We Can't Wait Act of 2026

Mr. President, I am here to mark a solemn anniversary. Yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin's unprovoked, unjustified, brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He sought to extinguish a democracy. He sought to erase a whole people's identity, their culture, their way of life, their language. He sought to redraw the map of Europe by force, against all of the norms and accepted rules that have preserved a peace for decades since World War II.

He failed.

Four years later, Ukraine stands proudly, resolutely, bloodied, scarred, but unbroken. Russia is not winning. There is a false narrative, in fact, that Russia is prevailing because it is taking bits and tiny pieces of territory at humongous cost in lives and resources. That false narrative must be dispelled, and I am here to say to my colleagues, to America, to the world: We know Ukraine can win if it has the tools to prevail. It has the will and the determination, unquestionably. It has the courage and the strength. It needs the weapons and the economic sanctions that will enable it to prevail.

Peace is our devout hope, but peace will be achieved only through strength because Vladimir Putin is unserious about peace now and will become serious only by demonstration--unequivocally and unambiguously-- of strength.

I have just come back from a trip to Ukraine, both to Kyiv and to Odessa, meeting the engineers who are repairing the electric generation sources that Putin has bombed--he has bombed all of the nonnuclear sources--children who have been kidnapped and saved and brought back; they are among the 20,000 that Putin has abducted; President Zelenskyy, who remains absolutely firm in his determination to lead the people of Ukraine, to push back the Russians; and in Odessa, the frontline forces on the Black Sea who are not only detecting but destroying the invading drones and missiles; and the faith community there who have remained so absolutely supportive.

The fact is that Putin is bombing not only Ukraine--civilians in their hospitals, homes, and education centers, schoolrooms--he is also bombing American businesses. Of the 600 major corporations with operations in Ukraine, almost half of them--300--have been damaged or destroyed in some way by Putin's bombing, drones, missiles. Putin is attacking Ukraine, but he is also attacking America, and America should be outraged by these attacks on American businesses.

In the meantime, my main takeaway from this trip--my ninth--was the incredible endurance and resilience of the Ukrainian people. But they don't want our applause; they want ammunition. They need weapons. They want weapons, not words. And so I am here to advocate, on this fourth anniversary, that we give them the tools they need to prevail because they are fighting on.

This conflict is the most destructive in Europe since the Second World War.

Entire cities have been reduced to rubble. Tens of thousands have been killed. Millions have been displaced. Families sleep under the threat nightly of drone and missile attacks. And they are fighting not only for their homes and their children but for a principle that protects us all. We all have a stake in it. Our national security is at risk here. And the principle is that borders cannot be changed by tanks and terror, sovereignty is not negotiable, and democracy is not disposable through force.

I have traveled to Ukraine--in fact, nine times--and I have met soldiers defending their homeland with extraordinary guts and grit. I have met parents who have lost sons and daughters in Russian bombing. I have met families whose children were kidnapped and taken across the border in a really grotesque campaign of abduction and indoctrination-- war crimes that stain the people of Russia, not just their leader. And the world has demanded accountability, designating Vladimir Putin as a ``war criminal.''

He is not seeking peace. He is seeking domination. He is unserious about the negotiations that are taking place right now. He wages war not only with artillery and armor but with cyber attacks, propaganda, disinformation, energy blackmail, systematic brutality. And he believes that time is his ally. He believes that democracies grow weary and that America will blink. And we must prove him wrong.

The Senate has demonstrated bipartisan resolve before, and it must do so again now. We have proven that when freedom is under assault, this body will rise above partisanship. We need to sustain that unity and make unmistakably clear to Putin and the people of Russia that aggression carries consequences. That means advancing stronger sanctions on Russia's war economy; designating Russia a ``state sponsor of terrorism'' if it fails to return those abducted children; shutting down the Kremlin's shadow fleet transporting oil and gas to the countries that are buying it and fueling Russia's war machine; and, in fact, sanctions and even tariffs targeting those countries, focusing on them because they are truly enabling this slaughterous invasion by Vladimir Putin.

The Russian assets that now are in bank accounts in Europe can be used to finance the purchasers of weapons, Tomahawks, F-16s, interceptors for the Patriot systems, 155s, all of the munitions and weaponry that Ukraine needs to win.

We must be unified in this Chamber and so must America across this great land with other democracies that are under attack through the hybrid warfare that Putin is waging. We have reaffirmed our deep partnership with the Ukrainian people, their Parliament, their President. And as Ukraine conducts the business of democracy while sandbags literally line their hallways, we must be behind them.

Four years of this unjustified invasion, and Ukraine is fighting not only for itself but for all of us--all democracies. Russia remains the most immediate and direct threat to NATO. Supporting Ukraine is not about charity; it is a strategy. Appeasement is not a strategy, nor is hope. Appeasement and reliance only on hope are the way to further conflict, wider war, which we must avoid.

Ukraine has endured these 4 years standing strong for democracy, and they are not only in this fight for themselves; they know that peace going forward is also at stake. Democracy is at risk.

I want to shift to the democracy that is at risk here at home, the democracy that is dependent on free and fair elections, the democracy that we must preserve against efforts to degrade and decimate it.

President Trump has called for a nationalization of American elections. Now, Americans may ask themselves: What is nationalization of elections? Well, you need to look no further than the so-called SAVE America Act, which would create absolutely horrendous burdens for all Americans registering to vote and then, in fact, voting.

It would create burdens for States which have the constitutional responsibility to administer elections. It would require Americans to use their driver's license or other governmental-issued IDs alone in registering to vote.

Now, I support the requirement that voters identify themselves when they go to vote. It is mandated in Connecticut. I do it every time I go to vote, presenting my driver's license.

But the SAVE Act is not about voter identification; it is about voter purges. In effect, it would require States to provide information-- private information that is not available to the public--to the Federal Government, which would then purge voter rolls.

Purging voter rolls is an anathema when it relies on inaccurate ICE information. That is essentially what the SAVE America Act would require. The SAVE America Act requires voters not just to present voter identification; it enables voter purges and federalizes that requirement in a way that is antithetical to all the principles of our Constitution that maintain State responsibility for voting.

I am proposing that we also protect our elections by ensuring that ICE cannot be used at the polls, that ICE agents and officers be barred from the polls. We need to make sure that there is an absence of intimidation and fear when voters approach the poll because, otherwise, they will be discouraged from voting.

ICE has no business in front of voting booths. It has no right or responsibility at the polls. The discouragement of voters is happening in realtime, sending Tulsi Gabbard to Fulton, GA, continuing the false narrative that somehow there was fraud in the Georgia vote, continuing the false narrative that there is voting fraud rampant in the Nation. The statistics and facts prove that contention absolutely wrong. The intimidation of poll workers, the demand for voting information, all of it absolutely unjustified.

President Trump is pushing Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would constitute the most significant restriction on the right to vote in generations. He has devoted a full web page to the bill on the White House website, and ironically, it would make it harder to vote than to buy an assault rifle. Voting by noncitizens, which is the issue the bill claims to address, is already illegal, and it has been proven time and time again: Voter fraud rarely, if ever, occurs.

But while the problem is a fake, the bill would have real effect. It would make the sacred act of voting exponentially more difficult for all Americans. Over 20 million American citizens--1 in 10 voting-age Americans--simply don't have the access to the documentation that this bill would require to vote.

Voting identification in some form ought to be required but not in the way that this bill does it, restrictively and discriminatorily.

Mr. President, 250 years ago, America broke from the chains of monarchy and chose democracy--a government that is supposed to be by and for the people--but as we approach this Nation's birth date, we are challenged as never before to defend democracy, to defend it in Ukraine by supporting the brave freedom fighters there, and by supporting it here by defending and advocating the right of every American to vote in free and fair elections.

Thankfully, we still have our democracy. It is under threat as never before, but as the saying goes, ``Democracy is not a spectator sport.'' We will have it only as long as we can keep it, as Benjamin Franklin said to the person who asked him about it after the Constitutional Convention. We have a republic only as long as we can keep it.

We need to emulate the courage of the people of Ukraine and of our Founding Fathers and to fight back against President Trump's effort to silence us and to potentially threaten our democracy.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I came to the floor 2 weeks ago to speak about illegal immigrant truckdrivers causing chaos on our roads. Earlier this month, a father, his two sons, and a family friend were killed on an Indiana highway when an illegal immigrant swerved his semitruck right into them.

Two weeks ago, when I came to the floor to speak about this, I asked how many more people would have to die before we get serious about deporting illegal immigrants, and I am absolutely devastated that we now have one more name since I spoke here 2 weeks ago to add to that count. Tragically, just last week, another Hoosier was killed on an Indiana highway by an illegal immigrant truckdriver in a horrific accident. Terry Schultz was a 64-year-old man who was killed by an illegal immigrant from India when the illegal truckdriver reportedly ran a red light. Although the truckdriver is now in ICE custody, nothing can bring back Terry Schultz.

I am tired of coming to this floor and sharing the news about people being killed on Indiana roads because of illegal immigrants. This is the eighth Hoosier killed by an illegal immigrant on an Indiana road in just the last 6 months, that I know of, and the seventh because of illegal immigrant truckdrivers, specifically.

This is a national crisis, and I am sick of it. We need real accountability and a major overhaul of the system. Too much blood has already been stained on Indiana's roads. Things need to change, and they need to change now.

Last night, President Trump delivered an incredible State of the Union Address. One of the President's guests was a little girl named Delilah Coleman. When Delilah was just 5 years old, she suffered life- changing injuries caused by an illegal immigrant driving a semitruck in California, and it was the Democrat State of California that gave the illegal immigrant his commercial driver's license.

She is one of way too many people who have been hurt or killed by illegal immigrant truckers on our roads. Eight Hoosiers have been seriously injured--again, that is just what I know of--on Indiana roads by illegal immigrant drivers in the past 6 months. And that is just the eight that we know of.

Thank God Delilah, whom we saw last night up in the Gallery, is recovering well. In honor of Delilah, President Trump called on Congress to pass the Delilah Law, which would bar any State in the country from granting an illegal immigrant a commercial driver's license.

Many illegal immigrants cannot speak English or read the basic road signs. They have no business being on our roads, especially not behind the wheel of a semitruck.

Well, today, I am answering President Trump's call, and today, I am introducing the Delilah Law in the U.S. Senate. The Delilah Law not only bars States from giving CDLs to illegal immigrants, but it also revokes all trucking licenses that are currently issued to illegals and mandates that the CDL knowledge and skills tests are only given in English. This is common sense.

This will be a commonsense law, and I hope that we will get a chance to vote on it in the Senate very soon.

Another way that we can make our roads safer is by aggressively going after chameleon carriers that are employing illegal drivers. As I said 2 weeks ago, when I spoke on the floor about this, chameleon carriers are trucking companies that, after being shut down or heavily fined, just disguise themselves by changing their name or address or Department of Transportation number to continue operating.

It turns out that the trucking company that employed the illegal immigrant who killed those four people earlier this month in Jay County--they were four Amish men--was a company called AJ Partners. And they have been put out of service after it was investigated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and deemed a chameleon carrier. Since then, Secretary Sean Duffy and the Department of Transportation have shut down two other shady carriers connected to AJ Partners, as well as the sham school that helped the illegal immigrant get his CDL in the first place.

Last year, the Department of Transportation closed 7,500 sham commercial driver schools, known as CDL mills. The Department of Transportation has also placed 14,000 drivers out of service for English language proficiency violations. And I want to thank Secretary Duffy right here, right now, for his leadership. The Department of Transportation is cracking down, and what they are doing is making our roads safer because of it.

The carrier reportedly involved in the accident that killed Terry Schultz just last week was incorporated from an address in Greenwood, IN. That is the principal place of business for six other carriers. Six carriers at one address.

Earlier this week, I sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and urged them to investigate carriers operating out of Greenwood and elsewhere in my home State. We need to know about chameleon carriers that are operating in Indiana and shut them down, and that is why, last week, my office announced the creation of the Truck Safety Tip Line. The tip line is for those who work in the trucking industry to report concerns about companies that are operating illegally, hiring drivers who can't read or speak English, and hiring drivers who are illegally in the country and without the proper licenses and documents. The tip line gives truckers and people working in the trucking industry a way to speak up when they see carriers that are breaking the law and putting lives at risk on the road.

Any reports that are submitted to the Truck Safety Tip Line will be reviewed and shared with the U.S. Department of Transportation and its Office of Inspector General to help protect roadway safety and ensure a fair and lawful trucking industry. But the job of keeping our roads safe depends on more than just government. We need everyone--but especially truckers--to help us out.

Look, Indiana sits at the crossroads of America. It is a proud slogan for our State. And as I said before, Indiana is the fifth busiest State in the country for commercial freight traffic. Each year, 724 million tons of freight travel through Indiana. The truckers who operate in Indiana and throughout the country keep our economy going and going strong. They help us get the food we eat and the clothes that we wear.

Over 90 percent of truckers in America voted in the 2024 election. They are patriotic and good people who love this country and care about what is going on in America. Law-abiding truckers care about law and order, and they are outraged by what is happening on our roads. They are tired of unsafe drivers and companies who hire illegal immigrants because they can pay them less and take good jobs away from hard- working Americans. Hard-working American truckers are tired of being turned away from jobs because carriers hire cheap foreign labor instead, and it shouldn't be this way.

So if you are a trucker and you have concerns about illegal trucking companies and practices, we want to hear from you. In fact, we need to hear from you. That is why I am encouraging truckers who are on the road or those who are in the business to visit our website, banks.senate.gov, where you can find the Truck Safety Tip Line in the top corner.

We can't wait any longer. We have to do everything that we can to deport illegal immigrants from this country and get them off of our roads. We cannot allow illegal immigrants to terrorize our roads and kill more innocent lives like we have seen happen over and over again. I can't tell you how many people I have heard from who have texted me recently and said that they are afraid to take their families on the road in their vehicle and drive on the highways because this keeps happening over and over again. It is a national crisis.

While Democrats continue to moan on and on about ICE, shutting down the Department of Homeland Security because of it, I will work to keep the people of Indiana safe from illegal immigrants, especially illegal immigrants who are behind the wheel of semitrucks.

The time to act is now. President Trump called on us to do something about this national crisis now. I hope that truckers will use the tip line to help keep our roads safe, and I hope that we will get to vote on the Delilah Law soon. It is long past time to do something about it.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, one of the most important votes that I ever cast in the House or the Senate was the result of a challenge from a complete stranger. The year was 1986. I was running late to the airport, heading back to Chicago from Phoenix, AZ.

Now, those were the days when you could get a ticket at the airline counter at the last minute, but if you were too late, the good seats on the plane would all be gone. When I was handed my boarding pass in Phoenix, I saw that I was put in a middle seat in the smoking section at the back of the plane.

I asked the United Airlines attendant: Isn't there something you can do about this?

She looked down at my ticket and my title and said: No, but, Congressman, there is something you can do about it.

I thanked her and made the flight. As I squirmed in my seat to try to avoid the smoke clouds, I began to look around the plane. In front of me, only a few rows away, was an older person. Near him was a new mom with a baby. I thought to myself: This makes no sense at all. These people are supposed to be sitting in the nonsmoking section. I am in the smoking section, yet they are just a few rows ahead, breathing the same secondhand smoke that I am breathing.

When I got back to DC, I called my House staff together and told them I had an idea: I wanted to ban smoking on airplanes. My staff told me I was crazy. The tobacco industry was the most powerful lobby force in Washington, with support from the top leadership of both political parties.

I can remember going through orientation in the House when a leader who will go unnamed on the Democratic side in the House closed the door to the room for all 50 new Members of the House--Democrats--and said: Let me explain to you about tobacco and politics. Keep your hands off of it.

That was the advice.

Here I was, a relatively new Member of Congress who wanted to take on the tobacco lobby. Everyone said I didn't have a shot. With the leadership on both sides against me, I didn't have a prayer. But this was personal to me and to a lot of people who served in Congress. My father died of lung cancer when I was 14 years old. He was 53 years old. He smoked two packs of Camels a day. I thought of him when I was sitting on that flight from Phoenix, and I remembered him as I began to pursue this cause.

One thing I did have going for me was that the U.S. House of Representatives was, I thought, the largest frequent flyer club in the world. Many other Members told me privately they hated breathing in cigarette smoke on airplanes just as much as I did. But to pass the bill, we would need to overcome opposition from many of our colleagues who were avid smokers, including the then-chairman of the House Public Works Committee.

One of those colleagues was on the Appropriations Committee, where I served, the late Congressman Marty Sabo of Minnesota. He had the power to make or break our bill, and he was a chain-smoker. I went up to him, and I said: Marty, what is the longest you can go without a cigarette?

He told me: Two hours.

So I said 2 hours it will be. We introduced a bill that would ban smoking on all domestic flights that were 2 hours or less so I could clear the hurdle of Marty Sabo. We passed the bill in the House by some miraculous chain of events after the Rules Committee literally defied the Speaker and let me offer an amendment.

The chairman of the Rules Committee was a man named Claude Pepper. Claude Pepper was a legendary Congressman from Florida and a spokesman for senior citizens across the Nation. He had a unique way of speaking, and I won't try to imitate it. But when he voted for me over the Speaker and gave me a chance to bring my amendment to the floor, I went to meet with him personally afterwards and thank him. He said to me: You know I was a Member of the Senate at one time.

I said: Yes, I do. And you came back after you lost running for the Senate to serve in the House for many years.

He said: When I was in the Senate, I created the National Cancer Institute, so I wanted to give you a vote.

Thanks to his help and the help of the late Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the bill cleared the Senate shortly thereafter.

It seems strange that major legislation can be determined by such minor personal details like how long a Congressman can go without a smoke, but the personal issue is everything in Congress. Pick any cause championed by myself or one of my colleagues, and there is a good chance there is a story behind it and a personal story it is. When we take the time to sit down with our fellow Members and hear their stories, their interests, their worries, we often can find a compromise that makes a difference. That is how we got the support we needed to ban smoking on airplanes.

The 2-hour ban became law in 1988. Two years later, it was expanded to all domestic flights. People had experienced smoke-free skies, and they were not going back.

Today is the 36th anniversary of that law prohibiting smoking on all domestic flights. It is also the anniversary of one of the biggest tipping points in the fight against smoking and Big Tobacco. After my ban passed, Americans started asking obvious questions: So if secondhand smoke is dangerous on an airplane, why isn't it dangerous in a bus or a train or an office building or a restaurant or a hospital? And as more Americans asked these questions, smoking disappeared gradually from public life.

I used to joke that when Members of Congress were elected back in the 1980s, one of their first stops was at the stationery store to buy a big, honking ashtray that they stuck on their coffee table in their office for all the visitors all during the day who came in with either a ``yes,'' a ``no,'' or a ``maybe'' and smoked their cigarettes. You can't even find those ashtrays anymore, thank goodness.

In the year 2000--listen to this--almost 30 percent of high school students smoked cigarettes--30 percent; today, 2 percent. And thousands of lives have been saved from deadly disease along the way.

This accomplishment is more than my own, and I am not taking personal credit for it. It is a culmination of work over decades from activists, lawyers, doctors, and so many other people who decided to fight Big Tobacco, against the odds. Their bravery and efforts deserve recognition. Their contributions are felt every time we take a breath of fresh air in public.

I tell this story because more Americans--essentially, young people-- feel they have no control over their destiny. They see endless doom on social media and feel as if their lives are controlled by powerful sources with the money, resources, and time to dictate policy. But that can be overcome. It may not feel like it, but in our democracy, there is no limit to what we can accomplish in defense of the public good.

The tobacco lobby was the big boy in town. They had billions of dollars, lawyers, politicians, and more money than friends and investigators who were ready to squash any threat. Yet I beat them. We beat them. They still lost. They lost to a group of concerned citizens who had fewer resources and far less power than they did, but these citizens had the truth, a noble cause, and resilience.

As we confront the big battles of today, may that spirit of resilience and justice propel us against those hoping we sit on the sidelines. It was a memorable day in my career that changed America, and, like Malcolm Gladwell writes, it was a tipping point. I didn't know it was coming. I thought we were just going to make the flight on airplanes a lot more comfortable for most passengers, but it changed America.

Now, that is not the end of the challenge. Many of those young high school students who no longer smoke tobacco cigarettes are into vaping and other things that are going to be dangerous

to them if they become addicted to it. So let's be vigilant, let's be realistic, but let's never give up.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the We Can't Wait Act, a bipartisan bill with my colleague from New Hampshire Senator Hassan. This legislation addresses a pressing and unnecessary hardship in our Social Security Disability Insurance Program. This program, known as SSDI, provides eligible individuals with benefits if they become disabled and are unable to work. Our bill would give eligible individuals with disabilities the option of bypassing the current 5-month waiting period and allow them to access the benefits that they have earned without further delay.

As my colleagues are aware, SSDI benefits are available only to those who have worked long enough and contributed sufficiently through payroll taxes to the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund.

When an individual becomes disabled and meets the program's strict eligibility standards, he or she should be able to rely on the benefits that they paid for, benefits intended to provide critical support during a time of great need.

Imagine that you have worked for many years and you find that you have contracted a disease that is fatal and that you have very little time to live. Surely, you should be able to tap into what essentially is an insurance fund set up for people in exactly that situation. But because of the 5-month waiting period, there are individuals who receive no payments at all.

During those 5 months, no payments are made, even though the disability has been confirmed by the Social Security Administration. This delay prevents individuals from accessing the insurance they have earned, at a critical and difficult time in their lives.

Lack of benefits can make it more difficult to obtain timely medical treatments, cover basic living expenses, and, in some cases where it is not a terminal condition, begin the process of rehabilitation toward an eventual return to work, if possible.

The burden of this delay can be heartbreaking. I have heard from constituents whose loved ones could get no help from SSDI when they were overtaken by a sudden and terminal diagnosis. Faced with a terrible disease that demanded every ounce of their energy and their total focus, they were forced instead to worry over their finances at the very end of their lives.

This just isn't right. The broader disability determination process already imposes significant hardships. A 2020 Government Accountability Office report documented what can be severe consequences of the long wait times for applicants who appealed initial denials for a Social Security disability.

Between fiscal years 2014 and 2019, approximately 48,000 individuals were forced to file for bankruptcy while awaiting a final decision on their appeals. From 2008 through 2019, an estimated nearly 110,000 people died before receiving a final decision.

These heartbreaking outcomes occur even before many applicants reach the point of approval. Yet even once they are approved, the additional 5-month exclusion period compounds the suffering for those who have already proven their eligibility.

Congress has already acted to address this delay in certain circumstances. In 2020, we passed the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act. It eliminated the

5-month waiting period for individuals with ALS, a progressive, terminal disease where every month, every day is critical. That bipartisan reform was the right thing to do, and I was proud to cosponsor it.

The We Can't Wait Act builds directly on that precedent. Under our bill, claimants would have a choice. They could either opt to begin receiving benefits immediately after approval, rather than waiting 5 months, in exchange for a modest actuarially sound reduction in their monthly benefit amount, or they could decide to wait the 5 months and receive the full amount.

As the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration explains in a letter released today, this small reduction in benefits maintains the actuarial balance in the trust fund over the 75-year projection period.

Let me emphasize that this bill makes no other changes in the SSDI Program. It does not alter eligibility criteria, the determination process--although that should be speeded up--benefit levels for those who choose not to bypass the wait, or any other core element in the program.

It is a precise reform that honors the contributions hard-working Americans with disabilities have made while removing an arbitrary barrier to the benefits that they have earned and deserve.

While this reform is carefully targeted, its impact would be profound. It would end the tragic reality in which Americans with disabilities suffer and, in some cases, die during an unnecessary 5- month delay after their disability has been officially certified by the Social Security Administration.

This is a key point made in a letter supporting the bill by a broad coalition of organizations committed to the rights, dignity, and well- being of people with disabilities--groups that advocate every day for those who need this relief most.

The letter, which is signed by more than two dozen organizations, goes on to make the point that the 5-month exclusion period is unnecessary and harms disabled Americans who are often financially hanging on by a thread.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the letter of endorsement from this coalition printed in the Record immediately following my remarks.

The We Can't Wait Act is straightforward, compassionate, and fiscally responsible. It would provide a crucial option to Americans who simply can't wait even 5 months for the benefits they have worked for and desperately need.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense and much needed legislation.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the We Can't Wait Act, a bipartisan bill with my colleague from New Hampshire Senator Hassan. This legislation addresses a pressing and unnecessary hardship in our Social Security Disability Insurance Program. This program, known as SSDI, provides eligible individuals with benefits if they become disabled and are unable to work. Our bill would give eligible individuals with disabilities the option of bypassing the current 5-month waiting period and allow them to access the benefits that they have earned without further delay.

As my colleagues are aware, SSDI benefits are available only to those who have worked long enough and contributed sufficiently through payroll taxes to the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund.

When an individual becomes disabled and meets the program's strict eligibility standards, he or she should be able to rely on the benefits that they paid for, benefits intended to provide critical support during a time of great need.

Imagine that you have worked for many years and you find that you have contracted a disease that is fatal and that you have very little time to live. Surely, you should be able to tap into what essentially is an insurance fund set up for people in exactly that situation. But because of the 5-month waiting period, there are individuals who receive no payments at all.

During those 5 months, no payments are made, even though the disability has been confirmed by the Social Security Administration. This delay prevents individuals from accessing the insurance they have earned, at a critical and difficult time in their lives.

Lack of benefits can make it more difficult to obtain timely medical treatments, cover basic living expenses, and, in some cases where it is not a terminal condition, begin the process of rehabilitation toward an eventual return to work, if possible.

The burden of this delay can be heartbreaking. I have heard from constituents whose loved ones could get no help from SSDI when they were overtaken by a sudden and terminal diagnosis. Faced with a terrible disease that demanded every ounce of their energy and their total focus, they were forced instead to worry over their finances at the very end of their lives.

This just isn't right. The broader disability determination process already imposes significant hardships. A 2020 Government Accountability Office report documented what can be severe consequences of the long wait times for applicants who appealed initial denials for a Social Security disability.

Between fiscal years 2014 and 2019, approximately 48,000 individuals were forced to file for bankruptcy while awaiting a final decision on their appeals. From 2008 through 2019, an estimated nearly 110,000 people died before receiving a final decision.

These heartbreaking outcomes occur even before many applicants reach the point of approval. Yet even once they are approved, the additional 5-month exclusion period compounds the suffering for those who have already proven their eligibility.

Congress has already acted to address this delay in certain circumstances. In 2020, we passed the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act. It eliminated the

5-month waiting period for individuals with ALS, a progressive, terminal disease where every month, every day is critical. That bipartisan reform was the right thing to do, and I was proud to cosponsor it.

The We Can't Wait Act builds directly on that precedent. Under our bill, claimants would have a choice. They could either opt to begin receiving benefits immediately after approval, rather than waiting 5 months, in exchange for a modest actuarially sound reduction in their monthly benefit amount, or they could decide to wait the 5 months and receive the full amount.

As the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration explains in a letter released today, this small reduction in benefits maintains the actuarial balance in the trust fund over the 75-year projection period.

Let me emphasize that this bill makes no other changes in the SSDI Program. It does not alter eligibility criteria, the determination process--although that should be speeded up--benefit levels for those who choose not to bypass the wait, or any other core element in the program.

It is a precise reform that honors the contributions hard-working Americans with disabilities have made while removing an arbitrary barrier to the benefits that they have earned and deserve.

While this reform is carefully targeted, its impact would be profound. It would end the tragic reality in which Americans with disabilities suffer and, in some cases, die during an unnecessary 5- month delay after their disability has been officially certified by the Social Security Administration.

This is a key point made in a letter supporting the bill by a broad coalition of organizations committed to the rights, dignity, and well- being of people with disabilities--groups that advocate every day for those who need this relief most.

The letter, which is signed by more than two dozen organizations, goes on to make the point that the 5-month exclusion period is unnecessary and harms disabled Americans who are often financially hanging on by a thread.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the letter of endorsement from this coalition printed in the Record immediately following my remarks.

The We Can't Wait Act is straightforward, compassionate, and fiscally responsible. It would provide a crucial option to Americans who simply can't wait even 5 months for the benefits they have worked for and desperately need.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense and much needed legislation.