Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the bipartisan Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act. This bill would address some of the serious health risks Federal wildland firefighters face when on the job.

We have all seen the devastation, destruction, and loss that has occurred in communities across the country as wildfires grow in frequency and intensity. Last year, we saw the Eaton and Palisades fires destroy thousands of structures and take 31 lives, making them 2 of the worst fires in history.

As a result of climate change, Californians have become all too familiar with wildfires. Containing them has proven to be a large undertaking that has required close local, State, and Federal coordination.

Communities are able to make it through these horrific disasters thanks to the bravery and hard work of fire crews on the ground. During the LA fires, firefighters from across the State, country, and even abroad answered our call for support, and it is thanks to their hard work and bravery that more structures and, most importantly, more lives were not lost.

We owe it to these heroes to ensure they have the support they need, given the dangerous nature of their work. In the 1970s, structural firefighters began using respiratory protection, yet we are still sending wildland firefighters into dangerous conditions without adequate protection.

This bill would establish an interagency task force and an advisory panel of outside stakeholders to coordinate exposure reduction, pilot respiratory technologies, and develop an updated wildland firefighter health strategy every 3 years.

I want to thank my colleague Senator Sheehy for coleading this effort with me in the Senate. Finally, I want to thank our brave Federal firefighters for risking their lives to protect our communities when they need it the most. I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance the Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act as quickly as possible.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the bipartisan Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act. This bill would address some of the serious health risks Federal wildland firefighters face when on the job.

We have all seen the devastation, destruction, and loss that has occurred in communities across the country as wildfires grow in frequency and intensity. Last year, we saw the Eaton and Palisades fires destroy thousands of structures and take 31 lives, making them 2 of the worst fires in history.

As a result of climate change, Californians have become all too familiar with wildfires. Containing them has proven to be a large undertaking that has required close local, State, and Federal coordination.

Communities are able to make it through these horrific disasters thanks to the bravery and hard work of fire crews on the ground. During the LA fires, firefighters from across the State, country, and even abroad answered our call for support, and it is thanks to their hard work and bravery that more structures and, most importantly, more lives were not lost.

We owe it to these heroes to ensure they have the support they need, given the dangerous nature of their work. In the 1970s, structural firefighters began using respiratory protection, yet we are still sending wildland firefighters into dangerous conditions without adequate protection.

This bill would establish an interagency task force and an advisory panel of outside stakeholders to coordinate exposure reduction, pilot respiratory technologies, and develop an updated wildland firefighter health strategy every 3 years.

I want to thank my colleague Senator Sheehy for coleading this effort with me in the Senate. Finally, I want to thank our brave Federal firefighters for risking their lives to protect our communities when they need it the most. I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance the Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act as quickly as possible.

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

Madam President, as our colleagues know, I serve as ranking member of the Rules Committee, which oversees Federal elections. I also serve on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration. And

I reference this because last week, I received a protected disclosure from an anonymous Federal whistleblower.

At a time when many Americans feel discouraged by the Trump administration's unprecedented chaos and corruption, it is heartening to see a Federal Government employee with the integrity and the courage to expose potential illegal activity and abuse of power.

Today, Leader Schumer and I made the full disclosure public, and I am going to go over some of these highlights, which are incredibly disturbing. They are disturbing to me, and I think they should be disturbing to every Member of this Chamber.

First, leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has ordered hundreds of employees in USCIS's Fraud Detection and National Security Division to stop doing the jobs they were hired and trained to do and instead watch a short training video and immediately turn their time and attention to something called the Unlawful Voter Initiative. They were directed to stop their anti-fraud work. This administration makes a lot of claims about going after fraud. They were directed to stop their national security screenings. They were directed to stop all the things that this administration claims it cares about and instead go on a wild goose chase to find or manufacture evidence for the President's conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud.

This, without question, is a terrible waste and misuse of Agency resources, but colleagues, it is actually so much more worse than that. The whistleblower disclosure also includes compelling claims that USCIS officers are being directed to lie and to misrepresent themselves in order to search voters' sensitive personal information on State election officials' websites. Let me say that again. Federal officers are being told by headquarters to lie or to misrepresent themselves in order to access State voter data. It is a clear violation of State laws, and these violations have likely occurred thousands and thousands of times.

On some State websites, officers are being told to attest under penalty of law that they are the voter or the voter's representative.

On other websites, like the one of my home State of California, officers are being told to misrepresent themselves and enter voters' sensitive information like Social Security or driver's license numbers.

When USCIS officers expressed concerns with these practices, they have been told by Agency leadership to just go ahead, that they won't be ``personally liable.'' Think about that for a second. If what the Department is doing and if what these officers are being told to do was legal, it begs the question of, why would they need to be reassured by Agency lawyers that they won't be held personally liable?

The whistleblower disclosure also reveals that DHS is using their own unreliable data to target people for investigation. That is right--data that the Department and Agencies already acknowledge is unreliable. Agency leadership is then forcing USCIS officers to create Federal law enforcement records against people, many of them U.S. citizens, even though they have doubts about the accuracy of the data.

So let's take a step back. Why are they doing this? Well, the Trump administration has tried and failed to force States to hand over these voter rolls. President Trump tried it in his first term through a sham Commission which failed and then weaponized the Federal Government to try to accomplish it here in his second term. But guess what. They have been taken to court, and they have lost in court over 30 times. States represented by Democrats and Republicans have said no, so the proverbial front door is locked.

As much as Trump wants access to voter data, the front door is locked, and now they are trying to break in a back door. They are using something called supplemental magic. That is right--in the materials that have been uncovered, they are using this supplemental magic to create a list of people that they think are not eligible to vote. Remember, the Agency has already said they know the data is unreliable.

So, frankly, this disclosure raises a lot of questions. Why is this initiative happening now? Who are the potentially hundreds of thousands of people being investigated? Who are they? And what the heck is supplemental magic? We need answers. This Senate--Congress--deserves answers. The American people deserve answers.

Agency training materials for this initiative say that ``raw data includes a lot of U.S. citizens.'' Let me repeat that. The training materials acknowledge that the data includes ``a lot of U.S. citizens.'' So why would you target them when you are looking for noncitizen voters?

DHS and USCIS also admit that their data is unreliable, complex, and will have multiple ID numbers for various individuals. Nevertheless, officers are told to generate Federal law enforcement records against them, even if they suspect that they are relying on inaccurate or incomplete information.

It is already clear that this Unlawful Voter Initiative is inaccurate, not to mention likely illegal, but to make matters worse, it has also been rushed, and it is reckless because rank-and-file USCIS officers are given reckless quotas to review 40 people per day. Do the math. That is five people per hour or 12 minutes per individual.

Colleagues, you know as well as I that 12 minutes to review unreliable data and complex immigration history is not an adequate amount of time to conduct a thorough investigation--because these aren't that; these are sham investigations.

We all know that voting by a noncitizen is illegal. That is already the law. You know that. I know that. We also know that based on study after study, report after report, audit after audit, it is extremely, extremely rare. Our current safeguards are working.

This Unlawful Voter Initiative does not appear to be a legitimate effort, and we should not take anything that comes out of it at face value.

Just 12 minutes for an investigation, a lot of U.S. citizens, the unreliable magic data, and potentially thousands of violations of State and Federal privacy laws--saying that this is dangerous for our democracy is a huge understatement.

This is more than a reckless attempt to prove Donald Trump's election-denial talking points, like the ones he used in the White House speech this past July. Diversion of Federal law enforcement to break laws for political purposes is a clear abuse of power, and there is a very real danger that thousands of naturalized U.S. citizens and legal residents will potentially face negative consequences because of this sham investigation.

This isn't just about voting; this could lead to unwarranted secondary screening at airports, consequences for immigration benefits, referrals to HSI or the FBI for criminal investigation, and no clear recourse to undo the consequences of an erroneous Federal law enforcement record being created after a quick 12-minute review.

There is also the danger that Donald Trump will use false numbers of supposed votes cast by noncitizens to threaten to prosecute State and elections officials that he doesn't like. The President and his allies could even try using the unreliable results of this Unlawful Voter Initiative to undermine and challenge election results themselves.

That is right--January 6 was not the end of this.

So, today, Senator Schumer and I sent this whistleblower's disclosure regarding the so-called Unlawful Voter Initiative to Secretary Mullin and USCIS Director Edlow. We are demanding an immediate halt to these activities. We are demanding transparency from DHS. We are demanding the removal of unreliable law enforcement records, many of which are against U.S. citizens.

We will have more to say about this in the coming days.

I would remind the Department and USCIS that whistleblowers to Congress are protected by Federal law. Let me repeat: Whistleblowers to Congress are protected by Federal law.

This individual will remain anonymous, and any attempt at retaliation is illegal and wrong.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, colleagues, here we are after months and months and months of continuing to debate this bill, which still hasn't passed. We should be debating how to bring costs down for working families across the country.

I would love to hear from my colleagues how we are going to get out of this war in Iran. Instead, here is this measure again, which is not a simple voter ID bill. As written, it is stricter than most voter ID bills in States that already have a voter ID law in place.

But this goes even further, requiring voters to include a copy of their ID when they vote by mail, as well as tens of millions of Americans who vote by mail. This bill would do away with secret ballots as we know it. So colleagues, I urge you to vote no on this measure.

Vote on Motion

Reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, colleagues, this disaster bill, this disaster tax bill includes important bipartisan legislation that I introduced with Senators Lummis, Wyden, and Sheehy to extend a critical tax provision for disaster survivors that we enacted into law last Congress. Two years ago, my Protect Innocent Victims of Taxation After Fire Act made an important update to our Tax Code.

It made sure that individuals, families, and entire communities who suffered from wildfires received the full compensation that they were awarded in courts to rebuild their lives.

But, unfortunately, every year more devastating disasters take place, and so Congress must extend the same important financial protection to survivors of more recent wildfires.

That is what the House-passed version of the bill would do. But to be clear, disaster settlement funds are not income. They are not a financial windfall. They are certainly not winning the lottery. What they are is compensation, partial compensation in most cases, for what has been lost.

They are meant to give survivors an opportunity to begin to rebuild not just their homes but their lives.

This bill is not just for my constituents in California that have been impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires 1\1/2\ years ago; it is also for those victims in Oregon and Hawaii and other communities across the country that have experienced similar disasters.

Our bill would ensure that all recent wildfire victims throughout the country have access to the full value of their settlement without any unfair tax burden. It is common sense, and it is a bipartisan solution to protect Americans at the most difficult time of their lives.

We should pass this legislation now. Let's not keep survivors waiting, worrying, and wondering about their financial future any longer.

I want to thank Senators Lummis, Wyden, and Sheehy for their partnership, as well as my colleague Representative Mike Thompson in the House for his steadfast leadership on this issue.

I also want to recognize that the late Representative Doug LaMalfa was such a critical part of this effort. The House fittingly named this bill in his honor because it reflects the tireless leadership he brought to these issues impacting disaster-stricken communities throughout his career. He and I first served together in the California State Senate and then again here--he in the House; I in the Senate.

I would urge all of our colleagues to support the House-passed version of the measure and allow survivors to begin to rebuild their lives without unnecessary fear or delay.

Thank you.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Voice for Farm Workers Act, which I introduced today.

Our Nation's farmworkers are the backbone of the U.S. food supply chain. In the 2008 farm bill, Congress created the Farmworker Coordinator position: one person statutorily dedicated to serving as a liaison between the more than 2 million farm workers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, Congress has never provided the resources necessary to support a position of this magnitude. The time to fix this injustice is now.

The 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture Equity Commission Interim Report included a strong recommendation for the USDA to fund and elevate roles for professional staff solely dedicated to farm workers' concerns and perspectives.

That is why I am introducing this bill to expand and strengthen the Coordinator position to carry out the responsibilities necessary to better meet the needs of our farmworkers. This bill would also support increased collaboration within the Department, with farmworkers, and with relevant stakeholders to create recommendations for new initiatives and programs to support farmworkers.

As we negotiate a new farm bill, I urge my colleagues to prioritize and support the workers that ensure our families and loved ones remain fed and healthy. Farmworkers' voices must be and deserve to be heard.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Supporting Our Farm and Food System Workforce Act, which I introduced today.

Farm and food system workers feed our Nation, We know this well in California--the agricultural heart of the Nation--where we have one of the largest populations of farmworkers and food system workers in the United States. Throughout pandemic, these workers put food on our tables and kept our grocery store shelves stocked despite facing deep- rooted inequities in the workforce and often experiencing food insecurity themselves.

Right now, just one person in the Federal Government is statutorily dedicated to serving as a liaison between farm workers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture--the Farmworker Coordinator. While the 2008 farm bill created this position, Congress has never provided the proper resources to support or staff this position. The 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture Equity Commission Interim Report included a strong recommendation for the USDA to fund and elevate roles for professional staff solely dedicated to farmworkers' concerns and perspectives.

It is time that we give those who provide the food for our Nation a voice in the national conversation. We must give farm and food system workers a dedicated office within the USDA to integrate their invaluable perspectives into the decisions that directly affect their lives and livelihoods.

That is why I am proud to introduce this bill, which would create the USDA Office of the Farm and Food System Workforce to not only serve as a liaison for farm and food system workers but also to provide a platform for their concerns and interests to assist in the creation of recommendations and new initiatives for the Department.

The bill would also create a Farm and Food System Worker Advisory Committee, composed of a diverse cross-section of members representing these workers' varied interests and perspectives--such as workers themselves, labor unions, higher education professionals, civil rights advocates, women worker-focused groups, and trusted community-based non-profits.

The legislation would also establish a Farm and Food System Workforce Interagency Council, comprised of representatives from various Federal Agencies to improve coordination, planning, program development, and policymaking across Cabinet-level leadership. The Office would also appoint staff to various USDA entities to serve as liaisons on matters related to farm and food system workers within the Department.

Finally, the bill would require annual, publicly available reports, in multiple languages, about the Office's work, including recommendations to improve the work and livelihood of farm and food system workers, the climate change impacts on the food system, and the barriers workers face to accessing Federal programs.

During this year's farm bill negotiations, I urge my colleagues to remember the workers behind the American food system, the workers who keep our families and communities fed and healthy. These workers deserve a seat at the table.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Fairness for Farm Workers Act, which I am reintroducing today.

Farmworkers feed our Nation. This is especially true in California-- the agricultural heart of the Nation. California is the most successful State in agricultural production and has the largest population of farmworkers. In fact, nearly half of the country's vegetables and over three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts are grown in California.

Farmworkers put food on the tables of millions of Americans despite working through extreme weather conditions, injuries, disasters, pandemics, and more. Yet farmworkers have been unjustly excluded from labor laws. The time to address these inequities is now.

While the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act established Federal standards for minimum wage and overtime pay, the law excluded millions of domestic and agricultural workers--workers who were and remain overwhelmingly people of color. In 2016, California recognized the need to provide farmworkers overtime protection. The California overtime law, which ensures farmworkers will have an equal right to overtime pay, serves as the model for this Federal bill.

Farmworkers in California and across the Nation deserve an end to discrimination in labor laws. We must undo the discriminatory exclusion of farmworkers by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act.

That is why I am proud to introduce this bill, which would improve the lives of farmworkers and their families, create equity in our food system, and benefit farming communities as the increased wages are spent in local businesses.

This bill will gradually implement overtime pay over the course of 4 years and bring greater equity to the American agricultural industry and greater prosperity to historically marginalized workers.

I want to thank Congresswoman Grijalva for introducing this bill with me, and I hope our colleagues will join us to provide a measure of long-overdue fairness for our Nation's farmworkers.

Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Converting Our Waste Sustainably (COWS) Act. This legislation will help dairy and livestock producers reduce methane emissions, improve air and water quality, and implement more sustainable alternative manure management practices.

As the leading dairy State in the country and the second in cheese production, California is the largest producer of milk, butter, and cheeses like mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and queso fresco. Dairy operations contribute billions to California's economy but are also a significant source of California's methane emissions.

Recognizing the urgency of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions like methane, California and the dairy industry are working to reduce dairy methane emissions by 40 percent below 2013 levels by 2030, largely due to the successes of California's own Alternative Manure Management Program, AMMP.

The COWS Act would allow alternative manure management practices to be eligible under USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program, EQIP, to help dairy and livestock producers transition towards pasture- based management, alternative treatment and storage practices, solid separation systems, and scrape technologies.

These practices, which have proven to be effective through the AMMP, will provide more resources for the dairy and livestock industry to modernize technologies for manure management that help boost profitability, improve water quality, and reduce methane and nitrogen oxide emissions.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural operations is critical for addressing the climate crisis. Because of the high construction and operation costs associated with anaerobic digesters, nondigester manure management practices can provide a more cost- effective alternative for family dairy and livestock operators seeking to improve air and water quality for their communities.

I would like to thank Congressman Costa for leading this bill in the House, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the COWS Act.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Voice for Farm Workers Act, which I introduced today.

Our Nation's farmworkers are the backbone of the U.S. food supply chain. In the 2008 farm bill, Congress created the Farmworker Coordinator position: one person statutorily dedicated to serving as a liaison between the more than 2 million farm workers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, Congress has never provided the resources necessary to support a position of this magnitude. The time to fix this injustice is now.

The 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture Equity Commission Interim Report included a strong recommendation for the USDA to fund and elevate roles for professional staff solely dedicated to farm workers' concerns and perspectives.

That is why I am introducing this bill to expand and strengthen the Coordinator position to carry out the responsibilities necessary to better meet the needs of our farmworkers. This bill would also support increased collaboration within the Department, with farmworkers, and with relevant stakeholders to create recommendations for new initiatives and programs to support farmworkers.

As we negotiate a new farm bill, I urge my colleagues to prioritize and support the workers that ensure our families and loved ones remain fed and healthy. Farmworkers' voices must be and deserve to be heard.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Supporting Our Farm and Food System Workforce Act, which I introduced today.

Farm and food system workers feed our Nation, We know this well in California--the agricultural heart of the Nation--where we have one of the largest populations of farmworkers and food system workers in the United States. Throughout pandemic, these workers put food on our tables and kept our grocery store shelves stocked despite facing deep- rooted inequities in the workforce and often experiencing food insecurity themselves.

Right now, just one person in the Federal Government is statutorily dedicated to serving as a liaison between farm workers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture--the Farmworker Coordinator. While the 2008 farm bill created this position, Congress has never provided the proper resources to support or staff this position. The 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture Equity Commission Interim Report included a strong recommendation for the USDA to fund and elevate roles for professional staff solely dedicated to farmworkers' concerns and perspectives.

It is time that we give those who provide the food for our Nation a voice in the national conversation. We must give farm and food system workers a dedicated office within the USDA to integrate their invaluable perspectives into the decisions that directly affect their lives and livelihoods.

That is why I am proud to introduce this bill, which would create the USDA Office of the Farm and Food System Workforce to not only serve as a liaison for farm and food system workers but also to provide a platform for their concerns and interests to assist in the creation of recommendations and new initiatives for the Department.

The bill would also create a Farm and Food System Worker Advisory Committee, composed of a diverse cross-section of members representing these workers' varied interests and perspectives--such as workers themselves, labor unions, higher education professionals, civil rights advocates, women worker-focused groups, and trusted community-based non-profits.

The legislation would also establish a Farm and Food System Workforce Interagency Council, comprised of representatives from various Federal Agencies to improve coordination, planning, program development, and policymaking across Cabinet-level leadership. The Office would also appoint staff to various USDA entities to serve as liaisons on matters related to farm and food system workers within the Department.

Finally, the bill would require annual, publicly available reports, in multiple languages, about the Office's work, including recommendations to improve the work and livelihood of farm and food system workers, the climate change impacts on the food system, and the barriers workers face to accessing Federal programs.

During this year's farm bill negotiations, I urge my colleagues to remember the workers behind the American food system, the workers who keep our families and communities fed and healthy. These workers deserve a seat at the table.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Fairness for Farm Workers Act, which I am reintroducing today.

Farmworkers feed our Nation. This is especially true in California-- the agricultural heart of the Nation. California is the most successful State in agricultural production and has the largest population of farmworkers. In fact, nearly half of the country's vegetables and over three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts are grown in California.

Farmworkers put food on the tables of millions of Americans despite working through extreme weather conditions, injuries, disasters, pandemics, and more. Yet farmworkers have been unjustly excluded from labor laws. The time to address these inequities is now.

While the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act established Federal standards for minimum wage and overtime pay, the law excluded millions of domestic and agricultural workers--workers who were and remain overwhelmingly people of color. In 2016, California recognized the need to provide farmworkers overtime protection. The California overtime law, which ensures farmworkers will have an equal right to overtime pay, serves as the model for this Federal bill.

Farmworkers in California and across the Nation deserve an end to discrimination in labor laws. We must undo the discriminatory exclusion of farmworkers by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act.

That is why I am proud to introduce this bill, which would improve the lives of farmworkers and their families, create equity in our food system, and benefit farming communities as the increased wages are spent in local businesses.

This bill will gradually implement overtime pay over the course of 4 years and bring greater equity to the American agricultural industry and greater prosperity to historically marginalized workers.

I want to thank Congresswoman Grijalva for introducing this bill with me, and I hope our colleagues will join us to provide a measure of long-overdue fairness for our Nation's farmworkers.

Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Converting Our Waste Sustainably (COWS) Act. This legislation will help dairy and livestock producers reduce methane emissions, improve air and water quality, and implement more sustainable alternative manure management practices.

As the leading dairy State in the country and the second in cheese production, California is the largest producer of milk, butter, and cheeses like mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and queso fresco. Dairy operations contribute billions to California's economy but are also a significant source of California's methane emissions.

Recognizing the urgency of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions like methane, California and the dairy industry are working to reduce dairy methane emissions by 40 percent below 2013 levels by 2030, largely due to the successes of California's own Alternative Manure Management Program, AMMP.

The COWS Act would allow alternative manure management practices to be eligible under USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program, EQIP, to help dairy and livestock producers transition towards pasture- based management, alternative treatment and storage practices, solid separation systems, and scrape technologies.

These practices, which have proven to be effective through the AMMP, will provide more resources for the dairy and livestock industry to modernize technologies for manure management that help boost profitability, improve water quality, and reduce methane and nitrogen oxide emissions.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural operations is critical for addressing the climate crisis. Because of the high construction and operation costs associated with anaerobic digesters, nondigester manure management practices can provide a more cost- effective alternative for family dairy and livestock operators seeking to improve air and water quality for their communities.

I would like to thank Congressman Costa for leading this bill in the House, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the COWS Act.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to deliver up to 15 minutes of remarks before we proceed to the vote.

Mr. President, colleagues, there is a lot going on in the country right now--actually, a lot going on around the world. And I rise today not to address specifically the cost-of-living challenges that so many working families are struggling with. That is certainly a topic of news these days--rightfully so. I am not here to focus on what families of deployed servicemembers must be feeling right now, although that is certainly worthy of our thoughts and consideration and empathy, particularly the family members and the loved ones of the 18 servicemembers that have lost their lives in this unauthorized war with Iran that the President has brought us into.

I want to focus on something that about a year ago was really dominating the evening news and a lot of our social media feeds-- immigration, and specifically this administration's cruel, often violent tactics as part of their mass deportation agenda.

Families are still being torn apart. Tens of thousands of immigrants are currently being detained in detention centers around the country. Loved ones of those killed by Federal agents in broad daylight are also still hurting, including the family of Johan Sebastian Guerrero, the 25-year-old father and immigrant from Colombia who had work authorization, who was driving in his car last month when a Federal agent opened fire, shooting him in the head and killing him.

I hope you remember the story. It wasn't that long ago. If you followed the story, you will know that his partner and his 3-year-old daughter, still dressed in her Bluey pajamas that morning, were there at the scene because it was so close to their home.

According to witnesses, Johan's last words were:

I tried to stop.

I raise this because whenever there is a tragedy like this that happens, under this administration, we quickly hear from Department officials, from the White House, and MAGA supporters that all these victims had to do was to follow instructions, as if it was their fault they were being shot and, in some instances, killed. Well, that is exactly what Johan was attempting to do. Yet he was killed anyway.

I know we don't have all the details of exactly how this tragedy unfolded. In large part, we don't have all the details because some people say ``Well, let's go to the video; let's go to the body cam footage and see exactly what happened,'' but despite receiving billions and billions of taxpayer dollars, which included funding for body cameras, these officers weren't wearing any.

But there are a couple of things that we know for certain. First of all, Johan Sebastian Guerrero's daughter should still have her father. Second--and this is publicly reported--the man who took his life should never have been given a badge and a gun. And that is not just

coming from me; that is coming from Tom Homan--that is right--President Trump's ``border czar,'' who recently said in a TV interview:

I don't think he should ever have cleared vetting.

From what we have learned, this is a man who verbally, emotionally, and physically abused not just one but two ex-wives and once threw his 13-year-old daughter through a glass coffee table. So Mr. Homan is absolutely right when he says that this man's hiring was a failure of the Agency's vetting process.

But it is emblematic of a much larger failure within the Department of Homeland Security. ICE has rushed, this last year, to put as many officers as it could into communities as quickly as possible--something pretty hypocritical, by the way, from an administration calling for the revetting of previously vetted refugees and other immigrants.

But I digress. In less than a year, ICE has hired more than 12,000 officers, a 120-percent increase in staffing--huge increase in a small amount of time. In part, they were so eager to hire up that they were offering $50,000 bonuses for people who signed on to the Agency. Along the way, they also lowered recruitment standards to try to hire as many people as possible, and they shortened training--shortened training-- for law enforcement officers before deploying them into the streets.

Anybody with history and experience with State and local law enforcement knows what happens when you do this. It is a bad combination, a recipe for disaster when you hire too quickly, shorten training, and lower recruitment standards. Now the Federal Government is seeing the consequences of those bad decisions.

How many more unqualified individuals who have not been sufficiently vetted or trained are now in our communities, not just armed but armed as if they are going to war--that is not the job they are doing--and, along the way, violating constitutional rights; using excessive force; risking innocent lives; and, worst of all, facing no accountability?

Colleagues, accountability isn't an inconvenience for law enforcement; it is imperative in a society where we entrust law enforcement officers with the power to take our lives, our liberty, or our property when warranted. Accountability is what gives law enforcement the legitimacy in a democracy, but that is not what is going on today.

Just a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that the FBI will no longer investigate confrontations with immigration enforcement agents. Instead, Homeland Security will do the investigating to determine whether officers or agents have broken the law. If true, how is that supposed to inspire confidence or legitimacy? After all, it has been 6 months since the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Goode, and still nobody has been held accountable for those deaths.

Let me repeat their names: Alex Pretti, Renee Nicole Good, Ruben Ray Martinez, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Joan Sebastian Guerrero.

God, I pray there is not more to come.

How many more need to die before this administration recognizes, acknowledges, and admits that something is deeply wrong?

Another important point I want to make today is that these failures don't end on the streets in our communities; they are also happening inside the walls of detention facilities, where as of yesterday, at least 54 people have died since the beginning of this administration.

The year 2025 was a record year--not a good record--the most deaths in ICE custody in a calendar year, and we are on track to exceed that in 2026. At this moment, more than 67,000 people are being held in overcrowded and understaffed facilities, where many are denied access to healthy food, clean water, even basic medical care--forget about lifesaving care for people with extreme conditions, folks that I have seen and talked to personally, suffering from injuries they sustained when being taken into custody because of the cruelty and the violence of how it is being done.

And reporting just this morning from the Associated Press shows us more than 50 parents and spouses of Active-Duty servicemembers have been detained since the beginning of the second Trump administration, and at least six have been deported.

Think about that. Their sons and daughters, husbands and wives are willing to put their lives on the line for this country during wartime, no less, and the Trump administration is rewarding their service by detaining and deporting their family members.

Yet, despite all this, Donald Trump and those around him keep repeating the lie that they are only going after ``the worst of the worst.''

It is not true. Even Federal courts have found that the conditions in these detention facilities, by the way, are unacceptable. A Federal district court judge in California just ordered improvements to basic needs like access to clean water, nutritious food, and medical and disability care in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, basic standards of humanity that are both Federal law and international law.

In February, a similar order to provide access to medical care was issued regarding the large detention center in California, the one located in California City. But just last week, we learned from a neutral court-appointed monitor that ICE is failing to comply with that order.

This administration just doesn't care.

Despite these deaths, despite these conditions, and despite the enormous human toll, the administration is actually doubling down. ICE arrested 51,000 people in the month of July, the largest in a single month in DHS history. And again, the vast majority are not dangerous, violent criminals.

So we have a historic number of arrests coupled with a historic number of deaths in ICE custody, and this administration has the audacity to ignore court orders to provide basic care and dignity to the people that it is cramming into these detention facilities.

And on top of all that, the Republican majority in this Congress has given ICE and Border Patrol more than $150 billion with no accountability, no safeguards required. So they don't even have to come back to Congress to justify their funding requests and answer questions for the next 3 years.

ICE is now expanding detention facilities while continuing to carry out these mass enforcement operations across the country.

They are failing. They are failing the humanity test. They are being ordered by Federal courts to do the job right. They are doubling down and growing their operation.

And we now know that over 300,000 Haitian immigrants are now facing arrests and deportation after the Trump administration has ripped away their temporary protected status.

Colleagues, how many people need to die at the hands of ill-trained, unqualified, and unaccountable Federal agents and inside inhumane detention centers before we as a Congress--at least the Senate--say: Enough.

Before we call for accountability and demand commonsense reforms, what is it going to take? Because our proposals are out there, like my VISIBLE Act which says immigration enforcement officials have to have very clear, very visible identification, something that is standard for law enforcement Agencies nationwide.

If a group of masked individuals in unmarked cars runs you off the road, jumps out of their cars with guns drawn, and starts screaming in your face without any way to easily and quickly know that they are Federal agents, of course somebody is going to panic.

We just saw that exact scenario play out in Houston a few weeks ago. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was driving in his van on his way to work when two unmarked cars without sirens or lights began chasing him, eventually blocking his car on a small side street.

As he was trying to turn around, they shot him and killed him. Without any clear identification, how could Lorenzo know that these cars chasing him belonged to law enforcement?

As one expert reviewing the footage of this chase from public cameras said, it ``looks more like a carjacking attempt than it [is] a police stop.''

And we wonder why some people panic.

That is exactly why we need basic standards for Federal law enforcement like those called for in Senator Booker's Federal Law Enforcement Standards and Accountability Act.

And for the protection of agents and civilians alike, law enforcement needs to have the body cameras and to have them turned on, which the FOCUS Act would require. These are the kinds of basic safeguards that Democrats have been proposing over and over again, but the administration and the Republican majority doesn't want to act on it.

Now, we have a lot of policy debates here in Congress, but too often, we lose sight of the people behind the headlines and the people behind the statistics that are impacted by these policies.

Joan Sebastian Guerrero was one of those people, as are thousands of others living in fear today: mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. They are our friends. They are our coworkers and neighbors, all human beings deserving of basic dignity and humanity.

Last month, Joan Sebastian Guerrero got into his car expecting just a normal, regular day, and now his daughter will grow up in a world without him in it. She carries his memory with her for the rest of her life--not only of him, but how he was taken from her. She will remember that forever.

Colleagues, I implore that we remember as well. Let's learn from it and do everything possible to keep it from happening again because we are a nation of laws that need to be enforced, but a nation of laws includes being a nation of due process, of accountability, and above all, human dignity.

We should never accept an America where Federal agents hide their faces, abuse their authority, or take life without oversight and accountability.

It is a choice, folks, that we are making. What kind of a country are we working toward? It is a choice that this administration and congressional Republicans have made of what we are seeing on the streets. America deserves better. America deserves better.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Michael Witherell on a remarkable career spent in service of scientific achievement and discovery as he steps down after a decade of leadership as the eighth director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. As the Director of Berkeley Lab, Mike dedicated himself to pursuing transformational breakthroughs across all areas of science and helped its researchers deliver scientific solutions addressing critical national priorities.

Mike Witherell was born on September 22, 1949, in Toledo, OH. He would go on to receive a bachelor of science from the University of Michigan in 1968. After earning his Ph.D. in experimental particle physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1973, Mike served on the faculty at Princeton until 1981 and then found himself at the University of California, Santa Barbara until 1999. While working at UC Santa Barbara, Mike won the W. K. H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics from the American Physical Society in 1990 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1998. After serving as the director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for 6 years, Mike returned to UC Santa Barbara in 2005 as the vice chancellor for research. He was then appointed director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2016, a position he held until June of 2026.

In his decade of service leading Berkeley Lab, Mike strengthened the lab's position as a world-leading institution for breakthrough science through significant real-world solutions in energy and pioneering programs in quantum informational science and artificial intelligence. This record of scientific excellence resulted in 31 members of the lab being elected to the National Academies of Science and Engineering, two National Medals, and three Nobel Prizes, including most recently in 2025 for groundbreaking research in quantum computing.

Thanks to his hard work and dedication, Berkeley Lab has contributed greatly to the mission of the Department of Energy, including becoming a core contributor to the Genesis Mission. None of these efforts would have been possible without the passion, vision, and excellence that Mike poured into the lab during his storied tenure.

As Mike embarks on this new chapter in his life, his absence will undoubtedly be felt by all those fortunate enough to have collaborated with him. I extend my heartfelt wishes to Mike and his family for a joyful retirement.

Madam President, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Larry Mazzola, Sr., a towering figure in California's labor movement, a proud San Franciscan, and a relentless advocate for working people who passed away in early May at the age of 82.

Larry leaves behind a powerful legacy that helped shape the Bay Area labor movement, as well as the lives of countless workers and families across California.

For decades, Larry Mazzola, Sr., stood as one of San Francisco's most respected and formidable voices for organized labor, a legacy deeply rooted in family tradition.

His father Joseph Mazzola led San Francisco's plumbers union for more than four decades, instilling in Larry a deep commitment to solidarity, dignity, and the belief that every worker deserves fair wages, safe working conditions, and the opportunity to provide for their family.

Larry carried that mission forward throughout his life and career, and passed it on to his own son Larry Mazzola, Jr., who continues the family tradition as the head of U.A. Local 38 and president of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council.

A native son of San Francisco, Larry dedicated nearly 50 years of his life to U.A. Local 38 and the United Association, serving in wide- ranging roles including assistant training director, organizer, business agent, and ultimately, 24 years as business manager and financial secretary-treasurer.

Through his leadership, he helped guide generations of workers into the middle class and fought tirelessly to secure family-supporting wages, quality healthcare, strong retirement benefits, and safe workplaces for workers across the Bay Area.

Larry's leadership helped establish some of the strongest labor standards in the Nation and ensured that thousands of workers could retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. His impact on the labor movement was so profound that U.A. Local 38's union hall is named in his honor.

Larry also served the people of San Francisco with distinction as a member of the San Francisco Airport Commission for 26 years, including nearly 18 years as its president. Even in public office, Larry never lost sight of where he came from or whom he represented. He brought the same unwavering advocacy for working people into government service, protecting the rights, wages, and benefits of union workers at San Francisco International Airport and setting an example for labor representation in public institutions nationwide.

In recognition of Larry's extraordinary contributions to the city, San Francisco declared a ``Larry Mazzola Sr. Day'' when he retired from the airport commission in 2022, a fitting honor for someone whose life's work left an indelible mark on the city he loved.

Larry Mazzola, Sr., devoted his life to fighting for working people and ensuring that future generations would have greater opportunity and security than the generations before them. His impact can still be felt in the strength of organized labor throughout the Bay Area and in the countless workers and families whose lives were improved through his advocacy and leadership.

Angela and I send our deepest condolences to the entire Mazzola family, to his brothers and sisters in labor, and to all those whose lives he touched through his decades of service and leadership.