Floor Statements

Mr. President, now, on Mike Johnson's plan to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid: It is amazing. Doesn't he ever learn? Yesterday, Mike Johnson revealed to a reporter that congressional Republicans have a plan to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid if they stay in the majority.

America, do you hear that? His plan is to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid if they stay in the majority.

We found out this morning that--thanks to the Republican massive tax giveaway to the wealthiest Americans--Social Security is in worse shape than ever, with insolvency coming faster and finances deteriorating worse than at any point in more than 30 years.

And now Johnson just gave the game away. After making the largest cut to healthcare in American history and undermining Social Security, Republicans are coming back for second cuts. Republicans have had no problem adding $5 trillion to the debt to cut taxes for billionaires, but they suddenly get stingy when it comes to protecting Americans' healthcare and retirement benefits that affect the vast majority of working people.

Imagine telling the American people that they can't retire or can't get their children the lifesaving care they need because billionaires like Donald Trump aren't rich enough already. Well, that is what Speaker Johnson is saying, and it is disgusting. Johnson can try to backtrack, dodge, or distort what he said all he wants, but he has reminded Americans of Republicans' true colors, and Americans don't like what they see.

Madam President, well, just about everyone in America hates Trump's slush fund, but every Senate Republican but one is culpable for allowing Trump to go forward with the slush fund. Again, people in America hate the fund. Every Senate Republican allowed Trump to go forward with the slush fund. They supported a reconciliation bill that had no restraints on Trump's corrupt slush fund even after Democrats forced vote after

vote in trying to ban the fund. The American people will remember how Senate Republicans sided with Trump instead of them, and it doesn't bode well for the GOP.

Yesterday, Trump showed how empty Todd Blanche's promise is to drop the MAGA slush fund. Asked whether he would stop trying to give cash payouts to his corrupt cronies, convicted criminals, and January 6 insurrectionists, Trump said:

If it was up to me, I'd pay them the kind of money that

they deserve.

What they deserve? The only thing January 6 insurrectionists deserve for maiming police officers is to sit in a prison cell, but Donald Trump and Senate Republicans think the rioters deserve a cut of Americans' paychecks.

Trump went on to say:

I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do

many other Republicans.

Listen to that, America. Donald Trump has no intention of dropping his slush fund.

You don't have to be a Senator to see just how corrupt--just how crooked--Trump's slush fund scheme is, but Senate Republicans chose not--not--to outlaw Trump's plan to line his pockets with Americans' tax dollars. Senate Republicans are complicit in Trump's corruption.

Democrats set up a procedure and used reconciliation to show exactly where Republicans stood on the slush fund, and the American people were aghast. Republicans could have supported Democratic amendments to ban the slush fund permanently. Republicans could have voted for our amendment to prevent taxpayer-funded payouts to violent January 6 rioters. Republicans could have stood with the American people, but, instead, they reaffirmed their loyalty to Trump and his corrupt administration.

Madam President, yesterday marked 100 days since Donald Trump launched one of the most foolish misadventures in the history of American foreign policy. Trump launched his disastrous war with Iran without a clear objective, without a coherent strategy, and without a care for how it would endanger our brave servicemembers and hurt the American people.

One hundred days later, Trump still has no idea how to extricate America from this mess of his own making, and he still doesn't seem to care that the American people are struggling to bear the costs at the gas pump every day.

Trump said it himself:

I don't think about Americans' financial situation.

He doesn't think about it--the No. 1 issue facing the American people, and he doesn't think about it. What kind of President is that?

Trump had better start thinking about Americans' financial situation because, as it becomes more and more dire, Americans are becoming more and more livid. Costs on everything from gasoline to groceries to consumer goods are through the roof because of Trump and his war. American families have spent an extra $750, on average, these past 100 days to meet the rising costs of Trump's war, and every time Americans go to the pump and see a gallon of gasoline costing well over $4, they know whom to blame--Donald Trump.

For 100 days, Trump has claimed that peace is just days away, only for negotiations to crumble over and over and over again. Trump's efforts at peace by press release won't stop the fighting. Congress need to reassert its powers under the Constitution and end this war. Soon, Senate Democrats will force another vote on a War Powers Resolution to end the war--the ninth opportunity we have given Republicans to do their jobs and dig themselves and Trump out of this hole.

The walls are closing in on Trump and the U.S. economy. Republicans need to find their courage and end this war.

Madam President, on the Knicks' playing tonight, New Yorkers love the New York Knicks. Some of us remember the good old days when the Knicks won the championship with Debusschere and Bradley at the forward, with Willis Reed in center, and with Earl the Pearl and Clyde as the point guards. Those were the glory days, and the glory days are back.

So, with the New York Knicks set to play the San Antonio Spurs in a few hours, tonight ought to be all about the game, the players, and the fans, but Donald Trump wants to make tonight all about himself like he always does. Midtown has to shut down. Bars near the Garden are about to take a huge hit on what should be their biggest night of the year, and free watch parties near the arena have been canceled because Trump can't bear letting anyone else be the center of attention for one night.

After waiting nearly three decades to see the Knicks play in the finals, New Yorkers deserve better than this.

Knicks fans would give Trae Young wearing a Reggie Miller jersey a warmer welcome than the one they will give Donald Trump when he walks into Madison Square Garden tonight. Knicks fans know that tonight is about New York, not about any one New Yorker.

Best of luck to the Knicks tonight. You will hear us from the streets of New York to the Senate floor: ``Knicks in Four!''

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, anyone--anyone--who still believes that Trump has any intention of stopping his effort to steal Americans' tax dollars to enrich himself, his family, and MAGA loyalists ought to listen to Trump's comments yesterday.

Yesterday, Trump not only refused to commit ending his $2 billion taxpayer-funded MAGA slush fund permanently, he also said of the slush fund: I love it. I think it's so important. It's a beautiful thing.

I repeat, here is what Trump said about this damn slush fund.

He said: I love it. I think it's so important. It was a beautiful thing.

Do you hear that, America? Do you hear that, Republican Senators? Do you hear it?

Trump loves giving Americans' taxpayer dollars to his billionaire friends.

Trump thinks forcing Americans to fork over their paychecks to line the pockets of his corrupt friends is ``so important.''

Trump says ripping Americans off to give kickbacks to convicted criminals who beat police officers to death on January 6 is a beautiful thing--that is what he said.

Trump's slush fund is anything but beautiful. It is heinous, and it won't die until we permanently ban it by law--not by language, not by verbal promises which can just evaporate, but by law. And we have the chance to do that this morning on the amendment I will offer.

The very first amendment I will offer in vote-arama today will be to outlaw the slush fund forever, so when Trump wakes up a week from now or a month from now and says: Why don't we try that slush fund again?-- he won't be able to. He won't be able to.

With the whole country watching, Republicans will have to choose: either support the slush fund or ban it. They can come up with 10 excuses. It is a yes or no: support the slush fund or ban it. Americans want a big loud voice and vote to ban it permanently--to ban it forever.

We are also going to force Republicans to vote on whether to let Trump keep the immunity he granted himself from audits so he can get out of paying his own taxes. This is what he put in the bill. This is what our Republican friends are putting in the bill. Donald Trump has a get-out-of-jail-free card. No audit ever of him and how he is evading taxes. And he has already tried do that a whole bunch of times. There have been court cases about it. Let him do it? Let this level of corruption rise so it is going to drown all of us? Throw away those good old American values that have served this country well for 250 years because Donald Trump wants to take this money in a corrupt fund and scare you into voting yes? Come on. You Republicans are better than that, I hope.

Donald Trump is less trustworthy than a snake oil salesman, than a back-alley bookie, than the Nigerian prince in your email spam folder.

Are Republicans blind? Are they so far removed from the American people? Do they not even know what corruption is anymore? That is what I think is happening over on that side of the aisle. Donald Trump has immersed so much of America in so much corruption you don't even get it.

But that is what America--you are taking the great values of America on our 250th year and flushing them down the toilet because you are afraid of Donald Trump.

And, listen, another point: Are Republicans really going to take Todd Blanche--a known liar--at his word?

Do we believe that Donald Trump, who has lied to us day in and day out--do we believe that he will able to resist getting his sticky fingers in the slush fund when it would benefit himself and his family? No way. No way.

Vote-arama

Mr. President, on vote-arama, which is part of this bill, rather than let Republicans try to force through their radical reconciliation bill under the current cover of night, Democrats have made sure today's vote-arama happens in broad daylight because Americans deserve to see what Republicans are prioritizing instead of lowering their costs.

Democrats will force Republicans to vote on Trump's MAGA slush fund, his lifetime tax exemption, his billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded ballroom--but that is not all.

Amendment after amendment, vote after vote, Republicans are going to have to answer to the American people on tariffs, on skyrocketing costs, on the disastrous war with Iran, on the violence Trump's masked agents have unleashed on our streets. All of that they are going to have to vote on.

Will Republicans vote for more affordable housing? Will Republicans require Trump's masked agents to wear

body cameras? Will Republicans join Democrats to lower gas prices?

Democrats will ensure that every failed Republican policy--every failed Trump policy--that has driven up costs, unleashed chaos, and aided Trump's corruption will face a vote on the Senate floor today.

And Democrats are going to show just how terrible this bill is from start to finish.

Apparently, Republicans think we cannot afford a single penny to help Americans cover the skyrocketing costs of gasoline, of healthcare, of housing, of food, of energy--you name it--but somehow we can afford to give another $70 billion to Trump's rogue Agencies even though ICE and Border Patrol already have $100 billion cash on hand.

Do you hear that, driver? When you pull up to the gas pump, and it is $4.50, or even higher in many places, ask yourself: Why don't Republicans vote to lower those prices instead of giving ICE and Border Patrol, already discredited, more money when they have $100 billion sitting there?

Let's take stock of what we could buy with the $170 billion Trump's personal police force would have at its disposal if this bill passed.

Instead of shooting Americans dead in the street, the Federal Government could cut a $1,300 check to every household in America to lower gas prices that have been raised so by Trump's unending, it seems, war.

Instead of masked agents breaking down your door in the middle of the night without a warrant, we could fund programs that help Americans keep the heat on in the winter and the AC on in the summer 40 times over.

Instead of dragging law-abiding parents and children into unmarked vehicles, that $170 billion could fund food stamps for nearly 2 years or Head Start for 14 years or childcare assistance for two decades-- things America wants.

America, the contrast is clear: Democrats are fighting for you-- Republicans are kowtowing to Trump and his corruption.

I urge Republicans to vote like the American people are watching-- because they are.

Todd Blanche

Mr. President, on the Todd Blanche nomination, last night Donald Trump said--do you hear this, everybody?--he will nominate Todd Blanche to be the permanent Attorney General. Yech.

Trump picked Blanche because he is loyal to the President alone--not to the Constitution, not to the rule of law, and certainly not to the American people--and not to the values this country has had for 250 years. It is people like Blanche and Trump who have ripped those values up of honesty and of fairness and of decency that have been the hallmark of America that we are seeing them try to wipe away.

For years, Blanche has been Trump's personal lawyer and attack dog, and that didn't stop when Blanche joined the Department of Justice. Blanche orchestrated Trump's self-dealing MAGA slush fund and granted his boss the audit immunity that gives the President free rein to commit tax fraud.

Blanche has blocked the release of more than half the Epstein files, withholding 3 million--3 million--pages from the public. Maybe Epstein's friend Donald Trump could tell us why Blanche went to such lengths to cover up the files. Blanche also lied to Congress under oath when he claimed he had met with the Epstein survivors--something they said never happened.

Blanche not only shields Trump from the law, he uses the justice system to go after his boss' political enemies, bringing baseless charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, Jim Comey, and others.

Trump and Blanche are cut from the same crooked cloth.

Democrats are going to oppose Blanche's confirmation as vehemently as we have opposed the slush fund and every other corrupt act Trump and his top fixer have committed. Unless Republicans want to remain complicit in Trump's corruption, they ought to oppose Blanche as well.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I withdraw my request for a quorum.

Mr. President, I have a motion to commit at the desk.

Mr. President, my very first amendment offers Republicans a choice: Do you support Donald Trump's $2 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund, or do you want to protect the American people and their paychecks by outlawing this criminal, crony, cash-back program permanently?

America has never seen a more clear-cut case of corruption. America has never seen a more clear-cut case of corruption than Donald Trump's slush fund: Trump sues Trump. Trump settles with Trump. Trump gives Trump Americans' taxpayer dollars.

Trump won't give Americans a penny to help offset the skyrocketing costs he brought on our country, but he is more than happy to charge them nearly $2 billion to line the pockets of his family, his billionaire friends, and the criminals who mauled police officers on January 6.

If Republicans truly oppose this corruption, then prove it.

Support my amendment and ban the slush fund permanently by law.

Instead, Republicans are trusting the word of Todd Blanche, who built a career on lying--

--that the administration will just drop the slush fund.

Trump hasn't even pretended to promise that the slush fund is done. Instead, Trump said of the slush fund:

I love it. I think it's so important. . . . It was a

beautiful thing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 30 more seconds.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed an additional 30 seconds to conclude my remarks, which we traditionally always give that courtesy.

Mr. President, I know my colleagues are afraid to hear the truth and that is why they objected, when it is almost never--there is never an objection when the leaders speak.

But let me finish my remarks.

Republicans are trusting the word of Todd Blanche, who built a career on lying, that the administration will just drop the slush fund.

Trump hasn't even pretended to promise that the slush fund is done. Instead, here is what Trump said of the slush fund:

I love it. I think it's so important. . . . It was a

beautiful thing.

Republican Senators need to stop playing dumb. They need to listen to the truth and stop trusting these fools, like Todd Blanche, who lies to the American people repeatedly.

Do we believe--do any of us believe--that Donald Trump, who has lied to us day in and day out, will be able to resist getting his sticky fingers in the slush fund, when it would benefit himself and his family? No way.

For something as corrupt as this slush fund, toothless guardrails, meek reforms, and empty promises won't cut it. We need to outlaw it permanently.

Vote on Motion to Commit

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I will join my colleague and all of my colleagues in congratulating Susan Collins, who will cast her 10,000th consecutive rollcall vote in a few moments.

No matter what has been going on in the world or in her life, Senator Collins has never--never--missed a vote in her entire Senate career. This is truly a remarkable milestone. Many of us try hard to make every vote; Senator Collins has actually done it 10,000 times in a row.

Senator Collins and I belong to different parties and do not always see eye to eye, but 10,000 consecutive rollcall votes is an extraordinary streak by any measure, and I congratulate her on reaching it.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, after tonight's vote, it is clear to Americans that Republicans refuse to outlaw Donald Trump's $2 billion slush fund. Now the whole country can see the truth: Republicans fought like hell to please Donald Trump and his slush fund but didn't lift a finger to help working Americans lower their costs.

Think about it: Because Republicans refused to support our amendment, the only thing standing between Donald Trump and $2 billion in American taxpayer money to enrich himself, his billionaire cronies, and his cop- beating insurrectionists is a promise from Todd Blanche that could evaporate in a minute. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip.

I urge a ``no'' vote.

I yield the floor.

Vote on Amendment No. 5453

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

Mr. President, this week, with the contrast between the two parties in bright lights, Republicans are consumed by Donald Trump's priorities: his corrupt slush fund, his gilded ballroom, his rogue police force, his reckless war with Iran, and his refusal to contain the rising costs Americans face every week. Democrats are focused on the American people's priorities: lowering costs, bringing stability, and fighting back against this administration's rampant-- rampant--corruption.

At a time when families are struggling and looking for answers, that contrast matters. Republicans are fighting for Trump. Democrats are fighting for the American people. And we will keep driving that contrast every day, on every issue.

Mr. President, now, on the slush fund, to anyone who takes the constantly lying Todd Blanche at his word, I have a bridge to sell you. Yesterday, Todd Blanche claimed the Trump administration will halt its plans to establish a $2 billion MAGA slush fund for Trump and his cronies, but, when asked, Blanche said:

I'm not committing to doing anything in writing.

Are you kidding me? This, one of the most corrupt things that America has, and he won't even put it down in writing? The American people need the commitment to stop Trump's corruption not only in writing but codified in law, and he won't even write it down because he knows that Trump is lying.

He probably knows that he is lying, that in a week or two, Trump will come back, he will come back, and others will come up with a new corrupt scheme very similar to this slush fund, if not the same.

Blanche also said that Trump and his family will keep their brazenly corrupt tax immunity. That means that Trump and his family get to keep at least $100 million they owe in unpaid taxes--at least $100 million-- no audits, no consequences, no strings attached.

No matter what, from the start, I will personally push to permanently ban both the slush fund and the blank check Trump cut to himself and his family that would allow them to cheat on their taxes when this Republican reconciliation bill comes to the floor.

Again, I tell Republicans: You are going to have to vote on ending the corrupt Trump slush fund once and for all. You are going to have to vote on deciding whether Trump will be able to evade any tax audits and will be allowed to cheat on his taxes. You are going to have to vote on it.

I ask you this--I ask Leader Thune, I ask every Republican Senator: If you believe the slush fund should be banned, if you believe Trump shouldn't get tax immunity, then why wouldn't you just vote yes and make sure we put it into law? Because we all know that the word of Trump and the word of Blanche are, to put it kindly, flexible and, to put it realistically, not to be trusted--particularly on a matter as vital as this.

Does anyone think that Blanche will keep his word to drop this grift? Just weeks ago, Blanche lied under oath to Congress claiming that he met with Epstein survivors. The Epstein survivors themselves said that was a lie.

Does anyone think they can trust Blanche when he is in ongoing legal battles with former clients who have accused him of forgery and malpractice? Todd Blanche's word is as worthless as Trump's.

So when you see these newspaper headlines, Trump is backing off because Blanche gave his word. Again, I have a bridge to sell you. No one really believes it. Trump just wants to slide off the hook, hope this goes away in a week or two, and come back and do all the things we caught him doing in the last few weeks.

Trump's word, of course, the American people know is worthless. No one believes he tells the truth. Trump promised to lower Americans' costs on day one and broke it. Trump promised never to cut Medicaid and broke it. Trump promised never to start any new wars and broke it. Trump promised to release the Epstein files and broke it. Trump has made thousands of other promises, big and small, and broke them all.

It is only a matter of time before Blanche and Trump go back on their word and resume their efforts to put your tax dollars in the pockets of MAGA billionaires, violent criminals, and, of course, the Trump family.

If Senate Republicans truly want to stop this corruption, stop relying on the word of a compulsive liar, Todd Blanche, start doing your jobs, and pass legislation to ban Trump's MAGA handouts and his rampant tax-cheating. Ban it by law. Ban it permanently.

That is what Democrats are going to put on the floor. If you really believe it should be banned, you will vote with us. If you are trying to hide, duck, shimmy, whatever, vote no.

Trump may not keep his promises, but Democrats will keep theirs. I assure the American people that. Republicans are going to have to vote on this slush fund on the Senate floor. If Republicans don't vote to ban it, they will have to answer to the outrage of the American people who are sick of lining Trump's pockets when they can't even afford the most basic necessities.

Mr. President, now on reconciliation, after weeks of Republican infighting, we still haven't seen a draft of the Republican radical reconciliation bill. The American people don't need to see the bill text to know that Republicans are fighting for Donald Trump, not for working families. Even without Trump's billion-dollar, taxpayer- funded ballroom, which Democrats successfully killed despite Republicans' best efforts, the bill is rotten through and through.

At a time when Americans can't afford gasoline, housing, healthcare, food, Republicans won't spend a dime to bring costs down but are more than happy to fork over another $70 billion to Trump's masked agents who have unleashed chaos in our streets and threaten to do it again.

Americans are burning through their savings right now, but ICE and CBP are currently sitting on $100 billion that Trump and the GOP pumped into these rogue Agencies last year. The American people need every penny they can get right now to lower costs. Trump's Agencies have more cash than they know what to do with.

Whenever we go into a vote-arama, Democrats will be ready. Every vote, every amendment we bring to the floor will demonstrate that Democrats are standing up for the American people and Republicans are selling out to Donald Trump.

Republicans will have to vote on costs. Republicans will have to vote on tariffs. Republicans will have to vote on Trump's disastrous war with Iran. Republicans will have to vote on ICE and Border Patrol's abuses of power.

Democrats want to lower your costs; Republicans want to waste your tax dollars. Democrats want to rein in MAGA's chaos; Republicans want to let that chaos run wild--no guardrails. Democrats are fighting Trump's corruption; Republicans are aiding and abetting it.

And Republicans aren't out of the woods yet--Democrats are just getting started.

Mr. President, on the Pulte appointment, Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence appears to have been a hastily considered, backroom deal based on loyalty to Trump, not the security of our Nation.

From what I can tell, no one in the administration consulted the law, which requires the DNI to have ``extensive'' national security experience--``extensive'' national security experience. In contrast, Pulte has a record of abusing his office to attack Trump's political enemies.

The timing of this announcement could not be worse, with just over a week until FISA 702 authorities expire. This announcement and its timing clearly make passing an extension of FISA much harder.

At a time when our Nation is at war and our troops are in harm's way, we need someone serious to lead the intelligence community, not another unqualified, inexperienced partisan.

The security of our Armed Forces, the security of the American people depends on real intelligence and someone who states the facts clearly and boldly. Pulte would be about the last person I would pick to do that. He is simply a hack who does Trump's bidding no matter how egregious that bidding might be.

Mr. President, now on the election task force, as Trump continues to wage war on free and fair elections in America, Senate Democrats' Election Protection Task Force is gearing up to protect our democracy.

Later today, our task force will convene to strategize on our responses to potential threats to America's elections. The Senators and a first-rate team of election experts on our task force will simulate different scenarios, including interference operations from a foreign adversary, Trump's deployment of Federal agents to polling places, and law enforcement agents seizing ballots from local election officials.

Our task force is keeping Trump up at night because he knows the dire straits he and his party are in as the midterms approach. Instead of changing his disastrous and deeply unpopular policies, Trump has pledged to deploy ``an Election Integrity Army in every single State.'' But in Trump's eyes, he believes that an election only has integrity if he wins it, and he doesn't care if he cheats to do it. In fact, he likes cheating.

Republicans are already ignoring your wages, your healthcare, your rent, your grocery bill, and your freedom. Democrats won't let Republicans ignore your vote too. Democrats will be ready with lawyers, observers, and response teams to respond the moment Trump or his allies try to interfere with our elections. We will be ready, and we will preserve the integrity of American elections--something so sacred for 250 years.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, well, first, on the announcement of an attempted appointment of Bill Pulte: Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence is another Trump low. A guy who can file such baseless, political, and outrageous charges against political officeholders he doesn't like can't be entrusted to protect our national security. Pulte has already proven himself willing to act as a Trump puppet, and now Donald Trump wants to put him in charge of the Nation's intelligence, a place where integrity is demanded? A man who doesn't have an ounce of integrity is being put in that position, which demands total integrity, by Donald Trump.

The Director of National Intelligence is supposed to speak truth to power, but Donald Trump appears to have chosen Pulte because he speaks power's truth instead. Americans need an intelligence chief loyal to the facts, the intelligence, the security of the Nation, not the political interests of one man.

At a time of growing threats around the world, this nomination raises a fundamental question: Is the President looking for independent intelligence or political validation? His fiascos in foreign policy, most recently in Iran, show he doesn't listen to facts or intelligence. He is going to get in even more trouble with Bill Pulte in this very sensitive job.

The intelligence community exists to protect the American people, not to serve as another instrument of Presidential retribution.

Anti-Weaponization Fund

Mr. President, now, on the slush fund, the only way to ensure Trump's $2 billion, taxpayer-funded giveaway to Trump's MAGA allies never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law. The only way to make sure that Trump's slush fund never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law, not to trust the word of a corrupt President who stands to benefit the most from it.

The same goes for the license Trump gave himself and his family to commit tax fraud with impunity. Any promise from Trump is worthless, and when it comes to ending his blatantly corrupt slush fund or his blank check to commit tax fraud, Trump barely promised anything in the first place. That is why the first amendment I will offer on the Republican reconciliation bill will be to ban Trump's slush fund permanently and to revoke his family's free rein to commit tax fraud forever. Trump doesn't get to make off with at least $100 billion his family owes on taxes, and he doesn't get to use your tax dollars to pay off the MAGA right--not on our watch.

Again, the only way to ensure his $2 billion, taxpayer-funded giveaway never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law, not to trust the word of the corrupt President who stands to benefit the most from it.

We need to set the record straight about what exactly the Trump administration did and did not commit to yesterday. Trump's Department of Justice put out a statement saying that it would abide by the recent court order that temporarily blocked Trump from using Americans' tax dollars to pay off his MAGA loyalists and billionaire friends and violent insurrectionists who maimed our Capitol Police on January 6.

Let's be clear. The Trump administration hasn't made any commitment to kill the slush fund permanently, nor has it pledged to revoke the broad immunity from tax audits that Trump granted himself and his family.

Can you believe it, America? Trump and his family still get to cheat their way out of paying their taxes and then use your tax dollars to line their pockets and give handouts to his billionaire cronies, criminals, and cop-killing insurrectionists?

Trump's slush fund is corruption at its absolute worst. America has seen a lot of corruption from this administration, but this corruption--I don't think we have seen anything like it in our entire history. Trump shook hands with himself, suing his own government, and then settling the case so he could steal your tax dollars, America--all at a time when families are struggling to make ends meet amid skyrocketing costs.

What do Republicans have to say? What do they have to say about this? What are our Republican colleagues saying about this god-awful slush fund? Well, after the DOJ's meek statement yesterday, one of my colleagues across the aisle said Trump's slush fund is ``a moot point.'' A moot point? Trump's far-right radical rewards program is anything but moot. Trump and the GOP didn't suddenly find their conscience. They simply hit a temporary roadblock. If Senate Republicans are truly concerned about Trump's corruption, then prove it. Ban the slush fund by law permanently.

If Republicans revisit their reconciliation bill this week, as I said, the very first amendment I will offer will be to ban Trump's slush fund permanently and revoke his family's free rein to commit tax fraud.

The corruption is so grievous that toothless Republican guardrails won't cut it. Democrats won't settle for half measures. We are going to kill this slush fund permanently, and we are going to bury it and bury it deep.

Senate Testimony

Mr. President, on Rubio coming to the Hill, Secretary Rubio has a lot to answer for when he testifies before the Senate today--on China, on giving kickbacks to Russia, on Ukraine, on withholding arms to Taiwan, on this administration's ridiculous rhetoric on NATO, on the disastrous gutting of foreign aid that is leaving Americans vulnerable to one infectious disease after another, on Iran, on foreign corruption. The list goes on and on and on.

And today, with all these questions, all these bungles, all these terrible--terrible--missteps that hurt America--today will be the first time Marco Rubio, the National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, testifies before the American people since the start of Trump's disastrous war with Iran--first time. The war has been going on over 60 days. He is finally coming to the Hill to talk about it.

Yesterday, Trump said he finds the peace negotiations with Iran ``very boring.'' And that he ``couldn't care less'' if they are over.

I want to tell you, Donald Trump, who cares: our troops who are in harm's way; their families; Americans across the country who are sick of paying the immense costs of this disastrous war, including paying $4.50 a gallon at the pump. Secretary Rubio needs to answer whether he cares about ending this war.

I urge my colleagues as well to ask Rubio to address recent reports that the Trump administration left a loophole open for the past year and a half that allowed China to acquire, potentially, hundreds of thousands of cutting-edge American AI chips. These chips are essential to America's national security and to our economic competitiveness, but Chinese companies linked to the Chinese military have funneled them through foreign firms with seeming impunity.

By failing to protect this vital technology, the Trump administration has threatened our lead in the AI race and weakened our national security. Either the Trump administration failed to identify the loophole, suggesting gross incompetence, or kept it open willfully, which is very, very dangerous.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, the press reports that Trump says he will table his $2 billion MAGA slush fund, but a promise from Trump is worthless. If Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law.

This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no President can ever do this again. Trump's word is nowhere near enough.

Donald Trump's attempt to establish this trust fund alone is one of the most glaring cases of corruption in American history. Trump's slush fund is the textbook definition of self-dealing. Trump sued himself, settled with himself, and then Trump gives himself and his family immunity to evade their taxes; and Trump makes you, the American taxpayer, pay for it all.

This slush fund could never have passed the smell test. At a time when Americans can barely afford to fill their tanks, to keep the lights on, put food on their table, Trump wants the American people to pay for handouts for MAGA billionaires, cop-beating January 6 insurrectionists, and his own family. He wanted no transparency, no oversight, no accountability. It is disgusting.

Now Trump is claiming that the slush fund is dead for now, but Democrats will not stop until it is well and truly buried and can never see the light of day. Democrats are going to make sure this slush fund is dead and cannot be revived just like we did with the ballroom.

Republicans can try to wriggle their way out of answering for this corruption, but it won't work. If Republicans try to force through their reconciliation bill again, the first amendment I will offer will be to ban the slush fund permanently and forever. If Republicans try to meddle with the appropriations process to do Trump's bidding, we will fight it there too. And if Republicans try to use toothless constraints to make the slush fund more palatable, we will press them to dismantle it entirely.

For something as inherently corrupt as this slush fund, half measures won't cut it. You don't fix a corrupt slush fund by relying on the word of the most untrustworthy President we have ever had; you ban it.

The slush fund is rotten to the core. Democrats will make sure Republicans vote on it no matter what. This is corruption in broad daylight, and Republicans are foolish to think they can hide in the shadows.

Mr. President, now on costs. Last week we got new inflation numbers showing that prices are at their highest level in years. Families are saving less as they struggle to make ends meet. Americans are working harder, paying more, and getting less.

That is Trump's economy at work.

From Trump's mouth to the American people's ears, he said:

I don't think about Americans' financial situation.

All Trump thinks about is building his golden ballroom, putting his name on a massive arch, lining his pocket with taxpayer dollars, and slapping his face onto a $250 bill.

None of that lowers costs; none of that helps working families. All Trump's vanity projects do is waste time and money, and our Republican friends seem to go along with almost all of it--maybe even all of it.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of Americans--two-thirds--say they have had to cut back on groceries the past few months because of skyrocketing costs. This comes as new data shows household electricity prices have spiked by 18 percent since Trump took office. With the hottest months now upon us--summer season--rising energy costs will only further strain families' pocketbooks.

The average home cooling costs could reach nearly $800 this summer, an 8.5-percent increase over last year and 37 percent more than in 2020.

A poll over the weekend found that 53 percent of all Americans say the current cost of living is the worst they have ever seen. What happened to lowering costs on day one, which Trump so proudly proclaimed?

And, of course, where are the Senate Republicans? Instead of listening to the American people, working with Democrats to bring costs down, Republicans are working around the clock to aid and abet Trump's corruption, to build his vanity projects on the taxpayers' dime, and funnel tens of billions of dollars to his masked agents who are already flushed with cash.

Americans are screaming for relief, and all they hear back from Senate Republicans is silence--complete, complicit silence.