Floor Statements

Mr. President, on the Iran war, once again the ongoing fighting in Iran has blown holes in Trump's claim that victory is at hand. Over the weekend, Trump said he is ``in no hurry to end the war in Iran.''

No hurry? Tell that to our troops who are in harm's way every second this war continues, including those who were fired upon in Kuwait just this morning. Tell that to their families.

Really, no hurry? I will tell you who is in a hurry for this blunder to end: the American people who are getting crushed by record gas prices at the pump. They are in a hurry.

Trump has proven over and over again that he is incapable of getting our country out of this mess. Congress needs to step up.

Democrats and a handful of Republicans came together before Memorial Day to advance a War Powers Resolution to withdraw our troops from hostility with Iran. We will not stop forcing votes to end this war until this disastrous war is over once and for all.

Trump and his allies in the Senate may not see the urgency of ending this war, but Democrats and the American people do.

I yield the floor.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, Republicans still haven't released the text of their radical MAGA reconciliation wish list, just hours before we are expected to vote on it.

Where the hell is the bill? Where the hell is the bill? We were supposed to get it yesterday before lunch--no bill. We were supposed to get it yesterday afternoon--no bill. We were supposed to get it before dinnertime--no bill. We were supposed to get it around midnight--still no bill. And now it is Thursday morning--still no bill.

Why don't we have a bill? I will tell you why. The Republican Party is in complete disarray. They are in complete meltdown. They can't come to an agreement with each other. They are angry with each other.

Why? They are pulled between two poles, and they can't decide which way to go to. The first pole is the pole they should go to: Help the American people. Help the American people with higher costs, whether it is groceries or gasoline or housing or healthcare; work with Democrats to help get those costs down. That is where they should be. And they should also be with us when we want to end the chaos--the chaos on the streets of our cities--by having ICE and Border Patrol have reasonable guardrails so they don't kill Americans on the streets. And, of course, end the corruption. They should be angry, as we are, as the American people are, at the corruption that is coming out of the White House.

So on the one pole is to work for the American people, but on the other pole is Donald Trump, who is exactly the opposite of what Americans want, and Republicans know it. Trump doesn't give a damn about costs. He has already said that. Pay more for gasoline? He says: I don't care. The American people can pay more for groceries, can pay more for housing. He doesn't care about that. He is a billionaire. He doesn't go shop for groceries. He doesn't go get gas at the pump.

Chaos--he loves chaos. His Iran war is one of the most chaotic foreign misadventures America has ever gone on, and it gets worse all the time, as gas prices go above $4.50. I heard today it is above $4 in every State.

And he is the originator--the chief cook and bottle washer--of corruption. He comes up with corrupt scheme after corrupt scheme to benefit himself, his family, his cronies, criminals whom he has encouraged to act criminally. He is the originator of the corruption.

The ballroom. They have become ballroom Republicans, the Republican Senators.

The MAGA slush fund to be given out to cronies--probably, a lot of it would end up in Trump's pocket or his kids' pockets. Your dollars, American taxpayers.

So they are stuck. They are sort of like that cartoon, the old Popeye cartoon, where Olive Oyl is pulled in one direction by Popeye and the other by Bluto. She keeps going back and forth. That is who they are. They don't know what to do.

And so there is no bill. That is why there is no bill. They are stuck. They are flummoxed.

The leader, Leader Thune, has two choices: Side with Donald Trump and show the American people you are totally, totally out of touch with what they need, or side with the American people, work with us, and get Donald Trump furious at you. And you see what happens when Donald Trump is furious at Republicans. We could ask a couple of Senators what happens when they don't side with Donald Trump.

So they are stuck. They are just stuck, and it is a spectacle that the American people are witnessing.

And more and more Americans, every day, say the Republican Party-- many former Republicans say: The Republican Party I used to know was so different.

It is so deranged by Donald Trump that they can't be with them anymore. And that is why we Democrats look like we are in good shape in the House and the Senate, as we move forward to November.

Republicans--let's go over what they want in their bill. Republicans want to spend tens of billions of American tax dollars, but we still don't know what exactly we are voting on in mere hours. We do know that this bill won't include a single penny to make life more affordable-- the costs issue, which is No. 1 in the eyes of the American people.

The American people don't need to see the bill text to know where Senate Republicans stand: with Donald Trump, right now, not working families.

I am pleased a small number of Republicans are starting to wake up to how egregious Trump's billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded ballroom is, but this MAGA majority has made it abundantly clear they are willing and eager to fund Trump's vanity project at the taxpayers' expense.

Make no mistake, if ballroom funding doesn't make it into the Republican bill, it is not because of a Republican conscience; it is because Democrats stopped them. They tried to sneak it in. They were caught redhanded.

Oh, it is only for security. It is only for this. It is only for that.

They are stuck. No one wants the ballroom except Donald Trump, and they are quaking in their boots to oppose him. And when they oppose him, they are worried about electoral consequences, as we have seen in the last week.

Were it not for Democrats fighting this ballroom every step of the way, Republicans would have wasted a billion taxpayer dollars for Trump's palace in a heartbeat. Republicans are foolish if they think that they can distance themselves from this boondoggle, because, no matter what is in the bill, Democrats will force Republicans to vote again and again on their outrageous priorities: Trump's ballroom, Trump's insurrectionist slush fund, Trump's costly war.

Americans don't want this bill, even without Trump's vanity project-- not when it provides $70 billion to Trump's masked agents who sow chaos in the streets. It is absurd. It is absurd to ask Americans, who are struggling to make ends meet, to shell out another $70 billion to ICE and Border Patrol when these rogue Agencies are sitting on $100 billion from the Big Beautiful Bill.

But the costs of this war, which the American people are opposed to, and the costs of many other things might have to be funded out of this in the next few months, and so they don't want to take the money for ICE or for Border Patrol when there is $100 billion sitting there. Instead, they hold up the budget. Instead, they tell Democrats there is no reform. They tell that to the American people as well.

As Americans burn through their savings, Republicans want to expand their nest egg for Trump's private militia. Every vote and every amendment we bring to the floor today will show that Democrats are standing up for the American people and Republicans are selling out to Trump. Again, the contrast is glaring: Who is on the side of the American people for lower costs and for less chaos and to end the corruption? And who is on the side of Donald Trump, master of corruption, originator of corruption in certain new, novel, and disgusting ways, as well as somebody who doesn't give a damn about the costs that the American people are suffering through?

On the slush fund, Donald Trump's nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund is the most blatant act of corruption in American history. People are aghast. Jaws drop all over the Nation when they hear what Trump wants to do: sue the government for $10 billion--that is him personally suing--then settle with himself and use that money for his cronies and Lord knows what else. As I said, I believe a lot of it will end up in the pockets of Trump, his family, his cronies.

Trump sues Trump. Trump settles with Trump. Trump decides which Trump allies get paid. It is absolutely depraved.

It turns out that ``The Art of the Deal'' isn't very hard when you are making a deal with yourself and forcing Americans to foot the bill. Let's see what his next book says about that one.

Trump acted as the plaintiff, defendant, and judge, all at once, to set up this slush fund. And while Trump was at it, he shielded his family from ever having to face a tax audit again.

Can you believe this, America? In this bill, Trump can never be prosecuted, investigated for tax fraud, even though I and so many others wouldn't trust him with his tax returns for a minute.

Trump doesn't have to pay his taxes, but he is more than happy to put your tax dollars in the pockets of his cronies, criminals, and cop- killing January 6 insurrectionists.

Republicans are going to have to vote on that. Are you going to prevent any of this money from going to people who hurt cops, who were prosecuted for hurting cops? Trump's own Attorney General, Pam Bondi, instituted a rule last year explicitly prohibiting these types of corrupt payments, and Democrats will not let Trump get away with this grift--this grift of epic proportion.

That is why the very first amendment I will offer during vote-arama will be to block this slush fund--all of it. Republicans will have to answer on my amendment: Are they for the slush fund or are they against it? Do Republicans want to lower Americans' costs or sell them out to give payments to violent criminals? Do Republicans stand with the American people or with Donald Trump?

Americans want to know. Democrats will force Republicans to answer.

Mr. President, on costs, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, Americans drive to the grocery store and can't believe the prices they are seeing for beef, for propane, for the gas to get there. It is hard to enjoy a barbecue when rising costs are stretching your budget to the breaking point.

Just look at costs for the menu compared to last year: a pound of beef, up nearly 20 percent; hot dogs, 12 percent; a rack of ribs, 8 percent; buns, up 20 percent; ketchup, up 14 percent; watermelon, 17 percent; lettuce, 19 percent; tomatoes, up 22 percent. And the price of gasoline is up 42 percent compared to this time last year, thanks to Trump's disastrous war with Iran.

At a time when Americans should be gathering together in celebration, they are getting crushed by surging costs. And Republicans don't include a single bent penny in their reconciliation bill to bring down prices--outrageous, clueless, and it will come back to bite Republicans.

While Republicans have been working around the clock to line Trump's pockets, Democrats are fighting every second of the day to lower Americans' costs.

And since millions of Americans won't be able to grill this weekend, Democrats are going to grill Republicans over and over again during the vote-arama with amendments to lower Americans' costs.

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, it has been a hell of a bad week for Donald Trump and his Republicans, maybe the worst week they have ever had. Bogged down by Donald Trump's stunningly corrupt MAGA slush fund, Trump's billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded ballroom, and the recordbreaking gas costs as we approach the Memorial Day weekend, Republicans are having a terrible, terrible week--one that may even rival the week they had when they passed their so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which America hated. And it is only Wednesday. It is only Wednesday. But however bad this week is for Republicans--and, believe me, it is bad--it has been even worse for the American people.

First, on Trump's nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund--incredible depravity, disgusting selfishness--yesterday, Trump's Department of Justice expanded the settlement he made with himself, granting him and his family immunity from tax audits.

Did you hear that, America? Trump just gave his family a license to commit tax fraud to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more. He is using nearly $2 billion, America, of your taxpayer dollars that he has placed in a slush fund to enrich his MAGA loyalists. Trump doesn't have to pay his taxes, and meanwhile, he is using your tax dollars, America, to line the pockets of his family and his far-right cronies.

The naked corruption, something as low and depraved as we have ever seen, is absolutely egregious. Only in Trump's Washington could a President sue himself, settle with himself, and somehow stick the American people with the bill. Who would have thought that even a man as depraved and low as Donald Trump, as dishonest and as selfish, would do something like this? Trump's slush fund is a heist where the robber owns the bank, runs the police department, and gets to pardon himself on the way out.

Just as egregious as how Trump stole this money is who he plans to give it to: his billionaire cronies, convicted criminals, and the cop beaters who maimed our brave U.S. Capitol Police on January 6. Meanwhile, Trump is making a deal with himself, shaking hands with himself on a corrupt deal as he shakes down the American people.

Republican Senators should make no mistake--Democrats are going to force Republican Senators to vote on this slush fund on the floor in the upcoming reconciliation bill in the next day or two. Republicans will not be able to duck or hide.

Republicans, are you for the slush fund--this evil, corrupt slush fund--or are you against it? Are you going to bow down to Donald Trump when you know how egregious, how despicable, how nasty, how disgusting this slush fund is? Will you bow down to Trump? Will you vote for the slush fund or against it?

Democrats are going to force Republicans to take a stand in the next day.

Now, a second chapter--the next chapter that is part of Trump's terrible, terrible week is the ballroom. Yesterday, Donald Trump defended his billion-dollar, gold-plated, taxpayer-funded ballroom, calling it ``a gift to the United States of America.'' A gift? Let's call Trump's ballroom what it is: a boondoggle, a vanity project, an insult to every American--especially those struggling to make ends meet right now. This ballroom is no gift to the American people; it is a congressional Republican personal gift to Donald J. Trump--right. It is the Republican Senators here in this Chamber giving Donald Trump the personal gift of a billion-dollar ballroom.

Trump said yesterday--again, he just lies--Trump said yesterday that the ballroom is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer. Then why have Americans watched Republicans work around the clock on proposal after proposal to grant $1 billion to build Trump's ballroom, all at the taxpayers' expense? When Trump says it ``is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer,'' it is flagrant, shameless lying. He is very good at that.

Fortunately, Democrats stopped Republicans' first attempt to fund the ballroom through reconciliation, but rest assured the Senate GOP is working to take money out of your paycheck to finance Trump's palace, America.

Republicans are in such disarray as they scramble over the ballroom, now they are slow-walking the whole process. We still don't have a reconciliation bill on our desks.

Regardless of whether the ballroom funding makes it into the reconciliation bill--and Democrats will keep fighting to ensure that it doesn't--Republicans have already showed America their true colors. While Democrats are fighting to lower Americans' costs,

Republicans are fighting like hell to waste billions of dollars on things taxpayers do not want, do not need, and certainly should not be forced to pay for. That is true of the billion-dollar ballroom. That is true of the tens of billions of dollars the Republican bill would give to Trump's masked agents, who have gunned down Americans in the streets. It is true of the whole GOP entire agenda.

Republicans can change the pricetag of the ballroom. They tried to rewrite the text. They even attempted to hide this boondoggle in the bill, but we caught them. Republicans will not be able to distance themselves from this corruption. Democrats will make sure of that. No matter what happens, we will make sure the American people know where Republicans stand. We will make sure Republicans have to go on the record and show what they are really fighting for when we vote this week: Trump's gilded palace--not working families, not lower costs, not for the American people.

The American people want lower costs. They are giving money to the ballroom. They are giving money to the slush fund. How out of touch are they? How harmful are they to the average working family's interests?

Then, the third part of Trump's terrible, terrible, terrible week is the continuing increase in gas prices. As Americans pack up the car and fire up the grill ahead of Memorial Day, they are getting crushed by the skyrocketing costs of Trump's disastrous war in Iran.

With gas selling for over $4.50 a gallon, up nearly 45 percent--45 percent--since this time last year, many Americans are canceling their Memorial Day plans because they simply can't afford to drive.

Americans can't afford a barbecue when the cost of the beef they put on the grill and the propane they use to fuel it are both going up too.

Republicans ought to take note that among the States that have seen the greatest increase in gas prices since the war are the battleground States of Ohio, Michigan, and Alaska. One report says those are the three highest. They are the battleground States.

What did Donald Trump have to say yesterday about these surging gas prices across the country? He said:

This is peanuts.

Can you believe this guy? Donald Trump thinks the hundreds of extra dollars Americans are shelling out at the gas station each month are peanuts, a pittance.

What does he know? Does he ever fill up his own tank with gas? No.

Trump should tell the American people that he thinks it is a pittance and tell that to America's small businesses, which suffered their biggest decline in 2 years, last month, because of the surge in costs.

Trump should tell that to American farmers, who are struggling to afford fuel for their tractors and agriculture equipment, after facing rising costs from tariffs and now increased costs of fertilizer.

The GOP continues to stand by Donald Trump's handling of this war, but the cracks are starting to form.

Yesterday, Democrats convinced enough Republicans to break ranks and advance our War Powers Resolution to end Trump's war. Our vote on our War Powers Resolution yesterday was an important step toward ending Trump's war, but we won't stop pushing and pushing and pushing until Republicans finally join us in ending this reckless war. Democrats are going to keep the pressure up.

In conclusion, this has been a terrible week--a terrible, terrible week--for Donald Trump and Republicans, and it will get only worse for our Senate Republicans during vote-arama because Democrats are going to force Senate Republicans to vote on amendment after amendment about Trump's ballroom, Trump's slush fund, and the rising costs of Trump's war. They are not going to be able to hide.

The American people are going to see the clear difference between the parties. We are for working people. We are for getting costs down, going after corruption, ending the chaos. And yet they, by backing Donald Trump, make all three worse.

I encourage the American people to watch this debate, though they already know what they will see: Republicans fighting for Trump, Democrats fighting to lower costs.

And, finally, to make matters even worse for this terrible, terrible week for Republicans, I will utter one final word: Texas.

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, Donald Trump looks at the Federal Government and sees one thing: a cash register full of Americans' money--and he keeps trying to ring himself up.

Nearly $2 billion for his MAGA slush fund, a billion more for his gilded ballroom, and not one serious plan to lower costs for families forced to pay the bill.

This week, Trump showed us again exactly what his Presidency is about: not helping Americans, not lowering costs, not making life easier for working families; but finding new ways to turn taxpayer dollars into political payouts, personal perks, and vanity projects.

Just look at this nearly $2 billion slush fund. Just look at it. It is enough to make you cringe.

Trump settled with himself in his own lawsuit against his own government to funnel taxpayer money to his political allies, January 6 insurrectionists, and far-right loyalists.

Let me say that again: Donald Trump settled with himself in his own lawsuit--have you ever heard of something like this?--against his own government to take taxpayer dollars to his political allies, stuff it in their pockets, and, for all we know, his pocket.

Trump didn't bother making a deal with the Devil. He just made a deal with himself to set up this MAGA slush fund.

That is not justice. That is not law and order. That is corruption-- corruption in broad daylight--no disguise, no shame, no attempt to hide it.

And this is the through line of the Trump Presidency: If there is taxpayer money on the table, Donald Trump wants a big cut of it.

Trump wants to fill his coffers. That is why he created this MAGA slush fund. That is why he keeps demanding taxpayers bankroll his billion-dollar ballroom, and it is why his family business always seems to be lurking around the business of government.

Americans are working harder than ever just to make ends meet, while Donald Trump schemes to turn their tax dollars into personal payouts and vanity projects.

And where--where--are the Republicans, here in the Senate and elsewhere? Are they going to stand up for the taxpayer, or are they so afraid of Donald Trump that they will let him raid the Treasury in broad daylight?

The American people are watching, and they will remember who fought to lower their costs and who helped Donald Trump line his pockets.

Mr. President, that brings me to the Republicans' reconciliation bill.

While Americans are getting crushed by the cost of rent, groceries, gas, healthcare, and childcare, Senate Republicans have spent their time trying to salvage a plan to force taxpayers to fund Donald Trump's gilded ballroom.

Democrats stopped Republicans' first attempt. Now, Republicans have a choice. Republicans can drop this ballroom boondoggle because Democrats exposed it and the public saw it for exactly what it was, or Republicans can keep this boondoggle in the bill.

Either way, Democrats will make sure they will have a chance to vote on it on the Senate floor. Republicans do not--do not--get to hide from this.

Americans can barely afford to keep a roof over their own heads. They should not be forced to pay for a golden roof over Trump's head.

And, to be very clear, I don't care if the Republicans ask for a billion dollars, a million dollars, or a single dollar. Every penny of taxpayer money for Donald Trump's vanity project is a penny too much, and Senate Democrats will fight to make sure not one penny of Americans' money is used for it.

The ballroom is the perfect symbol of this Republican budget bill: Republicans focused on all the wrong things.

This bill still pours tens of billions of dollars into Trump's masked agents, uncontrolled raids, and unaccountable police forces. The Republican bill still does nothing--nothing--to lower grocery costs, lower rent, lower gas prices, lower healthcare costs.

That is the contrast: Democrats fighting to lower costs, Republicans fighting to launder Trump's corruption through the Federal budget.

So let Republicans rewrite the text. Let them change the number. Let them try to hide the ballroom after they got caught. The truth will not change.

Donald Trump sees Americans' money as his money. He somehow thinks he is entitled to reach into the

average American family's pockets, take the money out of their pockets, and put it in his own. It is incredible.

Republicans are writing the check. Democrats are saying: Hell no.

Mr. President, on Iran, yesterday, Donald Trump once again displayed the vicious cycle he has trapped America in with his disastrous war in Iran. Within hours, he went from threatening to blow Iran into oblivion to saying that a peace deal was imminent. This he does within 6 hours of one another.

Can anyone believe this guy? Whether you are a world leader, an American citizen, or anything in between, can you believe him? He keeps making it up. He doesn't care about the truth. And what is worse is, he thinks you don't care about the truth--that he can lie, lie, lie.

First--first--he threatens to blow Iran into smithereens, and 6 hours later, he says a peace deal is imminent. We know it is bull. Everyone knows it is bull.

But maybe people don't realize the consequences of that bull--how disastrous this war is and how it turns America's attention, or at least Trump's attention and his followers' attention, to this disastrous war, rather than lowering their costs.

We have seen Trump follow the same pattern in Iran again and again. Trump threatens, Trump retreats, then threatens again--rinse and repeat. That is what he does. Trump is practicing ``Groundhog Day'' diplomacy, smashing the clock over and over again like Bill Murray does in the movie. Trump is no closer to ending this war, no closer to bringing down the skyrocketing costs of this war, no closer to getting our troops out of harm's way.

Senate Republicans must not continue to allow Trump to remain stuck in this never-ending loop of threats and failed negotiations. I urge Senate Republicans to support Democrats' War Powers Resolution to withdraw our troops from hostilities with Iran, which we are bringing to the floor for an eighth vote--an eighth vote--later today.

Republicans, instead of perpetuating Trump's reckless cycle, could help break it by supporting our War Powers Act to end the war. That would be doing what the American people need and want.

Mr. President, on a speech I am giving at the Center for American Progress on election protection: Later today, I will speak at the Center for American Progress' IDEAS Conference to detail Democrats' plans to protect our elections from MAGA interference.

Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on our elections because he knows his agenda is unpopular. He knows he is going to lose the elections, and so he wants to throw the election, to cheat. Senate Democrats are not waiting until after the damage is done. I am launching Senate Democrats' election protection task force to prevent, monitor, and challenge any malfeasance from Donald Trump and the far right before, during, and after our elections in November. Our task force is bringing together 11 Senators and some of the sharpest election experts in the country--people like Marc Elias, Eric Holder, Vanita Gupta, Norm Eisen, Skye Perryman, and others--as well as a variety of election protection organizations to safeguard our democracy. I am looking forward to detailing some of our task force's upcoming plans, and I encourage everyone to tune in.

Mr. President, well, earlier today, Trump said he was just an hour away from launching another wave of attacks on Iran before he changed his mind.

Trump says: ``We may have to give Iran another big hit''--that ``we're all set to start'' bombing at a moment's notice.

This President is like a toddler playing with a loaded gun. If there was ever a time to support our War Powers Resolution to withdraw troops from hostilities with Iran, it is now.

We have long since passed the War Powers Act's 60-day threshold to end hostilities that many of our colleagues cited as the time their position on this war would finally change. Every second we wait to end this war is another second Donald Trump puts our servicemembers at risk.

If Republicans truly believe that this war is going well, that Trump is some strategic genius, then why are they hiding behind shifting deadlines and fake notifications of the ``end of hostilities''? Why do Republicans pretend Trump's war ended after 60 days, when it clearly has continued, with U.S. and Iranian forces exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz?

And the lack of planning in this whole war is just appalling. It is obvious even to a layman that the greatest vulnerability we faced, if we challenged Iran, was the Strait of Hormuz. And yet, despite the fact that many said, ``Secure the strait before you do anything else,'' Trump ignored it.

And look at what is happening now: Gasoline is $4.50 and going up.

How can anyone believe this President has a strategy, has a plan, knows what he is doing?

Senate Republicans are silent on Trump's war because they know it is a massive blunder, but they are foolish to think that silence will spare them. The American people's outrage over skyrocketing costs is right at their doorstep.

Americans took note all seven times this Republican majority passed up the opportunity to support our War Powers Resolution to end this disaster, and they will take note of those Republicans who pass up the eighth time--the eighth opportunity--to stop this war, which will occur shortly when we vote.

I thank Senator Kaine for his leadership on today's resolution.

Every week this war continues and Republicans continue to sit in silence, Democrats will force a vote on the War Powers Resolution and make Republicans go on record with their support for this war.

Let me be clear: Reasserting Congress' authority on matters of war and peace isn't a partisan issue. It never should have been one. It is a constitutional issue. It has been what this country has stood for, for centuries.

This vote is about fulfilling our most basic responsibility as Members of the Senate.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, first, let me thank my good friend Senator Padilla from California for his good work on this issue and so many other issues of civil rights and of keeping our democracy secure and safe, of voting rights. He is an amazing asset not just to this Senate but to California and to the country, and I thank him for his continued, ever-present leadership on these vital issues, which I know he feels so deeply about.

Now, in America, voters choose their leaders; leaders don't choose their voters. But MAGA has launched a coordinated campaign to handpick the electorate in 2026. That effort spans all three branches of government.

Donald Trump has virtually made election denialism a prerequisite for serving in his administration. You have to lie about the election--lie to yourselves, lie to other people--to get a job in any sensitive area in this administration. Trump and his band of MAGA loyalists have jumped at every opportunity to intimidate election officials, to attack vote-by-mail, to seize voter data, and to undermine our elections in any way they can.

In Congress, Trump's MAGA majorities keep pushing the SAVE Act, which we know would disenfranchise tens--tens--of millions of voters.

With the SAVE Act, Republicans would purge millions of American citizens from the voter rolls through a screening algorithm designed by none other than the trio--the evil trio--of

Trump, Vought, Musk, and their DOGE squad.

And as I have been saying for months--I started saying this months ago--it is Jim Crow 2.0. And when I started saying it, now when I say it, the MAGA right goes crazy. They get angry. They get apoplectic. Do you know why? They know it is true.

They know it is Jim Crow 2.0, and they know they are doing everything they can to steal our election, rather than compete in our election.

The radical rightwing majority on the Supreme Court has aided Trump's assault on our democracy every step of the way. The Callais decision was the MAGA Court's latest move to resurrect Jim Crow South, upending half a century of precedent and progress when it gutted the Voting Rights Act for which Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many others marched, bled, and ultimately gave their lives.

The decision issues a deliberate blow to democracy, stripping voters of protections while handing MAGA politicians free rein to rig maps that drown out their voices, especially those of historically disenfranchised communities. Callais did not come out of nowhere. Oh, no. For years, beginning with Chief Justice Roberts in the awful and evil Shelby County decision, the Republican-appointed majority, led by Roberts, chipped away at the Voting Rights Act in decision after decision.

Indeed, Roberts began railing against the Voting Rights Act since the early eighties. Now Roberts says his job is to call balls and strikes-- bull. For someone who famously said that his job is ``to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat,'' John Roberts sure is swinging for the fences to help Donald Trump subvert our elections. Democrats are not going to wait until the damage is done. Oh, no. That is why Senate Democrats launched our Election Protection Task Force, the most expansive election protection effort our caucus has ever undertaken.

We are going to bring together lawyers and observers, rapid-response teams, cyber security experts, State and local officials, and the most renowned election experts in the country to protect our democracy before, during, and after this election. We are going to fight like hell to make sure our elections belong to the voters--not to Donald Trump.

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, let me first talk about this DOJ slush fund.

As working families shorten their grocery lists, as they struggle to make ends meet, Donald Trump has added a nearly $2 billion slush fund for his MAGA allies and January 6 insurrectionists to his wish list of pet projects he wants to fund with taxpayer dollars.

Of all the corrupt things Donald Trump has done, this MAGA slush fund at the Department of Justice is one of the most depraved. Trump is shaking hands with himself in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of billions of dollars. Trump is shaking hands with himself, making his own deal with himself, in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of billions of dollars. He is signing a contract with himself to use these funds for illicit purposes.

Can you believe it, America? How low can we go with this President?

Trump pardoned violent insurrectionists who assaulted your Capitol to overturn your votes, and now he wants to give them your hard-earned tax dollars as a reward. Can you believe that? He is taking money out of your paycheck, America, and putting it into the pockets of his cronies, criminals, and cop beaters.

This settlement with the IRS is a farce. Trump sued his own government. He is the President, and he sued the government. He asked for $10 billion--the gall of this man. And then Trump's own Justice Department, with his own appointed attorneys general, settled with Trump. Trump settled with Trump, and now Trump gets a nearly $2 billion slush fund as part of that settlement.

What is he going to do with it? He is going to reward his own allies, loyalists, and insurrectionists. How crooked can it be? How perverted? How slanted? How far away from American ideals?

No President--none--should be able to use the Department of Justice as a personal rewards program for the people who helped him attack our democracy.

Again, America, he sued America for $10 billion, and then he settled with himself and said: OK, I will settle for $2 billion, and then I can use that to aid my cronies.

America, are you listening? What is this guy doing? We have never seen anything like this. Even in the worst and most corrupt administrations we have had, we have never seen anything like this. It is self-dealing. It is corruption. It is abuse of power. And it is happening in broad daylight.

Where are our Republican colleagues when something so abysmal, so low, so degrading to what America is all about--where are they? Shrugging their shoulders: Whatever Donald Trump wants, let him do, even though we know what a bad human being he is.