that is exactly why we need to pay attention as the United States and
Iran continues these negotiations because when a country is under this
kind of pressure, it changes what it is willing to do and raises the
stakes for getting this agreement right in the first place.
So we shouldn't take anything at face value. We must verify, and we
should judge this agreement by what Iran does, not what it promises,
because in a situation like this, pressure alone doesn't guarantee
results; only accountability guarantees results.
And then you always have to keep in the back of your mind that people
in that part of the world consider those of us in the Western World as
infidels, and you don't have to keep an agreement with infidels.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Madam 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 majority leader is recognized.
Working Families Tax Cut Act
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, we are approaching 1 year since the
Working Families Tax Cut became law. For nearly a year now, the
American people have been seeing the benefits of this bill, from a more
secure border to a stronger military, larger paychecks and bigger
refunds, support for farmers and ranchers, and a lifeline for
struggling rural healthcare providers.
For the past year, the story of the Working Families Tax Cut has been
unfolding across the country in different ways. And this afternoon, I
want to talk about how Republicans' landmark bill has strengthened our
economy and put more money in America's pockets.
When this Republican majority took over last year, the American
people were reeling from the pain of the Biden economy. They had
suffered through an inflation crisis, during which the cost of living
increased by more than 20 percent in just a few years. And without
action from Congress, they were looking at a $4 trillion tax hike in
the not-too-distant future.
For folks from my home State, that would have meant paying $2,500
more in Federal taxes this year, and that was completely unacceptable
to Republicans. And so we set out to prevent that tax hike and not just
prevent it, we made our 2017 tax reform permanent so that that tax hike
would never come.
And then we provided additional tax relief to lower and middle-income
Americans so they would be able to keep more of their hard-earned
money. Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, 97 percent of Americans
that filed this year got a tax cut.
Let me repeat that. Republicans prevented a tax hike for 97 percent
of tax filers, collectively saving them $82 billion on their Federal
taxes just this year.
We made lower tax rates permanent, raised the standard deduction, and
made that permanent as well. We increased the child tax credit to
$2,200 and linked it to the cost of living so that it never loses its
value. Then we created a number of new tax-relief provisions. The new
senior deduction helped 35 million Americans over age 65 reduce their
tax burden this year.
No tax on tips meant that 7.5 million workers' income from tips
landed in their pockets instead of going to the IRS. And 29 million
workers--from nurses to police officers and factory workers--took
advantage of the new overtime deduction.
All told, Americans earning between $100,000 and $200,000 last year
who took advantage of the new tax relief saw an average tax cut of
$1,250.
A bakery owner in Sioux Falls said her head chef got a bigger refund
this year and that she was able to put that extra money toward a crib
for her new baby and she is not the only one. Hard-working people all
across the country have additional money to put toward their expenses
or their savings thanks to Republican tax relief.
The good news doesn't stop there. The Working Families Tax Cut also
delivered meaningful pro-growth tax reforms for Americans' small
businesses, farms, and ranches, enabling them to invest more in their
operations and in their employees.
Small businesses have benefited from lower tax rates, and the 199A
small business deduction is now a permanent feature of the Tax Code.
One agricultural co-op in my State estimates the impact of that one
provision helped its co-op members reinvest more than $100 million into
our local economy in the last 10 years.
Then there is 100 percent immediate expensing for new equipment,
which allows small businesses, farms, and ranches to deduct the whole
cost of any piece of equipment the year they start using it. The owner
of Montgomery's Furniture Store in Sioux Falls, SD, called bonus
appreciation a ``huge, huge deal'' for his furniture store.
And a car dealer in my State said this enabled his business to build
an addition and to hire 10 new employees. And then our permanent
research and development tax credit is making a similar impact on small
businesses in my State and on our farm economy.
In fact, our former colleague, a neighbor to the north in North
Dakota, former Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp has said:
For many producers and ag-related businesses, this is more
than a tax break; this is a real opportunity to reinvest,
innovate, and stay competitive.
She is right, and the same could be said for a good number of
provisions in this bill.
I have already talked a little bit about how tax relief we passed
benefits farmers and ranchers. And although I haven't mentioned the
higher estate tax threshold that protects a lot more family farms and
ranchers from the death tax, not to mention the costly estate planning
that comes with that unfair tax, but this bill went further than tax
relief; it strengthened critical programs that producers depend upon.
It raised reference prices for every covered commodity so that they
more closely reflect the actual market conditions that farmers are
dealing with. It bolstered crop insurance, and it supported livestock
producers by making existing programs more responsive to drought.
We still have more work to do to strengthen the ag sector, but the
Working Families Tax Cut delivered meaningful relief to farmers after a
challenging few years, defined by higher input costs, higher interest
rates, and national disasters--all while many farm programs were
inadequate to meet the circumstances that farmers were living in. So
helping our ag producers was a priority for Republicans when we came in
last year, and it will continue to be a priority for us moving forward.
Rural Healthcare
Madam President, I have spent a lot of time this afternoon talking
about how Republicans aim to turn things around with this bill, and
there is one more thing I want to discuss before I finish, and that is
rural healthcare.
For all the challenges in healthcare today, it is even harder for
rural providers. More than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the last
two decades, and doctors in rural areas can be hard to come by.
So last year in the Working Families Tax Cut, Republicans did
something to address the rural healthcare crisis. And in the last year,
every single State has applied for funding from the $50 billion Rural
Health Transformation Program created by our landmark bill.
Rather than a top-down, Washington-based approach, we are giving
States the resources and freedom to find solutions to their unique
challenges and to find sustainable ways of ensuring access to
healthcare in their rural communities.
And as I said, the response has been robust. Every single State--red,
blue, and purple--is planning to take advantage of this much needed
support, and they have big plans for folks in rural parts of their
States. And I can't wait to see just how transformative the Rural
Health Transformation Program is across this country.
It is fair to say that things weren't going great in a lot of ways
the last
[[Page S2979]]
few years before President Trump and Republicans took control in
Washington, but we have been working to address those issues and
implement solutions to the problems facing the American people. And far
from patting ourselves on the back, we are keeping our foot on the gas.
Later today, we will pass a housing affordability bill. The
Agriculture Committee is continuing to work on a farm bill and
additional agricultural relief, and we continue important legislative
efforts on issues from cryptocurrency to artificial intelligence, to
reining in waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government.
One year ago, Republicans delivered major wins for the American
people in the Working Families Tax Cut, and we are working every day to
build on that success and to deliver again and again.
I yield the floor.
Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The minority whip.
Tornadoes
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, there are memories you have as a child
which you never, ever forget. And one of my memories was growing up,
smack-dab in the Midwest, in the middle of our country, and the
experience I had as a child when my mother would wake me in the middle
of the night, and I would hear the tornado sirens blaring. And she
would say: Get down to the basement.
The basement was our shelter for the potential of a tornado hitting
our home. That was part of growing up in the Midwest. But I thought it
was a great adventure to go down and sleep in the basement on the spare
bed, with the sirens blaring, wondering if our home would be touched.
Thank goodness, it never was.
But we have witnessed more tornadoes in our State of Illinois this
year than any year in the history of our State. According to the
Chicago Tribune, Illinois has experienced more than 147 confirmed
tornadoes over the past 6 months, nearly three times the State average
of 54 in the last 30 years.
Even in 2024, the previous record year for tornadoes in Illinois,
there were only 92 recorded as of June 22, nearly 60 fewer than what we
have seen this year.
Over the past weekend alone, as many as 24 separate tornadoes hit
Downstate, killing two Illinoisans--Delores Shelton and Sarita Kimble--
and injuring many more. My wife and I are praying for the families and
friends of Delores and Sarita, as well as for those who were injured in
these storms, who are starting the daunting task of repairing the
damage that has been done.
While the traditional tornado season in Illinois will be over at the
end of June, tornadoes have become increasingly common in the fall and
winter months, in recent years. I can recall recently a tornado in
December, unthinkable when I was a child. This was a summer
phenomenon--spring and summer.
With the frequency of tornadoes rising across Illinois, it is more
important than ever that we in Washington help families rebuild. My
office has been in touch with State FEMA officials and is working with
those affected by the tornadoes, but I am concerned that FEMA will not
display the same level of urgency after its refusal, recently, to
assist thousands of Illinoisans impacted by certain severe storms last
year.
Disaster relief is no place to play politics, period. I urge FEMA and
the Trump administration to put aside political differences with our
Governor or anyone--even me--and think about the families who have been
touched by tornadoes and how desperate they are to get a helping hand.
I know the Presiding Officer knows this phenomenon well. In her
State, hurricanes, of course, and other damage are fairly common and
devastating when they hit. You feel so helpless as a Member of the
Senate or Congress going to view the damage afterward, and people look
at you, waiting for one word or another of encouragement.
And I came to play it down over the years: I will do my best. I will
see what you qualify for. I will fight for you to try to help you.
But we ought to make this a bipartisan commitment across the aisle,
regardless of the natural disaster. The victims are not playing
politics. They are trying to put their lives back on track. That is why
I hope we will do the same.
Iran
Madam President, I want to take a moment to reflect on a rather
infamous letter that was sent 11 years ago by the junior Senator from
Arkansas to the leaders in Iran. The letter was signed by 46 of his
fellow Republican Senators.
What did it say? It, incredibly, warned Iranian leaders about
entering into any nuclear agreement with the Obama administration
without the approval of Congress.
Let me read an excerpt in which the signers of this letter said:
[They] will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-
weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as
nothing more than an executive agreement between President
Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei.
Understand what was happening here. We had a coalition of countries
from around the world, many of them competitive, not many of them
friendly. But they all came together, saying: Stopping Iran from
developing a nuclear weapon is the right thing to do.
They negotiated for 2 years on an agreement known as JCPOA, and the
object, among other things, was to have careful inspection and
monitoring of nuclear activity in Iran and then have an enforceable
agreement to stop them from ever developing a nuclear weapon.
This letter was sent by Republican Members of the Senate, 11 years
ago, to the Ayatollah, in the midst of the negotiations, telling him
not to take it seriously, dealing with the White House, because the
agreement had to be approved by Congress.
The letter sent by the Senator from Arkansas went on to say:
The next President could revoke such an executive agreement
with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses can modify the
terms of the agreement at any time.
What the Senator from Arkansas was basically saying to the Ayatollah
was: Don't waste your time negotiating with this President because we
can decide, at a later time, to reverse whatever he decided on.
Forty-seven Republican Senators sent this unprecedented letter, in
the midst of a negotiation with Iran, to Iranian leaders during a
sensitive period. More than two dozen of those Senators are still here
today. Presumably, they are drafting the same letter now to remind the
Iranian leadership about the risks of doing any such deal with
President Trump as well.
Two months after this letter was sent, Congress overwhelmingly passed
the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act with broad bipartisan support. I
believe there was only one dissenting vote in the U.S. Senate.
This law, which we passed 11 years ago, requires any nuclear
agreement with Iran to be sent to Congress within 5 days for review and
a potential privileged vote of approval or disapproval within 30 days.
This law is very much applicable today.
That is exactly what happened with the deal signed between Iran and
the P5+1 nations during the Obama administration, known as JCPOA.
I remember the debate in the Senate, very clearly, at the time.
Republican opponents of the Obama deal in Congress said it was weak,
that it awarded Iran with sanctions relief, that it empowered the
Revolutionary Guard, and it weakened American security.
In reality, the JCPOA included some of the most intrusive inspections
ever agreed upon.
I hosted the IAEA Director General a number of times, after the
agreement was implemented, and he said repeatedly that Iran was in
compliance with the agreement, which meant he said that, if he pointed
to a door and said, ``I want to know what is behind that door,'' they
opened it--period, end of quote.
Ultimately, the JCPOA severely restricted Iran's enrichment
capabilities at lower levels, notably extending any nuclear weapons
breakout time--that is, until President Trump tore it up during his
first term as President, leading to Iran's significant expansion of its
uranium enrichment capabilities.
[[Page S2980]]
Now, after 4 months of hostilities, after an invasion--or attack,
let's say--on Iran by the United States, without support of any allies
behind Israel, we have reached a point where we spent billions of
dollars, 13 American servicemembers have given their lives, and the
global economy held hostage.
What do we have to show for it? A negotiation. I hope it ends well. I
hope it ends as well as the JCPOA under President Obama. I hope that
then the Congress, which was warned by Republican Senators, years ago,
and to the Iranians, does its job in oversight, if it is deserving of
that.
I am also curious, though: What did we actually achieve at this
point?
Remember when he first started this war, alongside Israel back in
February? The President gave several different rationales. Destroying
Iran's military capabilities was one of his goals. Ending its nuclear
ambitions was another. Regime change, even liberating the Iranian
people--on each of these issues, we have seen little or no progress.
Instead, President Trump seems to have signed an ambiguous deal with
terms far more favorable to Iran and more vague than Obama's JCPOA.
Iran is emerging from Trump's ill-conceived war with an ever more
emboldened group of belligerents in charge, with the Iranian people
continuing to suffer. These regime hardliners suddenly have a new way
to blackmail the United States.
When we attacked Iran weeks ago, there was no question about access
to the Strait of Hormuz. Now we know it is an issue that is going to be
with us for a long, long time. How do we know it? Gasoline prices.
American families know exactly what has happened. In the short period
of time after President Trump's attack on Iran, the cost of gasoline
has gone up dramatically and diesel as well.
So they can bomb American and allied targets in the region and
continue to cause mayhem in the Strait of Hormuz with their proxies,
but the Iranians are in a stronger position today than when we attacked
initially.
They even seem to have blackmailed their way into a $300 billion
reconstruction fund--a commitment from unspecified sources. Who is
putting this money on the table?
In the JCPOA under Obama that was being negotiated, that was one of
the points made over and over again: Don't give Iran back money that we
have held up in American and foreign banks. They will only use it for
weapons and use it against us.
We heard over and over again that Obama was selling out.
Now when you look at this memorandum of understanding--and I read
it--it says there is going to be some commitment of $300 billion for a
reconstruction fund. Who is going to pay it? The memorandum of
understanding is silent.
So where are the howls of dismay and indignation from the Senator
from Arkansas and others? After all, President Trump petulantly walked
away from a deal that by all accounts was measurably constraining
Iran's nuclear program with rigorous inspections. President Trump
closed down that agreement in his first term as President. And what is
President Trump's replacement? A promise of something, unfortunately,
weaker.
As I have said time and time again, it is a lot easier to start a war
than it is to end one. We should not be risking any further American
lives and taxpayers' dollars on this unnecessary, unconstitutional war.
But let me be as clear as the junior Senator from Arkansas and his 46
colleagues were 11 years ago: The terms of any nuclear agreement with
Iran must come to Congress for review as required by the Iran Nuclear
Agreement Review Act. The requirements under this law are not waivable
or open to interpretation no matter who the President may be. Until
then, the President may not move forward with any sanctions-related
relief or final implementation of any agreement.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on the other side of the
aisle to hold President Trump to the same standard they held President
Obama to 11 years ago.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter I referred
to from the Senator from Arkansas be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, March 9, 2015.
An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of
Iran: It has come to our attention while observing your
nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not
fully understand our constitutional system. Thus, we are
writing to bring to your attention two features of our
Constitution--the power to make binding international
agreements and the different character of federal offices--
which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress.
First, under our Constitution, while the president
negotiates international agreements, Congress plays the
significant role of ratifying them. In the case of a treaty,
the Senate must ratify it by a two-thirds vote. A so-called
congressional-executive agreement requires a majority vote in
both the House and the Senate (which, because of procedural
rules, effectively means a three-fifths vote in the Senate).
Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive
agreement.
Second, the offices of our Constitution have different
characteristics. For example, the president may serve only
two 4-year terms, whereas senators may serve an unlimited
number of 6-year terms. As applied today, for instance,
President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most
of us will remain in office well beyond then--perhaps
decades.
What these two constitutional provisions mean is that we
will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons
program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more
than an executive agreement between President Obama and
Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an
executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future
Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any
time.
We hope this letter enriches your knowledge of our
constitutional system and promotes mutual understanding and
clarity as nuclear negotiations progress.
Sincerely,
Tom Cotton, David A. Perdue, John Cornyn, James M. Inhofe,
Mitch McConnell, Marco A. Rubio, Joni Ernst, Richard Burr,
Dan Sullivan, Steve Daines, Roger F. Wicker, James Lankford,
John Hoeven, John Boozman, Richard Shelby, Cory Gardner, Mike
Rounds, Shelley Moore Capito, Thom Tillis, Ron Johnson, Jeff
Sessions, Mark Kirk, Chuck Grassley, Lisa Blunt Rochester.
John H. Isakson, John Thune, Michael B. Enzi, James E.
Risch, Pat Toomey, Mike Crapo, Bill Cassidy, Deb Fischer,
John Barrasso, Ben Sasse, Ted Cruz, David Vitter, Tim Scott
of SC, John McCain, Rob Portman, Pat Roberts, Orrin Hatch,
Dean Heller, Kelly A. Ayotte, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Mike
Lee, Jerry Moran.
Mr. DURBIN. I yield the floor.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.
Iran
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on Iran, Donald Trump's foreign policy
by clown car continues to careen toward disaster. After this failed war
with Iran, Trump needs to rename ``The Art of the Deal'' as ``The Art
of the Face Plant''--``The Art of the Face Plant.'' Just days after
Trump boasted he had reopened the Strait of Hormuz, Iran announced it
was closing the strait again. Trump hasn't been able to guarantee safe
passage through the strait yet, but he already has waived the sanctions
to allow Iran to bring billions of dollars in oil revenue. Iran gets
what it wants; Trump dithers.
Now Trump and Vance are patting themselves on the back about getting
Iran to agree to nuclear inspections that only stopped after Trump's
2025 strikes. And what exactly will this access look like? Trump and
Vance refuse to provide details, just like the rest of this so-called
understanding.
Trump's memo of understanding reads like an Iranian wish list. After
Trump's war, Iran gets to keep backing its terrorist proxies, to keep
building ballistic missiles, to maintain a stranglehold on the global
economy, and to rake in hundreds of billions of dollars in
reconstruction aid and maritime tolls. Trump got taken to the cleaners
by Iran.
The administration keeps telling us not to read too much into the
understanding, but there is one thing that is very easy to read: The
American people hate this war. They want it to end. Roughly 80 percent
of Americans say they want this war to end immediately. Two-thirds--
two-thirds--disapprove of how Trump has handled Iran. And can anyone
blame them? All the American people have gotten from Trump's war are
skyrocketing gas prices at the pump, backbreaking inflation, and the
tragic loss of 13 servicemembers and the wounding of hundreds of
others.
The story of Trump's ruinous war has been the same since day one: The
Iranian regime gets emboldened, the
[[Page S2981]]
American people get screwed, and Donald Trump gets himself into a
deeper and deeper hole.
The cost of this war will only get worse every second it continues.
We need a full accounting of everything Trump has given away as part
of his 14-point understanding. I continue to call on Trump, Secretary
Rubio, and the rest of the leadership team to brief the full Senate
without delay. It is outrageous that none of us have gotten a briefing
yet. Why don't they want to give us a briefing? Are they embarrassed?
Is it so vague that they told Iran one thing and will have to tell the
world another? Is it because Trump got taken to the cleaners? Is it
because Trump is embarrassed to have this understanding fully discussed
by the people who put it together? It has been 8 days since this so-
called understanding was announced. Why is the administration so scared
to come to Congress and the American people and defend their war and
their deal?
Trump ought to listen to what Senate Democrats and the American
people have been saying for months and end this war for good.
H.R. 6644
Madam President, on housing, as Trump fixates on vanity projects that
only he seems to care about, we are advancing our housing bill to
address issues Americans actually care about.
As home ownership has gotten further and further out of reach for
working families, so is the American dream. As Americans, it is every
young family's dream to own their own home. So when they pay money, it
builds equity; it builds a future for their retirement, for their kids.
Instead of when you pay rent, the money just goes away.
So people want home ownership. But now, the median home buyer in
America is 40 years old. The downpayment is excruciating to many and
puts housing out of reach for them. A record 242 cities in the United
States now have typical starter homes valued at $1 million or more.
ROAD to Housing helps put our country on the right track towards
fixing the housing shortage that is driving up costs. The legislation
starts to streamline the zoning bottlenecks that have slowed down
construction from one end of the country to the other. The bill also
supports new manufacturing of modular housing, as well as the
conversion--something really important to New York and to me--the
conversion of old office buildings into housing so we can get more
homes on the market.
ROAD to Housing also stops institutional investors from squeezing
American families out of the housing market.
The ROAD to Housing is a strong start, but it is just the beginning.
Democrats will continue to come up with innovative solutions to lower
the cost of housing and all other necessities that working families
need to achieve that American dream, which seems more out of reach than
ever before because of this administration. We will work with whomever
it takes to end the affordability crisis.
So congratulations to Senator Warren, congratulations to the members
of the Banking Committee for their leadership on this bill, and
congratulations to all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who
supported it.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Madam President, on the FISA negotiations, Trump didn't simply move
the goalposts, he set fire to the whole stadium with his team still
inside. They are sort of rushing out right now.
Trump's plan to visit the Capitol on Wednesday will probably only add
fuel to the fire in the GOP. Senate Republicans are in complete
disarray on this important issue with Trump blindsiding them everywhere
they turn. Trump has embarrassed Senate Republicans every step of the
way.
Trump is proudly holding America's national security hostage,
demanding the passage of the SAVE Act--the worst anti-voting rights
legislation he has ever dreamed up, and that is a high bar--and he
wants it as ransom. In attaching the SAVE Act to FISA, Trump is saying
he won't make America secure unless we abandon our voting rights.
What a trade. You want to be more secure? Give up on your voting
rights. What a horrible bargain. Only Trump could come up with
something this mendacious.
If Trump wants to blow up his own party, so be it. But threatening
our national security just to disenfranchise millions of Americans and
to install an inexperienced political hack like Pulte as DNI is
reckless even for Trump.
Reflecting Pool
Madam President, on the reflecting pool, Donald Trump has just handed
Americans a perfect picture of his Presidency: Families are drowning in
bills, and Trump is drowning in reflecting pool algae.
Americans are losing their homes. They are cutting back at the
grocery store. They are walking to work because gasoline is expensive.
And Trump's top priority right now is cleaning up the reflecting
pool. Give me a break.
How many hours did Trump spend last week talking about lowering
costs, about helping families, about making life easier for working
Americans? Compare that to how many hours did Trump spend talking about
the reflecting pool? It ain't pretty.
America needs a President right now, not a pool boy. Trump's
priorities are completely out of whack. He still manages to screw up
something as trivial as the reflecting pool. It is a tale as old as
time in Trump's Washington: Trump ignores the experts, jumps at the
first idea that pops into his head, gives a buddy a no-bid contract at
the taxpayers' expense, and then blames invisible enemies when his
stupid ideas fail.
Trump handpicked the personal pool guy for his hotels to helm the
project. It doesn't matter whether the job is leading the Pentagon or
fixing the reflecting pool, the only criteria Trump cares about is that
you are his crony or you look good on TV. Qualifications have nothing
to do with it.
Every day, Trump, his administration, the Republican Party, and
America pay the price. When you have such unqualified people, you
always pay the price, Donald Trump.
If Trump devoted the same amount of time to cleaning up the
corruption in his own administration as he does to cleaning up the
reflecting pool, maybe his approval ratings wouldn't be at a record
low. Trump's reflecting pool debacle is so unbelievably stupid, it
would be funny, except the taxpayers are paying for it.
Trump hasn't drained the swamp. He has made it even filthier than
ever and invited his cronies in to take a swim.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Britt). The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from North Dakota.
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