Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, first on China and AI, the evidence for the potential dangers of unchecked AI continue to grow and grow, but Donald Trump keeps brushing off America's concerns about AI's risks. Trump justifies his support for unregulated AI by saying that is how we beat China in the AI race, but his refusal to join us in blocking the sale of the most advanced chips to China does the opposite: It lets China get ahead of us.

The best tool we have to outcompete China and curb the CCP's AI ambitions is by prohibiting their access to the most advanced AI chips and manufacturing equipment. I have been saying it for years. A group of us have introduced bipartisan legislation to the NDAA to stop it.

National security experts agree that we have to stop the sale of these chips to China. Many of my Republican colleagues agree. But Trump doesn't, and he is the biggest barrier standing in the way. Trump keeps saying he wants to curb China, but he keeps standing in the way of the best method we have to make sure China doesn't get ahead of us and beat us in this competition over what to do with AI.

Stop selling them the most advanced chips, Donald. Donald, listen already, because you are hurting America and making the world more dangerous by what you are doing on these chips. Donald, if you want to get a leg up on China over AI, join us in stopping them from getting our chips, plain and simple.

Trump could protect this technology and America's lead in the AI race today.

Before Trump meets with Xi Jinping next week, he needs to draw a line in the sand and say that blocking the Chinese Communist Party's access to our cutting-edge AI technology is nonnegotiable. This was a longstanding policy of the America Government, of both parties, until Trump started listening to his cronies that America's security was up for negotiation with our enemies.

We need to reject the false choice Trump keeps presenting. We can both maintain our lead in the AI race by restricting China's access to our technology, and we can put up guardrails to mitigate AI's risk at the same time. These goals are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are fundamentally intertwined.

AI development that leads to a catastrophic event and the loss of public trust will undermine America's leadership.

Democrats are working on measures to accomplish both these priorities, and Republicans need to get on board before it is too late.

Make no mistake, without guardrails to ensure safe, sustainable AI innovation--and there is a lot of good that can come from the transformational innovation of AI--the AI race will become a race to the bottom, and that is no victory for the American people.

Interest Rates

Mr. President, on interest rates, every day, we see how much the chaos Donald Trump injects into our economy costs the American people. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates for the first time in 3 years to fight Trumpflation fueled by the President's tariffs and the disastrous war against Iran. Everything is going to become more expensive because Donald ``I love inflation'' Trump is doing everything he can to drive up costs. Every time an American takes out a loan for a house, a car, a credit card, or anything else, they are going to get settled with higher interest payments. Trump indulges in his chaos and corruption; Americans pay more. It is as simple as that.

Instead of doing anything to bring down costs, to stop his tariffs, to end his war, Trump does what he always does and calls ``affordability'' a ``made up'' word. This man doesn't get it. He said it again in North Carolina just yesterday. Does Donald Trump think North Carolina voters think that ``affordability'' is a made-up word? Does Donald think that when North Carolina families sit around the kitchen table and figure out which bills they can afford to pay and not afford to pay, that that is made up?

When he says these things in North Carolina, he may be saying it to a few hundred of his MAGA supporters, but the rest of North Carolina hears it and says: I don't want this guy, and I don't want a Senator who is going to go along with it.

Only Trump could look at this economic pain he has inflicted on the American people and claim he is the victim.

Donald, if the word ``affordability'' bothers you so much, then do something about it. Stop with the pity party.

Trump also bashed the Federal Reserve Board for simply doing its job and renewed his threat to cut off a vast swath of U.S. trade if the Fed refuses to lower interest rates. Donald Trump wants to hold the American economy hostage and demand the Fed pay the ransom.

Trump isn't doing anything to lower costs, and neither are Senate Republicans.

Just yesterday, I pushed to pass my legislation to end Trump's tariff tax and deliver some relief to American families. Who blocked it? Senate Republicans, of course. That was the Republicans' first chance to lower costs for Americans since we have been back from our State activities for 5 weeks, and based on their schedule, it is also likely Republicans' last opportunity to stop Trump's costly tariffs before election day. Instead of lowering families' costs, Republicans voted against us.

Again, the bottom line: This may have been the last opportunity to get rid of these tariffs, which are raising Americans' costs, before Leader Thune calls the session to a close.

Republicans better get ready to pay a political cost in November on par with the economic costs they have inflicted on the American people. America doesn't like it.

Iran

Mr. President, finally, on the Iran war, well, Trump continues to downplay the severe costs of his failed war in Iran. This week, we learned that the war has cost the Pentagon at least--at least--$38 billion and American motorists over $100 billion in extra gas costs. I saw on TV this morning that the price is approaching $4.40 a gallon, and it keeps going up.

And the $38 billion is just a minimum estimate. But, yesterday, campaigning in North Carolina, Trump said the hundreds of billions of dollars he is burning on this war is ``a very inexpensive price''-- those are his words--``to pay for what we've done'' in Iran--spoken like a billionaire who has never filled his own gas tank 1 day in his life.

Earth to Trump: $4.50 a gallon for gas and a record $6.40 a gallon for diesel isn't inexpensive for working Americans.

What exactly does Trump think this cost has gotten the American people? Is it the Iranian regime in Tehran that is even more radical than before the war? Is it Iran's tightening grip on the Strait of Hormuz and other key shipping choke points. How about the 18 brave U.S. servicemembers killed, hundreds more wounded, tens of thousands kept in harm's way for months and months on end?

The only thing Trump has done in Iran is make everything worse. How can my Republican colleagues go along with this?

Senate Democrats--make no mistake about it--Senate Democrats will push for another vote on a War Powers Resolution next week to bring our troops home and will continue to force votes until Trump ends his Iranian blunder.

Senate Republicans have a choice: Keep forcing Americans to pay the cost of Trump's forever war or stop kissing the ring and join us in it.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, so let me comment on AI and Trump's comments on that.

So the American people keep calling on their government to act on AI, which even its creators are saying is increasingly dangerous, but Donald Trump couldn't care less.

Trump says that he has that issue covered, that ``the only control or `guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.'' Well, we don't have one so let's do something, Senators.

We know Trump is not going to step up to the plate here. He puts his head in the sand. He says there is no problem when every expert says there is a dramatic and dangerous problem that we should deal with.

A high IQ President wouldn't call Americans' well-founded AI concerns a ``hoax'' or a ``sick conspiracy.'' Those aren't the words of someone with a high IQ, Donald Trump. The only thing that is sick is Trump's indifference to the legitimate, valid, strong concerns of the American people.

And this is what Trump always does: Americans voice their concerns about a pressing issue--Trump dismisses them out of hand.

Americans express their outrage about skyrocketing costs from Trump's failed agenda--Trump calls affordability a made-up word.

Families say they are getting crushed at the gas pump because of Trump's war in Iran. The President calls soaring fuel prices fake, even though they are above $4.30 a gallon.

Again, where is your IQ, Mr. President? Where is your perception of the world?

I don't know if it is delusion or deception, but it doesn't matter. Trump is completely out of touch with the American people, and Trump is dead wrong about AI.

We don't even know how the administration is testing the safety of these powerful models before they are released to the public.

Is Trump favoring one company over another because of financial interests or because of his mood of the day? He has done that time and time again. He has favored one company, one interest, over another because they suck up to him. They give him contributions, who knows what. But it is usually not on the merits, and it is often corrupt.

What kind of rigor is really being employed to protect the safety and security of the American people? What are they doing? How are they doing it? Who are they favoring? These are all legitimate, important questions that must be answered.

And that is why I called on the Trump administration to hold a classified briefing with the entire Senate immediately about the potential severe risks that unchecked AI development poses to our country. We all know about it.

We need transparency into how the administration is testing powerful frontier AI models, something they have been concealing from the public since announcing the framework months ago.

AI is something we can come together on in the Senate. I say that to my colleagues. Democrats and Republicans can come together. We deserve to know how this administration is handling this consequential issue facing the American people.

If there is ever a time for Republicans to break from their blind allegiance to Trump, it is now. The world is in danger, and Republicans are on the sidelines sucking their thumbs. It is time to get off the bench.

And it is worth remembering that bipartisanship has happened on AI before. If you can believe it, it has been 3 years, almost to the day, since I convened the bipartisan AI Insight Forums. We brought together not just industry titans but leaders from across sectors--academia, civil society, labor--to steer the Senate to much needed action.

We convened these forums to get ahead of the very crisis we are finding ourselves in today to prevent AI from getting on an unsustainable path that endangers our security, undermines the public's trust, jeopardizes American leadership.

And out of these forums came a bipartisan comprehensive roadmap. It was strong; it was bipartisan; and the roadmap was turned into a bipartisan package of bills that we came close to passing into law at the end of the last Congress until Republican leadership, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and an incoming Trump administration blocked it.

We had a chance to do this. We nearly had it, and we had good bipartisan support. And Trump comes in, Musk comes in and says don't do it, and now look where we are.

Ultimately, Republicans blocked our efforts to act at the end of last Congress, but, my Republican colleagues,

we can come together again to take action. The American people are demanding it.

We cannot let partisanship stand in the way of this, one of the most serious problems our country and the world has ever faced.

Wedding of Donald Trump, Jr.

Mr. President, on the Trump family's Russia corruption--there is so much of it--on the same day Trump decided to put pressure on Ukraine rather than Russia by blaming Ukraine--not his disastrous Iran war--for high gas prices, we continue to see evidence that the Trump family is in Putin's pocket.

It came out yesterday that a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding expenses for Donald Trump, Jr. Can you believe this? An oligarch of a country we oppose is paying for the wedding of the President's son. Have you ever heard anything like this--so corrupt, so venal, so endangering our national security?

How can you, across the aisle, shrug your shoulders at this kind of outrageous, damaging, destructive behavior?

And what did Donald Trump, Jr., say in his defense?

[S]ometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.

Not in this case, baby. You are dealing with a Russian oligarch, not just a cousin who is giving you a gift.

Well, I say to Donald Junior, who said ``sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift,'' sometimes, Donald Trump, Jr., a wedding gift is a bribe from a foreign autocrat. The oligarch dropped hundreds of thousands to put on a fireworks display, host an extravagant party, and rent out a private island for Donald Junior. But what we know he was really buying is not to have a good time at a wedding but access to the Trump family.

The corruption could not get any more shameless. The Trump family has already profited $4 billion off the Presidency this term alone. Did the Trumps really need a few hundred thousand more dollars? Is that what it takes for them to sell out America to the Russians?

The American people have had enough of Trump's corruption. Have Senate Republicans?

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

Madam President, on artificial intelligence, the warning signs about AI's rapid pace have never been clearer. But what is President Trump's response to the recent calls

for the government to regulate AI--even from industry leaders? Trump says:

The only control or ``guardrails'' that AI needs is a

STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.

Well, even if we had a high IQ President right now--and we surely don't--it wouldn't be enough. Congress cannot afford to turn a blind eye to AI.

Today, I am calling for an all-Senators classified briefing with top administration officials to address the dangers of unchecked AI development and hold the administration accountable for its lack of action to protect the American people.

I have long argued that we need to ensure that the United States remain the global leader in innovation and security.

We all know the transformational innovation that can come from AI for advances in medicine, science, education, research, and so much more. But I have also always said that if our economy and our society is to reap the potential benefits of AI, we need sustainable innovation as well. That means putting guardrails in to mitigate the risks of this technology and earn the public's trust, which is critical to American leadership.

In the last few months, the importance of these strong guardrails has become more apparent. Just this weekend, leading voices from the AI industry came together to sound the alarm and embrace a slower development of AI to avoid damaging outcomes.

This comes after weeks of revelations of AI going rogue and working together to hack websites, without human control, and of real concerns of the potential catastrophic risks of unchecked AI.

The American people want to see action. Industry leaders want to see action. Many of us on both sides of the aisle want to see action. That is why the Trump administration needs to address three key points in our classified briefing.

First, we need a full accounting of the administration's new framework for testing powerful frontier AI models, something that has been withheld from the public for weeks. We need to know exactly how this framework is identifying and countering potentially catastrophic risks before these AI models are released.

Second, we need to hear how the administration plans to defend our country against increasingly AI-enabled cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. How are we going to protect our power grid, our hospitals, our water treatment systems, schools, telecommunications, banking, and election systems from this new threat? They don't have the sophistication of much larger institutions. They are susceptible to attack. Americans need to know how we are going to protect these systems.

Finally, the administration needs to explain what it is doing to block China from accessing America's advanced AI chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and other cutting-edge tech that the Chinese Communist Party is using to accelerate their own AI development.

For years, I have stressed the importance of protecting this technology from being co-opted by the Chinese, and now there is growing bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress to do so.

We need immediate action, and the President should take it. The administration cannot, in one breath, say we need unrestrained AI development to win the race with China while giving away our AI crown jewels to the Chinese.

I believe preserving America's AI advantage over China and ensuring responsible AI development go hand in hand. We can--we must--do both.

Unless all the facts come out and come out soon, it will greatly hamper our ability to get anything done. That is why this classified briefing is of the utmost importance. I urge the administration to provide a classified briefing on AI to the entire Senate immediately.

Regardless, Senate Democrats will take further action on AI in the coming days and weeks. The U.S. Government cannot sit this one out.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, on the job numbers this morning, the alarm bells on the sorry state of Trump's economy keep ringing and ringing. The jobs report this morning revealed America lost 23,000 jobs because of Trump's disastrous agenda, his tariffs, and his failed war. But that is not all. It got even worse. This morning's report also revealed that 103,000 fewer jobs were added in May and June than previously reported. So the total job loss reported is close to 130,000 jobs.

The only person who ought to lose their job right now is Donald Trump. He is handling the economy so poorly with the chaos, the inconsistency, the lack of paying attention to the facts, the lying. It is all coming down to his doorstep.

Trump sowed mayhem in our economy with his costly war, with his chaotic and inconsistent policies, and with his nonstop corruption, but he is not suffering the consequences; working Americans are.

Donald, start doing your job so the American people stop losing theirs. Trump cost America 23,000 jobs last month, but he has the gall to call this ``the greatest economy we've ever had by far.'' What planet is he on? Does he not care at all about the people, the 300-and- some-odd million Americans he represents? He just thinks by saying these things it is true.

Trump, when you say it is the greatest economy we have ever had and we have lost over 130,000 jobs in the last few months, you don't know what you are talking about. You are not in reality, and it is cruel and callous to the people who are no longer earning a salary.

Americans are working multiple jobs just so they can feed and house their families. How are Americans supposed to afford Trump's skyrocketing costs if they lose their jobs too?

Last week's news that economic growth is down and costs are up is a one-two gut punch to the American people, and this terrible jobs report is the uppercut that follows.

Every red economic flag is waving; every warning light is flashing; and every alarm bell is ringing about Trump's catastrophic handling of the economy, and he is in la-la land not even paying attention to it and saying we have the greatest economy ever.

Mr. President, on Russian sanctions, if we want to stop the bloodshed Russia unleashed on Ukraine, we have to make it clear to Putin that he is fighting a losing battle. The Russia sanctions bill sends an unmistakable message to Moscow that America will back Ukraine to the hilt; that we will look for new ways to back Ukraine. Lindsey Graham was searching for those ways for a long time, and today his wishes-- even though he is no longer with us--are likely to achieve fruition. The Russia sanctions bill will make it clear to Moscow that America will back Ukraine to the hilt. The Russian sanctions bill sends an unmistakable message to Putin that we will oppose him for as long as it takes to defeat him.

I have long said that supporting Ukraine and its fight against Russia's illegal invasion is about protecting the United States and our future generations as much as it is about supporting Ukraine. Just this morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. intelligence is now warning Putin may try a limited assault on NATO in the coming months and years to test our resolve.

Putin's ambitions beyond Ukraine have long been clear to all of us who have fought tooth and nail to support Ukraine. Putin wants to test America's resolve because he doubts Trump's resolve. That is what happens when Trump tries to placate the Russians at every turn. And now Congress, bipartisan, with Lindsey Graham looking down upon us, is saying: Even if Trump doesn't get it, the danger that Putin presents, we do, and we are taking strong action.

We need to show Putin he is dead wrong about questioning our strength, and this bill is an important step in that direction. The legislation is going to help drain Putin's war chest and give Ukraine the tools to defend itself.

So I want to thank Senators Blumenthal and Shaheen for all their work on this bill. They have been diligent, dogged, and unrelenting, and they are about to achieve their goal by passing this legislation.

Thugs like Putin don't care about what we say, only what we do. You can only stop him with actions and not words. Russia is losing momentum in this war every single day, and we will keep helping Ukraine stop the invaders in their tracks for as long as it takes.

Mr. President, I yield back my time.

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

Mr. President, on the Trump battleships, while American families can't even keep their heads above water, Donald Trump is spending his time building himself a ``golden fleet'' of battleships the Navy doesn't want.

Just get a load of this headline: ``Cost of Trump's Namesake Warships Likely to Rise by 50 Percent or More.''

Costs to rise by 50 percent or more.

As the article in the New York Times says, his goal is building a ``golden fleet'' of 15 battleships that cost $275 billion. Frankly, when Americans hear this, they have no idea whether they need the battleships. They know the only thing Trump cares about is having his name on things. So the fact that there is a fleet of Trump battleships--cost doesn't mean anything; necessity doesn't mean anything; that people are suffering and need help feeding their families, paying their electric bills, and paying the cost of gasoline means nothing to him. Having his name on a bunch of battleships-- expensive battleships--is all he cares about.

Trump couldn't handle renovating a reflecting pool or building a ballroom, and now he thinks he is ready to design and construct 15 ``Trump-class''--I mean, this guy, he knows no limits--``Trump-class'' battleships that will cost more than a quarter of a trillion taxpayer dollars--a quarter of a trillion dollars. He has had a lot of vanity projects. They have been very expensive. This is the most costly vanity project yet.

The Navy never wanted these ships. The American people never asked for these ships. The only person who wants these ``golden'' ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them.

Trump's willingness to drop $275 billion on another vanity project but not a single penny to lower costs for working Americans just confounds the imagination. Trump could use the money for these battleships to offset the entire nearly $200 billion cut he made to

Mr. President, on mortgage rates, as Trump focuses on his exorbitant vanity projects, Americans can tell what he is ignoring--lowering their costs. As if Americans weren't struggling enough already, they just saw mortgage rates hit their highest level in a year because of Trump's disastrous war and

failed economic agenda. Trump has turned the American dream of owning a home into a pipedream.

Let's not forget, when Trump called our bipartisan bill to lower housing costs a joke and refused to sign it, he was belittling the need for housing. The President acts like he is allergic to helping Americans.

What does Trump have to say to the millions of families just trying to make it through the week as they drown in higher gas prices and grocery bills?

Trump said yesterday that Americans are living in the ``greatest economy we've ever had by far.'' Those were his words in Nevada yesterday. In practically the same breath, Trump said:

We may have to send [oil prices] up.

The President has lost any grip on reality. He is so in his own world of creating monuments to himself that he is forgetting the American people all the time. It is not just that he doesn't think of them enough; he hardly thinks of them at all.

The greatest economy we have ever had? Tell that to the family that is deciding between filling up their tank and filling up their fridge. Tell that to the veteran I met who said that he sometimes has to choose between feeding his child and feeding his service dog. Whatever fantasy world Trump is living in sounds a whole lot nicer than the economic hardship Americans are struggling with right now.

Trump's playbook has only one page: Deny reality until the bill comes due, and then send it to you, America.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.