A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services relating to "Restoring Flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)".

Mr. President, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 1546(a) and in accordance with section 601(b) of the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S.J. Res. 181.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. President, I rise in support of my legislation to end President Trump's unauthorized, illegal war with Iran. This war will go down in history as one of the greatest strategic failures in modern American history.

It was launched without a clear plan, executed without a coherent strategy, and has become a costly, self-inflicted disaster for the American people. Every justification that we were given for this conflict has proven hollow.

We were told that Iran's nuclear program would be eliminated. Instead, Iran still holds nuclear material, and its leaders may be more determined than ever to build a weapon.

We were told that the Iranian regime would crumble; instead, it now holds new leverage of the world's energy supply in the Strait of Hormuz.

We were told this President would bring peace and lower prices; instead, he has given us war, pain, and higher prices.

New York families are struggling to afford groceries and keep up with the rent, and what is President Trump doing? Pouring billions of tax dollars into an open-ended war in Iran. This reckless war is driving up monthly bills and making everyday life harder for working families.

This administration demands billions for wars abroad, then claims we can't afford to improve our schools or repair our roads or lower the cost of healthcare for millions of Americans.

President Trump has made it clear that he doesn't factor in how Americans are doing financially, but the families I represent feel it every single day. Every time they fill the gas tank and watch the numbers climb, New Yorkers are being forced to pay a premium for this President's instability.

According to data from the Joint Economic Committee, the average family has to pay an additional $432 on gas alone since this war began. Statewide, that is an extra $2 billion at the pump. Let me repeat that. That is an extra $2 billion at the pump.

Nationwide, Americans have paid $60 billion more on gas. Every time I go home, I hear from constituents about their concerns: the cost of healthcare, the cost of gas, the cost to keep lights on, and put food on the table.

Those are the conversations happening in kitchens across America. That is what we should be focused on here in Washington, not dropping bombs around the world. And let us not forget there is a human cost to this war that no dollar figure could ever capture.

Our servicemembers did not volunteer to be pawns in a chaotic, unauthorized war with no plan and no end in sight. Eighteen American heroes have already paid the ultimate sacrifice. Eighteen families have been shattered.

Just last week, New York lost one of our own: SGT Angel Rampersad of Queens.

Sergeant Rampersad was a true patriot who begged her mother to let her enlist the moment she was old enough. She served this country courageously and honorably for more than 6 years before she was killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan.

Our servicemembers take one of the most dangerous jobs there is. In return, we owe them a sacred obligation. We do not send them into harm's way without a clear mission, defined objectives, and the support of the American people. The President's war with Iran is a betrayal of that obligation. New Yorkers and all Americans deserve more. They deserve better.

So I ask my colleagues: How many more servicemembers will we lose? How many more billions of dollars must families pay at the pump? How many more empty promises must be made from an out-of-control administration before this body finally acts?

Under the Constitution, we have the power to end this war today. Let's use it. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this resolution.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 533, S.J. Res. 199.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, while President Trump's top priorities are $1.5 trillion in war spending and a golden ballroom, those are not the priorities that American families are focused on. Everywhere I go, I hear from families about the crushing cost of childcare, so it is no surprise to me that 80 percent of voters say the high cost of childcare is a major problem. This is at the beating heart of our economy. If Mom and Dad don't have affordable, high-quality childcare, Mom and Dad can't go to work.

But while Trump has plunged us into an affordability crisis, a war that no one asked for, all while families are struggling to get by, he is hell-bent on making our country's childcare crisis even worse. Right now, Trump's HHS ended a 7-percent copayment cap on childcare costs for the very low-income families who already receive Federal childcare support. This is already a very modest Federal program that needs to be supersized in order to meet the needs of every child who needs it. Even with this program, many households are paying more than 20 percent of their household income on childcare costs.

When Democrats put forward this policy, we said no family who qualifies for this subsidy should pay more than 7 percent of their income for childcare. Trump tore that up.

We should be having a debate about how we increase childcare funding. How about, instead of a $1.5 trillion war budget, we make sure every working family in America can afford childcare. Well, Trump's tariffs already tax diapers, formula, and the car seat. Now he is coming for commonsense childcare policies, taking us in the wrong direction at a time when families need affordable childcare more than ever. If Trump had simply done nothing and left the 7-percent cap in place, some of these families would have ended up saving as much as $15,000 a year for their family.

This is really a slap in the face to moms and dads all over the country--and to childcare providers, who are already stretched thin to make their budgets work and keep their doors open and keep qualified employees in a field that has very high turnover.

The good news: Congress can now force Trump to reverse course on this--today, right now. Very soon, we are going to be voting on my resolution to overturn Trump's anti-childcare rule and bring back that 7 percent income cap. This shouldn't be controversial. You are either voting to lower childcare costs or to increase them.

Not too long ago, President Trump said openly that he believes--and I am going to quote him--we can't afford daycare; we have to pay for war.

We can afford childcare. Trump just wants to use our taxpayer dollars to fund war and tax cuts for billionaires. Trump says we can't afford childcare, but he is wrong.

The truth is, we can't afford to ignore childcare. I know that investment in childcare is an investment in our families and an investment in a stronger economy.

To my colleagues: If you vote to let this rule stand, own it. Go home and tell the parents in your State you voted to raise their childcare bill. You cannot call yourself pro-family while voting to make it more expensive to raise one. You just can't.

That is why I am calling on my colleagues to join me today and pass this resolution.

Every Senator is going to cast a vote today on a simple question: Should working parents pay more for childcare or less? Donald Trump wants them to pay more--more at the pump, more at the grocery store, and now more to drop the child off at daycare. Now the Senate will give its answers, and I promise you this: Parents are watching and parents remember.

To my colleagues: Vote for the moms. Vote for the dads. Vote for the kid in the back seat at the 7 a.m. dropoff. When childcare costs as much as the mortgage, whose side are you on?

So, again, I urge my colleagues to vote yes to lower childcare costs.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 30; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of Executive Calendar No. 6, S. Res. 817, with no amendments or motions in relation to the executive resolution in order; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, Senator Murray or her designee be authorized to return the Senate to legislative session for the purpose of making a motion to proceed to Calendar No. 533, S.J. Res. 199, and the Senate vote on the motion to proceed at 11:30 a.m.; further, that if Senator Gillibrand or her designee makes a motion to discharge S.J. Res. 181, while the Senate is in legislative session, the Senate vote on the motion to discharge immediately following disposition of S.J. Res. 199, and the Senate resume executive session; further, that at 1:45 p.m., the Senate vote on adoption of the resolution; finally, if S. Res. 817 is adopted, that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I will be brief.

Nearly half a year into Trump's ruinous war with Iran, the conflict is widening instead of winding down. More countries get dragged into the mix, more fronts open up, and more Americans get killed and injured.

The American people have made it clear: No one wants this war to go on.

A new poll, this morning, found only a fifth--a fifth--of the American people, including less than half of the Republicans, want the war to continue.

Are our Senate Republicans listening?

The country is clamoring for you to end this war and to bring our troops home--something you can do right now by voting for Senator Gillibrand's War Powers Resolution.

Is Trump so intimidating, so untouchable that Republicans will keep siding with him instead of the 80 percent of Americans calling for the fighting to end?

The biggest thing standing between our troops and home is a Republican Party that is too afraid to cross the President.

Congress can break this vicious cycle of escalation Trump started in Iran, and this War Powers Resolution is how we do it.

I urge--I plead--with my Republican colleagues to listen to the American people. Vote to end this war. We are going to keep forcing Republicans to vote until you do.

I yield the floor.

Vote on Motion to Discharge

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